My thriller consists of various characters that represent the widely ranged society that we live in. The opening sequence gives us a chance to look back and notice the diverse roles that people play in today’s world. However, we rejected the stereotypical Hollywood formula and created a strong female lead that puts all of the characters into place. Throughout the piece my group and I have tried to show the variety of people and how they go through their current problem, we did this through the use of different techniques in camera, lighting, sound and of course visuals in the mise en scene.
Zell is the only female character in the whole sequence which we could argue stereotypes her to the usual role of a woman in a movie. However, since the whole sequence is actually about a robbery that has gone wrong and Zell plays the mouthy young girl that is in charge, could mean that the piece is actually subverting to the stereotype. She was wearing a minimal amount of face makeup, so that it wouldn’t seem like she is playing a girly girl and that she is actually a lot tougher than she looks. Despite Zell giving off such an aggressive side to herself, her plaits give her character a sense of innocence and comfort. We made sure that Zell had the plaits, as they symbolized her purity and also got her hair out of her face, we can even say that the plaits juxtaposition the whole image that she is portraying. The typical female character would have a very appealing look, when we were thinking about how we wanted the character to look it was to be the opposite. We wanted the female character to look quite dirty and almost like having a tomboy look, this is so that she could have others ways to attract the audience's sympathy and faith for the female protagonist. All of the characters, including Zell wore a blue boilersuit and a gorilla mask because it seemed like a fairly stereotypical outfit that a group of bank robbers would wear. The gorilla mask was an additional element to the whole costume, as we knew initially that we wanted a mask to make all of the robbers unidentifiable. The whole concept of them wearing identical clothes and masks represents the one minded thinking and the structure of the society being so exact and alienated. The fact that Zell wore the same exact thing as the men in the scene made it seem like she was one of them and it put all of the robbers on one level, except throughout the sequence we discover that the girl is the one in charge. All the characters in the scene are aware of Zell’s inferiority because of the way she stands over them and uses aggression and power to prove her status in the robbery. The mise en scene doesn’t particularly show a typical girl's setting, as it is a dark van with dirt and bit of rubbish lying around, this reinforces the fact that the girl in our sequence is fully subverting to the gender stereotype. There is a big age difference between Zell and all the other men in the van, it presents an idea that when all of them take their masks off, they look like completely normal people and so does she but they all have something in common, the reason why they did the robbery in the first place.
Adam is a middle aged man who seems to be frustrated and angry in the middle scene, where he is being taken over by a female. We can say that Adam represents the majority of men by showing his determinism and dominant personality, we could say that this is a clear vision of a male stereotype. On the other hand, in the scene he is being taken over by a female and it could mean that he is subverting to the traditional male stereotype.His regional identity and gender makes him conform to the role that he plays in the sequence. Through the variety of camera angles and positioning, we see how Adam is being dominated by Zell. There are a couple of shots taken from below that signify the status that Zell has over Adam. We get a sense of leadership from Adam, as we see that whilst he is arguing with Zell he is simultaneously trying to help Dave, who has been shot and is bleeding. Adam is quite an aggressive character and we captured this through the couple of mid-shots of his hand gestures and facial expressions that come along with them. There are a few close-ups that really define Adam’s facial expressions and it adds on to the intensity of the situation.
Mike isn’t featured as much as Adam and Zell are in the camera because whilst they are having as heightened argument, Mike is helping Dave to stay alive. His attire is the same as everyone else's in the van, as he is part of the robbery team. The whole idea that behind the mask is that it is supposed to represent aggressiveness and danger, we can argue that the mask juxtapositions Mike’s whole character’s personality, as he is such a gentle and quiet guy. Towards the end of the middle scene, there is a wide shot of Mike giving Zell and Adam a look of hopelessness. In most of the shots it could come across as if Mike is a very quiet character, because we see him towards the front of the van appearing as being quite small from some of the angles used.
Dave is a man in his mid-forties, he is a doctor and robbing people is just his side job. Unfortunately, Dave is the one who got shot and with the use of close-ups we see the blood on Mike’s hands and Dave shouting instructions of he should do to him. We also see how he is shouting in pain and there is a particular mid-shot that really emphasizes on his the pain and distortion of his body. This suggests that he is subverting to the male stereotype, as he is squealing from the pain, whereas the stereotypical role of the man is to be strong. But, we see how he is trying to instruct Mike on what to do to him to keep him alive, therefore, this does show his stereotypical male behavior of manning up and dealing with the situation by doing the only thing he can at that moment.
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