Unique Selling Point/Studio
I think that from my film’s
conception, I generally focused on the style of it and how there would be a
sense of visual storytelling, particularly with regard to the psychological
aspects of it. Before I had even finished coming up with the story I knew that
my main aim for the trailer would be to present a different, more stylized view
of London and this is something that I feel I succeeded in. Some of the most
memorable shots from my trailer which I feel would be the most iconic include
an image of Callum standing outside a modern bar in smart casual having been
rejected from job interviews, and his character doing his morning routine –
something that makes his character a relatable one to the audience. The latter
shots in particular, however, have a surreal edge to them as the only source of
light in them is an eerily green glow which makes Callum a silhouette. Shots
like this define the nature of my trailer: it focuses on a relatable central
character, but one who is involved in dark and bizarre situations to the point
where he cannot psychologically endure them.
The aesthetics of my trailer, as
well as some aspects of the story and certain scenes which are based more on
crime films such as Drive than
psychological dramas, to me make it something which could have an appeal to
quite a wide range of audience, including audiences outside of London and
England. The FilmDistrict studio is an example of a studio that I feel has
distributed or produced similar products to mine – in the last two years, they
distributed the thrillers Looper
(2012) and Drive (2011). Both of
these films have higher production values to mine, but in terms of genre and
style I feel that mine is comparable to them. Even more relevant to me is the
fact that it is the production company behind Only God Forgives, an upcoming film with a low budget of 3.5
million dollars, but one with a big name actor (Ryan Gosling) and award winning
director (Nicolas Winding Refn) attached to it. This is certainly a similar media
product to mine and in fact, some of the closing shots of my trailer were
influenced by it. However, the most comparable of Refn’s films to mine in terms
of the production is the British film Bronson,
which featured a rising star of 2008 who has now gone on to become a major
actor in the business – Tom Hardy. The producer and distributor of this film is
Vertigo Films, which also distributed the 2010 film Monsters, another low-budget film with a more wide appeal. If my
film were to receive more low-key and low-budget production and distribution, I
feel that Vertigo Films could be responsible for it.
Narrative/structure
Like most films in my chosen genre –
psychological thriller – the plot is quite character based. The common
structure of a trailer is a 3 act structure: the first act serves to establish
the character, the second act tells some of the story and introduces characters
and situations, while the third act is generally a montage which serves to
heighten the drama of the trailer by hinting at conflicts, danger and plot
progression. I chose to adhere to this structure, as it is a good way to
introduce a variety of characters, situations and themes while also focusing on
the journey of a central character who generally comes to bring about the
psychological aspects of the story.
In keeping with the fact that the trailer
advertises a somewhat understated and even art house drama, I decided that it
would use neither voiceover narration nor graphics to tell the story, something
which more mainstream and high scale films tend to do – however, the fact that
it does not even use character narration is also to an extent a departure from some
psychological thriller trailers which influenced me, such as the trailer for Memento, which frequently introduces
characters using contrasting words in graphics such as ‘ally’ and ‘liar’ to
show the ambiguous nature of the main character’s perception, and the trailer
for Fight Club, which uses the narration
of Edward Norton’s character to provide some exposition.
Colour + style
I feel that a key aspect of my trailer is
the use of colour within it. To an extent, the colours act as a way of
developing the story and ideas within it rather than simply being present for
aesthetic effect – influenced by the Michael Mann film Manhunter, I chose to make green a symbol of and security and also
the ordinary for the character played by Callum in the same way that it is this
symbol for the Will Graham character in Manhunter.
As the film goes on, this colour is replaced by more harsh reds, blues and
yellows until the final two shots before the title, in which green is the
dominant colour in both of these shots in order to suggest that the main
character has truly arrived in a life of violence and unforgiving choices by
the end of the film. Though the use of colour is important in psychological
thrillers in the vein of Manhunter,
it is less prominent in British films which generally take a more social
realist perspective, and this I think is where I make my main departure from
the conventions of the type of film I am making.
Genre
One of the most important conventions of
psychological thrillers is a sense of ambiguity – from unconventional dramas
like American Psycho to blockbusters
like Inception, questions are often
raised about the nature of the plot due to instabilities in the psyches of the
central characters. My film is no exception to this – the third act mainly
deals with the question of whether or not Callum’s character is imagining the
repercussions of his job. Typical to the genre, Callum’s character seems to
become more unstable and dangerous as the ending montage goes on, from accusing
the lawyer of setting him up to violently confronting him and eventually going
on an implied violent offensive against those who he believe are following him
and attempting to steal back the bag.
However, there are aspects of hybridity
within the genre or genres of my trailer – the psychological aspect is only
introduced in the third and last act. The first act sets the film up to be more
of an arthouse drama, with bold colour use and calm piano music influenced by
films such as American Beauty. The
second act, meanwhile, feels most like a crime film to me – in order to raise
the tension of this scene, I shot it like a heist or exchange seen in Michael
Mann films such as Heat or Collateral – the mysterious nature of
the bag of my trailer is influenced by the briefcase exchange at the beginning
of Collateral, while the location feels like the industrial, urban Los Angeles
locations of Heat. In this way, I feel I have challenged the conventions of
psychological thrillers by making a film that changes and develops during the
course of the narrative – in films such as Memento and Fight Club, the
psychological aspects of the film are explained or at least suggested from the
beginning, while in films such as Shutter Island there is a twist ending to
develop the psychological aspect of the story. My film, however, shows a character
whose mind is influenced by his surroundings – from the meeting with the
lawyer, who I made seem as suspicious and intimidating as possible, to the fact
that a murder was committed on the road where he picked up the back only
minutes before he was there.
Sound
Inspired by films
like Drive and The Social Network, I wanted to create a soundtrack that would
be both fitting within the context of the film, but also something that the
audience could listen to on its own. Therefore, I decided that the soundtrack
should be based mainly on electronic or versatile instruments – like The Social
Network, the soundtrack for my film is a mix of electronically based music with
a strong sense of pulse and melody, and atmospheric piano.
The first track is strongly inspired by the
soundtracks from American Beauty and The Social Network – the trailer as a
whole is in the thriller genre, but I felt that the more minimalistic and
slightly haunting qualities which the piano tracks from these scores possess
would be suitable for the first act of the trailer, as it deals with the main
character’s alienation in a way that feels more like a drama than a thriller.
The second and third tracks, meanwhile, have a low-key intensity created by the
use of electronic rhythms and instruments which become increasingly dissonant
as the action intensifies.
Location
I also took particular care in choosing my
locations, as I did not want the trailer to feature any settings typical of
London or even England: I felt that in the context of an understated drama,
they would be distracting. This means that I avoided any locations and English
symbols that would look clichéd – the short scene set in the city between
Callum’s character and the lawyer, for example, was not set in a recognizable
part of the city center, but in a sleek, modern area with no recognisable
London features.
As well as trying to avoid clichéd London
images such as the red buses, I also chose locations which I thought would be
seen more in an American crime thriller than a British one. Two of the most
common kinds of British thrillers are social realist dramas such as Kidulthood and black comedy capers that
directors such as Guy Ritchie are known for making, and I chose to avoid these
locations in order to make the audience feel less familiar with the settings in
order to raise the suspense. The bar I chose had a postmodern look with low-key
lighting so as to feel different from the traditional pubs featured in films
such as RockNRolla – it also set up a
suitable atmosphere for the film. Meanwhile, in the urban locations such as
when Callum’s character takes the bag or sees someone else carrying it, I chose
industrial landscapes and A roads that were influenced by some of my personal
favourite American thrillers such as Collateral or Marathon Man.
Graphics
Despite the fact that my film is a
psychological thriller, I wanted one of the selling points of the trailer to be
the more arthouse qualities of the film and the filmmakers working on it. As a
result, the graphics of my trailer are as understated and stylish as possible,
and also bring to light the names working on the film.
The font I chose is Helvetica, as it has a
minimalistic and stylish quality which I thought both reflected the nature of
much of the film and also looked suitably professional – in choosing this kind
of font, I was influenced by dramas such as American
Beauty and Shame rather than the
psychological thrillers I had also been looking at. The simplistic type of font
that I chose is seen in the trailer of Shame and the placement of it,
particularly with the accolades it received, also influence me: I feature my
accolades in a cross dissolve with a long shot of Callum from behind, similar
to one found in the Shame trailer.
Meanwhile, I was influenced by the use of bold and italic typeface seen in
graphics for films such as American
Beauty and The Social Network –
an important strategy I adopted, inspired by these films, was to have the
surnames of the names I mention in bold fonts to establish them as big names
which could be a selling point for the trailer.
Actors, character and costume
The casting choices I made were naturally
important to the atmosphere my film was trying to create: I decided to make the
trailer have an obvious leading character who is immediately made to appear
sympathetic to the audience by showing him rejected from job interviews and
going about his daily life in the first act of the trailer in order to make him
seem initially relatable. However, I also wanted to give a sense of star power
in the trailer as the central character comes to switch gear and become more
intense in the way that the main characters in films such as American Psycho,
Memento and Fight Club do. Therefore, I casted a lead actor who I felt had the
look and style of a metrosexual leading man such as Ryan Gosling. For the
lawyer, I wanted to create someone who could appear to be a villain but also
seem not dissimilar to the main character when he is first seen – therefore, I
chose an actor not that much older than Callum Ruddleston, but dressed him in
fairly garish clothing such as a turtle neck in order to make him appear
affluent but also apart from the crowd in a way that could later become
sinister.
I also needed to give my main character a
strong sense of characterisation to my central character – my task was to make
him seem relatable through his outfits, but also give him a noticeable
intensity and uniqueness. He is dressed in expensive clothing which has both a
trendy but also unconventional look – during the brief moments in which he is
seen wearing a suit, he is dressed in brown with a knitted tie, while his
favoured casual look is a plain white T shirt and leather jacket. This costume
is highly symbolic of his character, as a plain white T-shirt is considered to
be a symbol of aggressive masculinity within films, something which the
character seems to develop towards the end of the trailer.
Title
I chose to make my title green, on black - this colouring reflects one of the most stylised shots in the trailer, and in a more subtle way reflects the themes of the location: the title 'mean time' put in green to me references the GMT laser and therefore the more industrial, modern locations that surround it. In this way, the title calls to mind ideas of location and aesthetics rather than ideas about identity and status within British society in the way that films such as Bullet Boy or Kidulthood do.
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