Props & Costume

We had a specific choice of portable objects and costumes for our film in order to make the characters and setting believable. For instance, we created the role of the serial killer by costuming our actor in a white forensic suit and blue rubber gloves. We decided to use this costume as it corresponded with the image of intellegent violent criminals who may wear protective clothing and gloves while committing crimes to avoid getting caught.

Costume

A pair of household disposable nitrile rubber gloves (worn by the serial killer). We stained these with red paint to produce the appearance of the victims' blood.

Medium-sized white forensic suit (worn by the killer along with blood-stained trainers to demonstrate his suspicious activities within a flashback)

We used contrasting tracksuits for the characters in the interrogation scene. The kidnapper's pitch black attire connotes ideas of anonymity, mysteriousness and danger. It juxtaposes with the kidnap victim's light grey tracksuit allowing him to appear as the more vulnerable and innocent of the two. The preferred reading here is that the guy in the black is clearly the bad guy as his clothing is negative and intimidating. Both costumes help to create an isolated urban feel to the scene.

Additionally, we used a bib apron (again marked with blood and other stains) for the killer’s creepy flashback scene. Along with the tools used, the apron suggests that the criminal could be any average person as it’s a common item that any craftsman, manual worker or student may use.

Props

The kidnapper wore a plastic mask throughout to hide his identity, furthering the sense of enigma. There was also another coloured mask that he used to harass the victim with. Keenan had the idea to make the kidnapper seem more unstable - even 'psychopathic''- by attempting to dress up and dehumanize his victim.

We asked to borrow a "dark-coloured" neck scarf to tie up and cover the victim's face. We were unable to obtain rope in the days leading up to shooting so we used a similar black material to loosely tie his hands.

An essential part of the narrative was the killer's interaction with his tools, strongly suggesting to the audience his intentions and what he has already done with his victim(s). The common items, which included a syringe and handsaw, symbolize extreme violence and masculinity (subtle ideas we wanted to convey about the character and his interests). The use of red paint on these items as a representation of blood was also imporatant. The same tools were re-used in the interrogation scene to allow the kidnapper to intimidate his victim despite being of smaller size. Furthermore, we obtained permission to use these real-life props from the 'Design & Technology' department of the school. We had to handle them carefully and return them after a limited amount of time due to safety issues.

Rachel Mensah