Initial Thriller Ideas

First Idea
We came up with a storyline of having an old man telling his story, but he would be the voiceover/narrater in the start of our thirller. However the opening would be him as a young man, he would be telling his story through the actions in the poening, and his voiceover track.

We didn't choose this because we thought the idea was too complicated to try to put the story accross in 2 minutes. Also trying to plan the storyboard and shotlist, while trying to incorperate a voiceover, over all the scenes. This also means that the narrative could not be chronological/linear due to this being a part of his memory and a flashback. We decided to devise something much simpler so that what wa happening was much clearer to the audience.

Second Idea
Our second idea was to have a little girl trying to seek revenge on her step-mother for causing corruption in her family. The little girl and her alcoholic dependant dad, set out to kill the step-mother.

We didn't choose this idea because we didn't think there were enough conventions of the thrille genre embeded into this idea. A disturbed child is more of a horror convention and is slightly unrealistic. Also trying to convey relationship staus' in 2 miuntes would be a huge challenge.

Third Idea
Our third idea was to take a teenage girl who works in a cafe, and a man sat outside in his car, taking pictures of her through a window, somewhere in amongst these scenes we would have a flash of a wall covered in pictures of this girl. This shot would imply that he is her stalker and that she is in danger. She walks home and he will follow her in his car, lurking just out of sight. A flash of a black screen, and you hear a scream, this will be the girl being killed. It then shows a man driving a pick up truck, with the girl in a bin bag in the back, but her foot twitches, implying she isn't dead. Her shoe is to be found by the lake where she was 'murdered'

We chose this because it was somewhat simple, and has only two characters. We had ca clear idea  of filming locations as well which makes it a little easier. The idea will fit into 2 minutes which makes this a better idea to aim towards.

What Made Animal Kingdom a Marketing Success?

Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom was shown mostly by small, independent cinemas. It is categorized into the thriller genre, which at first thought you would think it would only appeal to a small minority audience. The Australian Film was being created on a budget of only $5,000,000, yet took in a staggering $6,793,982. Part of the success was because before the film was even released, there was a viral wave, promoting the film, thanks to the Producer of the film. She did a majority of the promoting online. Another contributing factor to the films' success could be because of where it was shown. It England, it was shown in independent cinemas, rather than mainstream cinema's. Independent cinemas, for example Cinema City in Norwich. Picture House owns this cinema, and for it to receive the full amount (£16,000) Picture House offers cinemas like this, 35% of their screenings have to be European, so that is where a lot of funding comes from in order to screen this type of film. Cinemas like cinema city are often placed in towns and cities that hold a university. Because they are cheaper, students from the university are attracted to the cheaper ones, which often screen some of the same movies, however it also influences them to go and see something a bit different, much like Animal Kingdom.

Animal Kingdom also attracted a lot of attention was that because there were no A-list actors in the film, people had no pre-judgments or the film, depending on who was in it. For example, if Hugh Grant was it in, we may associate it with his role in Love Actually, and many of his other Rom-Com characters. The only recognized actor in it would be Guy Pearce, however not everyone knows about him and his acting career so the film's actors were still kept pretty anonymous. I think this created a mystery about the film.
On IMBd website, the user ratings turned out to be an average of 7.4 out of 10, which for a low budget, foreign  film with no a-list actors in it, is pretty impressive.
The people who gave it the highest rating on this site were under 18 year olds, males in particular. I think this is highlighting the target audience.

Overall Animal Kingdom was a success because it relied on internet marketing and advertising. If the online marketing had not have taken place then it would not have been such a success.
I will be ordering this film online, I thought it was fantastic.

Words - 419

Thriller Planning

Animal Kingdom Analysis

Animal Kingdom is an Australian thriller film. It had a budget of 5,000,000 Austrailian Dollars, which in comparison to other films is a very tight budget. The box office collected a total of $6,793,982 worldwide. Even though it was released in February 2011, it is still being shown today November 2011, this shows the popularity of the film. The director was an Austrailian, David Michôd, he also wrote most of the film himself.

In this clip, the Police Officer played by Guy Pearce, is asking Josh to accompany him to ask him some questions. However Josh's Uncle is not too keen for him to go. In this clip, as the audience you also get a sense of danger, because the two main shots they use are medium close up and over the shoulder shots. The shots use the lighting to their advantage, they show the Uncle 'Pope' standing in the dark, doorway to the house, he is standing in the shadows. This suggests to us as the audience that he is the side representing dark and evil, the side that you do not want to be on.Also the positioning of Uncle Pope, the way he is standing behind hiding part of himself behind the doorway, tells us that he has truths to hide, sins and dark deeds that the police officer does not know about, or suspects but can not confirm. Also the clever use of placing the actors so that you can not see them in certain shots. For example, Josh you can't see in this shot, so it looks like Pope is all by himself on the dark side. This is until 'Smurf' the Grandmother comes and joins Pope's side, suggesting that she is also dark and criminal, always living in the shadows because of her criminal family and their reputation. Pope looks very shifty in this scene, Smurf and the Police Officer (Detective Leckie) move around a bit, Smurf enters the shot by walking and Mr Leckie walks around a little at the end of the shot. However Pope and Josh almost don't move at all. I think this could be because Pope wants to connect with Josh to try to persuade him to stick with him and the rest of the family, however Josh knows the danger of staying with them, that is to get shot. Josh makes near to no eye contact with anyone in this clip, trying to work out what he should do on his own, when everyone else is too busy making choices for Josh without his consulting them himself. This is giving Josh no independence, this is why he is stuck in the middle. Although again due to the camera shots, it suggests he has chosen to side with Mr Leckie, as he is featured only in shots with Mr Leckie in. I thin he chose this because he wanted to make his own decisions without anyone else having influence over him.

However, when you see the medium close up/over the shoulder shot of the Police Officer, he is standing in the light, in natural day light, suggesting he is true, there is nothing fake and he is hiding nothing. It also looks like there is a beam of light shining upon him, like an angel or guardian angel. In the shots Josh is also standing in them, this forecasts what is going to happen in the rest of the film. It forecasts that Josh will Talk to The police and be protected by them, he will chose the good side and not fall into the trap set by his Uncle Pope that the rest of his family members have done, and therefore, been killed. During this conversation, the questions the Police Officer puts to him, Pope and Smurf both answer for him every time  he does not speak during this clip. This shows how he is being pushed about by his family and that they go to efforts to make sure that he is under their watch all the time, they try not to let him out of their sight, especially Pope. 

Filming Locations

We are due to film our thriller Ilketshall St Andrew. These are some of the locations we have chosen to film at.

This first shot is of a desolate old farm road that we will use for our character to walk down on her way home from work.

This next shot of the iron gates will be useful to create tension, anxst and power amoung the audience. They represent male domination in our film.

This is an old warehouse/farmhouse that we can utilise for the murder of the victim.

This roud we can utilise for the car driving down it following the girl.

The lake will we useful for the murder of the the victim as well as the warehouse. It is an eery location





IMPROVED 'Witness' Film Clip Analysis

Witness

This film is about an Amish boy who witnesses a murder in a train station, filmed in Philadelphia. It was released in 1985 and filmed in America. It was also directed by Peter Weir. The budget for the film was $12,000,000 and the total gross that was brought in by the box office was $65,500,000. The film won 2 Oscars and was nominated for 25 other awards.

At the beginning of the clip, it shows a little boy with his mother, his costume (in particular his hat), makes it look like he is wearing a halo around his head, the shot is a medium close up at a slightly low angle to signify his value and importance. This shot is highlighting the contrast between the boy and his future. This little boy has such huge importance but at this moment in the film he is still only an innocent boy. There are no bright colours, they are all quite monotone. This could signify that he is still innocent and all he has not a care in the world. The expression on his face tells us that he has never seen anything like what he is looking at.

The shot cuts to a shot of the boy looking up at a statue of an angel helping and holding a wounded man. The shot pans to a very low angle shot of the angel statue. This again is showing the power of the angle in the statue and the importance of this figure to the little boy. Also because he is from an Amish background, art like that would not be a common sight for someone like this little boy. Seeing something like that for the first time must be pretty amazing, I think he instantly has a connection between himself and the statue. Therefore the angel is foreshadowing the future actions in the film, although how yet we do not know. Again there is not a huge variety of colours in any of these shots yet, they are all quite dull colours.

The clip cuts to the previous shot of the little boy looking up in amazement at the angel statue. But then almost instantly cuts back to the shot of the angel with the wounded man. This could be embedding the relationship between the angel statue and the little boy, again foreshadowing the future.

Interestingly, it cuts to an over the shoulder shot of the angel, high angle then a long shot showing how insignificant the child is in comparison to everything else. It looks like the shot it from the angels perspective, showing the audience that maybe the angel is watching over the little boy, keeping watch like guardian angels stereotypically are supposed to do. The shot also shows people pushing past him, again showing his insignificance and that he is just a little boy. It shows the little boy still gazing up in amazement, he is stood still whilst everyone else is pushing past him and not really looking or paying attention to him. His Mother comes over to get him but even as he is walking away he still tries to look back at the statue to get one last glimpse of it.

The shot cuts to a long shot and a slightly low angle shot of the Mother and the little boy, however no one is there, they are alone in the station sat on a bench, maybe people chose not to sit near them because of their traditional image. People are brainwashed today with an image that we have to look like, the perfect dress size, the colours etcs, but the Amish go against this and have done for many years as they chose to isolate themselves away from modern societies and technologies. This shot and positioning shows the venerability of the characters. The boy then gets up and walks towards the vanishing point of the shot, towards a door. The Mother is not fussed at all that he is going to the loo by himself even though he is still small and at this moment, insignificant. However the Mother runs after because he forgot his hat, this shows he priorities, you think she is going to accompany him which would have been the safer option even in modern society and no threat of murder.

It then cuts to a low angle close up shot of the little boy to show significance and importance. The fact that the Mother sends the boy to the toilet by himself shows that she doesn’t think there is any threat of harm in doing so due to their culture and the way they were brought up in the Amish community. Ambient lighting is used in this shot and diegetic sound makes it more realistic it also adds to the tension in the audience. There is no dialogue though, this again would add to the tension within the audience.

It cuts to a slightly low angle of a man, acknowledging that the little boy just entered the room, he nods towards him showing that the little boy has entered the room.

Then it cuts to a medium close up of the little boy taking in his surroundings and smiling back at the man. This angles shot is at a slightly low angle, again re-iterating his power. He then walks forward and out of the shot.

As soon as he walks out of the shot it cuts to a shot from behind the little boy, establishing the mis-en-scene. It clarifies that they are in a bathroom, quite a dingy place. The little boy walks forward as the man washed his own face, maybe suggesting that he has just done something that made him sweat or work for, maybe he committed a crime. The boy walks to the edge of the shot and then out of it completely. The effect of waiting until someone has walked out of a shot is tension throughout the audience. It leaves you wondering what he is going to do? where is he going to? what is the other man in the shot going to do? Weir used the rule of thirds very well in this shot.

The scene then cuts to a shot of two cubicles but there is a gap in which you can see the little boy through, showing that maybe the man has forgotten he is there, that the little boy is just in the background and again a little insignificant. The little boy glances back at the man who is still washing his face.

Straight after that it cuts to a medium close of the man washing his face but looking over at the door, maybe because someone just entered the room. The subject looks slowly down at what he is doing, what does he know/realised? In the same shot we see the creases in someone’s clothes, but we cannot see who it is, at the moment he is left anonymous as we can't see his face. Within the same shot we see a man in the Mirror entering to make use of the toilets. By the expressions on the man's face, he feels threatened by these people who have just entered. Are they his enemies? The man by the urinals in a black man, but we still cannot see his face. Again this leaves him anonymous much like the other man.

It suddenly cuts back to the medium close up of the boy through the crack in the cubical. The little boy turns back round to face the wall, not able to see what is going on behind him.

Cutting to a medium close up of the black man who we can now identify him, because we see his face and expression. He nods to the other man in the room, (the anonymous man?) and turns back around preparing himself for something.
It cuts to a long shot, enabling the audience to be able to see the three men in the room, Weir does this because apart from one, the other two men do not know that the little boy is in the room and would not be able to see him, so he is not in the shot. The anonymous man starts to walk off, but he pulls his jacket over the man's face disabling his vision.
It cuts to a shot of a dagger flipping out, the black man is holding it, this establishes that he is going to make a stab at the venerable man. It cuts back to the medium close up of the black man, he makes a lunge for the venerable man. This tells the audience that maybe he is going to be murdered.

It cuts to the medium close up of the little boy peering through the crack in the door, and then a point of view shot from the little boy, it reverses so that you can see his facial expressions and his head and shoulders.
We see a medium close up shot of the little boy backing away from the edge of the door, maybe realising what he just witnessed. A shot of the dying man is trembling on the floor, this is a medium close up. The it cuts to a shot of the murderer backing away with the knife in his hand and blood on the other. He tries to take a paper towel to wipe the evidence away.
It cuts to a shot of a man's arms, showing he is trying to take the dead mans identity. However the shot pans up to the black man still trying to dispose of the evidence.
Another medium close up of the little boy shows he is becoming more and more anxious and nervous about the situation he is in and that he just witnessed.
A close up shot of the lock on the door shows that the door is unlocked and that he is in danger. The boy goes forward to secure the lock on the door and try to protect himself.
After that it cuts to a tracking shot of the villain’s feet, this shows where in comparison to the little boy he is. This again shows his innocence is at risk and it will be taken after he saw the murder. He is in danger.

The little boy then takes of this hat to show his halo has fallen; his innocence has been taken and ripped from him. (Medium close up shot) Harrison Ford then enters with bright light behind him symbolising he is good and maybe the angel helping the wounded man. (Being the little boy)

Thriller Research (Part 1)

Thriller Genre

Thriller films are types of films known to promote suspense, intense excitement high level anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension. Thriller and suspense films have similar characteristics and key features. Typical conventions of a thriller would be features like location, costumes, set, actors (if they are well known for playing a role in a famous thriller film, this may draw the audiences attention to going to see the film in the first place.

Key camera shots featured in the thriller genre at the beginning a tracking or panning shot to interest the audience. Also another typical camera shot in a thriller is the close up/extreme close up, it builds suspense and mystery, especially in the beginning. Also low level and high level angles are a popular camera shots in thriller shots. Through these camera shots portray power and venerability. Thriller films use a wide range of camera shots to enable the audience to try to comprehend with what is going on. It also gives a different view to the audience to show something that the character wants to keep a secret. Clever camera angles work to the advantage of the director’s wishes. Especially in Tarentino’s Kill Bill vol. 1, the opening scene, where it focus’ on a close up of The Bride, and involves the tracking shot following ‘Bill’s’ feet.

Lighting is also a key aspect promoted in thriller films. Ambient lighting is a popular choice in thriller lighting. However in a majority of the films they have very dark lighting, almost none at all. In some scenes in thrillers, much like the opening scene in Kill Bill, it is featured in Black and white. This could be because they want to pay tribute to the 50’s thriller films but also, because then her wounds may look more realistic to the audience. Also it lets you focus on what you are watching rather than the wounds or the costumes. That scene is to establish that Bill tries to Murder the Bride.

Editing often works in favour of creating obstacles mysteries and anxiety for the audience. Jump cuts are often popular, it fills the audience in and create maximum effects; it is also visually pleasing for the audience.

Diegetic and Non-diegetic sound, especially in thriller genres is very effective. Music in the beginning creates a sound bridge this then becomes non-diegetic sound. Music can create effects without having any dialogue; especially in an intense scene music can carry the play forward.