Iil's\Them thriller trailer from Holly Entwistle on Vimeo.
The very start of Ils begins with the title sequence, before any action has taken place we have the production company and the director etc. The titles of the film are in serif, which suggests that it’s serious and an adult film. Here we see the binary opposites of black and white as the text is white on the black background. From this we can deduce that it’s a thriller. The titles then begin to fade in and out and blur which creates a sense of mystery, therefore giving ideas about the genre of the film. The sound to coincide with the titles is the sound of rain which shows the idea of pathetic fallacy where the setting/weather matches the mood. This is consequently used as a sound bridge to introduce the following scene.
The start of ‘Ils’ begins when we are introduced to the first scene with a long establishing shot, we see that it’s dark, chiaroscuro lighting and that the car driving is severely isolated. We hear diegetic sounds of the rain, but this time we hear thunder which further reinforces the threat approaching and consequently evokes the idea of pathetic fallacy even more. From this we cut to the interior of the car on a medium close-up of the two characters. Here we gain an insight into the two characters through an argument between them. The younger character, a girl of about 16/17, who we presume is the daughter of the driver is constantly looking in the mirror. We see she is really vein and arrogant encouraging us, the audience, to dislike her. She has an attitude towards her mum of a stroppy, stereotypical teenager. She’s wearing tight clothes to once again evoke a dislike and promote the idea that she’s evil. We see her façade crack when a tears rolls down her face alter on in the scene once her mum disappears. This connotes that she is scared and the tough exterior created is a lie. Her mum, on the other hand is a victim but she is reciprocal in the idea that she is stroppy with her daughter. She’s a loving mother though as when they do crash she asks if her daughter is okay and forgets about the argument they just had. Their roles are to establish the crime and introduce the killers, who we don’t meet.
The mise-en-scene in the first scene is in a forest dark and dull road, only lit by street lights. It’s quiet to reinforce the idea of isolation with the fact it’s a rural area. This shows the seclusion and it’s scary for both the characters and the audience to watch. Once the crash does occur we hear the diegetic sound of the car screeching and the violent impact once it creates contact with the lamppost. The mum gets out of the car to investigate and we hear the diegetic sound of the engine roaring, here we know something is very wrong. From this the mum disappears. The young girl holds her phone to give us a sense of hope. This mirrors the idea of isolation because the only way for communication is through the phone, but once she makes the call, no-one answers. Behind the girl, once she leaves the car we get a bright light to connote a sense of hope which slowly gets crushed as the scene continues. When she looks for her mum outside the car we hear an ominous ratchet noise which she reacts to, thus creating a very sinister feel that something really isn’t right. We hear another ratchet noise alongside the continuous sound of the thunder and lightning, the pathetic fallacy mirrors with the mood of the character.
The camera work and editing shows intensity and works to establish the genre of the film: thriller. Once the car is crashed we cut to a third person perspective on the crash, this suggests that someone is watching them. From here the woman disappears, this is the initial crime taking place. Once the young girl exits the car after shouting her mum, we cut to a medium close-up behind her. It’s wobbly to suggest that someone is behind her watching her, it’s a point of view shot. From here we go to a close-up on her face once she’s back in the car locking the doors, we cut to an extreme close-up of the lock on the car turning on and off and the rising ignition. We hear the diegetic sound of this too alongside the panting of the girl. This suggests that what’s happening is abnormal due to the fact we see the girl, alone, is getting very scared. Once she’s in the car we see her face and her point of view shots to outside the window. The diegetic sound then enhances once the mud hits the window consequently making the people watching jump because it’s extremely unexpected.
Within the car we hear glass breaking and this confirms she’s not alone. The last girl gets strangled in the car and when this happens we cut to outside of the car, this time not a point of view shot because it doesn’t seem to be wobbly. Still outside of the car, we cut to a close-up of her hand hitting the window and condensation around it, just as this happens a car drives past but doesn’t stop. The killer is left ambiguous to make it scarier than it already is and the non-diegetic music of the ratchet noise continues throughout the murder scene as we fade to black.
From this we cut to an ellipses edit of a completely different scene. It starts off with a long shot of a child running; this takes us to a new scene that is presumably in a school. We have a sound bridge from the scenes to create a smooth transition. The diegetic sound of the children running confirms the idea they’re in a school. The non-diegetic music is classical which promotes a happy atmosphere but still hosts a sense of a sinister feel. From here we cut to a tracking shot of a classroom and here we hear a bell to signify the end of the school day. We then cut to two teachers walking; this is a panning shot as we see the front of them at the start but as they walk past the camera we see the back of them. For the titles we didn’t have any in the first scene because it was intense and it would distract from the main event taking place meaning we can focus on the action. From here on though we see overlay titles which are okay to occur throughout the second scene due to the fact that they’re not distracting here.
We cut to an ellipses cut to the outside of the school, here it’s an extreme longshot because we don’t focus specifically on any characters. The camera has a blue filter on to create a constant ominous feel throughout. The character we’re then introduced properly too, we presume, is the damsel in distress. She’s friendly but we also find out that she’s foreign which encourages us to believe that she’s out of place from the start and could be seen as a victim in that right alone. Once the protagonist gets in her car she puts on the radio, we know this is diegetic because the woman presses the buttons in her car. Throughout her car journey we cut to overhead long shots of the car, these are jump cuts as it shows the same shot and same journey just little cuts of it.
The non-diegetic music from before continues as more titles come on screen. The music then begins to change; it becomes quieter and more sinister as she passes the murder scene from presumably the night before in her car. This is done to suggest a link between the two people. We cut to a close-up of her as she passes the murder scene; the close-ups are in a shaky camera perspective. As the crashed car is pulled up on the toe-truck we once again hear the ratchet noise from earlier to suggest the severity of the situation and how these link.
We see that she’s driven from a built-up area into a rural area, which suggests she’s driving further and further into isolation. We cut to a short ellipses edit once she goes into a forest with not even a proper road on to show her extreme isolation. As she turns right through a gate we hear the diegetic creaking of it to create an uneasy, uncertain feel. The non-diegetic music that’s classical continues throughout this. We then see a huge house, we make the assumption it’s hers. Its run down dilapidated and has long grass to show the lack of attention given to it. From this we can draw that it’s isolated severely which consequently makes the whole setting of the scene seem a lot scarier. This is reinforced further by the fact that she’s arrived alone.
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