A Touch of evil was directed by Orson Welles and is a single-shot sequence. There being only one shot helps show how the story all links together. It begins with an extreme close up of a bomb being set. The extreme close up is effective because you do not know who is setting the bomb and why they are setting it off. By doing this mystery and intrigue is added to the scene as it ‘hooks’ you to the film as you want to find out what is going to happen. This is a typical thriller signifier as most thriller genre films have mystery in their plots.
The use of a dark shadow running across a light wall could be seen as showing the man/shadow as evil or bad, but you still do not know who the man is. This also contributes to the mysterious atmosphere of the film.
The music being played in this scene is tension building, but with jazz too. Jazz music is a classic thriller signifier, especially for film-noirs. It makes you feel like you are aware of what is going on and that the people are in danger, but they characters do not. This gives a sinister feel to the film and keeps the audience on the edges of their seats; you are left waiting for something bad to happen but don’t know when.
The opening scene is set at night which helps add the feeling of mystery and danger; the darkness of the night can represent evil. Also, it is filmed in an urban area, which is typical for a thriller genre film. The urban area gives the film a certain dramatic effect.
The film having an explosion so early on in the film hooks the audience straight away, and tells the audience how the rest of the film will be. The presence of crime in the opening scene indicates that the film is all about crime; crime is implied as a sub-genre.
The use of vanishing points and long corridors/roads are common thriller signifiers. This film has evidence of this in a shot where the camera is facing down a long road. This road indicates that there are only two ways the people can go; if they go one way the bomb may go off near other people, and if they go the other way they will be blown up by them selves. This creates a situation where there are negative outcomes for both, but the worse choice is taken – the car goes down a busy road where there are many people that could be potentially killed.
Like in many thriller films, there is a male protagonist. He wears a suit (like in other thrillers) which gives him the connotation of being professional and smart. However, the woman he is with is wearing a dress which makes her look vulnerable. Women tend to be objectified in thrillers as weak, defenceless sex objects; the man appears to be the ‘protector’ and the woman appears to be helpless.
Our film relates to the style of this film as they are both have a sub-genre of crime. They are both also filmed in urban areas, use music to build suspense and tension and have male protagonists. Although we aim to make a film-noir styled thriller, our film does challenge come aspects of the film-noir conventions; the music in our film is not jazz and there are no suits – our film comes across as a more modern style film-noir.
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