Essex''s Boys Case Study

In Essex's boys the director terry Windsor used quite a lot of generic concepts to the thriller genre such as generic locations and generic lighting, in this post i am going to take screenshots out of the film and analyse and explain the generic concepts that Terry Windsor has used to improve the overall quality of the film and the Thriller genre.

The generic concept i would like to analyse is the locations and how they effect the genre and improve thriller films, some locations seem pretty basic and don't seem like they would add much affect but when you begin to look closer at them they give you a lot more detail in the story line and help develop the film. for example at the beginning of Essex's boys where Billy is walking into the garage with all the cob webs and the old car, this is a classic example of a generic location in a thriller film because it is a small confined space which gives a claustrophobic feeling and makes the character (in this example Billy) feel really frightened and feel the sense of danger around them. Here is a screenshot to emphasis my point.

Another example of this feeling of claustrophobia and the feeling of being trapped is used in several other places through out the film in such places like where they are going through the tunnel because it is really long and there is no escape so Billy feels trapped because hes stuck in this care with Jason which makes him frightened because as the viewer you get the sense that Jason is a bit shady and has the look of a murder or someone who is involved in some really shady business.

the third example of this is when Billy and Jason pick up the business man from the fish factory and then they chuck him in the back of the white van, this is even better as a thriller generic concept because it mixes multiple generic concepts together in one short section, it mixes together the confined space of the back of the van which has had the door pad locked so he has no escape, it also has the generic vehicle of the white van which is an easily recognizable vehicle and is a classic and also adds a bit of mystery to the characters because the vehicle is plain white so you are given no clues on who the people are who are driving.

Another part of this scene that added mystery is the location to where Billy and Jason are heading to with the business man because you do not know where they are going until after you see the man jump out of the back of the van so the characters know before the viewer where they are so this adds suspense to the scene because normally when the characters know before the viewer then it is normally a really horrible location where hardly anyone wants to go and in this case that is true because they are at a really muddy beach in the middle of no where because no one will find them there, to the viewer this could be quite spooky because you don't know what Jason and Billy are going to do next.

Another generic concept which is in this screenshot is the use of costume, the business man is wearing a really typical thriller costume with the black suit and black trousers and smart black shoes because it makes the character look really important for example in once upon a time in america all the really important hit men are dressed up in suits to show their power and significance where as in Essex's Boys its like the roles have been reversed where the guys wearing the casual clothing are the strong important characters with all the power over the business man who in this example is really weak and powerless and there is nothing he can do about it so he has the traditional position of someone who would normally be wearing a casual outfit.