Characters:

At this moment in time we have decided on who all three of our characters will be, these are:

• Eve (Main character)
• Hazel and Cha Cha (Hitmen)

The character named Eve will be the main character in our film. She is going to be aged around 17 for our film to ensure that person we use for the film fits correctly into that age. We chose the name Eve because it is a reference to 'Once Upon A Time In America'. Eve was killed within the first scene of the film, so we decided to use this as an inertextual reference in ours. However our character doesn't get killed, we are using the name to signify that she has bad luck. The name itself holds a sense of sin from the bible. We originally spoke about not giving this girl a name which would have added an inertextual reference to 'Fight Club'. The character played by Edward Norton isn't actually given a name throughout the entire film, he is simply referred to as the 'Narrator' when looking up the film online. We spoke about using this idea as a group but soon realised that the plot of our film couldn't be carried our without the name of the female being revealed.

          The next two characters are Hazel and Cha Cha. These will be our two hitmen who chase Eve to retrieve what she has stolen from their boss. The age of these two characters isn't going to be that significant to the plot. We wanted to concentrate on the point that they are ameatures so if the actors were a little young it will only really add to the realism of their character development. I actually came up with name of the two men. It is an intertextual reference to the Graphic Novel 'The Umbrella Academy, Dallas' by Gerard Way & Gabriel Ba. This is a the second Graphic Novel in the franchise. Each novel is made up of six sections (originally released as individual comic books in America) and was released by the publishing company 'Dark Horse Books'. In this novel two psycho hitmen/assassins are introduced which is who we are going to take reference from. The names almost sound childlike which then adds a sense of nightmare, they seem like something that a child would come up with for the 'monsters under their bed'. The way the characters look is also taken from these characters. They aren't big or muscly hitmen like the stereotype for that kind of person. They are either an average build or moderately skinny.
          These are the only three characters which will be featured in the opening of the film, but technically there could possibly be a fourth. The hitmen need a boss, so this character will have to be incorporated into the opening somehow to grab the audiences attention and add a larger sense of mystery. The way that the boss will be incorporated is either through a phone call with Hazel/Cha Cha, or just a mention in dialogue between the two hitmen. This character would be revealed later on in the film along with the introduction of other characters (these may be mentioned in the plot of the film in later planning).    

How Tarantino uses generic conventions in Jackie Brown (1997)

             1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvA4VwMA6OY Title sequence. Explain how Tarantino establishes the character of Jackie  Brown  through camera shots and movement. Explain in what way Tarantino challenges  the  way women in thriller films are represented. Think about age, ethnicity and status.

          Tarantino establishes Jackie Brown's character primarily through the camera angles and         movements. The majority of the opening sequence is done at body height of Jackie which doesn't really indicate that much. The fact that the shot is a medium close up then adds more definition to the shot. It signifies that this is in fact Jackie Brown and that she is going to play a very important part to the film as a whole. The movement suggests that Jackie never stays still in her life. She is a woman that travels a lot and its almost as if her actions/movement is being watched. Tarantino is trying to establish that this is the main character and that she is noticed. Tarantino does use a a low angle in this array of shots. This type of angle illustrates that Jackie has power and status. This single shot proves all the presumptions that you made as an audience in the first tracking shot of the opening. 
                        Jackie has been choreographed to stand up straight and keep her head high in the first sequence. To me this portrays her character as being very strong and independent. The opening of the film shows her by herself the whole time which gives the impression that she is a lone, but her posture shows that she is strong without anybody by her side. This challenges the way women are seen because normally in Thrillers like 'Once Upon a Time in America' the female character is weak and lacks confidence. In Jackie Brown she is the complete opposite. Tarantino does this in a large amount of his films like 'Kill Bill: Volume 1' and 'Kill Bill: Volume 2'. He does this to create a Femme Fatale ( a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnares her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising dangerous and deadly situations). Tarantino wants to portray women the same way that men are perceived in generic thriller films.  

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XstgfkXrqUs  The shooting of Beaumont Livingstone by Ordell Robbie.

A) With close reference to the text  explain how this Tarantino uses thriller conventions in this clip.

            B) What  does the camera angle  used when Ordell  kills Beaumont connote about the character of Ordell Robbie?    

A) Tarantino uses several different generic thriller conventions in this short section of the film. The first one is the location in which this is set. The building looks dirty which is often used as a metaphor for the characters who own them, in this case Beaumont. The apartments are also very dark which could be seen as being a suggestion for the dark actions that either go on in this building, the dark characters or the dark lie Ordell is about to make. Tarantino puts a large amount of thought into his locations. He wants them to perfectly portray the characters. Another generic location is the boot of the car. Orderll makes Beaumont get in the boot of the car before killing him. When the two men stand over the trunk looking in and Ordell pulls the fun out it reminded me a lot of 'Pulp Fiction', another Tarantino movie. Jules and Vincent look into the trunk of thier car a pull out guns which is almost identical to the scene on Jackie Brown. Another thing that makes them similar is that Samuel L. Jackson is in both films.  

 

B) The camera angle that is used when Ordell kills Beaumont is a long shot that establishes the surroundings and gives the audience an idea of Ordells character really is. The first thing you learn is that Ordell lies. He told Beaumont that he should hide in the trunk until they get to the location and then Beaumont should use the gun he was given to threaten everyone, however this was a lie. This camera shot shows a very small distance was travelled but the space between Ordell and the world has never had so much distance between them. Ordell is distant from people and society and that is perfectly what this shots captures. Ordell is made to seem emotionless and almost careless due to his actions.

                 

Costume:

So far we have had a few different ideas for the costumes that our characters will wear during our Thriller opening. There will be three characters, so that means three costumes needed to be designed. The two Hitmen will have very similar costumes to ensure that audience know that they're together and are trying to do the same thing. The girl character (now named Eve) is going to be wearing all dark clothes to contrast with her bright hair. If the girl(s) we want to use can't make the filming we are going to use a male character instead. His outfit will have more colour than what the girls would.

Specific ideas for costumes:

1.Hitmen: We wanted these characters to look good at what they're doing so we think a full suit would appropriate. This shows that they are proffesional at what they do and it uses the generic of hit men wearing a suit like in other movies such as Pulp Fiction. Jules and Vincent both wear suits during the opening to this film. It shows that they have the power and it gives a sense of professionalism that only a suit can provide. We want our hitm en to have this presence on screen so we don't want them wearing something like jeans and a hoodie. We aren't that bothered if the suits aren't the same colour because it shows that our hit men are ametures that are trying to look and be proffesional. This means our hit men could be wearing a grey suit (right) and possibly a black one. The colour of the suits will be whatever suits we can get our hands on as a group. We discussed maybe getting one of our hit men to wear a bow tie, but this took the professional and generic look away from them so we've decided to stick to using plain black ties. After deciding what the hit men will be wearing we needed to find a way to cover their faces. This was for two reason, one being a thriller generic and another being due to our choice of actors. It is sometimes generic in thriller movies for the dangerous character our killer to hide their identity so that nobody can identify them. An example of a film whereas gas mask is specifcally used for this reason is 'Dead Man's Shoes'. The other reason we are going to use masks is to hide the fact that the hit men are only young. This helps to make our thriller look and feel more realistic because you don't really see two 16/17 year old being hit men. We think a gas mask would be the best mask for use to use because it not only hides their identity, it also makes them look more threatening and horrifying. The last part of the costume we decided on was what shoes they'd both wear. We thought that leather shoes would obviously look good with the suits that they were both wearing, but then we thought about what would really be practical for somebody chasing down a girl. Running in leather shoes wouldn't be comfortable so they'd wear shoes like  trainers. This would look wrong with the suit but it helps to add to the idea that these two are amateurs who don't really know what they're doing. It also looks and will feel a lot more practical for when they are running.

2. The next outfit that we had to design was for the main girl character of out Thriller who we have decided to name Eve. This is because the name portrays sin and lets us include an intertexual reference to Once Upon a Time in America. We wanted this character to having special about her, something that made her unique. There was a discussion for a few different ideas like maybe giving her some form of scar or mark, but we decided on her having bright coloured hair. We thought this would look good because it would make her character stand out in the locations that we're using. Her bright coloured hair would create a large amount of contrast that should look good when filming our thriller opening. We've thought about using red coloured hair because it represents danger and evil. To increase the contrast of the hair and add another intertextual reference we decided to take inspiration from 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' for the rest of Eve's look. We want her to wear something dark because this portrays the darker side of her character. It also makes her look link a punk. The dark clothing gives a bigger visual difference between her hair, which will stand out quite well when watching the film after it's been completed. The person who plays Eve will be wearing tight black trousers, a black t-shirts and a black leather or other material jacket. This is to give her the same status that Lisbeth Salander had. As a group we also had a big discussion about shoes this character would wearing. Again we had to think practical, so anything like black plimsolls or any other weak shoes were put of the question. The girl needed to be wearing something which she can run in, but also suited the rest of her costume. This left us with something like dark coloured boots or possibly black converse. These two shoes would suit what Eve would be wearing and would also support the idea that the character that she is playing is a punk. Finally we came to the conclusion that boots would be the best shoes to wear because they're relatively easy to run in, would be able to cope in the situations that we are filming in and they go with the rest of the costume/character.
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Shot List (In Progress)

Shots	Characters	Location	Camera angle	Lighting
1	Eve (main girl character)	Field/dike	Long shot/ rule of thrids	Ambient
2	N/A (shot of record player)	A bedroom	Close up	Non-ambient
3	Hazel and Cha Cha (Hitmen)	A bedroom	Close up	Non-ambient
4	Eve (main girl character)	Another bedroom	Close up	Non-ambient
5	Eve (main girl character)		Exetreme close up	Ambient
6	Eve (main girl character)	A burnt down house	Long shot (pan)	Ambient
7	Hazel and Cha Cha (Hitmen)	Empty road	Medium shot	Ambient
8	Eve (main girl character)	Field	Tracking shot from behind/ medium close up	Ambient
9	Hazel and Cha Cha (Hitmen)	Field	Tracking shot from infornt/ medium close up	Ambient
10	Eve (main girl character), Hazel and Cha Cha (Hitmen)	Field	Birds eye	Ambient
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Preliminary Task

Planning for our Thriller task

Since creating this presentation our group have changed the plot and lighting of our film, but the locations, characters, costume, music/sound and title options have stayed the same.