Thriller Ideas Power-point *(Starts from bottom of post)

Thriller questionaire

Questionnaire

This lesson, we have been tasked with creating a questionnaire with the intention of discovering what interests an audience in a thriller opening to ensure our thriller will have the most impact and include elements that interest and entice the audience. We thought questions based around conventions, Mise en scene and general information on each person was required.

1)      What gender are you?

Male                                             Female

2)      What age group do you fall under? Circle your answer.

11 - 13                                             14 – 16

17 - 19                                              20 +

3)      What is your favourite genre of film?

Action                                             Comedy

Horror                                            Thriller

Drama                                             Sci-Fi

Romance

4)      Do you enjoy watching the genre: Thriller?

Yes                                                  No

5)      What age rating would you expect a typical thriller film to be?

U                                PG                 12A

12                              15                    18

6)      Would a thriller appeal more to you if it was set in a local area?

Yes                                                      No

Explain why…

7)      What do you think would be your favourite sub genre of a thriller film?

Political                                                Crime

Conspiracy                                           Psychological

Disaster                                                 Mystery

Legal                                                      Religious

8)      What do you think makes a good thriller?

9)  What do you think makes up a typical thriller character?

Prelim Evaluation

When filming our prelim there where a few points we had to ensure we included before we added our own creativity. These points were:

• Movement/walking: We tried to make our transitions of movement as fluent as possible for example when Steven was walking up the stairs, walking down the hall and then the first person perspective of Steven approaching “the antidote”.

• Conversation: For our conversation we included a close up of my face when I was talking and then an over the shoulder view of me pointing the gun at Steven when he responded to my dialogue.

• Entering a different environment (walking through a door): When filming this part we had to ensure that we got the timing and positioning right for the next shot so that the transition remains smooth.

We used a fairly wide range of shots when filming but the prelim mainly consisted of wide, medium, close up and over the shoulder shots as we didn’t feel the need to include many other shots for our specific ideas.

Although we did consider the mise-en-scene and sound we felt quite limited in the school environment and had to complete this prelim within a small time scale so we did not have the time to move tables and chairs out of the room for filming. If we did have more time we would of completely suited the room for the prelim including a laboratory scene in which the antidote is found.

As our group only consisted of me and Steven it made filming very difficult. So when it came to the over the shoulder shot we called in a friend (Luke Doyle) to film that specific shot. Other than that me and Steven tried our best to get the most effective shots as possible to add hints of tension to our action-thriller type prelim but as this was the first time either of us had ever filmed in this way. Some of the shots were slightly “rusty” and shaky but we have learned from this.

If you look at my prelim planning at the bottom of the blogg you will find that our shots do not meet the specifications of our storyboard this was slightly due lack of costume but mainly because we did try film according to the storyboard but we used trial and error and thought that the shots/ideas we used where much better than what we originally planned.

In conclusion I believe there is a lot of room for improvement in our prelim for example mise-en-scene, improved dialogue and more fluent shots but I don’t think it was too bad for a first try.

Uk Film Classification

The BBFC controls and classifies every film in the UK. The BBFC decides whether a film should be allowed to be broadcasted or sold in the UK if so the film will be classified in one of the following categories:

 

   Universal: suitable for any age.

 Parental Guidance: is for general viewing but some content could be inappropriate for children.

Suitable for 12 years and over.

Suitable for only 15 years and over.

Suitable for adults only.

Suitable only in special licensed cinemas or sex shops etc.

If a film fails to fall into any of these categories and is deemed as too explicit for anyone to view then the BBFC has the power to completely ban a film from the UK ( if the explicatory cannot be cut out of the film).

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  BBFC Podcast Episode 1 – 12A

  
  
  Welcome to the first episode of the BBFC Podcast.

Chosen Film Producer

The BBC

Benefits of using the BBC to market, distribute and produce my thriller:

·        The BBC is by far the best UK based producer/broadcaster there is.

·        The BBC began life in 1992 which means they will have a lot of experience with broadcasting which means they could quickly market my thriller to the whole of the UK and possibly the world.

·        The BBC has many channels which are on every source of television (non digital, free view, sky, BT Vision and Tivo).

·        The BBC have produced and broadcasted many thrillers over the years so they have a wide knowledge of what I am trying to create.

·        The BBC is local to my Nation they might like to encourage more UK independent film producers such as myself.

Cons of using the BBC to market, distribute and produce my thriller:

·        Although the BBC are a major company in the UK, they would not produce or sell anywhere near as many films as American companies such as Universal Studios.

·        The BBC is more specialist in television series and normal programs and they do not have as much experience with actual film than American companies.

In conclusion I am going to choose the BBC to produce, market and distribute my thriller because although they do not reach as many sales as companies such as universal studios I believe they would give more support and it is a much more realistic goal to set for my thriller.

Memento (a review of the first 5 miniuts)

Memento is an unconventional thriller which is filmed in a non linear format which instantly engages the viewer and requires the viewer to think about what is being showed but also creates confusion.The first thing that grabs the viewers attention in Momento is the blue writing on a black background which instantly gives the viewer hints of coldness and loneliness and these feelings are reflected throughout the film. The non-diegetic sound instantly hits you with feelings of unsettledness and darkness as the music is very dynamic and consists of stringed instruments such as violins and this hits the viewer with negative connotations.

This film is extremely psychological and realistic as the condition that the main character (Lenny) has is genuine and the events that take place during the film do not seem far fetched. The representation of Lenny makes the viewer feel sympathy for him as he is lost, confused and generally has no sense of direction other that what he takes notes and pictures of. Teddy ( the secondary main character) seems evil to the viewer as he is trying to befriend Lenny when you can just tell he is not really his friend as he is trying too hard, suggesting that he has another motive for doing so.