Thursday, 3 December 2009

Production Schedule/props/costume

This is our Production Schedule it includes where we film, when we film, what we film & who is included in the filming.We will be doing all our filming on one day, all day to ensure we have all the shots we need.


1. Collecting the camera
Date: Friday 4th December-9th December
Time : 1pm-2pm
At this time we will be collecting the camera so that we can start filming the next day.

2.First half of the day includes:
Date: Saturday 5th December
Time:1pm-4pm
Location: Gervais house
In this time slot we will be filming all the shots in Gervais' house. This will include our first shot of Ben at the party. All of these shots in Gervais house will be of the party scene.

The props we will be using on this date are:
- Cups
- Chairs
- Strobe Light
- 'Alcohol'
- Bunny Costume

3.Second half of the day includes:
Date: Saturday 5th December
Time: 4.30pm- 9pm
Location: Gervais Estate
For this time slot we will be filming all the shots around Gervais' estate, including the shot of the dog, Ben running through the estate and all the different angled shots of Ben.
- Cigarette
- Mobile Phone
- Ipod
- Lighter
- Dog

Costumes:
Ben: For this Ben will be wearing a shirt, t-shirt, skinny jeans, converse and jacket.
Party People: All the party people will be wearing normal clothes including jeans,t-shirts,skirts,hoodies etc. All the clothing will be neutral colours so that no-one stands out.
Estate People : These people will be wearing stereotypical clothing including tracksuits, hoodies, dunks etc.


Character Information


For our three minute opening of our thriller we have chosen to focus on one primary character, Ben. The reason for this is that the rest of the characters are seen in groups, the party goers and the group of boys, and this gives the main character a sense of isolation.

Ben- A mysterious character aged 17 who has had some sort of personal trauma in the events leading up to the opening scene because of this he is left socially awkward and unable to relate to his former friends and party goers.

Party Goers- A group of college aged students who are at the party. Drunk, under the influence, smoking and so on. One person is in a bunny suit and others are in a state of madness.

Rude Boys- A group of boys on the estate that the party is set. All wear the same type of clothing and just sterotypes

Thursday, 19 November 2009

Target Audience for our thriller

For thriller films the target audience usually ranges from 16-25 year olds and are usually aimed at older men. However our thriller is going to be aimed at a younger crowd from the age of 15. We have also aimed our thriller at both men and women, so our thriller appeals to more people. We have used all teen actors so that we achieve our aim of a younger target audience, as other teens can watch and relate to the movie. Our thriller is quite modern and deals with the story of a troubled teen. We have gone against the usual target audience of older men as we want our film to appeal to a wider audience.

Sunday, 8 November 2009

Locations, Set designs, costumes & props

Locations, Set designs, costumes & props are all very important aspects when it comes to creating a thriller film. Different locations, set designs, costumes & props can change the mood of the film very easily so it is important that the location, set design, costumes & props fit accordingly to the story. 'The Butterfly Effect' is a psychological thriller starring Ashton Kutcher. I watched the first three minutes to distinguish the type of set, location, costume & props used to introduce the movie. The movie begins in a dark setting where the actor dressed in a blue type doctor’s jacket with a simple white t-shirt and beige trousers is breaking into an office. As an audience member we can tell this as he checks to see if its empty then kicks down the door, then uses the sofa to block the door entrance. The setting is very dark and enclosed and the location of this scene seems to be in an office of some sort. The props used fit accordingly to the scene i.e. the actor uses a pencil and paper of which he takes from the desk of the office. A pencil and paper is something we would expect to be on an office table. There is a water dispenser which many offices have however, the office resembles a type of therapists’ office as it is spacious, simple and there is no computer of any sort to be seen, but just a sofa to the left of the desk with a table facing it full of magazines and a water dispenser. The office is furnished with fitting colours to the setting i.e. the setting is dark and so is the sofa and desk. This scene is set in the location of some sort of office and the setting and props fit accordingly to the location. The actors costume makes us wonder as an audience member if he is in some sort of hospital as he seems to be clothed in type of doctor’s jacket. The scene then changes to a lovely looking neighbourhood, on a nice day. As an audience member we are informed this is thirteen years earlier. The location of this scene is a neighbour hood, and the setting includes houses, cars, people etc everything you would see in a neighbourhood. The people in the scene are wearing everyday clothing and the young boy actor uses a toy as a prop to play with his dog, whilst the mum dressed in a blue jumpsuit is fixing their car with a tool box prop. She then removes the jumpsuit to reveal a waitress type uniform. The costumes match the setting an as an audience member we begin to wonder who the boy is, and who was the man in the previous scene. In the beginning of this thriller the set, costumes & props fit the location perfectly.



Thriller production companies


There are many different production companies that produce thrillers. One main production company that I have found would be 'Hubbell Robinson Productions'. Hubbel Robinson was born in Schenectady, New York, 16th October 1905. He studied at Phillips Exeter Academy. The 'Hubbell Robinson Productions' company has produced such thrillers as 'The Specialists','The Lethal Ladies' , 'The Bride who died twice', 'Man of Mystery', 'Till death do us part' and many more. It was a popular production company during the 60s as this is when most of his films were made.Another movie company is 'New Line Cinema'. 'New Line Cinema' produces many different types of movies ranging from comedies to horror. Itwas founded in 1967, is one of the major American film studios. In 1996, though it initially began as an independent film studio, it became part of 'Time Warner' and is now a division of 'Warner Brothers'. It has produced such thrillers as 'Final Destination' (parts 1-5), 'The Butterfly Effect', 'The Curroptor', 'Most Wanted'. 'Hevanes Prisoner, 'The Long kiss goodnight' and many more.

Tuesday, 27 October 2009

Target Audience


The target audience is the primary group of people that something like an advertising campaign, movie, tv show etc is aimed at. A target audience can be people of a certain age group, gender, marital status, etc. For thriller films it is hard to define a target audience as some thriller movie certificates range from pg to 18. For thriller films the target audience usually ranges from 16-25 year olds and are usually aimed at men although there isn't a great difference between the percenatge of men to womne.This is usually because the majority of actors used are young so youger viewers can follow and relate to the story. I looked at a thriller called 'The State of Play' (2009 based on the british television serial of the same name in 2003). It showed that its target audience was for ages between 15-24 having the highest percentage of 68% and the target gender was males having 63%.

Defining the genre & sub genres

Defining a genre of a fillm can be quite difficult but there are four main ways to define the genre of a film. These being the setting (the environment in which the action takes place), the theme or topic (refers to the issues or concepts that the film revolves around), the mood (emotional tone of the film) and the format ( the way the film was shot). However film genres often branch out into subgenres (a subcategory with a particular genre) For example a 'Chick flick' is a genre but it may include sub-genres such as comedy, tragedy, 'tearjerkers', fiction fantasy etc.


'Back to the future' is defined as a science fiction adventure film. However it includes sub genres such as comedy(in the character of 'The Doc'), romance (between marty mcfly and jennifer parker, and his parents george and lorraine mcfly), tearjerkers (when the doc is shot, when marty believes he can't bring his parents back together) and others. This shows how all films also include sub genres.

Defining a thriller - Thrillers can often be further divided into action thrillers, crime-caper thrillers, western-thrillers, film-noir thrillers, even romantic comedy-thrillers. Another closely-related genre is the horror film genre. Thriller and suspense films almost go hand in hand and are hard to depict as different genres. Normally films classed as thrillers promote intense excitement, suspense, high levels of anticipation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension and this is how we can begin to define their genre. Spy film are the best example as they are mainly considered as a type of thriller/suspense film.