Essex Boys Case Study

How Terry Winsor established and develops the thriller genre in the opening to Essex Boys.

Locations and Lighting: The Garage:

Terry Windsor strongly establishes the thriller genre in the opening shot of Billy in the derelict garage.  The use of noir lighting with a chiaroscuro effect immediately launches the audience into a dark and menacing world.  The cobwebs and isolation of Billy further establishes a sense of foreboding.  The use of chiaroscuro lighting in the Billy isolation scene is also used in the opening to “Once Upon a Time in America” when Eve enters her dark apartment whilst New Yorkers are celebrating the end of prohibition. 

Eve in chiaroscura lighting in opening scene of OUTIA

The opening garage scene in Essex Boys

Locations and Lighting, the Factory:

Terry Windsor then moves onto to develop the thriller genre further in the film with the fish factory scene. The small, congested spaces around the factory show that there is no escaping the area which makes the audience start to worry for someone. The affect this has on the audience is that they realise something bad is going too happen as they see a small congested space and a threatened character and think that something bad will happen. this is similar to the "Chelsea Grin" scene in Green Street where Elijah Wood is jumped in a small alleyway. When the beating is taking place the location is used too full effect when the victim tries to scramble to safety to no avail, and the best he can do is hide under fish, a kind of dark humour shown from Windsor, before being dragged off into the back of a van. The van is another example of a claustrophobic space used by Windsor. This is because it is small, compact and dark. the affect this has upon the audience is that they fear for what is about to happen to the person in the back of the van, although they aren't in there with him they know just as much of his fait as he does (the victim) so this creates tension. 

Fish Factory, Essex Boys

 

 

Chelsea Grin attack, Green Street

 

 

 Character Types:

The two main characters in the opening 5 minutes of Essex Boys are Billy and Jason. In these scenes we mainly see Jason. Jason is a hard, nasty character who is strong and abusive. He makes the audience think and see he is not one to be messed with within the first five minutes by attacking a random person in the fish factory; this is especially seen when he and Billy are in the van after and he notices he has a small blood stain on his shirt, and that of all things is all he seems to be worried about. The shirt he wears is very loud and outgoing and relates to his personality. he wears alot of bling also which shows that he likes to show off and make himself look like he has money, much like Bill in the opening scene of Kill Bill volume 1.
He is an effective character that Windsor has used because he is like an old school gangster in a modern day setting. He is much like Butch Coolidge in Pulp Fiction in his aggressive no nonsence fighting, and that he seems too attack people with no real motive, as there is none shown within the first five minutes. However he is also like Tommy Hatcher from Green Street as he seems to be the leader of a gang but not really well liked in that gang. He is a very intimidating character which makes the audience not really warm too him.

Jason, Essex Boys

Tommy Hatcher, Green Street

Billy on the other hand seems like he is quite innocent, when Jason asks him to drive the van for him he seems in total shock at what he sees Jason does to this seemingly innocent man. Windsor uses a character like Billy to be the character the audience warm too and like. He is not intimidating like Jason and seems like he has been dragged into what is going on rather than willingly being involved, it's more of a favour to Jason. Billy is abit like Matt Buckner in Green Street as they both seem quite naive to the world of violence and criminality, much like the audience are, so therefore their less threatening nature allows someone for the audience to feel safer around. Windsor uses Billy to develop the genre mainly from his voice over work when he's describing

Matt Buckner, Green Street

Billy, Essex Boys

In conclusion,  Terry Windsor establishes the thriller genre in essex boys well. The main way he establishes the genre in my opinion is by using the lighting and locations. For example in the garage when he uses chirascura ligthing like in the opening scene of Once Upon a Time in America, the intertextual reference allows the audience to see that this is a thriller from the first 5 minutes of the film, therefore letting them know what to expect from the film. The locations, such as the fish factory, are small and enclosed which shows that someone is in danger and allows the audience to realise that this is a thriller genre