Research into the Amish

The Amish are a group of Christian church fellowships. They are best known for their simplistic living and plain dress. The Amish people feature in the film Witness and also more recently on a VO5 advert for hair wax. They are best known for their reluctance to accept many conviniences of the modern world.

The histroy of the Amish came from a church in Switzerland in 1693. Today there are over 25 different Amish, Mennonite, and Brethren church groups in Lancaster County, all holding slightly different traditions and their own interpretations of the Bible. The more traditional groups are called 'old order'. They do not use electricity or telephones in their homes. By restricting access to television, radio, and telephones, the Amish are better able to keep the modern world from intruding into their home life. They isolate themselves from modern society.
The Amish have long preferred farming as a way of life. They feel their lifestyle and their families can best be maintained in a rural environment. While they do not permit the use of tractors in their fields, these old order Amish groups do use modern farm equipment pulled by teams of horses or mules.
 "Amish lifestyle is dictated by the Ordnung (German, meaning: order), which differs slightly from community to community, and, within a community, from district to district." Amish people are true believers in community and they believe that all families are a blessing from god. Their separation from the rest of society helps strengthen their community. The old order Amish groups do not own vehicles, they believe that cars would provide easier access to the ways of the world. You will often see their horses and buggies on roads.

The use of Amish characters in the film Witness means that the characters are very trusting of one another, especially as I wrote that their community is strengthened by their voluntary isolation. The fact that the mother lets her little boy go to the toilet on his own accord did not phase her as they live so far away from society that they are not knowledgeable of the dangers that he was faced to in that toilet.

Re-visited Characters & Costumes

In our thriller we will feature only two characters. One will be an older man who will feature as our killer. We will also have a young girl who will play the victim in our thriller.

The Killer

We have cast a middle aged man to play our killer. He is of an average height with Dark hair.

I imagine this character to be wearing quite simple clothes of a monochrome colour. My vision of the character should be that he is quiet and subtle, I think this should be reflected through his costume. I think when he gets up to leave, he should place his hat on his head to show that he is disguising himself for what he is about to do, it is a form of mask to protect him from the real world.

I think this choice of clothes also foreshadows what is going to happen in our thriller, it casts a view into the future via the clothes. Even though our thriller has a chronological plot line, it will give the audience a chance to think about what will happen.

I was influenced by some of the characters in The Third Man (1949), the costumes were cast by the director, Carol Reed, they consist of monotone clothes, hats and long coats. I think  the vintage style of the film will show through our character in our opening.

The Victim

The girl will be at work so she will be in her waitress clothes. Her costume will consist of a white shirt, to signify her innocence in the situation between her and the killer. She will also be wearing a black tailored skirt of trousers and some black shoes, we will also feature a coat in her outfit, possibly highlighting a bit of her character to the audience. Her costume will show her innocence and foreshadow that she is not the one in the wrong. Hopefully the audience will pick up on the fact that, that is what we are aiming to do.

For this character, when she is in work I think she should look quite regimented and strict with her uniform, much like Jackie Brown is in Quentin Tarantino's movie 'Jackie Brown' (1997) I think it would fit in with the opening of our thriller.

New Shot List for Opening of Thriller

• Longshot esablishing locations, scene and characters. This introduces the two characters to the film.
• Cut to a tracking shot of the girl walking towards the man, sat at a table.
• Cut to an over the shoulder shot of her approaching the man, and the man putting his newspaper down on the table.
• Cut to a high angle/Close up shot of the girl picking the empty mug up, close up (using the rule of thirds) showing the newspaper headline. (Relating to rape/murder)
• Cut to an extreme close up of the date, showing this part is in a flashback.
• Cut to a zoom out of close up into a high angle shot of the man and girl.
• Cut to a point of view shot of the girl walking away, using shot reverse shot between the girl and the man to connect them. Girl goes into the kitchen.
• Cut to a tracking shot of the mans feet as he gets up and starts to walk.
• Cut to a low angle shot of the man approaching the door.
• Cut to a worms eye of him opening and closing the door.
• Cut to an extreme closeup shot of him bolting the door.
• Cut to a panning shot of the man walking towards the counter and crouching, out of sight from the girl. The girl comes out of the kitchen, scans cafe and switches most of the lights off and walks towards the door.
• Cut to an over the shoulder shot of man walking towards the the girl whilst she's looking for her keys.
• Cut to a man standing directly behind her, cut to transition/panning shot of the girl to man, in a different scene/location.
• Cut to a transition shot continues to over the shoulder shot of the man attatching photo of the girl to a wall.
• Cut to a close up panning shot showing all the photo's of different dead girls.

Changes & Further Developments to Our Thriller Planning

We decided that our previous idea for our thriller was becoming a little complex, in terms of ideas leading on from the opening scene, also we would have to use a lot of locations which involves longer time to film.
Using our original idea, we will still film within the cafe, however more will go on inside the cafe. However we will still use the idea of the wall of photos, this will be in a different location yet it will be anonymous. We made this decision due to the limit on time, of 2 minutes.
The changes in our thriller have been triggered after analysing the task, what is expected of us and after gaining a wider knowledge the thriller genre by watching films and researching.

• Much like our last idea the film will begin with the young girl working in the cafe, however the difference is that the man will be inside the cafe sat down having a drink, instead of being outside taking pictures of her.
• The man will be sat at a table reading a newspaper with 'murder/rape' headlines on it. The girl will go to collect his coffee and the camera will catch the headline of the newspaper, foreshadowing the rest of the plot and she will take the coffee from him, implying she will soon be closing the cafe. The date on the newspaper will imply that the scene is a flashback.
• The working girl will then return to the kitchen with the coffee cup. During this the man will approach the front door of the cafe, open and close the door to imply that he has left, leaving the girl to continue to lock up. An extreme close up of the bolt sliding across the door will be next. He will then walk to crouch behind the counter, so that the girl does not see him.
• Once returning from the kitchen, the girl will switch off all of the lights and slowly walk toward the door, searching for her key in her bag/pocket.
• We will show a shot of the man stood closely behind her, slowly closing in on her in a threatening way.
• We will then use a transition shot to conclude to the next scene,using the back of the girls head, fading into the back of the mans head. He will then place the girls picture on his wall of many other pictures of young girls.

The man will/is a sadistic killer, and the rest of the film will continue to proceed in modern day filming. The aim and plot of the rest of the film will be an investigation into her murder and disappearance, an influence came from 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' which inspired the wall of photo's.

I think this idea is much better than our previous idea, it is simpler yet in my opinion a lot more effective.

Thelma & Louise Image Analysis

Camera Angle

The camera angle is a medium close up, this means the audience can identify what is going on in the scene very clearly. It is also highlighting the expressions on the character's faces. The female character in this shot is dominating the shot, this suggests that she might also be dominating the situation that is going on. This shot also suggests that they are the only two people in the scene that matter in this frame of time.

Characters

 This image portrays that she is the Femme Fatal and it is possible that he has done something to aggravate her for him to be in this situation.Stereotypically, Femme Fatal's only threaten people who have threatened them. An example of this would be The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, when she tattoos his stomach, 'I am a sadistic pig and a rapist.' because he raped her, this gave her an incentive to do what she did.

 Props

 His shirt may represent his innocence, due to its colour, white, however if we look closely we can see it is an off-white, maybe to represent that fact that he is not so innocent, possibly that he had good intentions at the start but they detiriorated. This could then be a mis-representation, suggesting he has done something to aggravate her for him to be in this situation. The gun represents his life being on the line and whether he should live is down to the woman.

Location

From this shot, it is not clear to see that is is filmed in a car park, however this is a generic film location. It is a good loaction because the ceilings are low, so enclosed in a claustophobic space is always considerd a thriller convention. It could also signify her closing down on him, and facing her fears to stand up to him. Also that fact that they are usually empty, this leaves activities for the characters.  

Lighting

This is non-ambient lighting, much like the opening scene of Essex Boys in the garage. It creates a sense of fear and threat to the audience. This lighting also establishes the audience's focus on the characters, especially as the background is blurred. The brightest part of the shot is the barrell of the gun, drawing the focus to that aspect of the shot.

Essex Boys Analysis

Fight Club, Chiaroscuro Lighting.

Essex Boys, is a British crime-thriller film directed by Terry Windsor, made in 2000. It was shown at 54 screens throughout the UK, so small independent cinemas. The film was made on a low budget, which often compliments the thriller genre, making it look more real and less like a mainstream film.

Immediately we know that it is a noir thriller, due to the Chiaroscuro lighting, beaming down from behind the character, Billy, this type of lighting implies corruption or threat, in Essex Boys it is foreshadowing future events. Another thriller film that features a lot of chiaroscuro lighting is Fight Club. Chiaroscuro lighting also implies mystery, suspicion, it also gives the audience a point to look at, also a sense of illusion. 

 

An obvious thriller convention is the location, which is very un-glamorous, it is also a confined, claustrophobic space, a garage, which can often be intimidating and hard to get out of. 



 Billy sits in the car, this is again another generic thriller convention. There is also a voice-over of the character Billy, which is non-diegetic. The first line in the film is "I'll try anything once." This is a cultural signifier as you can instantly recognize an Essex accent. This is stereotypically associated with rough geezer type of men, who will "try anything once." However Billy doesn't seem like the type of person to commit crime from what we have seen so far, but this is all from Billy's point of view, so we could be very wrong. 

Jason through the windscreen.

It cuts to an amazing medium close up shot of Jason Lock through the windscreen of Billy's car, he looks threatening because of his attire and his expression. He wears rich clothes, leather and what looks like a silk shirt. This is like Bill in Kill Bill when he goes to wipe the Bride's face, showing his expensive shoes, ring, and handkerchief with 'Bill' embroidered on it showing his intense vanity. Through this shot diegetic sound is occurring, this shows realism which means the audience can relate to it. Again the use of Chiaroscuro lighting is still effective giving the impression that Jason is dangerous and a 'bad guy'. 

It cuts to a close up of Jason's face, he is squinting through his eyes, maybe representing the evil he is to commit. 


Cutting to a point of view shot of the back of the car driving away from the camera and into a tunnel, again another confined space, taking the shape of a barrel of a gun and the car being the bullet and racing through it. Pathetic fallacy plays a large role here, the rain connotes that something dark, sorrowful and maybe a sin will occur, foreshadowing the future. The tunnel has ambient lighting, again making it very realistic to the audience and making it something that they can relate to. As they enter the tunnel there is a 'stop' sign, this could be subliminal messaging to the audience implying that they are embarking on a journey in which they should stop. The car disappears into the vanishing point of the shot. 


It cuts to a close up shot of Billy driving the car, however the bars of lights on the top of the tunnel are reflecting onto his windscreen, this implies that Billy will be imprisoned, that he will be entering the criminal world. Jason is sat behind him, just over his shoulder watching him all the time. This is much like in Animal Kingdom when Pope, J's uncle is constantly wanting to know where he is, what he is doing all the time, the restriction gives the young characters no freedom.


It cuts to point of view shot of Jason, preparing to meet his 'old friend'. he gets out of the car leaving Billy inside the car, a confinement of his freedom and values. They are in a factory so again it would be ambient lighting, which lets the audience connect to what is happening as it becomes more real to them.  You then see the fight through Billy's point of view, however they are divided yet again by the windscreen, signifying that maybe Jason cannot reach Billy yet. 


It cuts to a medium close up of Jason sat next to Billy once again in the car. This is where we can make another reference to Bill from Kill Bill, as Jason's vanity seems through again. He has just thrown a pot of acid on a mans face and he got a little on his shirt, he tries to rub it off. Jason is more worried about the condition of his shirt than the man's wounds in the back of his van. 
Jason and Billy take the man to the Essex Marshes, this is Jason's land, it has no boundaries, no constraints, no restrictions. It is featureless and bleak, through these characteristics we can link them back to Jason. Jason beats the man up once again and leaves him stranded on the marshes, as it cuts to a long shot of the white van exiting Jason's territory. 
This is a case of Human Moral Corruption. 

Adaptions and developments to our Thriller Idea

We aim to change our idea slightly, but just play on different ideas but sticking to the main story line. By developing our ideas it will make it a lot easier to create, also the narrative will be chronological/linear so a lot easier to film than a flashback. It is also a lot more viable to film  in 2 minutes. The flow of the opening will be much smoother and leave a more anonymous ending, ready for the rest of the film.

Our initial Idea.

• Girl working in a cafe. (soft music to be playing in background)
• A shot to establish who she is, and her name on the name tag, 'Summer'.
• Over the shoulder shot of man watching her and taking pictures of her in his car.
• Flash shot of a wall covered in pictures of the girl.
• Man follows the girl home.
• He follows her into her home.
• Shot of unlocked padlock on the gate.
• Shot of the man continuing through the gate.
• Black flash, scream from girl.
• Shot of man driving home in pick up truck.
• Shot of her foot moving in the back, to imply she is still alive.

Changes to our idea.

• Girl working in a cafe. (soft music to be playing in background)
• A shot to establish who she is, and her name on the name tag, 'Summer'.
• Over the shoulder shot of man watching her and taking pictures of her in his car.
• Flash shot of a wall covered in pictures of the girl.
• Man follows the girl home.
• He sits in his car and watches her enter her house.
• He drives home.
• He gets home.
• He hears movement upstairs. (music changes to create tension)
• He goes upstairs.
• Goes into the room with the wall of photos, with the girl dead in.
• Flash of the Title 'Summers End'
• Panning shot of the man's face looking worried.

We changed our idea because we were not 100% happy with our first idea. The storyline was not going anywhere and we had no plan for the rest of the film. There also would have been no mystery and more of an action film rather than a thriller. It also leaves a cliff hanger to who killed the girl in his house and how they got back to his house quicker than he did.
We have thought about the music and that we didn't want to use diegetic sound in the first scene apart from maybe the scream when the girl is killed.However by using no music it creates more tension.
We want to call our Film 'Summer's End'. It implies that it is Autumn/Winter and that Summer has passed but also that the girl's name is Summer, and even from the first scene and the title you know something is going to happen to Summer. It creates direct association. It is Summer's life that ends.