Opening Pitch

Thriller Opening Pitch by BeckyBoyfield

Shot List

Justification of Locations

Justification of Location Choices

 

We have decided to use these locations because we felt they represented the thriller genre best. The reason for this is because in a typical thriller film, the setting of the film normally sees a group of people assembling at a particular house that could be owned by one of the characters. By using the Red Hall we can use an old and run down room to create a crime scene. The room will help to set the scene of where Laura was murdered and we can control how much light is in the room. We can also use the darkness to highlight parts of Laura's body with a torch. The Red Hall also looks like a haunted house which creates an enigma as you don't know what could be inside. The house offers us room to spread multiple props and have newspaper all over the floor. We can also have photographic evidence of how Laura died as we film. Also when Becky enters the hall, we will get to look around some parts of the house as she makes her way to finding Laura's body. The pictures of the bridges represent the second location we are considering to shoot at. We may possibly shoot some of the shots at a bridge to show where Laura was murdered.  The bridge is quite modern as it has graffiti over it and has litter and rubble around it. This fits into the thriller genre and the conventions, as thrillers today are modernised a lot and some natural props are used to help set the scene and create an image in the audiences mind.

Actor Contract

To Potential Actor,

The current year 12 Media Studies students are working on an important project for their coursework, which will count towards their final grade for A levels. The coursework will consist of a film opening for a crime-thriller film. This will include taking pictures and videos of models, which will be set in certain locations.

 

The film genre is a thriller and will be aimed towards people aged 15-25, male and female.

 

I am writing to you to request permission to use the pictures and videos of yourself for the opening.

 

Please indicate your decision by deleting the option that does not apply and signing at the bottom of the slip below. Your signature confirms that I have permission to use yourself as a model in our opening.

Kind regards,

Scene-Screen Productions

As Media Student

I do/do not give permission for the use of my photos and video in the film opening

Signed…………………………………………………………………………

Date………………………………….

Storyboard - Orignal

Risk Assessment

Reasons for Roles

Actors
Bailey – Bailey is going to take the role of being the director and the person in charge of the camera. Bailey has chosen this role as he is used to acting as he takes drama so he knows what will work and what wont, also it is different from what he does normally, which is act,  therefore will be interesting to have a different role  than what he is used to. Bailey will be successful as a director as he can see what happens therefore seeing if it is right or wrong so we can change it and make it better. As Bailey is the director/cameraman he will be in control of the lighting to make sure that the shots that we need are as clear as possible and in the correct place so the continuity editing will be correct.

Becky – Becky will be one of the protagonists in the thriller opening but towards the end. We have decided this role for Becky as she is confident therefore will be good at acting for this opening and creating tension. As she is female it lives up to the stereotype of being a protagonist and being easily defeated, in most thrillers is what happens. As Becky is only being seen in the end it is better for her to play this role as she has the correct items of clothing that she can wear so it fits her character, of being pure as well as secretive so the antagonist doesn’t know that she is there.

Scott – Scott is the only antagonist in the opening as he has a strong build like an antagonist would. He is the tallest and broadest out of everyone therefore has the most power and can be seen as being dominant towards the protagonists which is a stereotypical antagonist that fits to the thriller genre. From Scott’s height it will show the power that he has over the protagonists therefore would look realistic as in person he looks stronger and well-built to be able to act like he would have the ability to commit something that happens in this storyline compared to Laura murdering Scott which wouldn’t seem convincing as women in the media do not have the control and strength like men do.

Laura – Laura is the other protagonist which the thriller opening will focus on parts of her body that have been attacked. We chose Laura to have this role as she is a female meaning she could easily be targeted. Laura doesn’t usually act and is being the camera therefore we chose to change roles to make it interesting for everyone else by doing something out of our comfort zone. Laura has long hair therefore we could use it to cover her identity so not much is revealed in the first two minutes of the opening. The make-up will be done by Laura and Becky as they already have the resources therefore know what will work and how to do it, instead of having to buy the resources that we need.

ISL Week Ten - Gender Representation

ISL Week Ten – Gender Representation

‘In the thriller genre males are either heroes or villains; females are always the victims’

Women are represented in the media as the less powerful gender and tend to deal more with emotion and the family instead of the crime and ‘tough’ issues that men may deal with.
Women are often seen as housewives or mothers who are linked to the domestic situation. They are often seen as sex objects in the media which is represented to entertain the male audience. Often in types of non-fictional media women’s roles tend to be smaller than males as the males are seen as the most powerful and dominant gender.  Also, in fictional media women are less likely to be the main source of leading news stories which include politics, business, the law and some religious stories.

There are main stereotypes of women, these are:

·         The female action hero

·         The sex object

·         Retain their sex appeal to male audiences but have masculine characteristics for example, use of weapons and violence.

Some of the well-known female action heroes:

·         Ripley from Alien (1979)

·         Sarah Connor: The Terminator (1984) & Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

·         Nikita from La Femme Nikita (1990)

·         Lara Croft from Tomb Raider (2001)

·         Azumi from Azumi (2003)

·         Zen from Chocolate (2008)

·         Alice from Resident Evil (2002)

·         Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games (2012)

·         Elastigirl The Incredibles (2004)

·         Hit Girl from Kick-Ass (2010)

As well as women are being portrayed differently in the media, here are different stereotypes of men, these are:

·         The Joker – Popular character with boys, they have the ‘mask of masculinity’. This stereotype portrays that men are not serious and cannot be emotional.

·         The Jock – he always is willing to compromise his own long term health to help others. The Jock uses violence and fights a lot to win approval of other men and then women.

·         The Strong Silent Type – The person that is in charge, acting authoritatively whilst containing emotion as well as being successful with women. This stereotype shows that men must always be in charge and have the control so talking about their feelings is seen as having a weakness.

·         The Big Shot - The professional status that is very successful in society. This stereotype shows that men must be economically powerful and socially successful.

·         The Action Hero – Strength is the most important thing that they concentrate on. They are often angry and aggressive with a lot of use of violent behaviour.

·         The Buffoon – commonly appears as the father figure on the television. He is usually well-intentioned and light-hearted. These characters can range from slightly incept to being hopeless when it comes to being a parent or dealing with a domestic or workplace issue.

ISL Week Nine - Opening of Casino Royale

Costume and Make Up Preparation

Costume and Make Up Preparation
Laura: Fake Blood/Red Food Colouring-Represents her blood as Laura will have blood on her from her murder.
White Top - To represent her innocence and her purity. These colours also helps to connote a female protagonist, as they are quite vulnerable.
Leggings-Represents Laura's character and her personality. The victim is typically a female in thriller films so we want Laura to look innocent and modern as possible.
Red Converses-Connotes danger as she has been killed.
Dark/Dead Make-Up- Represents her death and death itself involved in the opening.


Becky:
Modern Everyday Clothes (Black Jeans, Burgundy Top, Converses and a Coat)- No reference to the thriller genre as much as Laura's clothing. However thriller films are very modern so the everyday clothing would show this.
Everyday Suitable Make-Up


Scott:
Smart Clothing (Trousers, Shirt and Tie)- This is much like the Jokers clothing in Batman and is the most common outfit for the antagonist to wear. This is why we have chosen to have Scott dress this smart. We will make his outfit look rough and run down.
Coat with a hood- To add suspicion to the opening. With Scott being the antagonist we wanted his identity to be hidden by having his hood over his head. Scream is a perfect example of how masks and coverings are used in thriller films.
Fake Blood- To show the victims blood and the killers hands.


Bailey:
Modern Clothes (Jeans, T-Shirt, Coat and Trainers)- No reference to the thriller genre as much as Laura and Scott's clothing. However again thriller films are very modern so the everyday clothing would show this.
No Make-Up
 

Props Justification

Props Justification

 

Props that are going to be used:

Torch: Focus on specific parts of the bodies that have been injured - close ups of the injuries but the torch is the only light seen, creating tension and mystery because of the low lighting.

Table: For Laura to lie on as this is where she is seen as being dead.

Rope: May use rope to be surrounding the person showing how they are trapped as have no power, use of a high angle shot here to hint how much power the antagonist has.

 

Newspaper: To add a modern twist and create tension by cutting out the letters to spell 'death' and other dark words.

 

Why are the props typical in a thriller genre?The props that we are going to use is typical of a thriller genre and they show meaning of being trapped and can control what people do. The knife and the torch are used in a typical thriller genre as knives are used for violence and the torch creates mystery so identity's are hidden making it more suspicious which will build up suspense for the audience.

Through the use of props that we are going to be using it will give off a message of how dangerous the place that they are in actually is and the mystery will hide identities and the story of what actually happened so the audience has to work it out for themselves which will keep them interested in watching the thriller.

The props that are going to be shown are violent so it will represent the antagonist by being threatening to anyone else that they see as they will be unsafe. As well as having hidden identities the location will not be shown so again the sense of hidden parts to the thriller that will not be revealed and not all questions will be answered. Therefore the props being as violent as they are will make the setting seem worse than it is as it would look run down and come across as a dangerous area to be.

In our opening we are not going to be using a lot of props as we want it to be naturalistic instead of using too many props to cover up the story of what is happening, as well as showing acting.

Teacher Assessment Feedback - Preliminary Task

After we completed the preliminary task we needed feedback to see our strengths and where we need to improve. Overall it was a proficient, grade B/C L3,  piece of work, but to improve we need to do certain things that will make the shot look more realistic but also to get a higher grade. This feedback will benefit our thriller opening as we are now used to the shots that we can take and how easy or difficult it is to get them, for example, mid shots and close ups. Planning is important for the thriller opening, making sure we know exactly what shots to get to get the higher grades, especially shot reverse shots, which we did not add into the preliminary task, they are to add tension but also make it interesting for the audience when we come to edit our opening. All of the improvements that are suggested will be used for the thriller opening to make it look realistic and well-edited as possible to make the audience interested and want to carry on watching the thriller.

Analysis of Opening Title Sequence - The Bourne Identity

Analysis of Opening Title Sequence – The Bourne Identity

First shot we see is the ship members playing a game of cards with cigarettes and alcohol, implying they have finished what they have been doing for the day, which the audience have to suggest as they do not know where they are or what they have been doing out at sea.
The low-lighting implies that the boat that they’re on isn’t new as we can see from the cracks and damp inside of the boat on the wall.
All of them are male suggesting that what they are doing is hard work as there is many of them suggesting that they are doing something which requires hard work.
Props that are used is food and drink showing how they relax as well as the playing cards suggesting that it is a competitive game which may imply that what happens on further on in the film is hard to achieve and makes the audience wonder how they are going to achieve that.
The camera work is a high angle shot, close to being a bird’s eye view shot to show what all of the men are doing, letting the audience know how much space they’re in and what surrounds them as if we can see exactly what they’re doing.

The man in shot keeps cutting away to show the audience the sea and that something is in it, suggesting he has found something significant and the quick shots let the audience guess what it is that he has found. The low lighting shows it is night and that whatever it is that he has found, the fact it is at night will make it harder to reach and figure out what it is. The clothing that he is wearing shows a yellow waterproof jacket suggesting that he is a fisherman, implying they are out at sea most of the time but finding something like he has found is unusual by the close up shot of his face. 

 

The shot that cuts between one another is from the man on the boat to the body that is in the sea. With a shot of light, implying it is from the moon, onto the body which is facing up shows that they aren’t moving making the audience automatically think that they aren’t alive. The costume that he has on looks like it is meant to be a life jacket with items attached to it as well as things linking up to his ear and head, making the audience wonder why he is out in the middle of the sea and how he got there as no one else is around other than the boat that the men are on. No identity is shown here hiding the fact if we know this person by not giving any specific clues of items and what has happened to the person as it is so dark it isn’t giving any clues away.  The shot is a frame beneath the sea looking up to the person is effective as it isn’t a shot that the audience will see a lot of, - feels as if we are the only people that knows that he is there, it is an effective shot type.

 

The first title comes up with a sans serif bold text. All in capitals, it makes the title stand out as it is on a contrasting background to its text, a black background with white text, surrounded by blue to make it look more interesting that just black and white. As nothing else is happening on the shot it gives the audience to recognise the title and if they  have seen the other Bourne Identity’s they will be able to work out what has happened and realise why he is there as they know what it may lead onto. The title is quite far into the opening scene suggesting the producer wanted to build up the story before revealing what it was to the audience that they were watching.

One of the final shots we see is a mid-shot of the person that was out in the sea and that they have been rescued by the men on the ship, unknown to the audience whether he is alive or not making them want to watch on further to see what is going to happen. The audience can see that he is on the boat on the table that they were playing cards on, seen by the dampness in the walls and the location that they were in. The high shot shown down onto the person could suggest power over him and that whatever has happened they have achieved to hurt or have the main power over him as he now could be dead.

Production Company - 20th Century Fox

Production Companies

For the thriller opening that is going to be created we need an ident to be shown that we make so the audience know which film corporation we have used. The film corporation that should be used for our thriller is ‘20th Century Fox’.

‘20th Century Fox’ was founded in 1935 on May the 31st by the merger of the ‘Fox Film Corporation’ in 1915 and the ‘20th Century pictures, Inc.’ which was founded in 1932. The founders are Joseph M. Schenck, Darryl F. Zanuck and William Fox. ‘20th Century Fox’s’ headquarters is in Fox Plaza, Century City, Los Angeles in the United States with Jim Giannopoulos being the chairman and CEO. From having a few owners, Independent in 1935 to 1985, news Corporation from 1985 to 2013 and now the 21st Century Fox to present.

‘20th Century Fox’ has many divisions for all of the films they produce. These divisions are:

·         20th  Century Fox Animation

·         Fox Searchlight Pictures

·         Fox Digital Studios

·         Fox 2000 Pictures

·         Fox Animation Studios

·         Fox Atomic

·         Fox Interactive

20^th Century Fox Production Company films:

·         X-men: Days of Future Past

·         Avatar

·         Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

·         Ice Age

·         Die Hard

·         Titanic

·         The Maze Runner

·         Let’s Be Cops

·         The Day after Tomorrow

·         Star Wars

·         Hitman

·         Marley and Me

·         Pathfinder

·         Transporter

·         The Fault in Our Stars

·         Devils Due

·         The A-Team

They have made over 390 films and over half of which are thrillers.

‘20^th Century Fox’s’ ident is so easily recognised and well-remembered. Most of the films that we see show an ident at the beginning before the film begin its opening titles, as well as just having a picture, ‘20^th Century Fox’ has a theme tune that is memorable and when the audience hears it they know what it is representing. 

The ident that ‘20^th Century Fox’ have, created by a company called ‘Blue Sky Studios’. The first film the new logo was released was through Avatar, and celebrated their 75^th Anniversary in 2010.

‘20^th Century Fox’s’ ident is strong as it has contrasting colours from the blacks to yellows. It stands out more because of the lights that is making it look like something significant and that it should be lit up like a main feature. It has a background of a sky, like most other idents it shows that it is bigger than everything else, implying to how big the company is as well as how well known it is. It also resembles a classical building showing how significant the films they make can be as well as being popular so many people watch their films and they make memorable films just like a classical building is memorable.

I would use ‘20^th Century Fox’ as an ident for the thriller that we are going to create as
it is well known to everyone and if they saw it they would know what it is. ‘20^th Century Fox’ produce all different types of genres of films, for example, Ice Age a children’s film to Die Hard a well-known older generations film, therefore knowing that they support all types of films that have a target audience of everyone. Our Thriller film would suit the company and people know that they create well made films just knowing by how many they have sold as when people see the ident they know that it is a big company that makes really good films.

I chose ‘20^th Century Fox’ as the thrillers that they have released have been very successful.

 

 

ISL Week Eight - Analysis of the opening title - 'Se7en' 1995

Week Eight ISL – Analysis of the Opening Title ‘Se7en’ (1995)

 

 

The first shot we see lead up to which company the film is made by but on another shot giving that delay. The background of the typography is a close up of a book/notepad, implying the person who is there is writing something down or need it to help them. As the audience only see a book therefore not knowing who or where the person is creating suspense straight away as it seems very secretive as no identity is given. The sans serif typography suggests it may not be a formal film, not implying the social class of the people that are going to be in this film. The writing looks like it has been handwritten or each letter cut out of a paper again hiding identity and evidence of who it is.
In the background all we can see is that it is blurred not showing the set of location suggesting that the producer doesn’t want to give a lot a way at the start of the film so it makes the audience question if there initial thought is right about what they think is going to happen throughout the film.

 

Leading on from who made/produced/directed and edited the film is a shot that gives a clue into who it could be that is behind all of the mystery, stereotypically the hands looks like a males, as of the short nails and by what he is doing. This is an extreme close up to the hands of the suspicious person again not giving any clues to whom it is that is in the opening scene setting out what it to happen further on. No clues or jumps is to the middle of the film or to another location, it just shows what they are doing now but in straight cuts where we as an audience only see parts of what he is making.

More typography is shown here, in the same typography as the other titles were in. The title is given here which is on a blurred background specifically focusing on the title. The title being ‘Seven’ with the number 7 used as a ‘V’ is shows the link between the number and the title and is making it fit in. There are contrasting colours here, from the black background to a pure white makes the title stand out even though it is not in big bold writing only a huge contrast from the background that is it stood on. The shot changes by moving items where it pushes the titles away, giving a quick jump cut whilst moving the book beside it away to be shown in another shot.

 

The shot here is a mid-shot of previous records that look dated because of the faded writing and the ripped paper, implying that this mysterious behaviour could be to do with the past but also revenge for something that as happened in the past.  The lighting in the opening title looks very low, in a dark place where it helps hide the identity of the person that is behind this. Again, the only part of the person that we actually get to see is the fingers looking for records implying that the identity of the person is not important as they cannot get found out.

 

Cutting of the paper suggests that the person is communicating with someone that they don’t want them to know who they are. The cutting through the headlines of the paper implies that the person is hiding themselves and has to be very careful that they aren’t going to get caught, for example after they have cut out the words or letter they are using some type of tweezers to pick up the paper, as if they don’t want to have their fingerprints on it in case it may be evidence. The letter that they are cutting out is ‘God’ suggesting that religion is used throughout this film or a death is going to take place, a lot which may be the reason for this revenge or the action that this person is hiding themselves from but doing.