Thriller Opening - Props

Props –

 Saqib: Gun, phone

Jacob: Gun, phone, certificate showing character is a detective, detective attire (braces, smart clothes)

Costumes –

Tom’s character: Purposely dressed in clothes which don’t identify him as part of any particular group.  This means his character can remain fairly unimportant to the audience, but also shows that he is likely to be innocent

Saqib’s character: Dark clothes, purposely quite non-descript to enforce the idea of the character’s identity being a mystery, and of him being almost faceless.  Dark colours also have connotations of being villainous, or evil.

Jacob’s character: Formal trousers and shirt with braces, to give connotations of professionalism.  Heavily influenced by the character of detective Mills in the thriller Se7en.

Justifications for props and costumes –

The gun in both cases is a small black handgun. 

 In Saqib’s case, this is to display secrecy and to uphold the idea of the character being a “silent killer”, giving the idea of discretion. 

 For Jacob’s character, the gun was used to finalise the image of the detective being in law enforcement, after the detectives costume and the detective’s certificate of appreciation which is being read by the detective at the beginning of the office scene.

Phones used in the conversation between Saqib and Jacob were in both cases mobile phones.  The killer uses a mobile to call the detective, rather than a landline.  This is to show that the killer isn’t restricted, or necessarily in a certain place.  This ties in with the idea of him being “untraceable”.  At first, we intended to have the detective receive the call on his office’s landline, to show his closeness to the police department.  However, we decided that if we showed the detective to be talking on a mobile we could create the impression that the relationship between the detective and the murderer was a more personal one.  Secondly, it suggest that the detective, who is the hero in the story, is not necessarily a part of the police force all of the time when it comes to dealing with criminals.