Character Background - Rhys

Rhys’ background is very much covered in the film synopsis. Rhys has always heard a voice inside his head; the voice of a woman; as a result of his schizophrenia. He was not diagnosed with this illness until he became 17, and so, much of his behaviour has been incomprehensible to his peers and he therefore has become rejected by society as he’s gotten older. However, as a result of his late diagnosis Rhys’ condition has developed and worsened as oppose to being treated. With the combination of his drug habits his illness has manifested itself in his mind; his smoking of cannabis since he was 13 and recent mixture of prescription drugs with LSD at a certain rave. This manifestation included the production of a visual hallucination to go along with the voice in his head; this being the woman in the gas mask. This covers Rhys’ mental situation.

Rhys’ family and friends are hardly that which you would call them- they have become too afraid to be in close contact with him and therefore Rhys is a very isolated character which contributes to his lack of acceptable social behaviour and thinking. It’s a mystery to why his condition wasn’t recognised earlier in his life – probably because he was fairly secluded to begin with, so no one was really close enough to him to notice.

Drugs and music is how Rhys tries to cope with his abnormal life, in actual fact he fails to realise what is normal or reality. His mind is so distorted that he is unable to conform to the regularities of human behaviour. Perhaps his relation to music is an exception to this- as most people do enjoy music as a form of expression. Aside from this, he is quite out of the ordinary.

This character doesn’t care for appearances, or doesn’t understand the need or desire to, and thus dresses very casually and perhaps fairly scruffily. Clothes are clothes to him; material objects don’t hold much importance in his mind. In his spare time it is apparent that he spends quality moments with himself – either held up in his flat or out on walks to goodness knows where. Nobody really knows what he thinks about or what he gets up to. 

Initial Ideas (Brain Storming)

Here's a mind map with some of my initially brainstormed ideas for our thriller opening and plot. Eventually we went with one of Rebekah Bigwood's ideas as we all preferred hers to our own.

Thriller opening ideas mind map

View more presentations from Catrin Hamer.

Prelim Task Finished.

Here is the end product of our Preliminary Task :

(Posted a little late..)

Comment on Synopsis

Film Synopsis (Jos' Blog)

 We all discussed what the main plot of the film would be, and how our main character would end up in the woods according to our opening. We went through ideas of a childhood hallucination or imaginary friend being carried on into adulthood, and as Rhys got older people tried to convince him this character wasn't real. This made him angry and hostile, and overall put in chosen seclusion from other people - in turn this causes the creations of his mind to become violent (and this is how the Lady in the Gas Mask would differ from in the mind and in reality). This was one of our initial ideas.

 However we then collectively came up with the idea of drug involvement, and Jos came up with a storyline that combined a mental illness (schizophrenia) with drug abuse and we all agreed that this was an appropriate storyline (click above link for details).

 Me and Jos also discussed that if this was the background story, and the character was in the forest (having run away) in the beginning - what would happen in the rest of the film? Therefore we decided that the end of the film is what is to be shown in the opening - and the background story is therefore unravelled in the rest of the film (the drug taking, development of schizophrenia etc). So, evidently the film's structure is jumbled- with the end at the beginning. This is often a popular narrative (such as in Brick, 2006) as it catches the viewers interest with an exciting scene that is yet to be explained (makes the viewer want to watch the rest of the film to understand what on earth happened for such a shocking climax to occur at the end of it).

Character Background – The Lady in the Gas Mask

This character dresses in dark clothing and a gas mask. This is meant to portray her mysteriousness and the audience's (and other character's) unsureness of her. The character is in fact a long term hallucination that is manifested by the main character, Rhys. The Lady in the Gas Mask is first brought into existence by Rhys' condition of schizophrenia. At childhood, Rhys' mind only holds this character as voice in his head. When he mixes his prescription drugs for his condition with LSD at a rave, his hallucination changes to a visual which continually develops it's 'power'; eventually her existence differs from in his mind to in his reality. Consequently, she can not only manipulate his mind but interact with him physically as well. 

Rhys' relationship with his family and friends decreases significantly over time, making him more secluded, paranoid and hostile as his mental illness and drug abuse takes over. In turn, this causes the uncontrollable part of his mind to also become more hostile, resulting in The Lady in the Gas Mask becoming violent.

This idea was derived from the character of 'Frank' from the move 'Donnie Darko'. In this film, the main character (Donnie) is kept in the company of his sort of 'imaginary friend' which is a large grey bunny rabbit with a scary face. Donnie seems to change over time in the film and ends up doing crazy things, he also goes for therapy sessions and hypnosis as a result. At the end of the film we meet a character that supposedly exists in reality that looks like the bunny Frank, in reality it is a normal man called Frank in a halloween costume. The idea of a character moving from in the mind (in intellectu) and in reality (in re) appealed to us as a group and therefore decided the derive our own character of a similar nature - but with our own little quirky twist.

Thriller Opening Costume Ideas 2

Here are the original annotated sketches and image compilations of the other main character's (Rhys') costumes.
We will probably go ahead with these ideas as we want this character to appear fairly simple and scruffy, therefore his outfit is not too complicated.

Sketches

Image Compilation

Thriller Opening Costume Ideas

Here are the original sketches and computer application of costume ideas for one of our characters (the lady wearing the gas mask).
A character background with details on casting should follow shortly.

Sketches
Image Compilation

Ginger Snaps

(Movie Theme)


I
 My first Thriller case study is on the werewolf classic; Ginger Snaps. Subcategorised as a horror, it easily fits into the thriller genre. It's in fact one of my all-time favourite films, and I've seen it numerous times that I almost know every line.. It was released primarily in Germany and Canada (2000) - Canada being the country where it was filmed and made (Ontario, Canada) - and in 2001 in the UK. The main production companies involved with the film were Copperheart Entertainment, Water Pictures and Motion International. Not many main characters are actually featured in the film, but those who are were played by Katharine Isabelle (Ginger), Emily Perkins (Brigitte) and Kris Lemche (Sam). The Director of Ginger Snaps was John Fawcett, a Canadian who also directed "The Dark" (2005) and "The Boys Club" (1997) - both of which are also of the thriller genre. Additionally, the budget was estimated at $5,000,000 and during the Opening Weekend end in the UK the box office pulled in £27,049 (1st July, 2001 - 17 Screens).

II

 The film itself is rated 18, but in my opinion if this film had been made this year it would have received the rating of 15. In general, most film ratings have been lowered as the thriller/horror genre expands; as more shocking content is brought onto our screens previous content we have consumed seems less serious. I watched this film for the first time when I was quite young (perhaps younger than 10) as my sister was very much into films such as these; and I followed along. Having watched it many times since then, I believe that most films released in the recent years that are rated at 15 contain just about as much violent content as this one. Therefore I would say that, in my opinion, this film is probably mainly aimed at young teenagers or simply teenagers in general as an age group. The time period in which it was released (early 2000s) was in fact when the sub-culture of ‘goth’ seemed most popular in my opinion (having first-handedly experienced it from my sister). As the film’s main characters are in fact two goth-like girls who are social outcasts in their mini-society of high school it could be assumed that this film was also intended to be relatable to such an audience of this time (Goth subculture).  On the website of IMDB the general user rating this film is given is 6.9/10 (12,752 votes). Verging on a 7/10, I would say this film has been received rather well by the public. One of the user’s that rated the film 10/10 said this :

“ Finally something fresh and original.
3 June 2002 | by HumanoidOfFlesh (Chyby, Poland) – See all my reviews
I'm so happy that I watched this brilliant gem of a horror movie two days ago.In those politically correct times where idiotic MTV-oriented teen slashers and comedies are made in the US,it is really good to see such original film like "Ginger Snaps".Why?Because it has some excellent suspense sequences and a rather high amount of blood and gore.The werewolf is really cool looking,the acting by two lead girls(Emily Perkins,Katharine Isabelle)is excellent and the direction is well-handled."Ginger Snaps" is a pure horror film,that is to be taken seriously.I think it ranks up there with Daniel Attias "Silver Bullet" and Joe Dante's "The Howling".10 out of 10-a perfect film for the jilted generation! ”

After reading this review, it becomes apparent to me that at the time of its release many other types of horror films were being made very similar to one another (teen ‘slashers’ – which let’s face it, get repetitive). It seems that Ginger Snaps was an interesting new take on a classic werewolf movie and was generally well received by its intended audience.

III

 As this film was released in 2000, it’s fairly obvious that what we now call ‘new’ technology wasn’t necessarily around to provide the sort of access to this film as we would have now (e.g. iPhone apps, etc). There was an official website made for the film though (http://www.ginger-snaps.com/) containing information on sequels, interviews with the director, soundtrack downloads, etc. Although as we can see, the website seems fairly dated and not exactly modern. However, there are aspects of technology that make this movie very accessible in our modern day - and this would be Youtube. On Youtube we can find all manner of clips to do with Ginger snaps, these include; official trailers of the movie, the actual film split up into parts (very handy when your sister owns the dvd), user made music videos and interviews/auditions with the cast. All in all, the main protagonist of technology used to make people aware of this film and to provide access to it is Youtube (and evidently Google).

Links:

Main Part of Opening Sequence (Death Montage)
Trailer
Film
Auditions
User Made Music Video

IV

 I decided to analyse the opening of this film in order to assess the codes/forms and conventions of the thriller genre (as it would be a definite task to analyse the entire film). I chose roughly the first 3 minutes to make notes on, and ventured into the next 3 minutes for screen shot annotation, etc.
    To begin with, we are presented with rooftops- endless, it seems – which to me acts like a vast landscape that is meant to make the audience feel small and isolated in a large suburban area. It is then followed by a shot of a field with wind blowing through it; again no people are shown giving a conventional feel of isolation. Accompanying these shots is in fact no soundtrack, only the digetic sound of a dog barking far away. This does not only give a feel of loneliness, but also makes me think of the connection with the film type. Throughout the first third or so of the film it is realised that some form of creature or ‘big dog’ is killing domestic dogs in the neighbourhood (this is of course the werewolf). The fact that this dog is barking could be foreshadowing of events to come; that of the killings and the general incident of the girls and the werewolf. A panning shot is then shown of an ordinary scene in a garden of a mother raking leaves and her child playing in a sand pit. In the background, we hear the sound of crows cawing perhaps bringing about an appropriate sense of death- as the child then finds a bloody paw in the sand box which leads to the finding of the family’s rather half-devoured dog. The scene in general is rather quiet up to this point, where the mother screams. It is perhaps a slightly unexpected short climax. The shot then blackens and the title of the film is shown. Relating to thriller conventions, it seems that a quiet scene of seeming calamity which is then quickly followed by a sharp shock is a feature of a typical thriller opening.
Parts of what happens in the next 3 or so minutes I have decided to annotate screen shots from.

Screen Shot Annotation

This second image is a series of stills taken from the ‘death montage’ in the opening of Ginger Snaps. The montage is in fact a sort of death project (a play on a project title set for the main characters which is “Life in Bailey Downs”) that the girls compile using pictures of themselves committing suicide/homicide.

'Death Project' Annotation

The fact that during the whole film there are few characters- this in itself gives a conventional feel of isolation. It makes the girls seem even more alone in their struggle with being bitten by a werewolf. Social outcasts are also a very common sort of character to include in a thriller film, as they appear vulnerable and are not likely to be helped. Woods scenes are used as a classic scene of entrapment and no escape. A busy party scene is also used near the end of the film where the audience knows almost none of the characters there which is relatable to a viewer’s sense of isolation – nobody likes to be at a party where they don’t know anybody, it’s almost scary.
The narrative structure of the film is fairly basic , it’s linear with generally no flashbacks or point of views of other characters. Although this is rather ordinary for a thriller, to me it’s appealing as it is a classic progression of a storyline in which you want to know what is happening. The audience isn’t confused at following bazaar narratives and flashbacks of characters; the storyline is straight forward and to the point.


 V


 In general, what can be said about representation of social groups in this film generally refer to that of social outcasts, goths and women. For example, the two girls are shown to only make company with each other and not many other characters – there is also definite aggression shown between these characters and those that seem popular in the high school setting. Goth as a stereotype is related to dark, evil, black, death, etc. These conventions of the sub culture are met religiously in this film – especially with the violent scenes of blood and gore as well as the ‘death project’ at the beginning (in addition, the conversing of a suicide pact between the sisters in the beginning). The lack of main characters in the feature also help represent the seclusion of being a teenager, and how teenagers hide their problems and try to deal with them on their own (or how they must learn to do this). The entire film is almost like an extreme exaggeration of teenage life (as it says on IMDB, “This film uses werewolfism as a metaphor for puberty. One of the Fitzgerald sisters, suburban goth girl outcasts, gets bitten by something in the woods (and it ain't a neighborhood dog).”). Regarding women, there is both contrast and agreement with conventional representations of women in this film. The main two female characters are rather different from what we may consider a conventional female character; they do not appear as sex objects nor do they appear deceptive. They appear strong, secluded and almost vulnerable – we sympathise with them and wish them the best. However, there are also minor characters in the film that perfectly fit with the representation of women as sex objects (a character that is involved in heavy aggression with the two girls) – one of the main characters (Ginger) in the film even refers to women in society “A girl can only be a slut, bitch, tease or the virgin next door.”.

Thriller Opening Analysis (Gothika, The Book of Eli, Brick)

Gothika (2003)

At the very beginning of Gothika everything seems to be in a dark, blue hue - even the company logos (Columbia Pictures). Blue conventionally represents sadness, calm and cold - since the blue is dark I would assume the main representation is mean to be sorrow/eerie-ness. Once the credits begin we see that they are out of focus and are then brought in to focus, which I percieve as a kind of foreboding of events to come - perhaps something happens that is unclear or distorted to us and the characters in the film. Also, there is a double bass in the background which is also associated with sadness. When the scene opens, we are met with two figures. One looks worn and pale, perhaps unhealthy, and the other looks groomed and calm. The camera shots at the beginning (reverse) only shows one of their faces' at a time- making them seem more divided or seperated. Through speech, appearance and camera shots they almost seem like they are isolated in their own worlds from one another. We also see that they are surrounded by fences or bars- classic iconography of a thriller that gives a sense of entrapment. Throughout the scene the camera is often passing these bars, and 'looking' at the characters through them- which makes the viewer feel like they are intruding upon a perhaps intimate or private conversation. The entire scene is also generally shadowy and dark, which gives an eerie feel and a sense of the unknown (also a popular thriller convention).



The Book of Eli (2010)

The beginning of The Book of Eli starts off with an eerie and isolated feeling. We can hear the sound of a wind blowing (in perhaps a barren/lonely place) before we can even see the first shot. When the first shot does open to a wood, there is a short and deep bass sound that's fairly loud and almost makes you jump or feel like your heart is pounding. The trees we see almost look like bars forming a cage, furthering the sense of isolation and no escape. Music is also building in the background all the while, partnering the building anticipation. The camera pans the floor of the wood, we're met with a gun and a body- we perceive death and violence. There are also slightly out of place parts to the scene; the ash that's falling from the sky as well as the domestic-looking cat that walks along and sniffs/nibbles the body. This adds an unknown element to the scene, as does the man in the gas mask as we cannot see his face. It makes the viewer as continuing questions in their mind about what is going on/will happen/has happened. The character in the gas mask also appears to be camped and waiting for something, or watching for something/someone - therefore a sense of voyeurism is also felt. As this character pulls back an arrow to supposedly kill this cat that has come along, the music continues to build - the character then laughs and it appears to be an anti-climax. However, the audience is fooled and a very strong sounding arrow is released to kill the cat. This also has the effect of surprise on the audience and is quite alarming with the obtrusive sound (perhaps this is foreshadowing twists and turns of events?). Also, the arrow is followed in slow motion - giving us a sense of direction of where it's going and making it more dramatic or significant. Once again, the scene is extremely dark and has a blue hue - which makes the atmosphere cold and uninviting, as if there is no time for emotion or kindness (like war? - linking to the gasm mask/army tent/etc).


Brick (2005)

The music at the beginning of Brick (xylophone? + acoustic guitar) is almost calming but sad, as oppose to something that builds suspense. We are met with what seems to be a part further on in the film chronologically, a sad event (assumed death). It fits in well with the blue hue we are first given, which gives an image and atmosphere of sorrow and accident. We can see running water and a dark tunnel, rather popular iconography associated with thrillers and helping to emphasise the possibility of death and that there is a sense of the unknown. The male character we see is wearing glasses, often associated with a character of intelligence and his facial expression appears to be sad as well as though his mind is trying to make sense of the situation. At the beginning, as the camera pans the first part we see of the man is his feet, and the camera often goes back to soley film this (as he walks to his locker, etc). For the female character, her braclet is the focus - which also lets the audience know it is the same girl that put the note in his locker that is supposedly dead. I interpreted this as his feet are his sort of symbol or focus, and the braclet is hers- this could represent that he is chasing or trying to reach her as well as what has happened to her (physically and mentally in pursuit). Moving onto further in the opening, there is a great sense of isolation centered around the man- there a few people seen at the school or along the road, etc. The phone booth is also a confined space, which could represent that this character is trapped by something (not neccessarily physical). When the dark car drives past, a cigarette is tossed out of the window- a cigarette is linked with smoke and fire; danger, or a trail to follow (no smoke without fire)?

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In my experiences with technology I have used video cameras before (as I own one), so I didn’t particularly learn about the specifics of a camera. However, it was helpful to get used to working with tripods along with the cameras and after all different makes of cameras are different. Also I learnt about fitting conventional camera shots and angles into a video to help set the right atmosphere- taking a camera shot idea from paper and applying it when you are filming (tends to be a rather smooth transition). I also learnt how to apply the rule of thirds as well as the 180 degree rule effectively.

 Through the creation of our preliminary task video, the main area of technology I gained knowledge on was using the iMacs and their editing and sound creation software (iMovie and Garage Band). Although I’m familiar with Microsoft’s Movie Maker, iMacs are definitely different and took time to get used to. Fortunately, it wasn’t too difficult and simple video editing programmes such as iMovie aren’t hard to navigate in comparison with more complex ones. Transferring music from Garage Band to use in iMovie I also learnt was pretty simple and an effective way to use/gain music or sound effects for video editing (it was also laid out well for navigating the library of sounds). Cutting clips to make sure they were synchronised and in the correct order was sometimes tedious and repetitive in order to get it just right, but do-able and fun in a group. It also helped us to see flaws in continuity and other factors and thus showed us which parts needed re-filming. The addition of titles, etc was also fairly simple - even if there was a bit of heat about who came last in the credits!