Evaluation Question 1 | Draft

Question 1

Locations

The location we used for the film, was the basement of my house - we had the curtains closed to eliminate any soft, ambient lighting, and used only a desk lamp, television on static, and a torch as lighting.

The location is fairly generic, as basements are very enclosed spaces, with a sense of not being able to escape. They also are very common place in most houses, and the by corrupting a norm, we spark unease within the viewer.

One of the most famous examples of this, would be the Psycho murder scene, in which Marion Crane gets stabbed to death by Norman Bates’ ‘mother’ in the shower.

Our use of a basement is therefore a use of generic convention.

Characters

We chose Ellie to play Maria, as she has the look of a classic blonde femme fatale, but our representation of her creates an irony as we seek to defy such misogynistic stereotypes.

Ellie’s striking blonde hair, also draws similarities to Ruth Ellis - the last woman to

be executed in the UK. She was convicted after the murder of her lover/boyfriend, following an unhappy, physically abusive relationship.

We chose the name ‘Maria’ as it links to the 1927 sci-fi classic - Metropolis - in which the ‘good girl’ is named Maria, but the antagonist transforms her into a destructive robot, thus creating a good and a bad Maria.

This links to our character, as after her abusive relationship with ‘The Man’, Maria becomes ‘bad’ in her quest for revenge.

I was chosen to play TM, as I look the oldest in the group, and an older looking character was necessary as it seems more threatening.

We decided to keep the character nameless. This was to create an intrigue into his identity, and again adds a sense of enigma. This is, in a way, similar to ‘Bill’ from the ‘Kill Bill’ series.

Costumes

Maria wears only black clothing. This draws connotations of death and mystery, which compliments the thriller genre. This is because, death is a prevalent theme throughout many films in the genre, and use of enigma is very common. On the other hand, these are traits typically found in male characters, but our denial of this stereotype, shows that we are using a contemporary portrayal of gender in the film.

Some inspiration for this outfit for Maria, was drawn from Lisbeth Salander of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, who dresses in gothic attire. Goths dress like this, as an expression of themselves — a unique style which defies generic trends, and only adheres to one’s sense of self, music and art. We wanted Maria to display traits of this, hence her soft goth style. A black leather jacket, black top, jeans, and black Dr. Martens are worn.

She also has her hair tied up and the outfit is comprised of very durable, long lasting pieces, which also do not expose much skin. This shows that she is also dressed for the sake of practicality, rather than necessarily just fashion.

Overall, the outfit shows that she is dressed for herself, doesn’t care for other’s opinions, and defies fashion trends of traditional femme fatales — thus emphasising her strength, and lack of regard for her victim.

TM was dressed smart casual — a black trench coat and boots balanced with a white and grey wooly knit jumper underneath, thus implying that he knew he was going out, but the attack by Maria was a surprise. 

The trench coat also links to classic film noir, corrupt inspector stereotypes, perhaps giving a clue towards the line of work which he is in. 

Lighting

The lighting at first is fairly simple - we used a desk lamp, as single source lighting, which allowed us to achieve a chiaroscuro look - for example, the silhouette of Maria cleaning the knife.

This silhouette links to the idea of enigma, and by having TM’s face illuminated in the background shows how he was ignorant of this side of her.

This type of lighting is very prominent in noir thrillers, and is a  generic convention of the genre. Films such as Once Upon A Time In America and  are good examples of this style

We also used the static of an old TV, which added an unnaturally cold blue wash to the scene — the opposite effect of what using warm ambient lighting would look like. This coldness adds an unsettling feeling of alienation to the scene.

Music

The songs we used, were;  ‘Gymnopedie No. 3’ by Erik Satie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l99X1V9Tzw), and ‘The Prestige - Scariest Music Ever’ by user JosephPage on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9XMd2eAy_4).

The former is a piano solo piece, which sounds rather melancholic but reminiscent - as though she is thinking about, and regretting her relationship with TM.
This beautiful piece starkly contrasts the content of the scene - it is somewhat ironic considering the ‘dead’ body tied to the chair.

Once the television is switched off (and therefore the first song), the second piece emerges from underneath - the second piece is based on a drone which gradually increases in volume, also creating suspense, as the viewer expects something to occur at the climax of the piece.

All of the editing is in time with the music, which gives the piece pace without the editing looking jumpy.