Thriller Planning: The themes & inspirations for our thriller

Themes
Our thriller includes several key conventions of thriller themes, particularly themes of the noir period. For example, one of the key elements of the full narrative (see synopsis) is the attempted vengeance of Susie Callaghan to kill her uncle as she had always blamed him for her father’s death. In just this piece of the narrative, at least three important conventional themes are present from the noir genre: the haunted past, betrayal and vengeance. A femme fatale is also present in this section, who is an essential figure of the noir period. Revenge is a key theme in our narrative, as elements of it occur throughout, as does greed for power. Both of these things, however, lead to the death of all but one of the characters: the experienced crime lord Patrick Callaghan (Phil Buttinger). Death and downfall, then, are further important themes of our narrative. This, therefore, leads us to the presence of another key noir theme: the fatalistic nightmare. There are, however, many aspects of similarity from films with a sub-genre of ‘mafia’ also, such as The Godfather (1972) and Goodfellas (1990). There will be, then, several aspects of themes such as organized crime and the underworld in our narrative.

Style
As our thriller includes several noir themes in the narrative and characterisation (see character profiles), the style and mise-en-scene will also reflect that of a noir. For example, the opening shots of the road include several tilted angles, immediately connoting edginess, uncertainty and slight discomfort (all of which are themes of thrillers and the noir period). We also included several low angle shots, most notably that of the building from the outside, which was a technique also favoured in the noir period. Our shots of Patrick Callaghan also intend to be low angled shots (similar to those of Sydney Greenstreet’s Kasper Gutman in The Maltese Falcon (1941)), however due to a lack of experienced camera work and resources we don’t expect to be able to make this as obvious as we would ideally like. There are also several examples of chiaroscuro lighting in our opening, such as that of the bright light from streetlights shining down onto the road. We also would like the road to be wet and shiny, as this would add another distinctive noir signifier which also connotes the theme of the fatalistic nightmare. However, this is beyond our control. The shots of the road, incidentally, are also moving camera shots, which is another popular technique in noirs (e.g. in the opening sequence of Touch of Evil (1958)) and also in neo-noirs (e.g. in sections of Taxi Driver (1976)). In conclusion, we are very much aiming for our film to stylistically resemble a film noir.

Sub-genre
Our thriller would take-on both the sub-genres of film noir and also of ‘mafia/ gangster’. This is because it uses conventions from both of these sub-genres.

Key influences
Stylistically and regarding the mise-en-scene, our key influences have been from films from the noir period. For us, the most influential ones have been The Maltese Falcon (in particular the representation of Sydney Greenstreet’s Kasper Gutman) and The Third Man (1949) (especially the use of tilted angles and lighting). Regarding the narrative, though, Chinatown (1974) has been largely influential, as we appreciated its method of story telling and the amount of twists in the narrative. The Godfather, however, has probably been the most influential film to us in this respect. This is because we appreciated its narrative feature of the switch from one main protagonist to another, and, again, the number of twists in its narrative. In our film, however, we are taking this further to have several changes of the main protagonist, with a change each time the previous one dies. The purpose of this, as explained in our synopsis, is to demonstrate to the viewer the immorality and unattractiveness of the life of our characters to the point where the viewer realises that they cannot relate to any of the protagonists that were present. This theme of immorality and sleaze has been taken directly from the films of the noir period. However, going back to the bare bones of our narrative, it has been based (very loosely) upon the story of Romeo and Juliet. This theme is present in shape of the brief (and sham) relationship between David Glover and Susie Callaghan. This influence exists predominantly because of our initial intention to use a track from Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet of Romeo and Juliet as our opening soundtrack. Judging purely on opening sequences though, the opening of Goodfellas has also been influential, as it consists of similar events, and bares a similar context to the rest of the film as ours (regarding the fact that, in a chronological order, it takes place quite a way into the film).

Preliminary Task: Final product

Below is the video of our preliminary task:

Analysing the opening sequence of Touch of Evil (1958)

Touch of Evil (1958) directed by Orson Welles has a very interesting opening sequence as it is made up largely of a four minute single-shot sequence.

The scene starts off with a close-up shot of a man setting the timer of a car bomb, and then runs to the car he has targeted, without the viewer seeing his face, and with the use of some terrific shadows on the wall he has ran past. The camera follows him up to the car and then, as the man turns and runs out of the shot, it drifts upwards slowly to take the viewer into a brilliant high angle shot of the car and its owners (a couple) getting into it. The camera doesn’t stay still though, however, but it keeps moving and follows the car as it drives around a building. As it comes back around the corner, the car now facing the camera, the camera carries on moving backwards in the street, with various people crossing the road and various different music playing from the different cars and buildings that the camera moves past. The viewer, then, doesn’t have too much time to think about who planted the car bomb or who’s in the car as action is on-going in all parts of the shot. Also, the effect of the different pieces of music playing from different sources emphasizes the business and confusion of the setting. The camera keeps on moving and then, as a couple (Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh as Ramon Miguel Vargas and Susan Vargas) cross the road, begins to focus on that specific couple, whilst the car it had been following up to this point overtakes the camera and moves briefly out of the shot. It reappears quite quickly however, as it has been held-up by a group of goats in the middle of the road, at which point the couple then overtake the camera. The car catches up with the couple quite soon though, whilst people continue to cross the road, until both the couple and the car reach an officer who will decide whether they can keep going and enquire whether they’re American citizens. At this point the viewer learns that the Ramon Miguel Vargas is an important policeman who has recently solved a big case involving the notorious ‘Grandi’ family. Both the couple in the car and the Vargas’ are allowed to continue, then, as the car carries on straight ahead, out of the shot, they cross the road and the camera moves to follow them. Shortly after this, the viewer hears the car bomb explode and the camera switches the image of the explosion (this is the point where the single-shot sequence is ended) and then, after a quick, short zoom-in further towards the explosion, it switches back to a low angle, slightly shaky shot of Ramon Miguel Vargas running towards the explosion.

(the opening sequence of Touch of Evil)

This use of the single-shot sequence is very effective in this opening sequence as it ensures that the viewer can’t take his or her eyes off the screen, as there’s always something happening. This is especially the case with the constant over-taking and re-over-taking of each other between the two couples, as the viewer must keep an eye on both of them, but is also emphasized by the continuous crossing of the road by several people at almost all times. Also, the viewer doesn’t have a clue who was in the car, and who planted the bomb, so the long single-shot sequence creates further suspense regarding this mystery. Furthermore, the fact that the camera is always moving backwards causes further disorientation and mystery to the viewer as he or she can't tell how much longer the camera will carry on going for. Regarding the narrative, then, this opening sequence is very successful as mystery is increased throughout.

It is, however, also successful regarding the mise-en-scene, as some excellent uses of shadow ensure that it’s pleasing on the eye. The camera movement and angles are also very effective; in particular the rising high angle shot near the beginning just after the car bomb has been planted. All of these mise-en-scene features, incidentally, are generic signifiers of the noir period.

So, in conclusion, this is a very effective opening scene as is builds tension, introduces mystery, and includes several genre conventions.

Audience Research: Audience feedback from our 75% completed film

Sample & Method

We showed our approximately 75% completed film to eight people in order to gather opinion on what they thought of it so far and how they think it could be improved. Unfortunately, we were unable to ask people which matched our target profile audience, as we collected this data during school times. However, we did keep to our target gender, as out of the eight people 5 were male and only 3 female. This matches our target gender as we stated in our audience profile that, primarily, our target gender would be males, but that females could like it too, so we felt that the roughly two thirds of the feedback from males and one third from females was a good compromise. The people that we asked are all current six formers at City of Norwich School, three of them study media studies and half of the group are big movie fans. We feel that a sample group in which one half are big film fans whilst the other half also watch films but are not so avid followers is reasonable as we said in our audience profile that our film may well be appreciated more by film buffs but would also attract mainstream audiences. Taking these into account, we accept that this data gathered is not from an ideal sample group, but nevertheless we feel that it is a useful exercise and hope that it will provide us with helpful information.

First, we asked each participant to watch the film through, one-by-one, without interruption. We then asked them to fill in a short questionnaire which we had prepared previously. The questionnaire consisted of these questions:

Gender:



Was the mise-en-scene appropriate?



Was the music effective?



Was the narrative readable?



Was the lighting effective?



What aspect of it did you like the most?



How could it be improved?


Findings

Pleasingly, our feedback was extremely positive. For the question ‘Was the mise-en-scene appropriate?’ for example, every single participant (males and females) agreed that it was appropriate, and one male went on to say that it was ‘very’ appropriate as ‘the woods are very secluded’. The responses for the following question, ‘Was the music effective?’, were also very positive, as, again, every participant agreed that it was effective, with one participant (a female) claiming that it was ‘very’ effective whilst another (a male) said that it ‘built tension and atmosphere’. One participant (a female), however, said that it was effective, but ‘could have been better though’. The following question, ‘Was the narrative readable?’, was one that we were very interested in the answer to, as, although we ourselves knew what was happening, were hoping that it was obvious for everyone else too. Fortunately though, all but one of the participants agreed that the narrative was readable, however the one participant (a male) who said that it wasn’t readable also said that this was a good thing as ‘the man in the office was mysterious’. The answers to the subsequent were again extremely positive, as once again every participant agreed that the lighting was effective. We were pleased that this was the case, as we ourselves were very pleased with the lighting in our film. The next question, which we were eagerly awaiting the answers to, provided, as we hoped, a large variety of answers. Three participants (two male and one female) chose ‘he music’ as their favourite, whilst another three participants chose the ‘extreme close-up shots of the man in the office’. Two people (one male and one female) claimed that the ‘quick editing and flashing transitions’ was their favourite. Out of the remaining two participants (both males) one claimed that the ‘slow motion effects, because they’re cool’ were his favourites whilst the last one said that he liked the fact that it was ‘gangster’. The final question was another one that we were excited about the answers to, as the answers to this were the real purpose of the exercise. Unfortunately though, not everyone answered the question, although we took that as a compliment for no improvements could be made. One suggestion that we did receive though (from a male), was that ‘the cast could fit the age description of the characters better and the costumes could be more authentic’. Although there is nothing we can do about this at this point, and our cast was made up by the actors that they were because of certain unfortunate circumstances (see the post entitled ‘Thriller Planning: The cast), we value the opinion nonetheless as we can include it in our evaluation. The other suggestion that we received (also from a male) was to ‘extend the slow motion section, and make the bit where they walk out of the woods slow motion as well’. We were very grateful for this suggestion as, after deliberating between our group, we decided to try it as the participant had suggested, and we, as a group, agreed that it was an improvement.

Conclusion and implications

We were extremely happy with the unanimously positive feedback that we received, and we feel that it has helped us improve our film, thanks especially to the suggestion to extend the slow motion section and to add another slow motion section. Overall, we feel that this has been a useful and positive exercise as the very positive feedback has given us further confidence in our film, and we now feel that we can continue as we have been and get it finished.

Audience Research: Method 2

Audience Research: Method 1

Thriller Construction: Soundtrack changes and information

Unfortunately, due to rules regarding copyright, we were unable to use the track from Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet as we had initially planned. So, as a result of this we searched for various options using unsigned bands and artists whose works have been listed under the Creative Commons License Agreement. Fortunately, we found that the song 'Cells' by The Servant has been listed under this agreement, so we listened to it and played it with what we had of our film and found that it was an excellent match. It also matches the style of our other initial idea for a soundtrack (see Thriller Planning: Soundtrack).

We found out that the track was listed under the agreement on the following website, also demonstrated by the prontscreens:

http://musicatknifepoint.blogspot.com/2007/09/servant-cells.html

Which took us to this page:

Afterwards, knowing that we could use this track, we downloaded the instrumental version from the website below:

http://www.airmp3.net/search/the_servant/cells/mp3/a

We are very happy with this as our soundtrack because sections of it are quite dark and industrial, and as a whole it matches our film very well.