Pitching our final ideas

We were informed a few days before the class that we would be pitching our ideas to a media teacher that would give us honest feedback on them, we were also told to break down our ideas into three final ideas , each chosen by one member of the group , then between ourselves come up with the final , best and most inspiring idea that we could branch on . we chose the idea that originaly came from the man being stranded by the crocodile for two weeks. After which we had to come up with two other ideas to randomly pitch to the teacher .
      I came up with the idea of a story about a small motel that has a ghostly problem , the title sequence would appear as being fully shot on security camera tv's , as if you were watching different security cameras in the motel , one camera pointing on a door of a room , then we have a voice over as if through a walky talky or phone of the manager saying that guests in rooms below this room could hear screaming , the voice over continues to say to someone that the room hasnt been booked out by anyone , then switches to the elevator where you see security going up , then changes to a corridor camera as you see him walk up to the door , then switches to the other end of the corridor , you hear screams , as if they were coming from inside the room , and the camera cuts as the voice over tells security not to go in as police are on there way .
     Another member of the group pitched his idea of the aftermath of hurricane katrina in new orleans , as a man attempts to travel through floods to reach his family . This was pitched as a disaster thriller as mine was a horror thriller.
    When we pitched the first two ideas , we got feedback saying , firstly both ideas were good , but both of them would have too much dialogue in the opening title sequences , this isn't good as were using un trained actors in out title sequences , and too much talking will most likely lead to it not working. Also the two plots came across as being confusing which would make it difficult to finish.
        we then pitched the idea of the crocodile that we developed , that we based around films like , jaws , lake placid and alligator , with a similar title sequence of jaws , as a group of friends are by a river edge , a few friends drinking around a fire , having a good time , a couple plan to go swimming in the river , the girlfriend jumps in as the boyfriend drunkly prepares himself for the water , she suddenly is struck , dragged down and you see ripples and small waves as she struggles underwater . We got good feedback but there were a few problems with this idea , firstly the river at this time of year would be freezing for someone to be swimming in , secondly it will be difficult for the girl to look as if she was being attacked underwater , as if there was an aligator. This idea was vaguely based on the similar title sequence of jaws .

stories and sub-genres influencing thriller ideas

After being placed in groups of three , Phil kindly gave us a sheet full of stories and news clips on things that have been coming up in the news over the past year , stories that could be easily turned into a thriller film , he asked us in our groups to select four stories from the list that we liked , the four we chose had to be able to be split into four different sub-genres and all be different from one another. we looked into each story and chose ones that we found would be easily expandable and inspiring .

This gives you an indication on the amount of stories to choose from. We selected

We then began to brainstorm ideas , including a full story line for a thriller , and the opening title sequence which would be around three minutes long.
Crocodile stalking man for two weeks
We chose this as it came across as unique and different , we felt something like this hadn't been done before and could be expanded upon very easily, the storyline could have been placed under many different sub-genres , but we chose this to be an action thriller as it suited the role the best .
Story line
A group of friends are terrorised by a huge crocodile , one of them is lost to it , soon to realise its a giant crocodile that had escaped from a local zoo , English villagers based near rivers are on the hunt to capture the crocodile and claim a bounty for it as it continues to terrorise children swimming in rivers .
Opening title sequence
A group of friends around a camp fire next to the rivers edge , drinking , having fun , a couple plan to go swimming and the girl is suddenly taken from underwater , quickly and suddenly as her drunk boyfriend is clambering into the water , screams of the boyfriend as ripples of a beast go down river.
Man stuck in Andes mountains
This story struck us as being quite interesting and could work as a thriller title sequence , we decided on this as being a psychological thriller .
Story line
Man riding through the Andes mountains gets stuck , and is unable to release himself from a rock crushing him and his bike on top of a mountain , he struggles four a few weeks before he is found and released , rushed to hospital .
Opening title sequence
Very simply a man riding his bike through very dangerous and rocky mountains , a far shot of him bicycling up whilst credits role.
Mission to mars
We thought this story would work well with the conspiracy sub genre heading ,could have come off as unique and different to most thrillers .
Story line
Aoup of people being sent to mars to rely information on the planet , and go back to earth , however they realise other humans have been there and clearly been stranded to die . in the same situation the group have to find a way to return.
Title sequence
Conversation between people at ground control and a man in the ship. They are talking about what the man will do and how this is a very important job. The clip then ends with footage of a ship taking off which is accompanied by a T-Minus count.

Genre 2

WHY IS GENRE A RELEVENT CONCEPT FOR AUDIENCES?
Genres allow for films to be divided into groups so that the audience can decide on whether they feel like watching one thing or the other , it also allows for them to decide whether they are  going to enjoy the film or not. Most film lovers have bigger interests in a particular genre to others , so it allows for a kind of guideline to form . The audience c an already expect what the film will be like due to genre. A genre tends to follow the same themes and story line in every film , so the genre allows for the audience to expect what's going to happen in different scenes because they may have witnessed something like it before , shown through  mise en scene or camera or editing

HOW DOES GENRE EFFECT FILMPRODUCTIONCOMPANIES?
Genre allows for a film company to release a film knowing its going to work and be successful , this is because the production company can used the tried an tested formula they've used on films in the same genre, films that have been successful. they know the target audience and what they like through older similar films of the same genre. Secondly genre allows for the production company to follow a basic and already made film structure of the particular genre when making a new film. the genre is basically a list of instructions , containing themes and plots that are very similar to other films of the same genre.




A few production companies that made some of the greatest films.

 WHY IS GENRE USEFUL TO FILM DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES?
The films genre automatically puts an image in your head , is it going to be funny, scary , thrilling , romantic? When you hear the name of a genre you have an image in your head , colours coordinated to this genre , themes , plots stories , characters . so genres allow for the distribution company to advertise the film through posters or signs or in magazines , making the film stand out so that you remember the film. Genre just makes it easier for theses companies to do there job , the colours , images etc...on a poster should give the audience a feel to the film , it should suggest the genre and themes of the film , and genre makes it easier to do that.





Genre 1

 GENRE;The term for any category of literature or other forms of art or entertainment, e.g. music, whether written or spoken, audial or visual.
     For a specific genre you would expect to see similarities in films , for example in a western film you would have a very similar setting , the stereotypical desert and saloon , the shootout and the lover that needs saving .
      Unlike most other genres , thriller films do not share the same iconography to each other , there are many different sub genres for thriller films , for example action thrillers  have completley different features to crime thrillers , action thrillers are fast paced , exciting and can be very similar to horrors films , whilst crime thrillers are normally slower paced , not so much action involved , and tend to follow the story of a criminal(s) or a crime.
There are many types of sub genre thriller , eg,
1Crime Thriller
2Action Thriller
3Conspiracy
4Disaster etc..
The overall aim of a thriller is to quite basically 'thrill' the audience , and shock them with some amazing ending to a film , films under different sub genres may have different plots and meanings but they make the audience feel on edge , excited and shocked , done through editing and camera work. films under different sub genres tend to follow different levels of mise en scene and acting , this is what parts sub genres , but overall a thriller does one thing .

All three of these films contain similar themes , plots and stories , Terminator is about machines coming from another planet and destroying earth as a few individuals try to defend it and stop 'judgment day' in some of the final films , earth is being destroyed , and every survivor has to fend for themselves, The road is about the world being ruined , and every survivor fights for themselves until earth is wiped of its few remaining survivors. I am legend is about zombies destroying a city in america , whilst one man tries to cure the zombies and is one of the only remaining survivors. as you can see all three of these go under the sub genre title of disaster thriller , each follows a similar plot and themes.All have very similar posters , all with the main charecters on them , two show destroyed backgrounds , all very similar kind of full colours emphasisng ruins and destruction.

Finished prelim

Overall I found our prelim went well , especially for our first time and for guys that have never acted before. only a few problems , as we filmed the script over and over in different views , sometimes they would be said differently , making it hard to flow and link into each clip, for example , the door , when he opens it he comes in very quickly , but before the door handle and door open slowly. Match on action really helped the cuts to look smooth , when someone's moving and it cuts to a different camera angle while he's still moving it looks a lot better than standing still, for example , one of the last cuts , as Dmitry leaves it cuts to an over the shoulder view.

One hour photo-conventions of title sequence

Prelim Shooting

On the 19th of September we began the shooting of our prelim , we haver five members in our group , two actors following a script that could have been interpreted in many different ways , in my group was Liam , Dmitry, Massimo and Melissa , we filmed on a very basic set of just a wall , a corridor , and a flight of stairs. I and Melissa were the camera man , we were given a set script with images on it.

We tried to get every single shot possible from some of the main and key angles we were taught , overall taking about ten takes overall , all running through the script from different angles and views , showing different actors emotions , every take the actors had to stand in the same positions , so we used markers on the floor to guide them , every now and then we would have to retake a shot because someone may forget there lines or mess up , but in the end we got all the shots

 

Conventions of a thriller sequence

THE STEPFATHER
Today we discussed the conventions of a thriller title sequence, and so I am analysing the first two minutes of the thriller The Stepfather.
MISE EN SCENE / PROPS
Immediately the music gives off a very creepy impression , we then see the post mans clipboard , saying that the house he's looking at has cancelled its payment , this gives us the impression someone is leaving the house. Then suddenly switches to a view of instruments on a table , neatly laid out , gives us the impression they are weapons or being used for bad purposes, they turn out to be general toiletry instruments. The tidy and neat formation emphasise that this man has extreme care and we get the impression he has a form of ocd Giving off an impression he's trying to change his looks.

CAMERA
Medium close up views of his face with a beard and dark hair with glasses show us his identity , after seeing him shaving and dying his hair we know he's up to something.
An extreme close up of the main characters face after he's changed his looks , gives us the impression he's concentrated on something , his serious face and vague lack of emotion suggests he's not comfortable , we get the impression so far that he's changing his looks.

TITLES
The text listing credits subtly appear and then slowly fade away , giving the viewer a very creepy/gloomy first impression