Inter Textual references

In our thriller opening we wanted to make contextual referances through elements of mise en scene such as lighting, costume and characters. Having been inspired of our film but the classic genre of film noir we researched further and found that a female was often portrayed as a femme fatale, a femme fatale is often thought to be a beautiful women with a dark side. It is often common for them to use their beauty to wrap men around their little finger. As a group we decided we wanted to portray a similar character in our film.

Sin City, a 2005 black and white hit directed by Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez andQuentin Tarantino was an obvious choice when deciding want previous films we would want to influence our films. The femme fatale character is always shown in red costume in Sin city, this colour symbloizes the anger or love and passion she feels towards the men she is involved with. This is the element of femme ftale we have decided to replicate with our character, played by Catlin Mapes.

Other elements of costume we have decided to emulate from other films is costume, however we have dcided to do this from a more modern perspective. For example Black Widow from The Avengers is portrayed as a modern day femme fatale. Her red hair coveys the passion, love and anger however the black leather jacket may convey her emotional state, a hard exterior to protect what is inside. Usually a tradtional femme fatale has been heartbroken and therefore puts a front on to pretoect themselves from becoming hurt again.

Camera Work: The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight rises was the 2012 DC comics blockbuster, bringing $1085 billion to the box office.

It was eight years that Batman had vanished into the Gotham darkness with nobody knowing of his whereabouts or reason, however, the sudden crimes of a mischievous 'cat woman' and her alliance called 'Bane' call the infamous 'Batman' out of the darkness.

The first seconds of the clip focus on a police

car, this is a tracking shot as the audience is following the police car. This gives the audience immediately a sense of danger, the speed of which the camera is moving at also compels the audience to feel excited. As we see the police car following men on motorbikes this suggests at what might be Batman's first appearance as he in the protagonist. The sense of danger created in the first few seconds conveys that Batman will be later coming into the scene to save the day. The camera then cuts to a close-up of two policemen in the car looking frantic, this is also hinting at the idea that Batman is needed to help them. The camera then returns to the police chase sequence, however, the focus on the camera has shifted to focus only on the darkness of the tunnel they are in has become suddenly very dark, again hinting at Batman's appearance. The camera quickly returns to the Policemen in the car again with a close-up. The next shot features the screen becoming dark for a brief second after the policemen says' you are in for a treat tonight son', after light returns to the screen we see one of the men running off the motorbike screaming, this mid shot gives us an idea that Batman may have just appeared in the darkness however it is not given away yet. A few seconds later a cloaked character comes out of nowhere incredibly quickly, it is then that a mid shot gives the audience there the first sighting of Batman's reappearance.

Batman is next shown in a close-up shot, here the audience can see his face. The fact that he is standing with his face taking up most of the screen suggests that he is an extremley important character, the entire scene has been leading up to his appearance. The next shot features Batman showing his power and authority over the law enforcement. Batman looks back towrads a policemen who is holding his gun directly at him, in this mid shot Batman has shown the ultimate power he holds over the city. However the next ten seconds make the audience question his authority as we watch a seris of shots that show the policemen coming into action to 'take batman down'.

This scene uses camera work to establish how the rest of film has been leading to the return of Batman, through the use of mid shots and close ups we are shown Batman's true identity, power and authority.

Updated independent Study: What do costumes say about characters?

The costume is an essential part of defining who a character is to an audience, it can convey who they are as a person, what is happening at a given time in a scene or plot. Costume can be a different narrative for the director, for example, period costume tell us the time period in which the film is set it, it can also tell the audience the identity of the characters

The Girl on the Train

In the 2016 novel adaptation directed by Tate Taylor 'The Girl on the Train, the costume is subtle yet so very clever. As it is set in a present-day society the clothes we see on screen are not anything out of the normal, however, the victim, Megan played by Haley Bennett, is mostly featured in pale pink clothing. This suggests a certain naivety and innocence to the audience, the light flow to her clothes also convey a relaxed, laid back nature to her character. Even the colour of hair is deliberate, her blonde halo of hair contrasts the character in a question of crime, therefore, we see Megan as this innocent creature that has been hurt in which we feel sorry for. The two female leads hair colours may symbolise how Rachel has been replaced by the new shiny young blonde, Megan. However on the other hand how their hair is styled could be an insight to their personalities, for example Megan's hair is wavy and quite relaxed suggesting that she herself is quite chilled out. On the contrast Rachel's hair is well kept and rather straight compared to Megan's. How her appearance is portrayed could be an illustration of her personality, she could be considered much more uptight and straight laced. Another insight to their characters is shown by their clothes, Rachel is shown to be in appears to be straight cut office clothes, this connotes a career focused and driven person which contrasts Megan's clothes, the flowyness of Megan's clothes make seem, again, relaxed, her appearance is much more soft than Rachel's.

In contrast, Rachel Watson, played by Emily Blunt, who later in the film becomes the suspect in question rather than the witness is portrayed in dark clothing throughout the entire film. Although her clothing maybe dark thought out, at the beginning of the film she features a white shirt which may suggest that a sense of innocence at the beginning it may also connote a sense of naivety towards the audience as we have no idea that later on, she becomes a suspect in Megan's disappearance, this is when  her clothing becomes bleaker and becomes darker. For example,  when talking to a detective in the film who later goes on to as Rachel if she killed Megan she is dressed in mainly dark clothing which may hint towards a dark motif she is hiding from the Police and the audience.

In turn, Megan's clothing presents her as this dainty female that is a victim of a vicious crime by the light pinks and airy clothing, however, this is the front that the producers choose for her as it doesn't immediately show her dark past, it presents her as the good girl in the film.