Research and Planning: Further Research

Colour in Film

For my opening sequence I decided on a warm and earthy colour palette, this would be used for props and then later enhanced through editing. I wanted this colour palette to extend to the costume of the characters and this would give subtle hints as to their personality and where they belong in the story. 

Due to the fact that for my opening sequence I wasn't going to be filming anywhere particularly visually interesting, I decided I wanted to play with colour in my film. The use of colour in film can be very effective and so I did some research. Upon watching The Wizard of Oz, Sin City and Amelie again I was inspired to use a selection of colours within my opening sequence. In these films colour almost became a character of its own and I was interested in replicating this. 

Although many thriller films are set a cool and harsh colouring, I wanted something different. I think the warmer colours immerse the viewer and present the sequence as a memory, as well as this these tones help to represent Todorov’s theory of equilibrium because all appears to be well. Furthermore the earthier, warmer colours will illustrate that this is a youthful story and represents the teenagers as innocent and in fact naïve. This separates it from typical thrillers as the audience is much younger and therefore still becoming adult. Also the colours give the opening sequence a sense of liveliness which makes it more visually interesting to the audience as it helps to tell the story. In addition the fact that cold, dull colours aren't used present it as less gritty and real, although it is set in a real life situation which could easily occur the warm colours make it feel hyper-real and nearly dreamlike.

In Amelie I also noticed that cool colours like blue were used sparingly and they created a lot of impact on screen when contrasted with the earthy hues. It allowed for emotion to be conveyed easily and importance on a prop or character could easily be done through colour. Equally Sin City used colours other than black and white to do this and this gave a striking effect. Famously in The Wizard of Oz the colour in the film turns from sepia to full on colour, this represented the disequilibrium of the storm at the beginning and shows Dorothy’s mundane life in Kansas as well as her fond memories of it. I also enjoyed how distinctly you could tell a film was a film noir by its use of dramatic lighting, although this wouldn't work in my film I found it very interesting.

Principally, my aim was to make my opening sequence more visually interesting through the use of a colour palette which would be emphasised through editing. I wanted warm and earthy tones to represent the innocence of the main characters within the sequence.

Quentin Tarantino


Stemming from this use of colour I wanted in my film and having it look very stylistic, I also researched into the director Quentin Tarantino as he is know for the specific style of his films which includes the mise-en-scene, cinematography and most notably music.

Upon watching many of his films again I saw that in a lot of his work there is significant attention to detail with his titles and in many of his films there are chapters to his scenes. I wanted to apply this to my own opening sequence, also there is a specific style to the fonts used they're always well either either in white or yellow. Furthermore I wanted to use some sort of pop music as in all of Tarantino’s films he contrasts upbeat music with intense scenes.However, this needed to relate back to thriller films, in my opening sequence I plan to use a song called Your Prayers by The Agrarians as it still has a pop feel to it but this is in combination with an eerie and echoed sound, which links back to the genre by creating mystery. Therefore it will be illustrate Barthes’ enigma code. 

Since my target audience are teenagers I wanted something that was not too serious and geared towards adults as often times young people can be put off by thrillers that seem too dramatic as they can appear dull and like they are taking themselves too seriously. By taking inspiration from Tarantino I can make my thriller more appealing to a younger audience, especially females. Quentin Tarantino continuously portrays women in strong roles, I want this to be reflected within my opening sequence too. Consequently, I will represent the young women in my film as strong-willed and independent this is unusual for the thriller genre and will break stereotypes as in some popular thrillers there are either no main female characters (especially protagonists) or they simply only act as damsels in distress (as described by Propp). 

Because music is so integral to Tarantino and his films, I also wanted to emulate this but I will only use 1 song as 2 minutes is a very short period of time. I will be cautious when producing my own thriller film as I don't want to draw too heavily from Tarantino, which could cause my film to look like a cheap imitation. To avoid this I will stick to my original plot and keep dialogue to a minimum, although they will be quite similar stylistically the actual content will be different. The characters in mine will be more everyday and relatable so as to mirror the findings from my questionnaire.