costume

LATE 1940s MENS FASHION:

The zoot suits were thought of as contraband and illicit items during the War. The fashion was born during the early thirties in Harlem’s nightclubs. It was an exaggerated look of an oversized jacket, wide lapels and shoulders, with very baggy low-crotched trousers that narrowed dramatically at the ankle. The zoot influence remained through the 1940s and men’s coats were noticeably larger as a result of it. Higher-waisted trousers were also due to the influence of the zoot suit. The end of the war and rationing brought a dramatic change in fashion. Men’s style after the War favored full-cut, long clothing. Part of the reason for this change was a reaction to wartime shortages. Long coats and full-cut trousers were a sign of opulence and luxury. In 1949, Esquire promoted a new look by labeling it “the bold look”. Its characteristics were a loose fitting jacket with pronounced shoulders.

Most common type of hat was the fedora hat, often worn tipped down over one eye at an angle.
The tie was crucial, often brightly coloured when the rest was austere, high cut trousers meant short and wide ties. Mostly held in place by clips so as not to put pins through good ties.
Shirts held by cufflinks and suspenders.
Almost everyone wore wingtip spectator shoes.

thriller proposal

PRE-PRODUCTION

FILM PROPOSAL

OPENING SEQUENCE TO A THRILLER

THRILLER OPENING - crime thriller

NARRATIVE:

IN SHORT:

• Double-crossing.
• Meeting in street between a boss and his employee.
• Man in chair smoking who’s clearly “the bad guy”.
• People on street decide on their plan of action to track down the bad guy.
• A kind of clue to what kind of person the villain is (what he’s done in the past?).
• End of the men in the street setting out to track down the villian.

(MORE) DETAILED:

See a man standing under a lamp post (top lighting), establishing shot, leaning against lamp post, looking like he’s waiting for something, fiddling with an old fashioned lighter, etc... 2nd man walks into frame and up to the 1st, cut to man in chair who is smoking a cigar/cigarette/pipe, cut back to meeting in street. “HE WON’T CO-OPERATE”, voice of 2nd man, no reply from 1st. Cut back to close up of ashtray next to man in chair, hand moves into frame, and puts out cigar in ashtray. Back to street where you see the 1st man’s reaction, then cut back to man in chair who strikes a match and lights a second cigar, smoke in front of face. We find out about the double-crossing, and end on a clue to what is about to happen.

(Will try to include the cutting of the cigar near the beginning if possible due to needing to find a cigar cutter, hear sound of blade falling and the thump sound as it cuts the end, see end get cut off, fall to table and roll around.)

THRILLER OPENING - crime thriller

CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS:

1st MAN IN STREET:- tall

fedora hat over eyes

wearing expensive suit

hands in pockets

2nd MAN IN STREET:- wearing cheap suit

looking slightly scruffy

un-neat hair

unpolished shoes

MAN IN CHAIR:- smoking a cigar (smoke covers face)

also wearing expensive clothes - suit/shirt, pocket square

late 1940s hairstyle - combed over/slicked back

THRILLER OPENING - crime thriller

LOCATION / SETTING:

• Street scenes - just off Waterloo bridge by Somerset House, north of river Thames.
• old fashioned looking street, tudor built building.
• old lampposts.
• Man in chair scenes - grandparents house in Wimbledon.
• tall backed chair.
• don’t see surroundings.

PROPS:

• Cigars, cigar cutter if possible, + old lighter.
• Fedora hat.
• Costume - suits, etc...

THRILLER OPENING - crime thriller

TITLES:

Something hinting a double-crossing, referencing the villain or talking about a murder.

eg. “Criss-cross”

“Anatomy of a Murder”

“Kill the Messenger”

Titles will appear on screen in a straightforward way such as how would be done at the time the film was made. The titles will be simple and will just say the words in the title, no more.

SOUND:

Throughout some kind of slow jazz music, such as in Rio Pt. 4 by Keith Jarrett, however music will cut every time you see the man in the chair so you can hear very loudly the sounds that he makes, eg. striking a match to light his cigar.

voxpops

I interviewed 4 different people to gather some more research for my thriller opening, I asked people similar questions to my survey but focused more on film noir and Hitchcock style movies to narrow down my research further. I asked people how they perceived film noir relative to colour film, and the results were varied but showed me that making a film in black and white would give a different image to the film, but not at all a bad image.

audience research conclusion

Having carried out  a survey, done some interviews, and looked at numerous clips and openings from films, I have come up with the basic ideas for my own thriller opening.

I have decided to make a film based in the late 1940's, therefore the opening will be in black and white, from my interviews and survey I found that people had different perceptions of film noir, however these weren't necessarily bad perceptions. I also found in my survey that 40% of people had never watched any black and white thrillers and I feel in this day and age it is very rare that you see any black and white films, and this would make my opening stand out from the rest.

My thriller will be a crime thriller inspired by the films of Alfred Hitchcock from around the same time. As seen in so many of Hitchcock's films, the narrative will be based around a double-crossing, and so will require a vague introductions to the personalities of the different characters in the opening. This will be shown not just through speech (of which they most likely will be very little), but through costume, location and style. Therefore I will do quite a lot of research into fashion in the late 1940s as I feel this will set the style of the film. I would like the film to be extremely stylish in the way it is filmed and presented.

My target audience is around 30+ years, this is because I hope that the style of the film will appeal to this age group. The film will aim to be filled with suspense and tension to keep any age group interested and thrilled by the film, however I feel that it will appeal to this target audience through storyline, genre, style and character.

The film will be rated 15 but according to BBFC standards, but only because of the possible use of drugs, the opening will not show any severe violence and will be very discrete, just like any of Hitchcock's films from around this time.

survey results

I sent out a survey to collect data about my target audience and what films they enjoy, I collected 25 responses in just over a week and collated the results here.

Click here to take survey

Most of the people who answered my survey were 17 or younger, this is because they were mostly other sixth form students who are my friends. However this did not make my results inaccurate because the film will be rated '15' so the most probable target audience will be around 17 or older.

Most people said that they watch movies moderately often, this is important as those who watch more movies have seen a larger variety and will have stronger opinions on the movies they watch, this will make my results more suitable for my target audience.

Comedy and romance were the most popular genres of films, I believe that this is because these are the most light-hearted types of films usually. However the next was the thriller genre, because this is the genre of opening I will be making it was helpful to know that people enjoy thrillers and so my target audience will be wider.

I found that most people had not seen any black and white thriller films, this didn't surprise me seeing as Hitchcock wrote his last black and white film "Psycho" in 1960. However I feel that this has only urged me on to consider making a black and white thriller opening to educate people, and following the success of the recent black and white silent movie "The Artist" in 2011 which turned out to be a huge hit.

Most people said that they preferred to watch movies online, and interestingly only 8% said that they most often go to the cinema. Many people watch movies online for the convenience of watching almost any movie, old or new, for free in the comfort of their own home. However the quality of my opening must be up to cinema standards as film is an industry and therefore its purpose is to make money, this is done mostly by cinema viewings.

It seemed that mostly the least favourite type of thriller was a horror film. This I was unsurprised at as the horror movie is an acquired taste that I think you either love or hate. The audience showed that action and crime both drew equal in second place with a rating average of 2.04, this works well into the Hitchcock style crime thriller that I thought would be ideal for me to make.

the package

Over the past 2 weeks four of us filmed and edited a short, 2 minute film called 'The Package'. We were given a basic storyline for the film which was for it to be about a package to be delivered around our school somehow and for the ending to be the revealing of what is contained in the package. The main aim of this task was for us to familiarise ourselves with the cameras and editing software.

STORYBOARDING:

We began by thinking up a basic story and what would happen at the end of our film, and then each us were set to storyboard in more detail what exactly would happen in each part of the film in terms of camera angle, shots and movement. The aim of this was so that when we actually filming the process would be quicker and easier, it would also mean we could purposefully include certain shots such as match-on-action, shot-reverse-shot, and establishing shots.

FILMING:

We filmed with HD1080p cameras using a tripod. The cameras were simple DV cameras that recorded onto SD memory cards. At one point during the 360º shot around the character's head at 0:22 we initially tried using a dolly, however very quickly we discovered that it was much harder to manoeuvre than expected and it was also fairly unstable even on quite even ground. We then filmed the shot handheld and found that the style that it gave the shot was very suitable to the intensity that we were aiming to achieve.

EDITING:

We edited using Final Cut Pro X. Before starting we had watched a few tutorials on www.izzyvideo.com which showed us the basics, however we found after watching these we could easily pick up how to work the rest and soon we had composed a rough cut. From there all we had to do was to create a more smooth and slick video that coincided with the music that we chose. We then added credits at the beginning and end.

Overall I was very pleased with the end product and felt that I had complete the purpose of the task which was to familiarise myself with the equipment that we were using. I felt that the continuity didn't work out as well as I'd hoped in all of the shots such as the shot at 0:34, however as a first task I was extremely happy with it.

certification

The perception of different certifications has changed dramatically since films such as Hitchcock's 'Vertigo' or 'Strangers on a train' was made. In that period sex and violence were not acceptable to show, violence was also very discrete and there would be very little gore. Hitchcock's older black and white films were mostly PGs, these films contained fairly frequent drug use, however no misuse of drugs and certainly no use of any hard drugs.

Nowadays however drug use or abuse is very much more in the spotlight, on the BBFC website a 15 certified film in terms of drug use is shown as,

"Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable."

Therefore in this day and age, I feel that a Hitchcock film such as "The 39 Steps" would be certified as probably a 12A or 15, even though violence levels are very discrete and kept to the minimum.

Because of this I will certify my thriller opening as a 15, this is so it would be acceptable to use similar styles and ideas to those of Alfred Hitchcock, such as characters smoking tobacco but nothing that would be anymore extreme than that.