Location Shots: Angel Café

    These are the location shots for the 'Angel Café'. We think that the 'quaintness' and 'uniqueness' of the café will mean that we are able to have a different feel to our Thriller, different to other people's.

Characters Names

The male character in our thriller is named Adrian Doyle. After researching the meanings of names, we found that 'Adrian' means 'The Dark One' - which we decided this fits well with the character, he is anonymous at the beginning as you only see the back of his head. The name 'Doyle' means 'Stranger'. This implies that the main female character does not know Adrian or that she has never met him before and he is a stranger to her. 


The female role in our thriller is named Agnes Maplestone. 'Agnes' means 'purity' and 'innocence', this reflects her character hugely and she is very gentle. After deciding not to chose a complicated name we decided that this would be suitable - however just a 'innocent' and 'gentle' main character may be boring as it shows her to not have much personality, so this is subject to change if we decide to change the girl to have a more complex personality.

Jackie Brown (1997) - Analysis: Shooting Scene

Explain how this clip reflects the thriller genre and what does the camera angle connote about the character of Ordell Robbie

    The low angle 'trunk' shot at 3:34 is used to connote a sense of dominance about the characters but also to show the characters to be key characters in the scene. We can see by the screen shot (left) that Tarantino uses the 'trunk' shot a lot in his films and could be seen to be an intertextual reference to other films such as:

- 'Pulp Fiction' : showing a very low angle shot of the two characters to establish them as dominant characters in the scene and also that the trunk may have something to do with them as characters.

- 'Inglorious Basterds': used to show a use of background and also to show the characters again.

- 'Reservoir Dogs' :establishing characters.

- 'Jackie Brown' : it is then used again in the same film when Jackie Brown is putting money into her 'trunk' - showing the connection between the money and her and that she is a dominant character and a main character of the film.

    This clip reflects the Thriller genre by having key aspects of the mise-en-scene related to the Thriller genre. The use of location is key and the locations used here are ones of a confined space such a car or a small hallway. It is also shot at light with dim, chiaroscuro, lighting and the wet streets, also a Thriller convention, reflect the dim lighting - connoting mystery. The relatively simple use of lighting means that the audience can clearly see the main aspects, or focus points, of the scene - contrasting Tarantino's usual style of bright lights and bold natural lighting, seen earlier in the film in the shopping scene.

    Most of the shots are also slightly tilted to connote a sense of mystery about the scene and to show Ordell as a character not to be trusted or as a slight enigmatic figure. The main close-up of the scene is of Ordell just after he has put Beaumont in the 'trunk' of his car - showing an imediate connection between the use of the trunk and the character of Ordell.

Jackie Brown (1997) - Analysis: Shopping Scene

What does this action in broad daylight connote about the character of Louis?

     The scene starts off with the two character leaving Louis' car and walking into a shopping mall. They then continue to swap a bag for a bag they have brought with them, showing the audience that they are both corrupt characters. The character of Louis can be seen from the start to be a deviant character, from the bad language and the mistreatment of women, to the daylight robbery. However, the audience cannot believe the woman to be a perfect women, because in fact she is quite the deviant women, in helping Louis with the robbery and also from being associated with him.

    From about 2:40 in this clip the woman starts teasing Louis as he cannot find his car in the car park of the mall. Mocking him and asking how ever did he rob a bank if he cannot find his car. The clothes the woman is wearing shows a lot about her character; the short shorts and the revealing vest top could connote the dirty aspect of her personality, that she is a cheap person, as her top isn't a full colour; more of an 'off-blue'. Also by her always being behind Louis could show that she is a cheap character who would do anything for money. She also smokes, which is normally thought to be 'unlady-like' - meaning she isn't the normal 'lady' one might expect in a film, thus challenging the stereotype of women, but also majorly conforming to the stereotype as she is completely reliant on Louis, a man, and she also dresses in a certain way to attract attention. However, the ambient lighting is equal on both of these characters, showing them to be equals in morals, but not equal as characters because Louis is always more dominant in the shots.

     Through the whole of the end of this scene Louis is silent as he is mocked by his female counterpart. He then snaps at the end of the scene telling her to not say anything anymore. She

says 'Okay, Louis' and he shoots her a split second after she says the line. Louis then pulls back, opening himself up more to become more dominant in the shot, to replace the lost subject of the woman and shoots her again, after she has fallen.
    This says a lot about his character, especially the fact that the act of crime has been done in broad daylight. This shows the audience that he is a very angry and short tempered character due to him completely snapping after being teased by the women for only moments. The fact that he shot her, not only once, but twice shows that he doesn't have any conscience in his actions and he would do anything to have something his way - showing the audience that he is a cold blooded killer who wont let anyone stop him.
    The car behind them is a deep, rusty, red colour - this reflects the action that is happening in the foreground by showing an unglamourous location and background. The car being slightly rusted reflects the character of Louis even more because we can see that he is much older than his female counterpart, showing that he is an old killer and perhaps he has killed people before, by him being able to kill somebody so calmly in broad daylight.
   As for the character of Louis, this scene is only seen as negative towards his character. The  bright light of the scene, usually ambient, but the brightness of the scene could suggest some non ambient lighting being used  - often used in Tarantino's films - is to show the absolute outrageousness of Louis killing this woman as it is in a public place and also during the day - showing he doesn't care what people think or who sees what he does - connoting continuous violence in his life.

Jackie Brown (1997) - Analysis: Title Sequence

Explain how Tarantino establishes the character of Jackie brown through camera shots and movement.

     Tarantino establishes the character of Jackie Brown by showing her, and only her, in the frame for the opening. It starts with the first shot of a character being a tracking shot of Jackie Brown for 15 seconds - this time is used to establish the character seen as the main character and also a dominant character in the film. Even as the titles roll adjacent to her, the audience are still drawn to her as she is very dominant in the frame, being in blue, therefore standing out, contrasting the lighter, green, background. 

     The next few shots of people do not show their face in any detail, therefore keeping Jackie Brown in the forefront of people's minds. Again, a tracking shot is used, however this time it is a low angle shot; showing perhaps that Jackie is a main character and that the attention of the film will be on her, such as people looking up to her as her being superior. The fact that she is walking towards the left of the shot and everyone else in the shot is walking in the opposite direction, to the right, could be used as a metaphor for Jackie as a character, as she is not moving with the mass of people or 'following the crowd' because she is a black female with a lead role in a film and even at this time it was a brave thing of Tarantino to do. 

     A slightly low angle, medium shot from the front is used next to further show Jackie as a main character. The use of great focus only on Jackie, but having the background blurred and out of focus creates a strong connection to Jackie Brown. The next shot is a close up - relating even further to the character of Jackie Brown. 

     The use of the smart clothing, along with the bold colouring of the clothing means that Jackie will always stand out amongst the public and also the backgrounds - cleverly used by Tarantino to keep the audience's attention on her at all times. Also, a vast majority of the shots are just of Jackie Brown - from close up to low angle tracking shots, everything is keeping the audience's attention solely focused on this character. 

    The tracking shot where Jackie Brown is running shows an aeroplane in the background also moving in the same direction as Jackie. This could be used to show that Jackie is very similar to the aeroplane in that she is going places in her life and is directional in her approach. 

New Shot List: Opening to 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 photos of different dead girls.

Further Development to our Thriller Idea

     As a group, we decided that our idea would be too complex just for an opening, as from our case studies we can see that a lot of Thriller films that conform to the genre have very simple openings with minimal changes to setting or characters. Therefore, we have taken our original idea of the cafe, but focus more on the interior of the cafe itself because a dark, ominous cafe will work very well in the Thriller genre. Also that if we keep to just one location, the audience will not be confused and it means that the audience can connect with a character more closely in one settings before it is changed - also just having one location will make it easier for us to maintain the 2 minutes we need.  

   

Developments:

• It 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 watching 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.
• She will take the coffee from him and begin to close the cafe for that evening.
• The date on the newspaper will imply that the scene is a flashback once the audience has established the date later in the film.
• The 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 - to show she has been locked inside the already small/claustraphobic space of the cafe.
• 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.

We will have a shot of the man pinning up photos of girls and also the girl in the film, much like in the image (left) - portraying the man as a sadistic killer - the influence coming from 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo'. Thus the rest of the film will be an investigation into the murder/disapprence of the girl from the cafe and perhaps having the man as a very onmisent and enigmatic character in the film.

Overall - I think this idea is much simpler and will be able to fit into 2 minutes a lot easier as we have less to film rather than having to film a lot and then cram it into the time limit - which could confuse the audience because there is so much location change. Therefore, with only one location, possibly two if the man is filmed walking into the cafe at the beginning, the audience can see the narrative structure and characters much easier.