Evaluation part 5

After looking at our feedback results I think we appealed to our target audience very well. As you can see we got the gender it appeals to and the age certificate spot on, with the audience thinking it was aimed at females only or males and females with an age certificate of 15 which was exactly what we wanted. From our feedback it was clear that our audience favoured our unique story line, so we made sure not to change that.

   In the production of our film we made sure to keep within our 15 certificate so our target audience could actually view the film, and to keep it appealing to the female viewers. This meant that we had to shoot shots that would make the audience empathise with. We also made sure to get our location right to make sure our film was seen as a thriller and there was no confusion.
 
 From our second feedback questionaire we found that our audience's favourite thing about our film was its storyline which was satisfying because we spent a lot of time coming up with the idea of a female hero to save Isobelle, I would agree with the audience that this is the best aspect of our film.

   However our film isn't perfect. After looking at feedback from the audience it was clear that the background noise in the outdoor scenes could have been reduced to improve our film. The background noise was due to a change of location where there was a lot of traffic.
   I think that if we changed the location and reduced the background noise our film would be significantly improved.

Evaluation part 7

My preliminary excercise helped me a lot when making our final 2 minute project. One of the main things the priliminary task helped with was the editing. After getting a feel for Final Cut Express and learning how to put together a smooth film it made editing for the final film much faster and easier, and helped us massively in keeping continuity in our final film. In the priliminary excercise we also learned how to correctly shoot shot reverse shot conversations and correctly aplly the 180 degree rule which was vital.
   As I was given the job of holding the camera to shoot the film the priliminary was very good in helping me get a feel for the cameras and how to use all of their features, and keeping them steady when freehand shooting and learning how to use a tripod.
   I would say I've got better at planning and organisatrion after shooting our final film. We made arrangements for time and place for shooting our film and this was vital or the film wouldn't have been finished on time. I've also learned how to use blogger, How to embed a HTML and how to use prezi and mindomo.

Evalution part 4

Make your own mind maps with Mindomo.

Evaluation part 6

Before we started filming we made a blogger account to upload all of our research, planning and final film onto. We used google docs to construct our target audience questionaire and looked at using Celtex to make a script. We were shown how to properly use the camera and tripod we would be using to shoot our film. We then edited our with Final Cut Express.
   We shot our film using Sony HDV cameras and recorded onto a tape. We chose this because it would produce the best quality film with the equipment we had access to.
   Some of our shots had to be re-shot because of poor lighting. To rectify this we shot the sequence again on a diffent day and different location with with better lighting. Quite a few of our shot were filmed free hand because the tripod couldnt get where we wanted the camera, bit for most of our shots we used a tripod to keep the camera steady.
   After we finished shooting we edited our film on Final Cut Express and then uploaded our film onto YouTube and Blogger. We then put the film on Facebook to get feedback from our friends. We also made another questionaire to get updated views and opinions on our film.
   I think the editing of our film was very successful. The continuity editing made the film flow as it should and a more enjoyable experience for the audience. I also think some of the cinematography was very successful too. The camera angles were really good for getting the audience to see our characters as we wanted them to, and the panning shots in the opening sequence set the tone for the film very well.
   Less successful aspects of our film were filming outside. Filming outside proved troublesome because we'd have random people walking past in the background of our shots which wasn;t what we wanted, also the background noise took away some of the intensity when the kidnapping happened in our film.
   After doing all of this I have learned how to shoot with a tripod and freehand, I've learned how to edit on Final Cut Express. I've also learned to to use blogger to document my work properly.

Evaluation part 3

Evaluation part 2

 Our film is very conventional in it's representation of teenagers. Isobelle is portrayed as a voulnerable and innocent schoolgirl, powerless to help herself when kidnapped, in need of a hero to save her. The costume of Isobelle is very conventional as well for a teenage girl, she has long hair and plain clothes, however the costume for Gary isn't. The clothes he is wearing wouldn't immediately imply that he is a sociopathic kidnapper. Usually the villain would be wearing dark cloathing but Gary wears a pink/purple jumper and blue jeans. Gary is the stereotypical age for and gender for a kidnapper however, he is middle aged and male.
   The camera angles used in our films represent the Isobelle, a teenage girl as voulnorable. In the close up shot where she wakes up the camera angle is facing slightly downward to represent her in a weak position.
   The parent of the film, Jane, is very stereotypical in her appearance. She wears a plain dress, and is stubborn when on the phone to her daughter when she is late, a typical convention seen in these types of thriller films. She does challenge the sterotype of women being weak however because she rescues Isobelle from her kidnapper instead of waiting for the men to do it or looking for a hero, she is the hero of the film and this is very unconventional.

Evaluation part 1

Evaluation

The narrative of our film is of a girl who gets kidnapped by a sociopath who believes she is his daughter, even though his daughter has been dead for years. We established this plot after deciding our film was to be a thriller, and a notable thriller film, Taken, is based around a kidnapping so we thought this would be a good basis for a thriller.
   Our first typical thriller convention is the male vilain and female
 victim. Women are often the victim in thriller films and it is common that they provide the motive for the hero of the film. Our film on the other hand is unconventional in that it's the mother of Isabelle that comes to her rescue and not a man.
   Another thriller convention present in our film is the locations used in our films. The place where Isobelle is kidnapped is a gloomy, lonely path through the woods which is a shortcut to get home from from school, which would be a typical place for a kidnapping in a thriller film. Another conventional location used in our film is the basement that Gary uses to hold Isobelle captive in. Small, isolated places tend to be used for captivity in thriller films to emphasise the hopelessness and fear the captive must be feeling.

Awake. Finished Film

7. What do you feel like you've learnt in the progression?

I feel like I have learned many things from the transition from preliminary to full product, both technological and non-technological, for example, i have learned many things about final cut, e.g cutting, overlapping, fading, The preliminary excercise had to include the 180 degree rule, shot/reverse shot and match on action and we had to pay very close attention to continuity, this helped me begin to develop editing skills which I feel I have further developed while working on the full product. I have also learned aspects like time keeping and planning. Without proper planning and organisation, we wouldn't have finished out product in time, we arranged times and places to meet and kept to a schedule. I learned how to hold, mount and use a HDV camera and how to import the video on to final cut from tape. I learned how to use HTML's in a webpage and how to make and use a blogger account. I feel like I have learned many skills that will be useful in my A2 media and that will continue to help me throughout my life as I am hoping to work in the media industry when I am older

6.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? 

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I feel like we succeeded in reaching our target audience. I can see this because our target audience is teenage girls and our feedback showed that people thought our film was aimed at either females or both males and females.
When planning our film we had to keep our target audience in mind. We had to make sure that there was no scenes that could jeopardise our 15 certificate as we didn't want the film to be unable for our target audience to watch. This meant we had to scrap any ideas that were either too gory, too violent or too disturbing.

The main selling point of our film is that it is a unique plot that has only been seen a few times before. This makes it more original and unpredictable,this is important  as thriller films aim to keep the audience in suspense.

The audience feedback shows that the people we questioned mostly liked the uniquity of our film. When asked 'What do you like about the story line so far' one person answered 'very different as the film seems very female orientated' This shows that we are reaching our target audience

From our final audience feedback I can tell that the most successful aspect of our film is the story line. I agree with this as our group spent a lot of time creating and perfecting the story line so as to avoid confusion which may distract from the meaning of the film

The least successful aspect of our film is the background noise during the outdoor scenes. I agree with this as at the time of filming it was getting dark at 6/7 o'clock so we were forced film the woods scenes when there was a lot of traffic passing. I also think that the mic on the camera was more sensitive than we had imagined which lead to a little too much background noise.

I think that our film could be improved by getting rid of the background noise in the outdoor scenes. This could be done by finding a different location further from main roads, or filming at a quieter time of day. If all else failed we could reduce the noise using Final Cut.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Make your own mind maps with Mindomo.

3. What kind of Media institution might distribute your media product?

Question 3- Link

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups? 

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Evaluation Question One- Link

Parts 4- 7- Shelby Murphy

http://prezi.com/oo4brcipn_dr/present/?auth_key=2c7obbf&follow=3fangv0yijgf

This is the link to my Presi on the final parts of my evaluation.

Part 3- Shelby Murphy

Evaluation pt. 1 & 2- Shelby

We used imagery as our convention to show the audience the genre of our film. Our first convention in the film is that there is a male kidnapper in the film and a female victim which is typically seen in a thriller film. The shots at the beginning of the film show that he is not just a normal man in a basement, he is clearly planning something. You could see from the rusty tools in the basement around the kidnapper, the way he is scribbling out notes and the darkness of the environment that he is unusual.


 For the full film we were going to have a change in convention when a woman is the saviour of the girl which is unusual as it’s usually a male heroic figure, but in the 2 minute time limit we had there was no way we could have shown this difference in the time space.
It looks like a thriller film from the beginning few shots. You can tell from the screen shots above that the film is going to be quite creepy and dark. Also there is creepy non diegetic music playing over the introduction to the film and the title sequence which gives it quite an eerie feeling.
The camera is always at a high angle so it’s looking down on the kidnapper so you never see his face at the beginning which gives you a feeling of insecurity from the beginning and you can tell that he’s hiding something.

The title sequences are spread out across the beginning of the film as to build suspense, which fits in with the music too. The background is black and the writing is just plain and white  because it is represents the innocence of the young school girl who gets taken the kidnapper.
We use continuity editing in our film to keep the pace of it quite slow because it is supposed to be building suspense as it goes along.
The first representation of a typical social group is that the sociopath who kidnaps the girl is a middle aged man who acts quite suspicous from the very beginning of the film. This is typical because in films such as Taken the people who kidnap the women are always male and around middle aged and in most of films similar to ours the main villain is usually always men. Also the young girl is a stereotypical character because she is just an innocent school student who is kidnapped when she is walking home from school and it is usually young females who get kidnapped in films because they are portrayed as innocent and the easiest target. If we’d have had a larger time limit for our film, one of the characters would have broken stereotypes. The mother of the girl who is kidnapped tries to hunt down the kidnapper and in the end would have ended up saving the girl when it is usually a make hero instead. On the film so far, the mother just seems like a typical working woman with the style of her clothes (a plain dress and simple hairstyle and barely any makeup) and when she is on the phone to her daughter she acts like a typical, strict worried mum.

Click here for audience feedback

Feedback Questionnaire

Link to feedback

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/17gc4Kqdk2cIXv3fbRgyY0fgOrE4CTNZLfy6lvLWzeAw/viewform

Production logo

Sound effects

In our film we are using a phone ringing sound effect, this is a common sound effect used in films because the phone ringing is too quiet when originally recorded so a louder sound effect is needed to create the desired effect.
   We recorded the phone ringing at a different time and used that sound over the original recording.

Paradigm

Paradigms in our first two minutes.

Scene 1- The title sequence.

In the first 16 seconds, there is a hatchet and a hammer. This allows the audience to assume that the man may be violent. Also creating suspense. The place is also a confined space (a basement), this shows how Gary is trapped in his own grief.


Scene 2- Woods

The woods allow the audience to assume that Isabelle is isolated and vulnerable.

The snapped bracelet may represent the 'circle' of life, the fact that it has been snapped shows that Gary can't carry on with his life with out his daughter. It also could represent the bond between Isabelle and her mother.



Scene 3- Basement
Enclosed space allows the audience to assume that she is trapped with no way out. It also allows the audience to also feel trapped.

Conventions

Conventions for our own Thriller movie:

Scene 1: Title Sequence

Conventions in our title sequence is that it is in a dark secluded basement where the camera is zooming over lots of dangerous tools or 'weapons'which are widely associated with thriller films. The basement is dark and creepy which also gives off the creepy thriller type we are trying to create. Because this is the title sequence too we are having creepy music playing over the top so people understand the genre of the film from the beginning.

Scene 2: The Woods

When Isabelle is walking through the woods, you can automatically tell thats it's quite mysterious and creepy because the path is small and the threes are enclosed, it is also borderline dark. And when the sociopath (Gary) comes out of the trees you can almost automatically tell which direction the film is going to go in.

Scene 4: In the basement
Firstly, Isabelle wakes up when she is tied up to a chair which obviousley means she's been captured. Then Gary closes up on her and you see the setting of the basement around her which automatically makes you relaises where she is from the first scene.

Music used in Thrillers

Thriller films use music that builds suspense. The music will start off quiet and thin and as the scene intensifies the music will become louder and thicker.

   Thriller films as a rule usually have non diegetic music playing in the background creating a sound bridge to create and determine the certain desired atmosphere. Orchestral music is also often used within films of the thriller genre. This all adds a lot of tension to the film causing the audience to have a feeling that something bad is going to happen soon in the film. The sound in thriller films also seems to start off at a slow pace and then the tempo gradually builds and speeds up to make the shot more dramatic to the audience. Also, another thing is that in thrillers, separate sounds seem to be emphasized on a lot, usually in the part of the climax, for instance, water droplets hitting the ground.

Film Plan 2

Wednesday 6th March

Scene: The Woods.
Eerie path enclosed with trees. This is the scene where Isabelle is kidnapped.

Scene: Basement 2
Dark basement, stone slab centre table. Peeling paint walls.
When Isabelle awakens

What is needed:
-Camera (Shelby)
-Props
-Plan

Synopsis full film

The full film would last 113 minutes. This is because Thriller films usually last around 110 to 140 minutes. 

A girl, Isabelle Taylor, was walking home from college, when her mother, Jane, rings her complaining that she is late. She hangs up and carries on walking, she is taken by a man, Gary Mordecai. 
Gary Mordecai lost his daughter, Harley, two years ago. She was taken and killed by two men, the body was never found. Gary believes that Isabelle is his daughter. Gary believes that she is still alive, and that she is Isabelle. 
Isabelle awakens in a strange basement, she's confused and doesn't know where she is. Gary is calling her a strange name, Harley. As it gets later, Jane begins to frequently ring her, she can't answer. Her hands are tied behind her back. Gary gets angry, but then calms himself and tells her the story of Harley. 
Her mother is getting worried, she goes to the police but they can't do anything for 48 hours. She nearly gives up when she finds her daughters charm bracelet. She then continuously rings her daughter's phone, hoping to hear it, even faintly. 
While Gary is upstairs, Isabelle attempts to escape but fails.
Her mother hears the familiar ringtone, and starts to connect the sound to a house. She realises the directions it’s coming from. She rings the police, and then she scours the garden for a heavy object. She finds a shovel next the sociopaths shed, and then calls the phone again. She realises that it’s coming from the basement and tries to find the window down to the basement. She hears the police sirens in the distance. But still realises it could be too late, so she gathers up her courage and smashes the window and jumps through. The man grabs a blade from his belt, and threatens to kill her daughter as the mother jumps down in to the basement.  
Her mother jumps in and the crazy man is holding the blade against her daughter’s neck. Then the mother speaks up ‘wait, I just want my daughter back’ and slowly puts the shovel down. And as her mother is trying to convince the man to let her daughter go, and the man moves away from her, the daughter silently picks up the shovel and smacks the man with the shovel around the head and he falls to the ground. They limp out of the basement window as the police arrive, collapsing in each other’s arms.

Film Plan

Date: 

25th of february.

Setting:

Stairfoot penine trail. 

Eerie forest path, plenty of trees, and will be dusk by that time so it will look creepy.

Second setting:

Basement.

Stone slab table, dark with peeling paint.

Third setting:

Kitchen.

Modern kitchen, got knives and plates and pans in it and stuff. 

We will need:

- Camera

-Costume/ props

-Make up

Synopsis first 2 minutes- Awake

Awake

First two minutes

Gary Mordecai, a 42 year old unemployed man is sat in a dark basement, around him are pictures of his daughter, Harley, who was kidnapped and murdered two years ago. He sits writing and sketching in his journal. Mumbling to him self. There are medium close up on the name he has written down, these change to get different angles of him.

Long shot, a sixteen year old girl, Isabelle, is walking home from college through the woods on a narrow path. It's getting late when her phone rings, Medium close up. It's her mother, Jane, a 32 year old part time accountant. Jane shouts at Isabelle, short-reverse-shot is used, over the phone because she is late home, Isabelle rolls her eyes not taking in a word she is saying. She hangs up. Isabelle carries on walking, medium long shot, keeping her head down as she goes. Everything seems quiet and calm. She feels uncertainty and starts to walk faster. Gary appears from out of the trees and grabs Isabelle, medium shot. In a struggle, Isabelle's charm bracelet snaps (close up). Gary puts his hand over her mouth, muffling Isabelle's scream. Fade to black.

It cuts to the dark eerie basement. Gary's sketches and journals are sprawled all over the stone slab table. It cuts to an extreme close up of Isabelle's eyes as she opens them. Medium close up, She is tied to a chair. She starts to struggle, the obvious fear in her eyes, as she tries to break free. Medium long shot, Gary is sat in the corner, staring ahead of Isabelle. He seems to be mumbling Harley to himself. Gary notices that she is awake, he walks over to her stuttering as he tries to talk to her,medium shot. He stops less than a meter away. Isabelle turns away turning her head, as if the smell of him repulses her. There is a close up of her phone as it starts to ring, the familiar ringtone of her mothers, she cant answer it. It cuts to a medium close up of Gary, as anger builds up in his eyes.

Research into a Similar Film

 

A film similar to ours would be Taken. Taken is a thriller which involves A man trying to save his kidnapped daughter. Our film is a thriller based around a girl getting kidnapped by a sociopath and her mother trying to get her back.

 

Taken has an average rating of 7.9/10 from 279,815 users, and made $24,717,037 on its opening weekend and went on to make $145,000,989 in total.

 

The phone scene from Taken

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgmO32IdwuE 

    



Title Sequence Research

SE7EN Title Sequence:
We are going to do a title sequence from inspiration of the film SE7EN because the beginning of our film starts with sociopath flicking through images and photos and writing down information and planning routes on paper hunched over his desk in a dark basement with barely any light. We were going to do the title seqence at this point because it creates the eerie feeling of which we are trying to provide within our film. Our main idea is to do a new title everytime he flicks or turns a page so the noise queues a new title.



I also thought the title sequence of the film BURIED was quite clever because it was only 3 colours, black, white and orange and it had a creepy basement kind of feeling to it as it went through. Although the lines made it seem quite sci-fi like, it also gave off the impression being quite strange. I just liked the way the words were formed around different objects and lines.

Thriller genre research

Thriller films are based around keeping the audience on the edge of their seats, they don’t have to be scary, they use anticipation and suspense to keep the audience tuned in.

Sub genres of thrillers are crime thrillers, action thrillers, religious thrillers, psychological thrillers and science fiction thrillers. There’s also another type of thriller, it’s not a sub genre, but more a term for a distinct, stylistic type of crime-drama or thriller that was popular throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Film-Noir is characterized by a black-and-white style with stark lighting effects. The main character is usually a cynical hero. Film-Noir relies on a narrative voice and various flashbacks to explain the intricate plot.

Notable thriller films:

 Se7en, Silence of the lambs, Shutter Island, Psycho.

Notable thriller directors:

Christopher Nolan

Alfred Hitchcock

David Fincher 

Music Idea

This is one of the possible songs that would be playing as Isabelle is walking through the woods and gets taken by Gary. I think this song would be appropriate because it gives you that eerie feeling, like what you'd get while you're walking through a dark, scary place on your own.

Script

Jane Taylor

Jane Taylor

Name: Jane Taylor

Age: 32

Height: 5'7

Hair colour: Brown

Eye colour: Blue  

Occupation: Part time accountant

Jane is a very brave determined woman who will stop at nothing 

to get her daughter back after she is kidnapped by Gary. She is very protective over her daughter, and easily worries about her. She also wishes she had a better relationship with Isabelle. With her being young she is in with the trends, she tries to act younger than she actually is. She gets along with Isabelle's friends which usually causes arguments between her and her daughter. just before her daughter was taken, they had an argument, Jane blames herself for her daughter being taken.

Part in film

Jane is the mother of Isabelle, with her protective nature she takes the burden of finding her daughter (after receiving no help from the local police). She starts to think all hope is lost untill she finds her bracelet. Nothing could stop her finding her daughter.

Settings

Setting One:
Scene one:
Setting one is in a dark basement with a large desk, and one chair and all light apart from a small lamp is blocked out.  The walls are all stone and grey, and the floor is concrete. It is too dark to make out any specific objects but there are dark silhouettes of what could be thought of as 'weapons'

Setting two:
Scene two:
Setting two is in an open field in the middle of winter so it is quite dark out at half 5, only a few streetlights surrounding the field are lighting up the area. On one side of the field is a lot of trees and then there is a path going through the field close to the trees.

Setting three:
Scene three:
In a house in the kitchen and living room. There is a dog to make it seem more homely. There is freshly prepared food laid out on plates, and the kitchen is a bit scattered with kitchen utensils.

The Results

Questionnaire results

Age certificates in Thrillers

Age certificates in Thrillers

12:
Examples: The Hunger Games, Skyfall, The Impossible, Sukerpunch, Sherlock Holmes.

Thriller's with the age certificate of 12, tend to have moderate swearing in them such as 'bitch' or 'twat'.
Violence within Thrillers is moderate and it doesn't dwell on it. For example, in 'The Hunger Games' we are told that the tributes are made to fight to the death, this is shown a mass fight scene when they first enter the arena, there is silence so that it doesn't dwell on the detail and make it gory. Weapons should not be glorified.
Another example of this is shown in 'Suckerpunch', the violence is taken out of the natural world and taken to a fantasy world. This makes the violence and gore less realistic.
The film can have sexual content, however this should be brief and discreet.
Dangerous behaviour such as self harm and suicide can be present, however it shouldn't dwell on detail. Infrequent use of drugs may be present as long as it isn't glamorised.

Age certificates for Thrillers.

15:
Examples of 15 certificates Thrillers:
Taken, The Last Stand, Looper, Parker, End of Watch

All these films have crime in common, and they keep you on edge throughout the entire film.They are all action based and include a lot of swearing, violence and have sexual references.

18:
Examples of 18 certificates Thrillers:
Dredd, Killing them softly, Pulp Fiction, American Mary, The Departed

These examples are all classed under the 18 certificate because they are quite explicit in the contents of sexual references and acts, violence and gore, and drug abuse in detailed content.

The difference between these two genres is the difference between the physchological effects in the 15 section and the gore and violence in the 18 section.
The 15 films are most to do with the background of the story and figuring out the puzzle, with scenes of violence e.g. person-on-person fighting, group fights, car chases, car/building explosions etc. without the explicit content. And mainly references to sexual acts and prostitution and is very rarely seen in explicit content. Also drug use is only implied, and barely ever seen, if so it is referred to as being bad or it is the less lethal drugs.
Whereas in the 18 section,, there is still the physchological side, but it is made more explicit as it can include a lot more gore when violence is used therefore you will see the effects of weapons and detailed deaths e.g. a lot more 'blood' loss shown, missing body parts, snapping/breaking bones etc. Also sexual acts may be seen, and referred to in deatil and drug use can also been mentioned and seen.

Gary Mordecai

 

Name: Gary Mordecai

Age: 42

Height: 5ft 11"

Occupation: Unemployed

Appearance: Dark blonde hair
                     Brown eyes


Gary lost his daughter two years ago and is still grieving.
He has seen Isabelle and, in his state of mind, thinks that it is his daughter- Harley
He has been following her, mapping out her every route. He knows exactly when she starts and finishes college.
He truly believes that she is Harley. He plans to take Isabelle, like they took his daughter.

Two years ago, at the age of fifteen, Harley was taken and killed by two men. They never found the body, even though the men were prosecuted and convicted of murder.
Gary believes she is still alive, that she is Isabelle.

Isabelle Taylor

Name: Isabelle Taylor

Age: 16
Height: 5ft 3"
Occupation: Student
Appearance:
Short dark brown hair
Green eyes

Isabelle resebles Gary's daughter, Harley.
She is a kind hearted person. She is never in trouble at school/college. Always on top of her work
Mother-Daughter relationship isn't too strong. They tend to argue a lot, however they know that they'll always be there for one and other.

Part in film
Isabelle is kidnapped by confused sociopath, Gary Mordercai.
She is given the difficult task of escaping from his grasp.

Questionnaire

Independent Distributor

Entertainment Film Distributors 

It is a British distributor for independent films in the UK and Ireland, founded in 1978.
It distributes in Theatrical, DVD rental and retail fields. It also licenses a catalogue of both Pay-TV and Free-TV sectors.
Entertainment distributed films by New Line Cinema, a Warner company, along with films from other independent production companies.
Entertainment have released many BAFTA and Oscar winning films including The Departed, Million Dollar Baby, Gosford Park, Brokeback Mountain and The Artist.


Entertainment Film has distributed Thriller films such as:
The Host (2013)
Anonymous (2011)
Killer Elite (2011)
Apollo 18 (2011)
The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
Gamer (2009)
The Tournament (2009)
The Departed (2006)
White Noise (2005)

Mainstream distributors

Mainstream distribution company one:

Summit Entertainment (US)
Distributed films such as Sinister, Man on a ledge, RED, Insomnia, The Ghost and The Hurt Locker which are all associated thrillers, which is the genre our film is based on. I think Summit would be a good distribution company for our film because they've had a lot of experience in the advertisement of thriller type films, so they would know the best forms of audience for the film and the ways of advertisement.

Questionnaire

Name:________________________

Age:_______

Gender:        Male       Female

Occupation: ___________________

Region: _________________________

Do you find our story line interesting?

Yes                 No

Would you want to watch the rest of the film?

Yes                No

What Genre would you class this film as?

__________________________

Where would you expect to see this film? E.g. Cinema, TV, DVD, Online.

____________________________

Do you think our film would be interesting to a wide audience or a niche audience?

____________________________

What gender do you think our story is aimed at?

Male              Female           Both

What age Certificate would you give it?

U      PG     12     15    18

What do you like about the storyline so far?

____________________________________________

What do you dislike?

_________________________________________________

Iconography

Iconography means symbolic representations, which often has a conventional meaning attached to an image/object. Thrillers often have various items of iconography associated with them. Iconography is important in a film as it is part of mise-en-scene and representation, therefore it helps to construct messages for the audience.

Confined Spaces.

Film of the thriller genre tend to include confined spaces, this could be things such as cells, tunnels etc. They make the audience feel like they are trapped like the character. The characters within these places breathe heavily and panting, often leading to a struggle to break free. 

Within our film, we are using a basement as a confined space. This is to create the feel of the daughter being trapped as she struggle to break free from the sociopath.

Woods

Woods are very common within thrillers. This is because they create a feel of being lost and confused. Woods are also isolated, like the character. They also create a create a feeling of vulnerability. 

We are using a wood like setting when the girl is taken, this is to show her vulnerability.

Knives

Knives create the feeling of danger as they have connotations of things such as death, blood, and pain. 

Bars on Windows

This would be used for our basement scenes in order to show the isolation of the character, as well as her being trapped with 'no escape'. 

Age Certificate

 We are planning on giving our film the certificate of 15. We are making it 15 because:

• "strong violence"
• "frequent strong language (eg 'f***')."
  
  
  These two bullet points will be included in our own film because the story line is about kidnapping and there is a rescue involved, so there will be quite a lot of violence included. Also there will be strong language when the mother is trying to find her daughter because she is freaking out.
• "Many horror films are rated 15. At 15 there can be strong threat and menace (as long as it is not sadistic or sexualised), although the strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable."
  
  Though our film isn't horror, it will still be quite disturbing because the main guy is mentally ill so it makes the film quite creepy. Also because the girl is caught and locked up in a basement so we decided it would be too freaky for a 12.
  
  
  
  
  

Best thriller directors.

 

    Alfred Hitchcock:                                                               James Cameron
     Directed                                                                                Directed:
    11 films in 1920.                                                                   1970s- 1
    15 films in 1930                                                                    1980s- 4
    14 films in 1940                                                                    1990s- 4
    11 films in 1950                                                                    2000s- 4
    5 films in 1960.
    2 films in 1970.

      Top 4 films                                                                          Top 4 films

1. Rear Window (1954)                                                      1.Titanic (1997)
2. Psycho (1960)                                                                 2.Aliens (1986)
3. Vertigo (1958)                                                                3.The Terminator (1984)
4. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)                                             4.Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)

     Stephen Spielberg                                                          Martin Scorsese
     Directed:                                                                          Directed:
    1950s - 1                                                                          1950s - 1
    1960s - 3                                                                          1960s- 1
    1970s - 3                                                                          1970s- 8
    1980s - 7                                                                          1980's- 5
    1990s - 7                                                                          1990s- 8
    2000s - 9                                                                          2000s- 8
    2010s - 2                                                                          2010s- 1

      Top 4 films:                                                                   Top 4 films-

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)                              1.Goodfellas (1990)
2. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)                           2.Taxi Driver (1976)
3. Jaws (1975)                                                            3. Raging Bull (1980)
4. Saving Private Ryan (1998)                                   4. The Departed (2006)