The target audience for our thriller production 'Beach Comber' is 15-22 year old British people, as our main characters/actors are British teenagers, and the locations we used are in Norfolk (UK).
Due to the victim in our narrative that we track from the very beginning being female, it is possible that our audience would primarily be females as they would sympathise with the character, although our production could appeal to both male and female audiences; so is not limited to an 'all female' audience.
Other films our audience may like are 'Submarine', 'Dead Man's Shoes', 'Tyrannosaur', 'The Loved Ones', 'Seconds Apart', 'Attack the Block' and 'The Cornetto Trilogy' ('Shaun of the Dead', 'Hot Fuzz', 'The World's End').
Our audience may like 'Submarine', 'Dead Man's Shoes' and 'Tyrannosaur' as they are all Independent British films from Warp Films - a Independent British film company from Sheffield who want to get British film 'out there'; as well as Tyrannosaur being Paddy Considine's directing debut.
They may enjoy films like 'The Loved Ones' and 'Second's Apart' as the main characters featured are teenagers/young adults - especially both the victims and antagonists; much like our production.
Whereas they may like 'Attack the Block' as not only does it's narrative revolve around a group of deviant British youths, but -similarly to 'Tyrannosaur'- it is Joe Cornish's directing debut for film, produced by Film4 and with Edgar Wright as Executive Producer.
Similarly, 'The Cornetto Trilogy' will appeal to our target audience as it is a collection of British films written and directed by Edgar Wright (co-written and starring Simon Pegg), set and filmed in British locations; with social commentary on certain issues - issues of which could possibly be of interest to our target audience.
Solved: The 23 year mystery of man’s body found on Weybourne beach For more than two decades a grave with no name has stood in a north Norfolk churchyard.Despite a six-month police investigation, the man’s body could not be identified - leaving villagers to gather for a poignant funeral at Weybourne cemetery in April 1990.
But now - thanks to modern detective work - the mystery of the body washed up on Weybourne beach in 1989 has been solved.
Police can now reveal that it is Michael Sutherland, 34, of Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, who was found 23 years ago on October 9 by local fishermen.
The fact that there was a body found at our primary location of Weybourne Beach in North Norfolk helps to add depth, dimension and meaning to our use of this location. It does this by adding a fairly eerie and foreboding feel as it strengthens the idea that something bad could happen to the victim Sam in our narrative whilst being followed at this location.
In the opening of 'The Third Man' we see an image of a dead body floating in water, instantly portraying the thriller genre and possibly foreshadowing later events in the film; as well as portraying 1946 Vienna as a dystopian location/setting.
Later in the opening we see the use of real life footage, which helps to add a sense of gritty realism to the production. The title sequence to 'Psycho' uses very similar imagery.
When we are introduced to Holly Martins we see that he is a very innocent and naive character, on his way to see Harry Lime who we learn is very whimsical and devious; despite the audience not actually being introduced to the character yet. On Holly's journey he is seen walking under a ladder lent against a wall, this being used ironically to play on the superstition of it being bad luck.
The superstition arose from a Christian belief in the Holy Trinity-
that God is made up of three parts, the Holy Father, the Holy Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Thus, the number three was somewhat
sacred, and the triangle was by association also sacred with its three sides. A
ladder leaning up against a building was seen as a triangle, so to walk through this triangle (by walking under
the ladder) was seen as breaking the Trinity. The
bible talks about the one unforgivable sin being blaspheming against the Holy
Spirit, so someone who breaks the Trinity is seen to be in league with the
Devil; and once again, being labelled
such in the old days of
Christianity was a quick way to invite the hangman and witch trials. Similar to the use of the floating body in the opening, this feature could have been used to foreshadow later events. Alternatively, as Holly only walked under the ladder to get to Harry Lime, this could be suggesting that Harry is bad news and could possibly corrupt Holly; who has been portrayed to the audience as a naive, innocent character. When Holly gets to where Harry lives, we see him ascend a large staircase - of which being a generic thriller location; also seen in the opening of Danny Boyle's 1994 'Shallow Grave'.
The use of non-ambient lighting helps to create very heavy shadowing on the scene, the shadow behind Holly suggesting enigma and mystery- possibly in reference to the character of Harry Lime. This use of heavy shadowing is similar to that seen in 'Nosferatu the Vampyre' (1929).
The audience are made to sympathise with Holly from early on in the film, as on the staircase he encounters a German man who proceeds to talk to him, with Holly not understanding what he is saying. As there are no subtitles for the German man's dialogue, the audience are put with/in Holly's place as we don't understand what he is saying either. This could help to elicit a response from the audience that leads them to believe he is the innocent party, and -much like the audience themselves- watching the events unfold as they happen, with him having the same knowledge of the occurrences as the audience does.
Later in the film, we see a tilt shot of a Gothic doorway where a cat is sat; the tilt possibly used to signify Holly's confusion and disorientation when we see Harry Lime for the first time - whom we were led to believe was dead. Much like with the use of the ladder earlier, cats are linked to superstition; as well as witchcraft, reinforcing Harry Lime as a fairly negative and phantom-like character.
This further links to 'Nosferatu', as when we first see Harry Lime the lighting is the same used in 'Nosferatu' when establishing the character, further linking the character of Harry Lime to a phantom or supernatural being; reinforced by him suddenly vanishing into the night when he is seen by Holly. Harry is later seen emerging from the shadows atop a building, which portrays enigma and vampiric connotations, once again strengthening the comparason between Harry Lime and Nosferatu.
The pinnacle moment in the film is when Harry is chased down into the sewers, the claustrophobic setting creating a foreboding sense of suffocation; as well as possibly eliciting a fear response from the audience as many people have a fear of closed in spaced - helping to build tension within the audience. The use of such location creating a prominent vanishing point which could possibly suggest that there is no redemption for Harry, highlighted by the use of chiaroscuro lighting which helps to connote surrealism whilst also adding aesthetic appeal to the mise en scene; the shadowing it creates connoting nightmare and a sense of mystery. The sewer location helps to signify Harry's decent into the depths, much like a rat he plagues an poisons the innocent - as we find that he has been indirectly killing children by stealing drugs from hospitals to sell on the black market.
As the narrative of our thriller production consists of both a teenage victim and antagonist, I decided to do some research into teenage/young adult antagonists in thriller texts.
Kazuo Kiriyama
In the film 'Battle Royale', Kazuo Kiriyama is an exchange student who joined the Battle Royale programme (a game designed to have students kill each other) for his own entertainment instead of being taken forcefully. As the game begins he rapidly becomes the most dangerous and feared player.
Lola Stone
In the film 'The Loved Ones', Lola Stone is a high school student who kidnapped her classmate Brent Mitchell, who happened to be her latest victim with the help of her father, also her lover. It began when Lola asked Brent to prom but he rejected her because he already had a date with his girlfriend Holly. Lola and her father then proceed to torture Brent, as well as threatening to kill his mum and Holly.
Seth and Jonah
In the film 'Seconds Apart', Seth and Jonah are twins with a dangerous ability: telepathy; their powers of which being much stronger when they work together, where they can tap into people's worst fears and cause them to hallucinate. Between them they devise a sinister film project in which they manipulate their victims into killing themselves in all sorts of ghastly ways and film it, then review the footage asking one another if he "feels it" yet. What "it" may be is never really said, but it appears that the brothers are using their telekinetic abilities to experiment with the minds of people around them in order to understand or "feel" something that they can't grasp.
Gogo Yubari
In the film 'Kill Bill: Vol. 1', Gogo Yubari is a young associate of O-Ren Ishii and a severely disturbed 17-year-old Japanese schoolgirl who takes a sadistic delight in killing. She was O-Ren's top assassin and personal bodyguard. Although The Bride gives her the opportunity to walk away, Gogo takes her on with a large meteor hammer with sharp blades hidden within it, almost overcoming the Bride by strangling her savagely with the chain. Out of all the enemies that the Bride comes up against, Gogo is the only one that almost kills The Bride in 'Kill Bill: Vol. 1'.
Doubt
Yoshiki Tonogai's manga series 'Doubt'revolves around a fictional mobile phone game called"Rabbit Doubt".The players must find the wolf, or killer, amongst their group of rabbits as they are picked off one-by-one. Six players of this game find themselves trapped in a building with one of the group already dead; to avoid the same fate, the remaining five must play a real-life game of "Rabbit Doubt" and find the wolf (liar) hiding among them.
Adam Jackson
In 'Conflicted' - episode 20 of the 4th series of 'Criminal Minds'-Adam's mother, Rosemary, died when he was five, causing Adam's stepfather, Mark Harrison, who had been abusive towards Rosemary, to begin channelling his aggression towards Adam. Mark would beat Adam, force him to wear girl's clothes, and possibly molested him. To cope with the abuse, Adam developed an alternate female personality that referred to itself as Amanda, and took the abuse for Adam. Years later, Adam -as his alternate personality 'Amanda'-begins killing and raping males who he sees as substitutes for his step-dad.
As the opening credits are one of the first things we see, it is important to use a font that is fitting of our production as it may be used to set the tone of the whole text, and also influence the audience's initial response to our production.
In 'Hansel & Gretel: Witch hunters' the opening credits are very fitting of the text and set up the audiences expectation for the production.
The way in which we present our credits is very important as this could also have an effect on the audience's perception of our production. By animating the text so that it fades up and out again - like in the titles of 'insidious'- makes it look like smoke, creating an eerie feeling; as well as suggesting the supernatural elements and the theme of astral projection explored within the production. In this example, the use of the opening credits is clearly very fitting of the overall text, and intrigues the audience from the very beginning.
In the opening credits of 'Se7en', the text flickers and twitches, which could be seen as reflective of the unstable, psychotic mindset of the murderer within the narrative - a psychotic individual being a generic thriller character type. Once again, this shows that the use of text within the opening credits is very important in setting the atmosphere for a production - further reinforcing the importance of finding a suitable and effective font choice for our production as not only will it be one of the first things that the audience sees, but it may also influence their initial attitudes towards the film.
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Megan Burns, Christopher Eccleston
About the film:Animal rights activists free a group of infected chimpanzees to horrifying results. Waking from a coma in a deserted London hospital 28 days later, Jim takes to the deserted city streets in a state of mystified confusion. Joining forces with another group of survivors following a terrifying encounter in a seemingly abandoned church, Jim soon learns the truth behind the deserted streets and the menacing creatures that lurk in the shadows. It's soon revealed that the chimpanzees had been harboring a deadly virus that sends its victims into a furious, murderous rage, and in the days following the initial exposure, the entire population was nearly wiped out due to the resulting homicidal rampage. Is there still a glimmer of hope for humanity - or has the deadly "rage" virus found its way to foreign shores and infected the entire planet?
The film opens with images of violence that appear to be taken in different parts of the world. By opening the film with this, it appears to be foreshadowing the later events of infection spreading and people turning against one another - much like in the clips seen here. We later see that the shots are located in a laboratory that is using chimps in their research, due to the chimp we see laying on a medical table with it's chest cut open and organs visible. It is then that we see a group of animal rights activists break in to the laboratory - clad in dark clothing, with the setting being heavily shadowed. This helps to not only make the location seem eerie, but also helps to suggest that something bad is about to happen. Later we see one of the activists being attacked by one of the infected chimps whilst trying to set it free. This shot is filmed on a hand-held camera which helps to enforce the fear and urgency of the character before her death.
Later, we see the main character Jim - whose just woken up from a coma- exposed, laid in a hospital bed. The fact that Jim is exposed when we first see him could be reflective of the fact that he is quite vulnerable as he isn't aware of what has happened and why; as well as being reflective of the fact that he is completely on his own. He is left in an isolated hospital, which has been overturned and damaged - signifying that something terrible has happened whilst he was in a coma, and had caused everyone to flee. The use of extreme long shots of the main tourist attractions in London whilst Jim is wandering the streets helps to show the audience that there is absolutely no movement at all in one of the busiest cities, reinforcing his isolation and abandonment. The tilt shot used when he is walking through the isolated streets shows the confusion and disorientation the character is feeling at this new and unnerving turn of events.
The Church location Jim wanders to after leaving the hospital was used in a very interesting way. As soon as he enters we can see that the building is very dark and heavily shadowed - once again indication that something is not quite right- and is very still and quiet, uncomfortably so. This could be very significant as it could suggest that no religion or faith will help anyone and that there is no escape; as we later find out it hasn't as Jim's first encounter with the virus comes in the form of the priest from the church.
After meeting another survivor - Selena- they come across a block of flats in an urban location, covered in graffiti and barricaded with a massive pile of stolen supermarket trolleys; which helps to reinforce the connotations of urban areas, which is a generic thriller location. Similarly, another generic thriller location is the large staircase within the tower block that the two are chased up, building the tension and suspense within the audience. They then travel in a car -the interior of which being another generic thriller location- with the two new survivors from the tower block; a young girl named Hannah and her father Frank. Similar to that in 'Essex Boys', their journey takes them down a large, dark tunnel of which you cannot see the other side, possibly foreshadowing the fact that their journey may not end well; which is later seen with Frank being infected, a group of soldiers who try to rape Selena and Hannah with the intention to try and restart humanity, and who also attempt to kill Jim.
Due to being one of my favourite fims, i decided to do a contextual study of 'A Clockwork Orange' in relation to my previous post identifying the thriller conventions explored in Kubrick's screen adaptation of 'A Clockwork Orange'.
'A Clockwork Orange' is a film adaptation of Anthony Burgess' 1962 dystopian novella of the same name; released in America on 19th December 1971. Alex is a charismatic, sociopathic delinquent whose interests include classical music (especially Beethoven), rape, and what is termed "ultra-violence". He leads a small gang of his friends - Pete, Georgie, and Dim- whom he calls his droogs. We follow Alex on the horrific crime spree of his gang, his capture, and attempted rehabilitation via controversial psychological conditioning. They use classical conditioning - learning through association- through aversion therapy to try and condition Alex to despise violence.
Aversion therapy is a form of psychological treatment in which the patient is exposed to a stimulus while simultaneously being subjected to some form of discomfort. This conditioning is intended to cause the patient to associate the stimulus with unpleasant sensations in order to stop the specific behaviour.
The most famous example of classical conditioning is 'Pavlov's Dogs', where he conditioned dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell. In this case, food acts as an unconditioned stimulus where the dogs natural salivation at the food is the unconditioned response. A neutral stimulus - a bell- would receive no conditioned response from the dog. During conditioning, the food would be placed in front of the dog whilst the bell rang; which would produce the unconditioned response of salivation to the food. After conditioning,the conditioned stimulus - the bell- received the response of the now conditioned response of salivation at the sound of the bell alone.
In the case of Alex in 'A Clockwork Orange', it would be plausible to assume that the discomfort Alex is being exposed to acts as an unconditioned stimulus; where his natural reaction to this discomfort is the unconditioned response. Therefore, violence is a neutral stimulus as he has never been opposed to it, partaking in it regularly; and so for him to observe violence receives no conditioned response. During Alex's 'treatment', Alex would be subjected to discomfort whilst shown a series of violent images; which would produce the unconditioned response of Alex's discomfort. After 'treatment', the conditioned stimulus alone - any type of violence- would receive the now conditioned response of feeling sick/uncomfortable when thinking about or seeing violence after he's finished treatment and is released back into society.
Reception and Controversy Along
with Bonnie and Clyde (1967), The Wild Bunch (1969), Dirty Harry (1971), and
Straw Dogs (1971), the film is considered a landmark in the relaxation of
control on violence in the cinema. In the United Kingdom, A Clockwork Orange
was very controversial and withdrawn from release by Kubrick himself.
In the United States, A Clockwork Orange was rated X in its original release.
Later, Kubrick voluntarily replaced approximately 30 seconds of sexually
explicit footage from two scenes with less explicit action for an R rating
re-release in 1973. Because of the explicit sex and violence, The National
Catholic Office for Motion Pictures rated it C ("Condemned"), a
rating which forbade Roman Catholics seeing the film. In 1982, the Office
abolished the "Condemned" rating. Subsequently, films deemed to have
unacceptable levels of sex and violence by the Conference of Bishops are rated
O, "Morally Offensive".
Although
passed uncut for UK cinemas in December 1971, British authorities considered
the sexual violence in the film to be extreme. In March 1972, during the trial
of a fourteen-year-old male accused of the manslaughter of a classmate, the
prosecutor referred to A Clockwork Orange, suggesting that the film had a macabre
relevance to the case. The film was also linked to the murder of an elderly
vagrant by a 16 year old boy in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, who pleaded guilty
after telling police that friends had told him of the film "and the
beating up of an old boy like this one." Roger Gray QC, for the defence,
told the court that "the link between this crime and sensational
literature, particularly A Clockwork Orange, is established beyond reasonable
doubt". The press also blamed the film for a rape in which the attackers
sang "Singin' in the Rain".
Christiane Kubrick, the director's wife,
has said that the family received threats and had protesters outside their
home. Subsequently, Kubrick asked Warner Brothers to withdraw the film from
British distribution. In response to allegations that the film was responsible
for copycat violence Kubrick stated: "To try and fasten any responsibility
on art as the cause of life seems to me to put the case the wrong way around.
Art consists of reshaping life, but it does not create life, nor cause life.
Furthermore, to attribute powerful suggestive qualities to a film is at odds
with the scientifically accepted view that, even after deep hypnosis in a
posthypnotic state, people cannot be made to do things which are at odds with
their natures.” The Scala Cinema Club went into receivership in 1993 after
losing a legal battle following an unauthorized screening of the film. It was
only after Kubrick's death in 1999 that the film reappeared in cinemas and was
released on VHS and DVD.
Explain how Tarantino establishes Thriller conventions in the opening of 'Kill Bill: Vol. 1'
In the opening of Tarantino's 'Kill Bill: Vol. 1', the first thriller convention to be established is with the character of Bill - the greedy, malevolent character with a dark, corrupt past; which is a generic character type explored in thriller texts. In the short, close-up tracking shot of Bill's feet; we see that they are clad in a pair of 'cowboy boots'. As part of his costume, these boots could have been used to make the character seem as if he is trying to make himself look taller; physically putting himself above everyone else - possibly trying to instate his own apparent feel of authority over others. We later see Bill wipe the blood off of The Bride's face, with a handkerchief with his name on it. The fact that he has a handkerchief with his own name embroidered on it would suggest that Bill is a fairly vain and conceited character; possibly with a great feeling of ownership over certain things - and probably people too. In this shot, we are also able to see that Bill is wearing jewellery; which makes him appear flashy and pretentious.
The use of black and white not only helps to create an atmospheric feel; but also helps the audience to differentiate between 'flashback' scenes like this one, and 'real-time' scenes which soon follow. The use of black and white helps to create an atmospheric feel by contrasting the binary opposites of the colours; which could be reflective of the dark, deplorable character of Bill - who shoots someone when they are most defenceless, and the vulnerable, 'anti-hero' type character of 'The Bride'. The use of black and white could also be referencing the sub-genre of 'Noir Thriller'.
The cliff hanger at the end of this opening is very effective in keeping the audiences interest and attention. This could be due to the main character - The Bride- being shot in the head at the very beginning of the film, as many would doubt anyone could survive taking a bullet to the head at such close range. This helps to intrigue the audience and engross them into the events about to unfold, as they would want to know how she survives it; and what will happen next. This would therefore be a very appealing opening to the audience, as it would absorb them in the film and elicit their curiosity from the very beginning.
Inter-textual reference between Tarantino's 'Kill Bill: Vol. 1' (Chapter 2) and the opening sequence of David Lynch's crime noir drama 'Blue Velvet'.
In this scene, we see a shot of a street decorated with very bright, friendly looking houses. The use of bright coloured houses - similar to those in the opening of 'Blue Velvet'- could have been used ironically; as they look very aesthetically pleasing, but dangerous things are happening inside - such as the fight between 'The Bride' and Vernita. This, along with the idyllic American suburb front helps to add a falsity to the scene; making it feel as if the people there have something to hide. This could be reflective of the fact that both 'The Bride' and Vernita have a fairly dark past, in reference to their involvement with Bill and the 'Deadly Viper Assassination Squad' that they have both tried to move on from.
During the fight between 'The Bride' and Vernita, the school bus pulls up infront of the house, and Vernita's daughter arrives home. This reinforces the idea of falsity and concealment of truth, as when her daughter walks in, Vernita and 'The Bride' put on a front and pretend to be old friends; keeping their dark secret of how they became acquainted from the young, oblivious girl. This could be linked to the opening of 'Blue Velvet' where we see the young school children be ushered across the road, which -in both texts- could be symbolic of peoples seemingly innocent ignorance of the true, sinister events that are occurring in their neighbourhood unbeknown to them.
This sense of fake appearances and heightened colour in both 'kill Bill: Vol. 1' and 'Blue Velvet' also have clear links to 'The Truman Show' and 'The Wizard of Oz'. In 'The Truman Show', they use the idea of brightly coloured, idyllic suburban houses to enhance the feel of a false reality - making everything feel uncomfortably 'perfect'; fitting of the narrative as Truman is an unsuspecting insurance salesman who finds out that his whole life is a reality TV show.
In 'The Wizard of Oz', very similarly to 'Kill Bill: Vol. 1', 'Blue Velvet' and 'The Truman Show'; the use of bright, garish colours help to create a sense of falsity and surrealism - creating the illusion of a utopian surrounding in which everything is perfect. Much like 'The Truman Show', this effect is very fitting for the narrative of 'The Wizard of Oz' as the land of the munchkin's is fake, the wizard is fake; and they all exist only in Dorothy's imagination, due to her desire to escape reality.
The Parker–Hulme murder case took place in the city of
Christchurch, New Zealand, on 22 June 1954, when Honorah Rieper was killed by
her teenage daughter, Pauline Parker, and Pauline's close friend Juliet Hulme.
As a child, Parker had suffered from osteomyelitis; and
Hulme had suffered from tuberculosis, and was sent by her parents to the
Bahamas to recover. The girls initially bonded over their respective
illnesses, but, as their friendship developed, they formed an elaborate fantasy
life together. They would often sneak out and spend the night acting out
stories involving the fictional characters they had created. Their parents
found this disturbing and worried that their relationship might be sexual.
Homosexuality at the time was considered a serious mental illness, so both sets
of parents attempted to prevent the girls from seeing each other.
In 1954, Juliet's parents separated; her father lost his job at Canterbury College and planned to return to
England. It was then decided that Juliet would be sent to live with relatives
in South Africa—mainly for her health, but also so that the girls would be
more effectively, if not permanently, separated. Pauline told her mother that
she wanted to accompany Juliet, but Pauline's mother made it clear it would not
be allowed. The girls then formed a plan to murder Pauline's mother and leave
the country for Hollywood in the United States.
On 22 June 1954, the body of Honorah Rieper was discovered
in Victoria Park, in Christchurch, New Zealand. That morning Honorah had gone
for a walk through Victoria Park with her daughter Pauline Parker, and Juliet Hulme. Down the path, in a wooded area of the
park, Hulme and Parker bludgeoned Rieper to death
with a brick placed in an old stocking. After committing the murder they had
planned together, the girls fled, covered in blood, back to the tea kiosk
where the three of them had eaten only minutes before. Major lacerations were found about her head, neck, and face,
with minor injuries to her fingers. Police soon discovered the murder weapon in
the nearby woods, and the girls' story of Rieper's accidental death quickly
fell apart.
The trial was an astonishing spectacle, with speculation
about the girls possible lesbianism and insanity. The girls were convicted on 28
August 1954, and each of them spent five years in prison as they were too young
to be considered for the death penalty. They were later released, and adopted new identities.
In 'Heavenly Creatures', Jackson uses an aria from Puccini's opera 'Madam Butterfly'; of which Juliet Hulme sings on the eve of the murder she and Pauline Parker commit. This amplifies the importance of the events that follow, and adds dimension to the film.
The inter-textual reference to Puccini's 'Madam Butterfly' in 'Heavenly Creatures' is one of great significance. The reference to opera is reflective of the two girls delusional view of their lives as some kind of grand opera, along with the actual reference to 'Madam Butterfly' in regards to tragedy and drama.
Audiences who recognise the reference to the tragic story of 'Madam Butterfly' will be able to create a link between Butterfly's traumatic demise and the calamitous struggle that Juliet and Pauline find themselves with. In Puccini's opera, Butterfly - a 15 year old Japanese girl - marries a U.S Naval officer named Pinkerton; who leaves shortly after their wedding. Three years later, Butterfly is still waiting on Pinkerton's return - that many have told her will not happen- and it is revealed that she has given birth to his son. It is then that pinkerton arrives back to the house in Japan - but with his new American wife, Kate; as she has agreed to take care of the child. Agreeing to give up her child if Pinkerton comes to see her himself, Butterfly then prays to statues of her ancestral gods, says goodbye to her son, and blindfolds him. She places a small American flag into his hands and goes behind a screen, killing herself with her father's hara-kiri knife. It is then that Pinkton rushes in to see Butterly, but to his dismay he is too late.
For audiences with knowledge of Butterfly's excruciating demise, jackson's choice of soundtrack creates emphasis on the harrowing events that are about to unfold for Juliet and Pauline. It enables the audience to relate the tragedy and anguish of Butterfly's destruction to the agonising deed that is about to occur in 'Heavenly creatures', foreshadowing the events about to take place.
As a generic character type of Thriller texts is a 'psychotic individual', i carried out some research into psychopathy and empathy.
In
the early 1800s, doctors who worked with mental patients began to notice that
some of their patients who appeared outwardly normal had what they termed a
“moral depravity” or “moral insanity,” in that they seemed to possess no sense
of ethics or of the rights of other people. The term “psychopath” was first
applied to these people around 1900. The term was changed to “sociopath” in the
1930s to emphasize the damage they do to society.
Psychopathy can be described as an aspect of personality or as a personality disorder. As a personality disorder, it is characterized by enduring antisocial behaviour, diminished empathy and remorse, and disinhibited or bold behaviour. As an aspect of personality, it represents scores on different dimensions of personality found throughout the population in varying combinations.
A psychopath could be described as a person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behavior without empathy or remorse.
In this scene of Tarantino's 'Jackie Brown', we see the character Louis - the 'psychotic individual'- kill Melanie in a public place in broad daylight.
The fact that Louis shoots Melanie in a public place - such as the car park- in broad daylight portrays him as a fairly psychotic character as he has not been secretive about the murder; and seems to show very little recognition for his actions, along with the fact that he still talks to her as if she's beside him; when she's laying dead on the floor after being shot twice.
Psychopaths
exhibit antisocial and aggressive behaviour, as well as emotional and
interpersonal deficits including shallow emotions and a lack of remorse and
empathy. Studies suggest psychopaths have atypical responses to distress cues
(e.g. facial and vocal expressions of fear and sadness), including decreased
activation of the fusiform (part of the temporal lobe and occipital lobe, located
between the inferior temporal gyrus and the parahippocampal gyrus) and
extrastriate cortical regions (the region of the occipital cortex of the
mammalian brain located next to the primary visual cortex), which may partly
account for impaired recognition of and reduced autonomic responsiveness to
expressions of fear, and impairments of empathy.
Throughout the film 'Jackie Brown', Tarantino uses a number of generic conventions as to establish it's thriller genre.
In the title sequence, the importance of the main character 'Jackie Brown' has been established with the use of an opening tracking shot, with a very long/heavy focus on the character. This helps to portray to the audience the significance of the main character. Her costume is reflective of her job, due to the distinct, generic airline uniform. The fact that the character is first introduced to the audience at her place of work portrays that - from the very beginning- the character is strong and independent, as the fact that she has a job shows that she is very self-sufficient. Her appearance and body language also helps to reinforce the idea of a very stylish, strong, confident female character.
Together, these help to portray the image of a strong, capable, self-reliant main character; which is one of the generic character types found in thriller texts. The use of bright colour and ambient lighting in this scene could be used to reflect the fact that this is the characters natural state, rather then them forging autonomy and competence; as the bright colours makes the character almost exposed in a way, giving her the inability to 'hide' anything, and the use of natural light could be metaphorical of her natural disposition.
In this scene, the chiaroscuro lighting in the unglamorous, tacky balcony setting at the beginning of the scene creates a subtle reference to film noir; along with the dimly lit urban setting being a generic feature of thriller films. The fact that Beaumont is topless, with his back against the wall for the first half of this scene shows that he is vulnerable, unprotected and exposed; possibly foreshadowing the later event of his demise.
Later in this scene, we see a slightly tilted low angle of Beaumont and Ordell from the boot of a car; which appears in many of Tarantino's other works, such as 'Pulp Fiction', 'Kill Bill' and 'Reservoir Dogs'. An example of this repeated shot can be seen in the video below.
This shot is used when Ordell is trying to persuade Beaumont to get into the boot of the car, to which he shows very strong rejection to. This helps to evoke fear and tension within the audience due to the claustrophobic setting of the car boot; as many people have a fear of small spaces and the idea of having a lack of oxygen - therefore possibly suffocating to death. The use of claustrophobic settings is a generic feature of thriller films, used effectively in this text as the idea of claustrophobia in this character is used almost as a red herring as it leads the audience - along with the character himself- to believe that the small space is the only problem facing him, rather than his impending, inevitable death. This is similar to where Jason locks the 'snitch/grass' in the back of his van, where he then takes him to an isolated location to beat him up and leave him there. The shot of Ordell in the front of the car -the interior of a car being a generic location of thriller texts- shows him with an army uniform-like costume which could be used to try and establish his dominance over Beaumont; along with showing his 'jewellery/bling' which portrays him as a very flashy and conceited character. This shot also shows the audience Ordell in the front of the car putting a pair of dark gloves on, which could be foreshadowing the fact that something bad is about to happen; possibly suggesting a crime or other wrong doings on his part. The camera then follows the car down a wet, urban street with the reflections of the street lights on the pavement - which is a generic thriller location. As the car goes around a fence the camera pans up, following the car; as to keep the 180° rule. It is here that we then witness Ordell shooting Beaumont in the boot of the car, which portrays to the audience that Ordell is a negative character who is not to be trusted; as the audience has just seen him kill someone. The fact that he was able to kill Beaumont shows that Ordell is very detached from his emotions as he appears to show very little empathy for his prior actions.
Melanie's death scene takes place in a car park, which is a generic location found in thriller texts. The fact that Louis shoots Melanie in a public place - such as the car park- in broad daylight portrays him as a fairly psychotic character as he has not been secretive about the murder; and seems to show very little recognition for his actions, along with the fact that he still talks to her as if she's beside him; when she's laying dead on the floor after being shot twice. The idea of a psychotic individual is a generic character type found in thriller texts; as well as being a distinguishing feature of a number of Tarantino's other works. Alternatively, the fact that Louis appeared to have no second thoughts or empathy for killing Melanie could be seen as a type of social commentary about the fact that people are being 'desensitised' to certain issues - such as death/murder- due to what people are now being exposed to through many different types of media; such as the news and magazines/newspapers.
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