Friday 11 December 2015

Film Script

Our film begins in media res, we do this to immediately capture the audiences attention and start asking questions. 
To accomplish this there needs to be a sound bridge starting a couple of seconds before the visual filming is displayed.
The first ten seconds of the scene will be in a forest. 
It cuts from the black to a shot of the girl running past the camera as it is a closeup shot of her feet. 
It tracks and follows her from behind trees. 
You hear panting and her footsteps. 
(This scene is made to be very intense and fast pacE)
It makes a sudden cut to a still, silent room with the same girl in the middle of the frame using an open shot making her look small and weak.
The camera is still hand held and pans around the room showing the girls room, it cuts to close ups of the toys placed on the bed. In the background you can slightly hear the noise of the front door opening.
Using crosscutting it shows the man closing the door after himself.
It cuts back to the girl with the overlapping sound of the door shutting as the turns her head.
He walks through to the kitchen and opens the fridge door.  
Portraying himself to be domesticated as he makes his dinner. 
It name cuts to her knocking over a glass on the desk where she is sat, the glass smashes creating a loud sound.
Cutting to the man again he takes notice of the sound as he looks up.
The man is filmed walking up the stairs. 
Using continuity filming.
There is a small bit of dialogue of him calling for Lily.
"what have you done now? you stupid girl" - expressing his frustration.
Cutting back to her face looking frightened (extreme close up). 

In the background you will here the man walking up the stairs, getting louder.

Audience research (age/gender)



This is a Psychological Thriller as it is between two characters battling against each other's minds, though the mental state. This means it can be aimed for older people as Psychological Thrillers are more mentally challenging.

Should be aimed for females as they may feel more emotion and empathy for the girl due to motherly connections to the girls in the film. And also because generally, if the main character is a girl then a film will tend to be aimed to girls. Also there is research to show that females are more interested in psychological thrillers as they generally have more empathy and boys.

15 rated rather than 18 rated audience certificate means there will be a wider audience, meaning more people can go. Therefore a higher profit will be mad. This means it  must fit the 15+ guidelines. 




According to the BBFC...


15 rated: No-one under 15 is allowed to see a 15 film at the cinema or buy/rent a 15 rated video. 15 rated works are not suitable for children

Limits - No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

15 rated film can have; 

  • strong violence
  • frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***').
  • portrayals of sexual activity
  • strong verbal references to sex
  • sexual nudity
  • brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
  • discriminatory language or behaviour
  • drug taking
AC

Wednesday 9 December 2015

Costume: Girl

Costume: Girl

The main girl who has been kidnapped, needs to clearly portray her emotion, and this can be shown through her dress.  As she is probably going to be in her early teen (14+) then we want her clothes to be stereotypical of that age group and gender.  
When thinking of inspiration the main girl form the film ‘Lovely Bones’ inspired us as she gives off an innocent feel, and as her character as a whole seems to work with the plot of her getting kidnapped, we thought she would be good inspiration. 


This is a mood board of the types of things the girl should wear.   Aswell as looking at the girl from Lovely Bones, we took inspiration from what teenagers commonly wear, but also referring to our interpretation of the sterotype of a teenage girl.  To make the scene look more creepy, and to exaggerate her youth, we were thinking of making her clothes more similar to what a 5 year old girl would wear(pale pink, dungarees, kids brand logos)

The mood board was quite easy to create as we based it off our own clothes when we were younger and also from the clothes we see young children wearing, nowadays.  The jewellery and frilly socks give off an innocent feel that would suit the girls character.  I tried to get accesroies that little girls would want, from what I've seen in shops aimed at this age group like 'Claires'.  

Our other idea was that the girl has been dressed by her kidnapper in his scruffy baggy clothes.  This would add to her vulnerable look and make her seem more exposed.  It was also make the connection between the man and the girl more obvious.  Again, this is slightly exaggerated as we really wanted to portray the manly look.
Our main inspiration for manly clothes came from what characters in tv shows such as 'Eastenders' and 'coronation STreet' and what the builders tend to wear.  We also based it off what our dads wear as the man in our film is going to be around the same age as our dads.  They are quite baggy clothes and details like the socks being mens which add to the first impression of the girls state, which is very important.

IW

Tuesday 8 December 2015

Portrayal of gender

The Young Girl

We have collectively decided to name the girl starring in the opening Lily, this is due to the femininity and delicacy of the name. It is a very english name which also means a type of flower. It is thought to represent purity and beauty. This means that the audience will automatically warm up to the name and not feel threatened. Although in the beginning she is trapped by a man it is important that we show her intelligence and bravery which will automatically go against stereotypes of a dominating men as she outsmarts him.

Older Man

We want to call this character of the older man Mark. Mark is a very masculine name originating from both England and Russia. It is a very ordinary and normal name which does not attract much attention. This represents the man in all and his personality.

EB

Location: Woods

Woods

In the beginning of the opening we are planning to have a fast pace scene set in the woods, this occurs in many films which creates a fast pace, thrilling start to a scene. The scene should be set in the dark making it seem like it is very late creating a mystery as some shapes and figures are not fully seen by the audience. Due to this being set in December and January the sun goes down at around five which is very help as we can shoot it as soon as it gets dark. These next screenshots are ones from films and give off the same camera shots and feeling that we are aiming for:






The woods where we want to shoot are in Dulwich park, it is a public park making it easy to shoot in and has various different clusters of trees around it. Here are some images of it in the day time:





EB

Location: Kitchen/TV room

Downstairs of the house

Following the modern theme of the bedroom we are thinking of using a 'regular' modern day house creating a normality to the scene. The whole idea to the opening of this film is to make the audience feel like it could be based on a true story or that it is a plausible tale. This also makes it a lot easier for us to film as we can use one of our own houses as we film the man downstairs completing domestic chores and watching television.




This setting would be the most ideal place to shoot in although I am still debating whether it would look very out of place in the scene due to it being very graphic. There is also a lot of contrast from light to dark in areas.

EB

Location: Girls room

There are three main locations in the opening scene that we are creating, these are three plans and ideas for each of them:

Girls Room


Due to the idea of the opening that we want to create, I am picturing the teenage girl in a very modern stereotypical, young, childish style room. Making the room resemble a child's room of today makes the rest of what is going to happen a lot more realistic and therefore more thrilling. The photos above is my interpretation of a young girls room of around 12 years old. The idea of having an older girl aged around 17 placed in a room which resembles a young girl will immediately look out of place and suspicious. This is the type of effect that I am trying to portray. It should slightly unsettle the audience and create questions. A lot of the bedrooms I looked at it is mainly pink with toys and posters on the walls.
As we do not have access to this style of room we are discussing if we could transform a bedroom temporarily to accomplish this look. This would include posters being stuck on the walls, pink accessories, a diary, and different subtle additions to the room. This means that we can have an establishing shot as the camera pans around the children room creating an eery environment. This effect is fairly easy to establish due to the audience taking in other horror and thriller films shooting in a child's bedrooms, this means that they will automatically anticipate something to happen. The following shots are from different films using similar ideas:

This first screenshot is from a horror film called 'Women in black' and is taken in a young girls room just before they are made to commit suicide. Although the set does not resemble the bedrooms above, it shows similar ideas but is set much earlier in time.

This is from a film called 'Ouija', again it is a fairly scary film which is about a young girl reaching out to spirits, a lot of the beginning of the movie is set in her bedroom where she first finds the board etc. The room is of an older girl but still gives off a very innocent characteristic which contrasts to the film making it eery.

This is a young girls room which stars in 'Annabelle' which is a horror film, this room is made to resemble a nursery room and is where the doll, and main features of the film are located.

I have only given three examples but this idea of using a child's room to create a sinister ambience due the fact that it is meant to be a safe and innocent room as it is where your child is at its most vulnerable state. Using this knowledge which the audience have prior to watching the opening of this film it means that we are able to suggest that something is wrong without spelling it out leaving a slight mystery to the scene.

EB

Sunday 6 December 2015

Wednesday 18 November 2015

International Film Festivals

Sundance Film Festival 

(park city)
- most important film festival in the US
- takes place every January
- 2010, introduced a new non-competitive showcase section for ones with micro-budget ('NEXT')
- out of more that 3,700 submissions, 120 are eventually shown at the festival

Toronto International Film Festival 

(Toronto, Canada)
- 'charitable cultural organisation'
- sponsored by:
Bell
Visa
L'oreal
Royal Bank
- 40th anniversary
- runs from December not January

South By Southwest 

(Austin, Texas, US)
- this is used as the 'post sun dance crowd of films'
- independent western US spirit
- this takes place in Maron for five days starting on the 15th for music
- film usually starts on the 11th of March till the 19th, so lasts much longer than the other events
- sponsors include:
ensurance
monsters
mazda
mcdonalds

International Documentary Festival Amsterdam 

(The Netherlands)
- this festival usually takes place every year in November
- sponsors include:
oxfam
devolkskrant
vpro
fonds21
- this festival usually focuses on documentaries (international and creative)
IDFA Bertha Fund

Venice Film Festival 

(Italy)
- founded in 1932
- in 2015 it showed 100 films
- there are usually 2 awards given:
golden icon
silver icon
- this festival includes separate events:
Art Exhibition
Contemporary Music
Theatre Festival
Architecture Exhibition
Contemporary Dance
International Kids Carnival
Annual Venice Film Festival

Friday 13 November 2015

Lionsgate

Lionsgate is a Canadian-American entertainment company. A lot of the films they distribute are from other companies such as Trimark Pictures and Vestron Pictures. The ownership of certain things depend on licenses which come with it. This company also ventures into television, record labels and video gaming. This means that each sector is able to help the rest. For example, with a film coming out they would usually produce a videogame afterwards if this film was successful.

Budgets and grosses

The Blair Witch Project
Production Budget:  $60,000
Worldwide Lifetime Gross: $248,639,009
Paranormal Activity 
Production Budget: $15,000
Worldwide Lifetime Gross:  $193,355,800
Avatar
Production Budget: $237,000,000
Worldwide Lifetime Gross: $2,787,965,087

Recent Films

I do not go to the cinema that often but the last two films I went to see were Spectre and The Godfather.
Spectre:
Due to this film being the new bond film, and supposedly the last time Daniel Craig is beign bond there have been lots of different ways in which they have advertised this. The main reason I wetn to watch the film is simply that it is a bond film. There was also lots of anticipation for thi filmt o come out creating more excitement.
The Godfather:
I recently watched a screening of this film as I haven't seen it before and it was being played with a live orchestra. I was aware of this opportunity from word of mouth and sounded interesting. It was created into more of an event than a movie.

Jennifer Lawrence

What would they bring to a role in a film?
Jennifer Lawrence has played lots of different roles although her 'claim to fame' would have been in 2012 until 2015, where she starred as Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games. From this she became the highest-grossing action heroine of the year. After being cast for this she took part in many other films, usually playing an independent, strong women. Since 2012 she has created a name for herself meaning that by getting her in a film, it suggests that you had a large budget for the movie, but you are also able to use star marketing as she developed a large fan base especially around the age group of young teenage girls.

Monday 9 November 2015

DNA film productions

Dredd 3D
2012
Genre: science fiction action film
Director: Pete Travis
Writer: Alex Garland
Producer: Alex Garland
Budget: $45 million
Box Office profit in America: $41 million
Never Let Me Go
2010
Genre: adaptation of a dystopian science fiction novel
Director: Mark Romanek
Budget: $15 million
Overall profit: $9,455,232
Sunshine on Leith
2013
Genre: British musical
Director: Dexter Fletcher
Musical Director: Paul Englishby
Profit: $8,780,874 million

Main Genres Produced by the UK Film Industry Through the Last 30 Years

Costume/Period Dramas
Costume dramas have been very popular through out the last thirty years, these are dramas which try to accurately depict a specific period in time. The target audience for these types of films are usually female teenagers who would regard themselves to be in the middle to upper-class. Underneath are some examples of period dramas in the last thirty years.
- sense and sensibility
- the new world
- the portrait of a lady
- bleak house
- her majesty, Mrs. Brown
Social Realism
Another popular genre is Social Realism where directors use different everyday situations and make them more interesting and engaging. This has currently become very popular due to the fact that a lot of films can create this genre without a lot of money and still can still be really effective. Another reason why it is popular would be because of how relatable it is to 'ordinary' people. These are some examples of popular social realism films with low budgets but have still been popular:
- trainspotting
- frank
- human traffic
International Romantic Comedies
Another extremely popular genre of film would be 'RomComs', this is due to the interest that teenage girls have in them. The idea of finding the right person. These films are much higher budget and follow the same storyline with slight differences. It follows the thought to be 'idealistic' love story. These are popular examples which have been created in the last thirty years:
- pretty women
- notting hill
- you've got mail
- bridget jones's diary

Saturday 7 November 2015

Proposal Thriller Research

https://prezi.com/1lgys1dqd58g/edit/#55_30863873

1. At the very beginning there will be an establishing shot of a large, victorian house. There will be no movement in the scene as the camera pans slowly going from the right to the left showing the grand house. A postman will start to walk up to the house coming from behind them camera all the the same shot. The camera should be hand held creating the feeling of a point of view shot. it should then cut to an edit of the camera going up the steps at the front of the house from the point of view of the postman. The camera will pan fairly fast as if the actor was looking back on the entrance suggesting he is slightly on edge. As he knocks the door it should stay as the point of view from the postman but you will be able to see his hand knocking on the door. The door will open slowly with a man on the other-side (main male character). He will grab the package and slam the door shut. The scene will then go silent again. This is when the music will increase in volume. The music playing is classical music playing fairly quietly in the background. The sound of the postman's footsteps will be increase in volume making the scene more intense. So far, only fairly long edits have been used.
2. It will then cut suddenly to a dirty room showing a bed as it starts to pan around. On the far side of the bed there will be a girl curled up shielding her face as the  sound of footsteps start to get louder. The door slams open as the main male character walks in with a tray of food. He will lay it down. The camera will zoom close onto the unappealing food. The names will then start to run on top of the food. Similarly to 'napoleon dynamite' at the start, I want there to be shots of different trays being put down and then the hands of the girl on the bottom side of the screen will take it and put the tray back empty. It will then be replaced etc... Music will be running over this showing the length of time that she has been there for and the repetition of the days.
3. He will then stroke her face as the camera zooms up on her  still sitting on the bed. The only light in this scene will be coming from a single hanging light so will give a fairly dark atmosphere. The man slowly walks to the door and shuts it hard after him. It cuts back to the girl who moves her head up quickly. The camera tracks her to the door then using an over the shoulder shot, shows her reaching for the door. Cutting now to a side view you see her pull out cottonwool from the hole in the door which means it is unable to shut properly. From the other end of the corridor is shoots her stumbling out of the room as the camera crosscuts to the man sitting upstairs watching television. The camera, as the edit is focusing on the girl, it lags behind creating a trippy, confusing effect. There will then be jump cuts shooting a homely scene with her running across at around mid to long shot. A close up of the man is then shown while panning slightly so he fills up half of the screen, on the right hand side the focus changes to the background as she comes up behind him.
4. The ending edit of the opening will be her raising a pan above her head while staring at him then just before she hits him it returns back to the establishing shot at the beginning of the scene. this is when the Title comes with loud dramatic music.

Sunday 1 November 2015

Thriller Research The Crying Game


1992 (up till four minutes)
Bright natural light through out the first edit 
Famous song playing at the start, ‘when a man loves a women’ 
Extremely long edit of an establishing shot of a carnival 
No atmospheric sound 
Fast change in sound as natural/atmospheric sound is overlapped 
Zooms into what are assumed to be the main characters 
Keeping open shot until they are in the frame 
Their voices are much louder than the rest 
Camera pans and follows them walking still keeping extremely long edits 
Natural top lighting 
Using more of an open frame in parts making them merge into the crowds 
Close-up on a mans face who has not been introduced 
Her demeanour changes 
All wearing light coloured 90’s outfits excluding the man who is only shown briefly at the fare 

Tuesday 27 October 2015

Thriller Research Casino Royale

- digits sounds of car
- white lighting
- non-digetic hum pitch
- shot reverse shot in elevator
- low angle establishing shot
- camera is hidden - point of view (?)
- reactions shots creating more of an intense atmosphere
- music increases in action/fight scene
- foley sound of walking (pitch and volume increased)
- very high contrast lighting in flashbacks
- this contrasts to shots of their conversation
- black and white opening (could suggest that it was int he past and creates greater contrast between light and dark)
- makes you want to know what happens (mysterious)
- the opening gives you what you want from a bond film - successful
- divided sequence (crosscutting)
- music is only noticeable through the flashbacks
- key lighting for side angle (film noir type feel)

Thursday 15 October 2015

Thriller Definition

Thriller definition

-      -  exciting plot
-      - thriller films are films that primarily use action and suspense to engage the audience
-       - they emphasise nervous tension and anxiety
-       - distinct from horror and action movies although can give links to these types of genres
-       - often involve topics such as crime (small scale fraud or a bank jobs etc.)
-       - disaster movies (?)
-       - includes something which is dangerous and creating suspense

-       - Hitchcock: thriller means that they can put ‘the common man’ into the protagonists position
-       - hybrid genre (?) – suggestion