Production logo

This is a production logo I have made using photoshop and final cut. This will improve my skill in photoshop and will help make my poster better when we make it later on in the year

Music used in thriller films

The music used in thriller films typically starts soft and quiet and then gradually gets louder and denser as the action intensifies to a climax in the scene. A good example of this would be the scene from Lord of The rings : Fellowship of the Ring, in the action scene leading up to Boromir's death. The music gets louder and more intense as the scene intensifies, and then suddenly stops when Boromir is hit by an arrow.
   

We plan to implement this same technique in our film when Alex tries to escape the thug who tries to beat him/ kill him.
   Even though action scenes are high in intensity and drama, classical music is very commonly, if not predominantly used in these types of scenes. One would think that intense music like Rock would be used, but classical music often gives the best effect.
   Another example of this would be in the standoff scene in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, however in this scene the music is the device used to create the tension and drama. In reality, all that is happening in the scene is three men looking at each other in anticipation of the draw, however, the music makes the scene incredibly intense. The music get louder and denser as the scene gets nearer to the draw, and then stops Angel Eyes is shot by Blondie.

risk assesment

Possible Distributors

Dimension Films is a major American film production and distribution studio currently owned by The Walt Disney Studios (prior to 1 of October 2005 owned by Miramax Films).The studio founded success in the earlier years releasing films such as Scream, The Faculty, Scary Movie, Dracula 2000, Spy Kids, The Others, Scary Movie 3, Bad Santa, Sin City, The Brothers Grimm, and The Amityville Horror.

I chose Dimension films as one of the possible mainstream distributors for our films because of the films they've previously made. Most of the successful films made/ distributed by Dimension Films were aimed at young people, teenage audience, stories mainly focused on a particular family, group of teenagers, or one or two ordinary youngsters. Films like Scream, The Others, The Amityville Horror, The Faculty TV series. 

Metrodome Group Ltd is a London-based company that owns, manages and distributes film,
TV and digital content. The Company operates through two divisions: 
Metrodome Distribution (features films and home entertainment in the UK) 
and Hollywood Classics. The Company's library of rights includes over 300 feature films.
I thought of Metrodome group as one of the possible distributors because it's a it's a fast 
growing British distributor, originally made to focus on independent British titles with potential. 
There are a number of very successful American and British titles Metrodome distributed; 
Saw (2004), Inception (2010), , Zombieland (2009), The Phantom of The Opera (1925), 
V for Vendetta (2006). Our film, one of the main characters in particular (Agnar) was inspired by
two of the well known titles (from thriller/action, and thriller/horror genre) Metrodome 
distributed; V for Vendetta and The Phantom of The Opera.
Metrodome distributes and produces titles for a wide variety of audience, strating from British horrors
and thrillers ending on Asian and Eastern European history films and Dramas. 

Research into film posters

Posters for supernatural thrillers/horrors tend to use darkness a lot to represenet the sinister, dark natures of their stories. One example of this is the sixth sense:

A lot of this film poster is black, which gives the impression that this is quite a dark film. The main character is shown as a silhouette, suggesting that he may have things to hide which will be revealed through the movie, and suggests that this film is likely to have plot twists and surprises (e.g. Bruce willis' character being dead). The use of the six acting as a metaphorical 'light' that people see when they die implies that this film will be about death and ghosts, showing the audience straight away that it is going to have a supernatural element to it. The tagline at the bottom 'touch taste hear smell see fear' shows the horror aspects to this film and shows the audience that this is going to be a film based around being scared.






The posters for the woman in black also use darkness to represent the sinister aspects of the film. In this first one, the text has flared vertically, creating a very ghostly effect, implying supernatural aspects. The rhetorical question 'Do you belive in ghosts?' is a much more obvious representation of the prescence of supernatural beings in the film, however this also targets the reader directly and creates fear on a much more personal level. The ghost in the background again creates a fearful mood to the film and the fact that the main character is looking away suggests he is in danger. Also, only half of Daniel Radcliffe's face can be seen, suggesting he either has something to hide at the beginning of the film, or the scarring events of the film are the things he is trying to hide. This adds the thriller aspect to the poster.



This poster again uses a flare effect on the text to create a ghostly effect. This provides consistency over all of the posters to send the same message of terror and supernatural things being a part of this film. The graveyard in the background represents death, representing the darkness of the narrative. Daniel radcliffe also has a shadow over half of his face creating the same effect as in the first poster implying that he is trying to hide something. The dark blue of the poster creates a more ghostly effect than full black because ghosts are regularly shown as transparent dark blue.

In both of these posters, Daniel Radcliffe's name is the only one shown as he is the most famous actor invloved, allowing the makers of the film to market his name to the audience. We however won't be able to incorporate this into our film because we have a very low budget and so cannot afford big names to participate in our movie.

The film poster for mama uses a large amount of darkness, about half of the poster is pitch black to create a spooky mood. The rest of the poster is quite gritty which also contributes to this effect. The person the child is hiding behind looks dead and zombie like. This is the aspect of the poster which shows the audience that the film is about ghosts/dead people and will have a horror aspect to it. The tagline 'A mothers love is forever' takes a quite sweet phrase and puts it in the context of a horror thriller poster and it twists it to be quite sinister.


The fonts in posters for supernatural thrillers are often block capitals which creates a very serious mood and makes the poster stand out as a horror/supernatural thriller and not as a light hearted comedy. Alternatively, the text in the sixth sense looks scratched, which also creates a horror effect. This effect is also used in the se7en title sequence, which was also a supernatural thriller.

Representation: Religion

In our film, religion is represented as a primitive, outdated idea, as Alex is exposed to the areas that they speak of and discovers that they are nothing like they are written to be like. Alex discovers purgatory to be handled by a charismatic but dark character and is nothing like what is published in the bible. He even gets the chance to cheat death, where is that written?
   Religion is basically negligible in our film to start with, but what little we see of issues touching upon religion, religion is represented as something that is becoming less and less important in society and is beginning to be looked at more as a fiction rather than absolute fact.

Influences on our film (Narrative)

1. Religion
The theme of heaven and hell is key for our film, given that the major setting is in limbo. Limbo is a place in some faiths where people who aren't evil enough to go to hell and not good enough to go to heaven go when they die. People who go there usually spend a large amount of time there to cleanse their sins so they can gain access to heaven. Limbo or purgatory is used a lot in supernatural works in all forms, such as TV, films, games etc. The version we use in not specific to one particular religion.

Purgatory/ Limbo is often showcased as being a dark place, sometimes a forest. Characters are often stuck in limbo, however there is often a way out which the main character will have to fight to get out.

2. The triumph of bad over good

At the end of our film our main character is defeated and trapped in limbo, presumably forever, and our villain wins by trapping alex there. There are many films in which the villain wins, especially around supernatural thriller/horrors. One example is the woman in black. At the end of this film, despite thinking that the ghost has gone, the main character and his son is killed by the ghost. This film has had a huge impact on our ending as they are very similar, because in the woman in black the main character thinks he is safe, however the ghost comes back to kill him and in our film our main character thinks he is safe and resurrected however our villain comes back to kill him.

Sinister also has this type of ending, where the family leaves the house to escape the ghost haunting them, only to discover that the ghost killed all the previous victims after they moved. He is then killed and the ghost wins by claiming another child to his 'collection'. This is another example of the good guys thinking that they are safe but then the villain coming back for them and killing them.

Agnar. Character Profile. ( Inspirations ).

Agnar's character was inspired by various Hollywood blockbuster characters. The tormentor from the famous horror blockbuster Scream 

was one of the first inspirations. Cunning, mysterious, looney cold blooded killer. However most of the Agnar's traits we took from V from V for Vendetta, and the classic character of The Phantom of The Opera written by Gaston Leroux. He's a dark, smart, very organised, and ruthless character. Just like the phantom of the opera, Agnar is the phantom of the purgatory,  a fallen angel sending the souls that don't qualify for heaven or hell to the limbo.

influences on our film (costume)

for the character of agnar , we decided to base his costume on the character from the hitman film / game series , as we needed a sophisticated and formal looking suit for the character , and something to represent danger or evil , and the colour of the red tie indicates this well.

for the mugger , we decided that this costume needed to be all black or dark colours with something covering the face , as seen on the film attack the block , where all the main characters dress like this , and of course these characters are council estate thugs , who rob , mug , and generally cause trouble , and this costume is very stereotypical of people of this nature.

for the character of alex, we wanted a costume that showed the mundane average personality of alex , so we looked at the character of everyday tv families , characters such as homer simpson , peter griffin , and hank from king of the hill all fit the normal looking average guy criteria , and every single one of these characters wear a plain white t-shirt and jeans , which is what we decided to base the costume on.

costume planning

Agnar

Mugger

Alex

Research... Limbo/ Purgatory?

The meaning of Limbo in common speech is rather different from its original religious use. As has been noted, limbo is distinct from purgatory (where you remain while in the process of "washing away your sins" on the way to heaven). Limbo, rather, is a place for the souls of those who are not qualified for either heaven or hell. The canonical example is if an infant dies before becoming able to distinguish between right and wrong - they are destined neither for eternal reward or eternal punishment.So to take the metaphor strictly, "in limbo" means "neither in one place nor the other"; a somewhat indeterminate fate. I'm sure I've seen examples where the idea is of waiting for a decision from beyond one's control. The phrase "currently in limbo" would not sound wrong, while in the religious sense, limbo is an eternal state. I'd say that modern usage has moved on from the original sense, and now comfortably accommodates a broader meaning.Limbo is a place which was later developed by catholics (not the Catholic religion itself), it is thought to be the place for the souls to wander in, for the souls which don't qualify for either hell or heaven.A state of uncertainty, a place or state of restraint or confinement, a place or state of neglect or oblivion, an intermediate or transitional place or state.

Purgatory is, according to Roman Catholic teachings, the state or place of purification or temporary punishment by which those who die with non-mortal sins and so in the state of grace are made ready for theBeatific Vision in Heaven. Only one who dies in the state of grace can be in Purgatory, and therefore no one who is in Purgatory will remain there forever or go to Hell. This theological notion has ancient roots and is well-attested in early Christian literature, but the poetic conception of Purgatory as a geographically existing place is largely the creation of medieval Christian piety and imagination.

character profile - Agnar

                           
character name

Agnar
                           
Age

as old as the universe (however looks young , 20's)
                           
Gender

Male
                           
Appearance

a smart dressed, well to do man, very sensible looking, however there is a look of something shady about him, like he's hiding something. very normal looking human, although he's a spirit.
                           
traits

formal posh accent, good posture, sinister, evil, eluding, nasty.  

role

agnar is the antagonist in the story, and he controls the fate of the main character, Alex.He's the most powerful person in this film, as he controls the fate of everyone in the universe.

what he does is control Alex in purgatory , once he has died , he gives him a "second chance" and allows him to cheat death , however once alex has cheated the stabbing , Agnar arrives and shoots him , as he dies he then moves on to another victim to mess with.  

Progress report 2

Progress report

The script is finished and we're ready to plan the scene shots, organise the props and decide on locations. We've also discussed the key part of the story line, when Alex gets jumped in the alley way, we've made a couple of changes and decided on the background behind the story line. 

Props list

This is a list of props we will need when we are shooting our film

• A BB gun

• A knife, preferably a switchblade or something quite threatening

• A notebook/piece of paper to act as agnars list.

• Fake blood

Journey continuity editing

This is a film we made as a part of our short 'training', and re-cap before we start shooting our film. It's edited in continuity and there are two versions of it, long, and short (cut down) journey.

mock script

Journey Elliptical edit

Mock script (Ryan)

*Changes to the storyline have been made since the publication of this script*

Analysis of questionnaire results

Our questionnaire gave us a good insight into how to target our audience. They told the things they expected from the characters and storyline of supernatural thrillers. The answers they gave us showed they expected the story to be quite twisted and strange and the characters should be dark and mysterious. This can give us a good idea of how to make our characters act and look.

We also asked them if they watched and would like to watch British  supernatural thrillers. Almost all of them said they didn't know of any British supernatural thrillers but that would like to see one if they were given the chance. This shows us that we do have a large audience who are willing to watch something relatively new to them.

However, our results may not show the full picture as we only asked college students and so don't have a wide range of response from all of our target audience.

Audience Questionnaire

DMRZ questionnaire from Ryan Senior on Vimeo.

Analysis of title sequences and credits

Title sequences and credits are very different in short films than they are in full length films. For example films like the sixth sense have long title sequences.

Title sequences

In the sixth sense, the opening credits are shown like this, with the names of the most important people involved with the film in purple block capitals on a black background. The people mentioned include main actors, costume designers, editors e.t.c. These colours are often associated with supernatural and spooky things, so this does well to set the mood for the film right from the very start. As our film is similar to this film in terms of genre, we could use a title sequence like this for our short film to help create a creepy, unsettling mood.

Some other title sequences play over actual footage of the film, for example in silence of the lamb, where many of the main actors, editors e.t.c. are shown over the image as clarice completes an FBI training course. This allows the movie to start qucikly and grab the audiences attention right from the start. This may be a useful technique to use in our film because our film has to be around 5 minutes long and so we don;t want to be using lots of time on opening credits.

                                                                     However, opening titles are very different in short films. For example in the stairway, a short supernatural thriller, the opening title is simply the title on a black background.








                                                                          And in another short film, a short rom-com, the title is displayed in pink over a still of a picture frame.









This is a recurring theme in short films, where title sequences are extremely short and obly display the title. The main reason is probably because there won't be as many people invloved with the film, especially not big names, and so won't really be useful in interesting the audience whereas in big hollywood films usually the director and/or the actors are big names and will interest peeople watching it.

Credits

In The sixth sense, the credits last approximately 5 minutes. It opens with the directors name, M Night Shyamalan on its own.









                                                                                    It then begins to roll off cast names, followed by assistant directors, memebers of the crew including art directors, storyboard artists and editors. e.t.c., eventually rolling through eveyone else involved in the film, including assistants and even caterers.

The credits in The Stairway last around 20 seconds. It starts with the producer(Realise par) and the writer(Ecrit par) and then goes on to mention the editor, make up artist e.t.c. and ends with a special thanks.







In comparison, the short film obviously has a much shorter credit sequence because much less people are involved in the making due to a lower budget. This means that a lot less roles are included, such as stunt doubles, caterers, assistants e.t.c