Possible Soundtrack Ideas - Thriller Planning

The soundtrack to a Thriller (or any genre of film) is essential in ensuring the motion picture is memorable. The correct soundtrack can enhance the audiences participation in the film by   reinforcing the emotions of which the film wishes to evoke. Thus we spent a lot time considering which style of music would best do this for our thriller. 

Initially we looked towards the 1994 thriller 'Heavenly Creatures' for inspiration. 'Heavenly Creatures' focuses its filming largely on the beauty of nature, and combines such with rather dramatic, orchestral pieces of music; it does so to enhance the said natural beauty, as well as to contrast with it. The music originally appears ironic as it mocks the (initially)insignificant movement of the characters within it. 

This piece, Pauline & Juliet by Peter Dasent, is comparatively less dramatic to the film's other choices, however we appreciated its melancholy tone.

Other influential pieces include: 




Daniel Perret's cover of Schubert's Ave Maria.

Similarly to Perter Dasent's piece, Ave Maria is rather somber and pensive. This piece encourages the audience to anticipate a distressing forthcoming event. 

The final piece we looked at is Pachelbel's Canon in D.




This piece is significantly upbeat in comparison to the previously suggested soundtracks. We considered a more upbeat pieces as often the juxtaposition between the soundtrack and the drama of a thriller increases the sorrowful feel. In turn, this too enhances the emotions of the audience which further engages them.

Films such as 'Ordinary People' (1980) use Pachelbel's Canon in D. 
This film specifically focuses on the past, using Pachelbel's theme to enhance such.





















Eventually we decided that our piece must contain a strong piano narrative and must convey deep, somber emotions. 



In our final edit, we used various cuts /sections mixed together of The Eternal Forest. The strong piano narrative infuses the many points we desired from the previously mentioned pieces in order to recreate our own melancholic soundtrack. We believe this piece, much like in Heavenly Creatures, increases our natural, lake location as well as heightening the characters emotions. Additionally, the pieces also encourages heightened anticipation within the audience. Once edited, the piece slowly builds up before climaxing with our cliffhanger, before returning to its normal pace; the 'normal pace' highlights our thrillers sense of life, and nature remaining constant, despite other's actions. Specifically, we used chunks ranging from 2 minutes 20 seconds to 3 minutes 20 seconds as this section best suited our intentions.

Shot List - Thriller Planning

SHOT	CHARACTER(S)	LOCATION	SHOT TYPE	CAMERA ANGLE	LIGHTING	ACTION IN SCENE
1.	N/A	Whitlingham Lake, edge of water	Panning shot/Establishing shot	Medium close up	Ambient	Camera pans the surface of lake.
2.	Billy	Whitlingham path way	Tracking shot/Establishing shot	Close up	Ambient	Camera films boy from a profile angle as he walks along the path (Jackie Brown intertextual reference).
3.	Billy, Danielle	Whitlingham path way, in bushes	Over the shoulder	Long shot	Ambient	Camera films from behind girl’s shoulder, watching whilst boy is seen walking ahead.
4.	Billy	Whitlingham path way	Worm’s eye/Low angle	Extreme close up	Ambient	Boy’s shoe is seen walking through the mud right next to the camera at an extreme close up (Heavenly Creatures intertextual reference).
5.	Billy	Whitlingham path way	Over the shoulder	Close up	Ambient	Camera now follows directly behind boy as he approaches the bushes.
6.	Billy, Danielle	Whitlingham path way, beside bushes	Medium close up/establishing shot	Medium close up	Ambient	Camera films boy standing still beside the bushes from shoulders and above as he gets ready to take a photo, girl faintly seen watching in the distance.
7.	Billy	Whitlingham path way	Low angle	Close up	Ambient	Camera films boy’s hands on his camera as he adjusts the lense and takes the photo
8.	Billy	Whitlingham path way, beside bushes	High angle medium close up	Medium close up	Ambient	boy crouches down beside the bushes to take a photograph, the camera films at a high angle.
9.	Billy, Danielle	Whitlingham path way	Over the shoulder	Medium close up	Ambient	The camera films behind boy’s shoulder after he takes the photo, footsteps are suddenly heard and girl’s arms, holding a knife/bat appear and the clip ends before she hits him (Heavenly Creatures intertextual reference).
10.	N/A	Whitlingham lake, edge of water	Panning shot	Medium close up	Ambient	Camera pans the surface of the water in reference to the first shot (Heavenly Creatures intertextual reference).

Jackie Brown Case Study

The opening of Jackie Brown begins with an iconic tracking shot (iconic largely due to its length) which establishes the main character, a middle-age black woman, as living an seemingly dull, uninteresting lifestyle as an air hostess. Tarantino (director) goes against generic conventions by using such a woman as a lead character, however her first introduction is neither shocking nor surprising, thus the audience is not threatened or weary of her. Jackie is too seen as a 'femme fatale' due to her 'feminine conventions' /stereotypes such as her short dress and well kept hair and nails. Theses alone could make Jackie vulnerable to the thriller conventions as usually women of such appearance are victimised / suffer, this its common for the audience to dislike/ have no interest with the female characters as they are portrayed as weak. However, the shot encourages the audience to side with Jackie, which is again uncommon as its later revealed she is an actual criminal.

As the credits play, Jackie maintains one third of the screen, this further enforces (alongside the long tracking shot) the importance of the her without really relieving why; this encourages the audience to continue to watch. Jackie's bright uniform brings a pop of colour to a typically 70's coloured mundane backdrop, therefore suggesting she is perhaps 'better' than her current or seen lifestyle. Throughout the tracking shot Jackie's eyes rarely stop looking ahead; this proposes that she has a clear idea of 'where she is going' in terms of her life and successes, or perhaps that she is determined to keeping looking ahead in order to discover 'where she is going'.

This Scene is similar to that of The Graduate (1967)
Both tracking shots within an airport.

Bobby Womack's - Across 110th Street is played throughout the tracking shot before turning to the buzz of the airport. The song is upbeat however its lyrics are somewhat pensive.

The lyrics to Womack's song are a kind of anthem to Jackie's life:
Been down so long, getting up didn’t cross my mind,
I knew there was a better way of life that I was just trying to find.
You don’t know what you’ll do until you’re put under pressure

The lyrics make the audience question what Jackie's problem /issue is, this is when Tarantino slightly diverts from Jackie's tracking shot to show the airport security - a normal part of her job or an intrusion?

However this is subtle and wouldn't be noticed on the first viewing.

Within this scene two male characters are introduced, Louis and Robbie. They're slouched in their seats whilst comfortably and casually discussing gun crime, while watching a presumably (due to the fast forwarding) recorded version of 'girls with guns'; the fact its recorded suggests that the two men, particularly Robbie who appears more engaged and enthusiastic about the conversation, often think of and discuss crime, certainly as a leisure activity, which makes them appear dangerous. The manner of which crime is discussed makes it humours, despite it being a strong thriller convention, they're a prop that is seemingly easily accessible in the US therefore this could frighten /intimidate audiences.

This scene is a completely contradicts the female conventions that are previously shown via Jackie. The show that Louis and Robbie are watching 'Girls with guns' shows young, stereotypically good looking women in skimpy clothing, thus they're hyper sexualised despite the given power the gun would usually give them. Melanie, the only female in this scene, is dictated by Louis and Robbie as she is order to get them both a drink. 

We're first introduced to Melanie by her bare feet

This extreme close up suggests that Melanie is somewhat of a 'beach bum', and a thriller convention of her not maintaining any status or power. However, it could too suggest that she 'walks all over' people or that she is 'walked over' herself, the latter more likely. Melanie's expression of flesh mimics that of the women on 'girls with guns' therefore she is both instantly degraded as well as being linked to violence (like the women on the TV show). Melanie's statute is slouched much like the two men, whereas Jackie's as upright; this instantly differentiates the characters and after the audience siding with Jackie in the first scene, the audience now look down upon Melanie.

Essexs Boys - Thriller Case study

 Essexs Boys synposis:

'This film starts off as a young taxi driver is offered a job to help a small-time hardman get a little revenge. As the film progresses, he gets money and he thinks he is gaining respect from the other gang members. Then there comes a time where he is woken at night, only to find a Range Rover outside his house: his boss is expecting him to drive this to pick up the rest of the gang and take them to their awaiting fate...'


How Terry Winsor established and develops the thriller genre in the opening to Essex Boys:

The initial shot of the off-white car driving into tunel suggests a sense of isolation and intrapment, that is later re-established within the car boot. These features of isolation are generic with thrillers as they increase tension and heighten the characters, aswell as the audiences senses. Combined with the dark/ grey filter used to hint that 'all is not right' straight from the opening of the film, even more any obvious hint of violence. Similarly, the mud and water could be reflective of the characters dirty, gritty lives/ secrets or of the 'grittyness' of the film itself. The chiaroscuro lighting establishes the films as being an noir thirller, which is further reinforced the costume; as the men tend to be wearing swaurve suits. Chiaroscuro lighting is generiaclly used within plenty of thrillers; Jackie Brown too uses such in the begining of the film to refernce film noir and to establish its genre.

In the screen shot above, the cobwebs are critical to an almost gothic vibe that is being portrayed, despite the actual incident, aswell as the film, being set within modern day. This brings the thriller back to its predecessors, making it slightly surreal, despite the realism of the film. Moreover on the costume, Jason is wearing a bright, vibrant shirt, almost creating an irony to his actions. The shirt is synonomous with arrogance and firmly forces the audience to be wary of him from the begining. The contrasting costume distinguishes the characters. The initial medium close up shot of Jason from behind a dirty windscreen too establishes him as character be wary of, increasing the anticipation of his violence and psychotic behaviour from the beginning; he is not seen in clarity, thus the 'unknown' is frightening.
                     The rest of the scene is bleak industrialism, shown via the journey of the car, this increases a sense of realism. The birghtly lit tunnel the car travels through could symbolise an harsh reality in the mix of the bleak realism.







Props:

The use of the rusty white van is an affective prop as it blends into the background, but yet remains suspicious. The van could also be symbolic of a working class, stereotyped bleakness that is often used in 'gritty' films, such as This is England. Within This is England none of the props nor none of the scenes are in anyway glamorous. This lack of glamour makes the film sadder, in a sense, as there is no obvious 'silver linings' only the 'harsh realities' such as the bright tunnel lights.

Despite the film being based around a true stroy, the 'prop' of drugs as a centre piece of which the film to revolve is generic to thrillers. Previously, drugs were 'glamorous' and seen to only be for the rich and famous, however drugs stereotypically distory lives, thus it foreshaows the ending to an extent. The fact drugs are so prominant too promotes an sense of esacpism of the bleaknesses of reality.

Independent Research - Life on Mars

Again, I had to do this on my friends prezi account, I hope this isn't a problem.

Independent Research - Gravity

Again, I did this on my friends Prezi account - If this is a problem please let me know.

Independent Research - Fight Club

I made my Prezi on a friends account as I do not have one, I hope this is not a problem.