Essex Boys: How does the director use British locations and colour to establish menace?

The director of Essex Boys uses a cold colour pallet and metaphorical locations to create a bleak atmosphere and establish the theme and characters in the film. I would like to use similar techniques in my own thriller opening to create meanings and connotations through the use of location and colour.

Colours:

The colours are desaturated to emphasise the bleakness of the location and the loneliness because it makes it look very empty. The lack of colour connotes the lack of morality and establishes the characters as morally corrupt. 

Locations:

The Essex locations establish menace because the setting is very uninviting and alienated which connotes the characters as being dangerous outcasts. The locations are very urban and industrial which makes them seem soulless and bleak.

This shot uses dull, desaturated colours to portray the overcast industrial location. The characters are travelling into the bleakness of Essex and the neglected wasteland. 

 There are various locations in the film, including a fish market. The fish market works well because it is an everyday location that they have made look grim and cruel to create an intense atmosphere and show the ordinary characters' double lives as dangerous criminals. 

 This shot is another example of the way the director has used desaturated colours to establish menace as it reflects the abandoned area and makes it seem unsettling.

The estuary marshes connote moral emptiness as it is a metaphorical location for being isolated, suggesting that the character's morals don't exist. The bleak, subtle colours emphasise the emptiness.

This shot shows him in the distance on the other side of the car. It is metaphorical for him being the dirt on the car, created through the use of composition and dull colours. This establishes him as being a menace who's unwanted. 

 The chiaroscuro lighting creates a shadow on half of his face which connotes that he has an evil side and no morals.

 The tunnel is also a metaphorical location because it suggests that the character is going into darkness and moral corruption, underneath Essex, travelling deeper into the deception. Showing their journey into the immoral landscape of Essex through the hellish underground.

The bars of diegetic light in the foreground of this shot foreshadow he's trapped or going to jail which establishes the crime theme and sense of entrapment.  

Q5: How did you attract/ address your audience?

Q2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Q6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Q4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my thriller film would be based on their film interests, age and lifestyle. The target demographic is mainly males, aged 18-29 as it has a sophisticated storyline with complex themes and plot twists but contemporary enough for a young-adult audience.
The theme of the film would be more appealing to a male audience because from looking at the IMDb audience ratings of similar thriller films it shows that men are more likely to watch it.
For example Essex Boys... Most of the IMDb ratings are from males aged 30-44, although
it is a certificate 18 and our thriller will more likely be a 15 certificate therefore reach a slightly younger audience. Essex Boys is also a low budget film therefore it appeals to the over 20yrs audience as they prefer less mainstream films like Essex Boys and The Disappearance of Alice Creed, which would be suitable for our thriller as it is an independent film.                                                  

Essex Boys

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy has a similar audience of males aged 18-29 as they have rated the film highest and are a majority of the audience.

Audience Profile (Psychographics): 

Oliver- Male- Age 26

Oliver likes media and technology which draws him to contemporary films. He lives in an urban city in England and likes TV shows and films that can relate to this, with elements of crime and British gangster. He is interested in Russian cinema and is well educated and cultured, which makes him quite political. Oliver likes listening to alternative, modern music such as Foals and Alt-j. 

Some of his favourite films are Drive and Sleuth. Or films by the director David Fincher such as Fight Club and Se7en, as he likes gritty, realistic films. He mostly watches films but on TV he sometimes watches the series London Spy or Scandinavian dramas such as The Bridge, because they have a heavy storyline that puts you on edge. 

Camille- Female- Age 19

Camille is French and recently moved to London. She is interested in independent/ art house British films, and likes learning about British cinema and culture. She is also modern and urban but also enjoys classic films from the director Alfred Hitchcock such as 'Rear Window' and 'To Catch a Thief', because she likes mystery films. She isn't interested in mainstream things as she doesn't see many blockbusters and likes vintage fashion and reading novels. She likes current, modern music such as James Blake and is involved in social media. The thriller would appeal to a female audience because of the representational pleasures as the film challenges stereotypes of females in thriller films, being of secondary importance to the male leads or being presented as weak and victimised. However the female character in our thriller is more of a cunning antagonist than a traditional femme fatale. 

Both character profiles would be a likely audience for my thriller because they show interests in films from similar genres and have contemporary, urban lifestyles. The audience would also reach to Europe as I think it would appeal to people outside the UK or those who like foreign films because it has a theme of Russian politics. Also the production of the thriller might appeal to people interested in following popular directors because of the focus in way it's shot.

Q3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The Disappearance of Alice Creed IMDb user ratings:

Spike Island user ratings:

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy user ratings:

Thriller Final Cut