Motifs in Thrillers

This post discusses the topic of motifs and how some have been used in the film 'Casablanca'.

Costume Plan - 'Anonymous Lead'

This is the costume plan (created by me and Seb) of the film opening for 'Anonymous Lead'.

Inter-textual references - 'Anonymous Lead'

This discusses the topics and external media used in research and planning sessions for the film opening of 'Anonymous Lead'.

Title sequence fonts - 'Anonymous Lead'

This explains the font choices made for the film opening sequence of 'Anonymous Lead'.

Soundscape - 'Anonymous Lead'

The development of our soundscape

This idea is heavily based on the concept that the telephone dominates the character's actions and the whole plot itself; the story wouldn't progress without phone calls - the phone acts as a catalyst to prompt certain characters to figure out where they are going within the plot. I did some research on dialling tones and decided to use them in diegetic and non-diegetic ways. I thought that dialogue should not have been exchanged at all in the duration of the opening. However, we made the choice to formulate a script - the main focus of the opening bases around sound; the phone call; the dialling tone. I think that this would make the audience think about what is being presented to them; and that the sounds used are the predominating element to build suspense and uncertainty.

In Film Noir, the ways in which the antagonist, anti-hero, etc. is concealed has one main method: through shadows. Shadows - a key convention of the sub-genre - act almost as the ghost of the person casting it, completely hiding their true identity. It links to our project's concept in the way that we are hiding our main antagonists, but through out-of-focus filming and (maybe) silhouettes; not to mention the catalyst of the story line... The hidden profile could be viewed as an antagonist, due to the fact that their appearance is only shown, well, heard though sound and brief dialogue. 

I felt that although the Investigator is the main protagonist, he should not be seen as yet. Instead, we will use the sound of running footsteps, non-diegetically - to show that he has left the shot/location, to fulfil his purpose as Investigator. The usual opening is supposed to introduce the key cast to the audience, giving them a sense of early understanding as the film starts. In this case, I thought that because we are producing an opening to a film containing elements of Film Noir and Psychological themes, not showing the audience the characters' identities can create disorientation - but only brief disorientation. We are hinting a small degree of what the characters are like and briefly through very few shots of the opening. 

Below are a few of the sounds that are going to be used in the opening. Notice how I have taken the Busy Signal/Interrupted Call tone and the generic Dialling tone; The Busy Signal/Interrupted Call tone sounds like something that would confuse you - the call just happens to be cut off as soon as the information has been distributed - suspicious? The Dialling tone could be used as an underscore, to keep this motif carrying on throughout the opening.

Explaining the title - 'Anonymous Lead'

This is a brief explanation about the title that was decided for our film opening 'Anonymous Lead'.

Initially, ideas derived from synonyms of words/phrases like "phone call" and "unknown". Eventually, "Anonymous Lead" was paired together because those words summed up the main elements of what would create the foundation of the plot. The title of the thriller was devised in mind of the plot; the ‘Anonymous’ part of the title makes reference to the fact that the story’s entirety revolves around a hidden, unknown profile who seems to be ahead of each character’s progress throughout the film. The ‘Lead’ part of the title possesses a two-way meaning; one way of interpreting it could be through the following of the couple’s tracks of escape – the result of following their trail leads you to the truth of their motives of crime. The other, quite literal meaning of ‘Lead’ in this context describes the cord attached to the phone. This interpretation links back the anonymity of who is behind the whole operation of the story. I do think that creating a title that has multiple meanings allows the audience to make sense of their perception of the film, or in this case the opening of the film.