The Pitch Feedback

Shelby, Liam, Jordan - Initial Film Pitch

Location Mind Map

Me, Liam and Jordan all sat down to discuss where we could film the shots for our opening scene. We came up with the following ideas:

Our location mindmap

 

 

These are out initial ideas for the loactions, they are local to us and we think that they would make a good location for our films to be set, they apply to what we want it to look like.

Examples of Film Ratings

The Panic Room is a 2002 Thriller film rated 15 by the BBFC.

It was rated 15 as it was seen to have exteme suspense, strong language and violence; It involves the use of drinking and drugs, mild sex scenes- the events are very graphic and so would not be acceptable to be seen within a 12 bracket. There is a lot of events which put the film into a 15 bracket but the scenes do not provide enough to be put into the 18 bracket as it is still acceptable.


Warm Bodies - 2013 - 12A

BBFC said that Warm bodies contains:

• Weapons
• Horror
• Violence/Threat
• Themes

They said that even though it is a horror film about a zombie who falls in love the company placed it at 12A because there isnt enough detail for it to come into the 15 bracket. There is more emphasis on the emotions of the two characters falling in love and trying to become human again rather than the gory zombie killing type films; similarly the zombies are not seen as scary like they are in the walking dead as they just look like 'slow moving people'. You only see a small amount of blood on the characters face , minimal jumpy scenes but the main graphic scenes that is seen are boneys chasing people, a fight and zombies being ran over.



The Awakening - 2011 - 12A
BBFC said that the awakening has:

• Horror
• Violence/Threat
• Themes

This film borderlines the 12A/ 15 bracket however the film is rated 15 but the trailer is rated a 12A. This is because the trailer is a littler scary as it shows the main character ghost hunting and shows some of the more jumpy scenes. It has a creepy atmosphere which focus' on the ghosts and the story behind it - it shows the face of the ghost, panicked people, a woman in shock and a ghost watching her in the shower. There is a shower scene however you only see bare back and nothing more therefore this fits into the 12A bracket. There is a brief gory scene with blood on the characters mouth, clevage and stomach although she is fully clothed this would come under the 15 bracket as it is too gory for a 12A.

Logo Ideas - Jordan & Shelby

For our logo we will try to incorporate Bold letters and dark colours, for example the Lionsgate logo. The bold font will suggest to our audience that we are strong and bold and that we are willing to give anything a shot. The dark colours represents the types of films we are likely to produce, for example dark thrillers and Horrors. We may incorporate a well recognised symbol that audiences will see and recognise and link us to that icon and give us more of a standing in the cinematic world.

For any animation we might include it will be subtle and will not contain comedy as that is not the route we plan to take. It might include something like 'Twisted Pictures' which has the barbed wire ensnaring the text, as this is more relevant to the films we might produce.

We will try to limit the amount of graphic material as we don't want to wonder too far down the path of horror and try to stay in the world of Thriller. Also this would probably make the logo too jumbled making it hard to understand and confusing. Even though we want to make our logo represent a thriller film we want to be able to keep it simple as we want to make it clear, if we incorporate too much then it may seem like too much detail, for example in dimension it is just a black background with a slanted text.

We might also include some sound to the Logo scene in the film as it can help to make our logo more  distinguishable and inspire people with its soundtrack - people will be able to relate our logo to the films.

Soundtrack Analysis

To create a great thriller film you need to have a great soundtrack. The soundtrack is used to build tension and echoes the genre of the film and plays along with the action being shown in a scene. This helps emphasise what is happening on the screen which builds tension and indicates action.
However, some films may play against this idea and use a soundtrack that normally brings joy and put it into a thriller film. You're next is a great example of this as throughout this trailer you can hear that they use the song Perfect Day as their soundtrack, this plays with the audience expectation and thus increases the audiences fear. 

On top of the song Perfect Day they also use other non diegetic music which resembles screaming, using this at the right timing emphasises the actions of the killer and lets you know when something is happening. You can see how important the soundtrack is for a thriller movie by watching scenes of it with no sound on, the scare factor and build up of tension are completely destroyed.

Production/Distribution Companies

Editing to Build Tension- Taken

In this film extract we can see the demonstration of excellent editing to create tension. There are many shots in this film with varying duration, may of which are very short which helps build the intensity of the narrative and the intensity of the violence in the fight.

In this sequence we see many medium close ups and close up shots which are great at portraying the confined space that they are in. The speed at which they change from each camera angle really adds to the speed and the impact of the violence that the audience sees. The close ups of the characters expressions allow the audience to connect with the characters and how fearful the character in the brown jacket is. The realistic sound effect, like the punching and when he hits his head on the ground, add to the realism of the action and so the audience find it easier to connect with the film.

In this sequence several shots like a very wide shot and wide shot are used to show the risk that the character took to escape, this shows the audience that this man knows he is guilty and doesn't want to be captured. During this sequence the music stops and all you hear is the sound of the wind passing the man as he falls, this builds tension because the audience are expecting something to happen next that might shock them, then comes in the loud thud from the landing which breaks this tension. That's why when the lorry hits him the audience are caught off guard and find the scene more enjoyable as there thoughts about the codes of the genre are broken.

The mise-en-scene is very light which suggests that it is daylight, this emphasises the fact that the character will do everything he can to get his daughter back, as he is not afraid of exposing himself in broad daylight. Also his clothing suggests that he is quite a dark character for a hero as the colour black is normally related to the bad guy in a film. The fact that he is also always wearing a leather coat helps show the coldness of the weather but also it suggests that he is a cold natured character.

                 

Poster Analysis

Genre Typecasting

Genre Typecasting

Genre is a way of catorgarising films, music, games, etc. These genres include, Action, Thriller, Adventure , Romance, Comedy, etc. Films can fall into one of these categories giving it a genre.

Legolas

Actors can be associated with certain genres. This is known as genre typecasting. Actors that get typecast  can find it hard to do different genres of film as they have been totally attached to the genre they are typecast to. An example is Orlando Bloom. He has been typecast to Fantasy.

He is seen always in a film linked to fantasy. He plays the character which generally is the most skilled in his trade. Being typecast has forced Orlando into starring in Fantasy, period films for example: Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean.

 

 

Another actor who has been typecast to a genre is Simon Pegg. Pegg has been typecast to comedy and is rapidly becoming one of the best in the business. He is best known as Sergeant Angel in the film 'Hot Fuzz'. This helps film companies to make their money as if you see Simon Pegg's name in the title you know it will be a good laugh so you will purchase tickets to go see it. However he has been able to begin to break free of his type cast by appearing in different film offering comic relief to the otherwise serious film. For example he has stared in many new action films such as M.I. Ghost Protocal and the new Star Trek films.

Sergeant Nicholas Angel



Film Stills

These are film stills from the opening scene to Secret Window.

Director Studies

Narrative with Thriller

Narrative with Thriller

A narrative is what happens in a film, TV show or Short video. There is a universal 4 point strategy to create a mainstream film, these are:

1) Beginning - Set up story and the situation

This ariel view of Arkham Islands shows the disease and is
a synonym for the corrupt hierarchy

2) Complication - The situation is distrupted

The one of the main villains is revealed to be emptying
narcotics into the water system

3) Climax - Major point in the film

Batman makes a move to stop the villains and save the people
of Gotham and the woman he loves

4) Resolution - situation is solved, a new one is established



Gordon gives Batman his next task setting up next film

Conventions of Thriller FIlm Word Cloud

Word Cloud for the conventions of Thriller Films

Claude Levi Strauss

Levi Strauss was a social 

Anthropologist who studied myths and tribal cultures, 

he examined how stories reflect values beliefs and 

myths of a culture in the unconscious mind.

He said how they are expressed in the form of 

binary oppositions.

His research has been adapted by media theorists to reveal the underlying theme in media texts.

Binary opposition is the idea that there is a conflict between two qualities of terms in the climax of the tension:

For Example:

Good                  vs                               Bad

Black                 vs               White

Young                 vs              Old

Man                   vs               Woman

We can relate this to films as in The Dark Knight :

Batman is the GOOD

The Joker is the BAD

Barthes' Narrative Theory

Roland Barthes was a French semiologist who suggested that narrative works with five different codes which activate the reader to make sense of it.

Barthes' Codes:

• Action- a narrative device by which a resolution is produced through action, e.g. a shoot-out.
• Enigma- a narrative device that teases the audience by presenting a puzzle or riddle to be solved. works to delay the stories ending pleasurably.
• Symbolic- (Connotation)
• Semic- (Denotation)
• Cultural- a narrative device which the audience can recognise as being part of a culture.

Thriller Mood Board

Thriller Mood Board

Logo Analysis

Logos are important for a production company because it is a way for their company to become recognised in the film industry. What a production company wants to do with their logo is to make it as identifiable as possible and also they need it to make an impact on the audience so that they are impressed by it and so that they can remember it. 

TriStar
This logo shows a white horse with wings, more commonly known as 'Pegasus'. The Pegasus is well known in Greek mythology for it's wisdom, guidance and nobility, suggesting that this film company carry all the same features. Furthermore, including this made-up animal could suggest that TriStar provide escapism within their movies and that they bring across fantasy based ideas and take viewers away to another world. This is also supported by the sky background which also suggests that the company take their viewers beyond the world that they know. The gold colouring of the title 'TriStar' gives the company a royal feel and that they are the best as gold is normally the colour for winners.

                                                                                    Twisted Pictures
This logo has an animation that lasts around ten seconds, in which it shows two pieces of barbed wire wrapping themselves round each word and then each piece being twisted by a sharp object in the middle which pulls them tight so that the slice through the text. This violence suggest that this film company is specialised in the horror and thriller genre. The barbed wire wrapped around the sharp object closely resembles the medical symbol of a serpent wrapped around a staff. However, the replacement of the serpent and staff to the more violent weapon-like objects could suggest that this film company does not agree with the ideas of medicine and and healing but instead focus on torture and gore. This is easily witnessed in their well known film series Saw.

Lionsgate

Lionsgate have used the popular- within film production logos- cloudy sky background but have used deep reds and dark shadowing to create a more sinister feel to their logo. The red and black colours can be strongly related to blood, gore, death and hell. This suggests that their films contain these themes and gives the audience a clear understanding of what Lionsgate are about. The silver-grey stone like font suggest that Lionsgate are bold and strong.

Universal
By showing Earth in their logo, Universal instantly show you that they are not afraid to take on the world with their movies. Furthermore, the name 'Universal' also suggest that their films are for a vast range of audiences, linking back to the using the earth in their logo suggests that this vast range of audiences is everyone. The Earth symbol and space background suggests that their films are out of this world and that they provide the ultimate escapism, providing something new for all their audiences to get lost in.





  

Credits & Title Analysis

 When choosing the font for the title and opening credits(if you're having them), you should pick a font which fits in with the background and doesn't clash with the colours on the screen as that makes them hard to read. Here are some examples and how they work with they're background.

This shows us that the credits should be on clear backgrounds 

and should be eye-catching

This title uses dark text on a light background

this shows that you can use different colours

The text here once again has contrasting colours
with clear writing

The title is in bold to make it stand out.





This title mixes bold and normal white text on a dark
background to make it stand out



The clear white text on the darkish background makes
the title stand out and makes it clear

Thriller Film Openings- Source Code

In a thriller film suspense is essential to keep the audience intrigued. This film starts with the main protagonist confused about where he is and what is happening around him, this gets the audience interested because they also want find out why the protagonist is confused. This suspense is broken at the end of this scene where the train the main character is on is blown up, but this gets the audience even more fascinated as the main character is killed within the first 5 minutes of the film. This film uses mirrors to represent confusion and tension because when the character looks in the mirror it shows a reflection of someone else completely. This opening scene starts off with quite  bright lighting but as it progresses the lighting starts to become darker and darker which slowly lets the audience know something bad is about to happen. Shadows work in conjunction with the low key lighting in the fact that the shadows become more and more prominent as the scene progresses, it also is used to emphasise which of the characters are important within the scene as the shadows cover up the characters that are unimportant.      There is an aspect of isolation in this scene as it takes place on a train, this makes the audience fall into the conception that there is no escape for the protagonist. Although it is not shown in this opening scene I know that flashbacks are the key point of this film and because of how sudden they happen it can lead the audience to be confused at the same time that it uncovers more of the story. The music conforms to the codes and conventions because it helps us understand the mood of the character and it also gets louder and faster as the scene progresses to add to the suspense and confusion. Quick shots are used at the very start of this scene to show you whats going on around the character, like the spilling of the coffee, this adds to the disorientation of time as you don't really know when each thing is happening one after the other, all at the same time or in quick succession.
At the start of this film it is hard to identify all the characters from Propp's Theory as you have not met all the characters yet. However, it is easy to identify the 'Hero', as the whole scene is based round him, and it is also easy to identify the 'Princess' as she is the main character that the Hero interacts with.

BBFC - British Film Certificates

• The U symbol stands for universal
• it is suitable for children aged four and over
• only mild bad language is allowed in a U (damn, hell, bugger)
• no sexual activity is allowed however the characters may be allowed a kiss or a hug
• the film may have brief scenes in which the character is in danger however this is quickly resolved
• the violence that is seen will be balanced out by using humour or music
• Bad chracters can use guns but the film will not emphasis the use of the weapons - the good characters will not usually use weapons
• any behaviour that is seen as imitable behaviour will not be included in the film; along with dangerous behaviour.
• the film doesnt have to be child related, many adult films are rated U because they dont contain 'stong issues' i.e. drugs, sex, language. - for example Scrooge.
• If it is a childrens film the message will be about loyalty, honesty and friendship and will most likely include a happy ending
• there will be no references to drugs

• PG stands for parental guidance which means the film is suitable for general viewing
• the scenes should not disturb a child aged 8 or older - parents are responsible for considering if the content might upset their child or not
• not all PG films are made for a young audience - for example The Artist
• bullying will not be accepted
• smoking and drinking will be included however wont be promoted and will give the message that it is bad - this is the same with any drugs used, it will be shown as harmful.
• the language used in a PG is mild, words such as 'shit' however the context in which it is used has to be important
• references to sex are allowed within a PG only if the detail of the subject is small, the aim is for that the child not to understand the reference - comedy can be used to lower the impact of the reference
• in a PG violence shouldnt be in great detail, a small amount of blood is acceptable however how the blood got there will be in tiny detail.
• in a PG horror moments that are jumpy are allowed but the treat must not be carried out for long

• 12A - the A means accompanied, this means that anyone under the age of 12 must be accompanied by someone over 18.
• 12 is only used on videos and DVD's and 12A is only used in the cinema
• strong language may be used such as f*** however it can't be repetitive - moderate language can also be used such as 'bitch' or 'twat'
• sex can be portrayed in both 12/12A only with nudity but it must be brief
  
  and discreet
• in a 12A the violence is allowed but again not in much detail, no emphasis should take place on the injuries
• weapons may be present in a 12/12A however weapons that are accessible to a 12 year old are not glamorised
• sexual violence, rape and assault can only be used if they are brief and the context is justified
• Horrors are passed as a 12/12A only if the disturbing sequences are short
• hanging, suicide and self harming can be present if they are not in too much detail as otherwise could be copied

• Anyone under the age of 15 can see a 15 rated film or buy/rent a 15.
• 15's can include:
• strong violence - there is strong violence however it cant dweel on the pain, any gory images wont be allowed.
• frequent strong language (eg 'f***') as there is no upper limit, the word c*** can be used however not aggressively.
  
• portrayals of sexual activity as long as it is not graphic
• strong verbal references to sex - crude references will not be allowed
• sexual nudity - there is no limit on nudity
• brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
• discriminatory language or behaviour
• drug taking can be used however it shouldnt encourage drugs
• dangerous behaviour such as hanging, suicide and self-harming should not dwell on detail which could be copied

 

• Anyone under the age of 18 can not view an 18 film, buy or rent an 18
• some themes may be offensive even to some adults
• very strong violence
• frequent strong language (eg 'f***') and/or very strong language (eg ‘c***’), the language can be used aggressively.
• scenes of sexual violence - detail on  pain or injury,scenes of strong sadistic or sexual violence are allowed in an 18.
• strong horror - they contain strong horror, gore or sustained threat that isnt alloweded within an 18 boundary
• real sex (in some circumstances) - strong/detailed sex can be used in an 18 
• full nudity is allowed in an 18
• discriminatory language and behaviour - there can be language involving discriminatory, racist or homophobic though it must not break legislation.
• drug taking is permitted however it must not be encouraged
• dangerous or criminal behaviour may not be involved in the film as it could influence the audience.
• cuts are occasionally made to 18 rated films when they breach criminal law, there is a risk of harm to an individual, more explicit images