Coursework Inspiration- the Bone Collector

THE BONE COLLECTOR

The bone collector was used as the main inspiration for our film opening. The taxi scene, which shows a man and a woman locked in the back of a taxi by the taxi driver was what we used in order to gain inspiration from the camera angles and camera movement during this scene.

We used props as used in the bone collector in our opening sequence. For example hanging off the wing mirror is a small creepy trinket, and in our film opening we used multiple props, that were fitting with the conventions of the horror genre in order to frighten the audience. For example hanging from the wing mirror was human hair, a dolls head, rosary beads and shoe laces. This contributed to the mise en scene of our film opening as once the audience, and the girl in the opening saw this, it was instantly foreshadowing what was about to happen.

The specific camera angles and shots used were also inspiration to our film opening as they allowed us to see how a professional film institution would have produced a scene like this. We took inspiration through the wing mirror shots, and the match on action shots of the opening and closing doors of the cab. The wing mirror shots were also important to establish the eyes of the cab driver, as eyes are something which portray aggression and tension, and allow the audience a deeper insight into a character, and fit with the conventions of the horror genre.

Finally the bone collector provided us with the skills to use very specific ideas, and showed us the correct way to implement them. This could be seen through the lighting and sound used throughout our film opening, as filming in a cab, whilst dark outside required intricate detail to lighting. Including whether to use headlights, lights inside the vehicle or street lights to our advantage. Sounds were also important as we had to decide whether to use dialogue, the sound of the engine, street sounds such as pedestrians and other cars, and what sound effects to use in order to fit the conventions of the psychological thriller genre.

'Hailing' a cab in the bone collector scene- helped inspire name of film opening as we chose to call our opening 'Hail'