Psychological Thrillers

We are thinking about making our thriller a psychological thriller. In my opinion psychological thrillers are the best types of thrillers. I think both genres go well together to create complicated and scary films. One of my favourite psychological thriller is ‘Taxi Driver’.

Need examples, Do at college because comp broken!!!!!!!!!!!

Ideas for Thriller Opening

Research - Foley Sound

This is an image of a man creating the sound
of foot steps. This is FOLEY sound!

Foley sound is sound that is recorded and added onto a clip. it is used alot in films and is a good way to make the sound more realistic and not sound as though it has just been added onton a scene. You can use various thing to make the souds you want but foley sound is more effective and sounds more realisitic. It is almost like recording a sound effect and adding it onto the clip you want.
In our opening we are planning to use foley sound to make it seem more realistic and enhance the mood of our film. we are going to record sounds such as, a lighter being lit, breathing and tapping on a glass. This is effective as we can enhance the volume recorded different sounds together.

Analysing Previous Students Work - ANGELDUST

'ANGELDUST'is a previous student’s film opening. I am going to be analysing this opening in regards to the four main areas; mise-en-scene, sound, camerawork and editing.

Mise-en-scene - We are quickly introduced to the two main characters which are a teenage girl and an unknown male. They are communicating over the internet and plan to meet up. We automatically know that the young girl is in danger when she plans to meet up with him and are on edge for the whole opening as we are unsure of what is going to happen.

Camerawork - The opening is filmed in the young girls bedroom, the camera has been placed to look as if we are watching her on a 'webcam' maybe. There are various different shot types used from medium shot to close up. We see close-ups of the young man’s face which adds tension as the identity of the man is still unknown. This makes us fear for the girl and makes her a likable character as we feel sympathetic towards her.

Editing - The editing in this opening is complicated as it shows the film from various different angles and is quite discrete. I like the way it skips from the young girl to showing what she is typing and zooms in and out of various important things. I think this makes it quite exciting and suggests that this film is a thriller.

Sound - The sound is very important as it creates the mood of the film and builds tension. Throughout the film opening we can hear the sound of typing (a keyboard) and are shown what is being said. There is music used but this music is very low key and is not very loud or upbeat, I think this is good as it creates a tense atmosphere and causes suspense.

Structure of Film Openings

The structure of a film opening is very important within any film. There are three main structures of film openings these include;

1). A Narrative Opening,

2). A Discrete Title Sequence,

3). Credits on a Blank Screen.

Narrative Opening – A narrative opening is very common and tells the story straight away. it is simple and effective as it grabs the viewers attention right away. A narrative opening is more likely to reveal what the film is about and introduce the characters, setting, genre, etc. This is an effective opening for a thriller film because it gets straight to the point and attracts the viewers.

Discrete Title Sequence – This type of film opening is a lot more complicated and involves a lot of work such as editing, this is a long process but is very effective when used in the right context. This opening usually uses special effects to create emotion and build up in order to keep the viewer watching and interested

Credits On a Blank Screen – Credits on a blank screen is a type of opening that is usually followed by a narrative opening. Unlike narrative or discrete openings the titles are playing on a blank screen rather then while the film is playing in the background.

Planning Process

Visual Inspiration

Through our planning process  for our Psychological Thriller we decided to adapt an idea of a drug related scenario. From watching the   Rihanna We Found Love video. Below we included some inspirational pictures that gave us ideas as to how we could represent a person with a drug addiction.

We also had an opening  idea to have a countdown sequence from 10 to 1 to show a new year beginning the  TV series '24' gave us an idea as to how the numbers should look                                       

Characterisation

Our main character is a 17 year old girl who suffers from schizophrenia. In the past she faced severe bullying which she constantly flash backs upon, hearing the voices of those who tormented her. As she grew up she fell into the wrong social groups, as she felt she had to constantly please everyone around her she ended up taking drugs, drinking, smoking and having casual sex. This is because of the lack of affection from her 'close' family. As she became closer with her new friends she began to develop feelings for a close friend. He didn't respond back to her in the same way which sent her on a downward spiral... Becoming obsessive

Woman in Horror

After watching the film 'I spit on your grave' I felt that I should blog about it and talk about how females are now represented in horror and thriller films.                
                                                   

The 180 degree Rule!

Here is a Video Which demonstrates what the 180 degree rule is, how it used and most importantly why it should not be broken.

Prelim Exercise

Prelim Activity

The purpose of our prelim exercise was to both gain practice filming and editing clips and to also learn how to add sound.

Our Task:

The task we were given was to create a scene where a character walks into a room and engages in dialogue with another. We also had to include a Match Cut  and the 180 Degree Rule.
A 'Match Cut' or 'match on action' is when editing occurs on an action thus making the action appear seemless.
The 180 Degree rule is a basic guideline that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line. The new shot, from the opposite side, is known as a reverse angle.

This shows the camera only shooting the chracters from one side. Football matches are a prime example of the 180 degree rule

Why we are so keen to produce a 'Psychological Thriller'

Film Distribution

Who Distributes British Film?

The Film Distributors' Association (FDA) is the trade body of the UK's theatrical film distributors.

How Are British Films Funded?

Film makes a key contribution to the UK economy as well as playing a vital role in the cultural richness of the country. Explore this site to discover the many ways in which the BFI supports and partners the UK film industry.

The BFI is now the lead body for film in the UK which includes a role as a lottery distributor, with responsibility for funding film development and production; training; distribution and exhibition; supporting film UK-wide; film certification, the Cultural Test and co-production; strategic development; industry research and statistics; and the MEDIA Desk UK. The role of the British Film Commission in encouraging inward investment work transfers to Film London.

Top 10 British Films

Here is a link below for top ten British movies made including films like Shaun Of The Dead, 28 Days Later and Son Of Rambow.

http://bestforfilm.com/film-blog/top-10-british-movies-in-the-last-ten-years/

Location Inspiration

Here are some possible locations that I found inspiring. These could be possible filming locations for our thriller...

This picture is of the entrance of a local park at night time.

This picture shows a bench in the middle of a park which is underneath a street light.

This is an underpass and has many different entrances to other tunnels.

This is a tunnel under an underpass

How do Independent Films achieve their success?

Independent films don't Achieve the same success as Hollywood films do because they are very low budget. They don't get a lot of money from both production and distribution  labels which ultimately leads to low profit in the exchange margin. So this limits there marketing techniques however, this is not always the case. There are many examples of independent British films that have been successful worldwide. And this is Done through 'Viral Marketing'

Viral Marketing: 'Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses or computer viruses (cf. memes and memetics). It can be delivered by word of mouth or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet.^[1] Viral marketing may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames,ebooks, brandable software, images, or text messages' Wikipedia Definition 

If a film has good advertising then more people will appeal to it. Independent British films can be advertised by publishing it in niche magazines targeted to indie, hipster audience or it can simply be promoted cheaply on the internet which will hopefully bring out more profit that what has been used in the production and distribution area.

Below is a screen shot displaying the profit made by an independent british distributor. The film 'The kings speech' made a profit of £242 million. After only spending £8 million the box office made £250 million. Now, there must have been a reason to why an independent british distributor made such an outstanding profit especially for British film it is extremely uncommon except for film like Harry Pottor and Chronicles of narnia etc.

 

So I wanted to find out what made this film such a huge box office and after reading a blo put up by the Guardian i understood what actually made a british film successfull and here are a couple of points i picked up on:

• It's not just the ecstatic reviews, the sackload of awards and the startling box office takings. This is a film that's had people queuing around the block to see it and standing up to applaud as the credits roll. Yet it's a low-budget costume piece of the kind the Brits have delivered so often before to no particular effect. Its triumph has therefore shattered much conventional wisdom.

• Industry experts don't have the answer. If they did, they'd have anticipated what's happened, which they didn't. Now, they highlight prescience on the part of funders like Prescience and the UK Film Council, four-quadrant targeting, awards corridor positioning, brilliant marketing by Momentum, the British distributors, and smart string-pulling by their counterparts in America, the Weinstein brothers. Yet even they acknowledge that there must be more to it than that.

• So, like many of the critics (and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominators), they point to what they deem to be magnificent acting, a fine script, classy production design and, for that matter, impressive cinematography, costumes, editing, score and sound-mix. Yet, even if you're sure that all this esteem isn't at least a little excessive, since when was mere excellence enough to bring in the crowds? We're not talking about a classic (yet); we're discussing a hit. And those tend to strike a chord, not just parade merit.

To read more just click on  http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/feb/22/the-kings-speech-political-leadership

Film Institution

   - What kind of Media Institution might distribute your film and why?-


There are three process in which media institutions follow:

Production ( the Making of media)
Distribution  (promoting it to audience - Advertise)
Exchange  ( Profit in exchange from advertisements)

Although all three aspects are equally important, the question asks to focus on how we might distribute our film. There are Film institutions we can think about, the first is Hollywood and the second is Independent British.

Before we talk about the differences let's see what a distributor actually does. 
A distributor is a link between the film producers and the public, and allows the film to reach the public via Cinema/DVD/TV. There are many distributors in the UK such as: 'Film4', 'polygram filmed entertainment', 'Pathe entertainment and meany more'. There are many distributors with different styles, funding structure. aims and marketing plans, all which are trying to sell in an extremely competitive environment.


Each Distribution company's take on certain number of films and create an individual release plan. 
The responsibilities include:

• Deciding a release date 
• Deciding how many prints to produce and which cinema's they should be screened in 
• Advertising campaigns
• Designing - adverts, posters, bill boards, flyers etc.
• Organizing premiers
• Booking the actors or directors for talk shows or interviews.

Films produced by the main american studios will be distributed through their own companies for example, Warner Bros will distribute there own film. This is called a conglomerate as they own all three parts of the business they produce, distribute and exchange their own films.    

There is a huge difference in the way both these institutions distribute their film.

Below I have made a table to compare the marketing techniques they use in order to advertise to their audience.

Arlington Road animatic

Arlington Road Edited

This is our final Edited version of Arlington Road with Titles 

Arlington Road project

Here are some shots of the editing process on Final cut pro of Arlington Road

Prelim Video With Foley Sound

Editing Process Using Final Cut Pro - Different shots of the conversation.  

Editing Process using Final Cut Pro -  In this shot you can see that we are forming a match cut. 

This is a screen shot of using soundtrack pro - in this shot you can see that we are exporting our foley sounds onto soundtrack pro.

Prelim Animatic

Group 22 Planning process

Brainstorm of ideas

Equiptment!!!

Images courtesy of the I Pad

Anjana capturing the magic

More Ideas...

Possible locations

Finally... Our Thoughts Coming To Life

Student Openings

Angel Dust

Click here to view Angel Dust

From watching this student film we found that it worked particularly well in all four areas that we analysed. 

Synopsis

The main plot of this opening sequence introduces the main character, who is a young female, constantly blogging on a website about events that are taking place in her life. She soon finds someone that always comments on her blog and seems to be infatuated with her. As time passes she soon develops feelings and meets up with her admirer but all is not as it seems...  

Mise-en-scene

After seeing the groups production logo we are introduced to the main character who is a young girl on a blogging website, we see her blogging page as the camera zooms out. We then are introduced to the second character who is a young man commenting on her page.

Sound

The aspect of sound works very well as there is digetic sound included to help build tension and suspense as this girl is unaware of who it is she is communicating with. There is also the sound of keyboard typing which relates in with the film. The rapidness of this sound helps create and upbeat tempo.

Editing 

The editing process helps further animate the sequence and engage the audience but adopting different conventions. An example of this would be the typing in the frame as well as the character instead of just viewing it on the computer screen the whole time.

There is also changes in shots as the screen comes out and and moves around, bringing the audience into the next sequence instead of using average cuts.

Camerawork

The main character is conveyed through the use of camerawork as she always remains in the centre of the frame.

The additional character maintains a sense of mystery throughout as there is never a clear shot of his fase.