Essex Boys (2000) Case Study Generic Thriller Conventions

By Lars Ohrvik-Stott

Nonambient lighting

Chiaroscuro lighting: surreal, dark, shadowy. Creates sense of mystery as well as aesthetic interest

Enclosed, claustrophobic space, suggests protagonists entrapment

Darkness, obscured, mystery, audience intrigue, establishes noir genre

Cobwebs, clich of horrors/thrillers

Dirt, moral corruption and decay

More lighting and shadow, slowly revealing mystery of plot

Urban location, typical of Thriller genre

Distance form character: distance of character from emotions

Dirt on windscreen, suggests dirty nature of character

Low angle shot: Sean Bean is powerful/menacing

Windscreen presents a barrier between perception and reality

Protagonists P.O.V. used to increase empathy with character

Similar to barrel of gun: signifies violence, foreboding of Billys fate

Vanishing Point: mystery, new world Broken/decayed tunnel: moral corruption, decay

Little or no other cars: isolated, lonely, no help

Enclosed space: claustrophobic, no light/escape

Driving: being forced into it, in control but going ahead anyway

Car: conventional in thrillers

Bar lighting on windscreen: like prison bars, reflecting Jasons past, Billys future, Billy is already trapped

Slouched position: Casual in the face of violence, cold, distant. Dominant, doesnt need to always control, it comes naturally

White Van: typical convention of thrillers, unglamorous, urban

Grey/white: from darkness to light, captivity to freedom, power, to weakness Stooped position: lack of control, animalistic degradation

Low angle: Shows his fall from the position of power to a uncivilised, lowly, powerless position

Bleak weather: bleak situation, no hope/ sunlight, blank, lonely

Vanishing Point: mystery, new world, infinity

Jason standing: dominance over other character, weakness/inability

Mud/dirt: representation of characters

Lack of colour/landmarks: emotional emptiness, no help, primeval

Dirtied suit: loss of control and form, previous glory, present failure, shame

Peaceful/still location: contrasts the violence

Tide coming in: incoming danger, for Billy

Rocks: rough, uncomfortable, treacherous

Crawling: animalistic, unintelligent, primeval

Empty: moral vacuum of characters, primeval, predatory

Isolated: no help, no civilisation

British setting: conventions of location. Establish a setting

Unglamorous location: reality of situation