Prop Planning

CHOICE OF KNIFE

I had to choose a murder weapon for the antagonist. From my earlier research, Most people found a knife or axe the scariest weapon. Using a knife would be a lot easier and, in my opinion, will produce a better effect. Below are three knifes I am going to choose from for my opening.

Each of the knifes have advantages and disadvantages. The black handle knife at the top is definitely the best in terms of looks. It has a serrated blade making it look more dangerous as serrated blades are often sharper resulting in the audience to perceive such a knife to be sharper and thereby more dangerous. The handle is black, which is linked with the night, which people are generally afraid of. Black is also universally related to death and evil for that reason. This is useful as it portrays the antagonist correctly as being the source of death. However, the knife is a lot longer, making it more impractical as it looks unrealistic for the antagonist to have a long serrated blade. Also, using a long serrated blade may look dangerous to passers by, who may call the police during filming. The penknife is red, which links to blood and danger. This is useful as I want to create this effect in my opening and have not managed to be able to use red elsewhere in the opening, except for the victim's cardigan, which is pink. Also as it is smaller, it is easier to transport, and in my view, a more realistic weapon for the antagonist who is a white collar worker as it is more realistic for someone to have a penknife with them rather than a 20 inch serrated blade. This realism will involve the audience more as they can relate to it and believe it more. The disadvantage is that it does not look as scary as the other knifes. The silver knife is still large but is not serrated. It also does not have a red or black colour. Silver is associated with precision, being clean, and cold. I think this representation does not suit the antagonist well as he is happy with being dirty or guilty. Also he is not killing by the use of a precise plan. For these reasons I think that a sliver knife is inappropriate for the antagonist.As a result I will not be using the silver knife or the serrated knife but the red penknife in my opening.