127 Hours:
28.01.11 
Produced by: Everest Entertainment, HandMade Films,Warner Bros. Entertainment, Film4 Productions,Cloud Eight Films. Directed by Danny Boyle. 

Similarities: James Franco who plays the part of Aron Ralston, is hiking in Blue John Canyon in Utah, when a boulder falls and traps his arm, making him unable to move far. This is like our thriller because our actress is also trapped inside a coffin, unable to move far. 

Differences: 127 Hours is a adventure film as well as a thriller where as we would like our film to be a straight thriller. 





Lovely Bones:
24.11.09
Directed by Peter Jackson
Produced by Carolynne Cunningham, Peter Jackson, Aimée Peyronnet, Fran Walsh.

Similarities: Both films use a male killer and a female victim and try to get the audience to 
feel sympathy for her by doing so.

Differences: Lovely Bones focuses on the point of view of one person, Susie, where as we 
would like our film to focus on both the killer and the victims point of view.












Kill Bill, Volume Two:
16.04.04
Directed by Quentin Tarrentino
Produced By:A band apart & Mirimax.

Similarities: Both films have a scene where there is a female stuck inside a coffin. 

Differences: Kill Bill Volume 2 is a more of an action film, although it is also a thriller, Whereas our film Beneath, is much more of a straight thriller.  

Moodboard.

We liked the idea of someone being trapped so found images of people trapped in coffins. It is set in a graveyard so we added some pictures of a graveyard and a grave that was about to be buried. There is a timer as time is a big element in this opening sequence as the timer is counting down but we never reveal what happens when it gets to.

In the top left, we see two hands banging on some glass, the person is obviously trapped or stuck somewhere, we liked this idea as we wanted our actress to be stuck in the coffin. I also thought the idea of us being able to see through the top of the coffin, so it looks like were looking down on them would be good, however, this is difficult to achieve as we would have to make the top of the coffin glass, all though we could just take the top of the coffin off and this would give the same effect. The fifth image down on the left also has this effect.

The middle picture on the top row is where I picture our coffin to be, deep under the ground. This image puts it into perspective. You can also see this in the 5th picture down in the middle.

In the top right we see a girl stuck in a coffin, i liked the was it was lit in this coffin as it is just enough to see around, however, i didn't like the idea of a lighter. We also see people stuck in pictures: 2down on the right and left and fourth down on the left. We also see a woman stuck in a coffin in bottom left, this is from Kill Bill.

Third down on the left and third down in the middle and fifth down on the right, we see a grave yard, This is where we will cut to to show the audience where we are.

There are two images on this mood board to do with time, a clock and a timer. This is important and time is running out and she needs to get out the coffin before it does, so time is important to help create and build tension.

There is a black square which represents darkness, as thats what it will be like inside the coffin.

Finally, I wanted to put the image of the eye on there as one of our first shots is going to be her eyes opening. Also you can see emotion through the eyes and I liked the little help image inside the eye.

Genre, Audience and Institutions.

Blog Post 4. Genre, audience and institutions.

Genre is relevant to the audience because most people would want to know the genre before watching the films. Some genres are targeted at certain audiences, for example, stereotypically, it’s men who like to watch action, thriller and western films and women like Romantic and comedy films. However, that’s not to say women can’t watch action films and men can’t watch romantic films.

Genre is important to the film production companies because they need to know what to include in their films in order to make it a certain genre. For example, they will have to think of the conventions that they want to include to show what genre it is. They also need to think who the film Is targeted at and what they can include in the film to interest them even more. Finally, if the production company has produced a lot of action films that have been successful, they are most likely going to produce more action films as they know it will most probably be a big hit and it would be a risk to produce any other genre of film such as romantic or comedy.

Finally, It is important that the distribution companies know and understand the genre as they are going to be advertising and marketing the film(s). They will have to think of techniques to engage with their audience. For example, creating a poster that doesn’t give a lot away but intrigues the viewer and makes them want to watch at the same time. They need to get as many people as they can to view the film so they could use convergence and could attract more viewers on social media sites etc. They need to advertise the genre. 

Sub Genres.

All thrillers are different. There are several subgenres within the thriller genre, these include Action thrillers, disaster thrillers, crime thrillers, Psychological thrillers, medical thrillers, legal thrillers, religious thrillers and supernatural thrillers and they are all different from each other. In other genres such as western and Sci-Fi, there aren’t as many sub genres so the films don’t vary as much. However, although there are a lot of subgenres within thriller genre, there will still be things such as character and pace that will be similar. I think my group’s idea of a thriller includes aspects of and …… This is because…..

Below are 3 posters (Flight Plan, Taken and In Time) that share the same subgenre. (Action Thrillers) 

Through the use of mise en scene we can tell a lot from this poster. The lighting in this picture is very dark and the picture is mostly in black and white, which contrasts with the colour of the font which is very bright.  We also see a man and woman standing very close together and they are holding guns, which is a convention of thriller and action genres. The poster is also very simplistic. 

This poster is also very dark like the In Time picture. However it is covered in big words that stand out. It says ' I don't know who you are but if you don't let my daughter go I will find you and I will kill you. It is big so very noticeable and is an enigma as we want to find out who has taken his daughter. We see an outline of a man behind but can't see much of his face which is also an enigma. Finally, the title of the film is in red which represents danger and hate.

This poster is very different to the posters above. The background is quite a bright blue colour, not black unlike the others. We also see a woman on the poster and stereotypically we would expect to see a man as they are usually represented as powerful and strong. This poster however, is similar to the in time as it is quite simple and doesn't give much away, which makes us want to watch. The poster does not look like the stereotypical thriller action poster.

Genre Difference, Repetition and similarity.

Genre Difference, Repetition and similarity.

The thriller genre is a lot different to most other genres. This is because there is such a wide range and they are all completely different and involve and include different things. For example in Shutter Island and Gone girl. 
Both these films are thrillers but they are both very different. They are similar because through the mise en scene, we see elements that allow us to identify the genre straight away. We see weapons, quick cuts and short duration of shots, all creating suspense.
  However, I find Gone Girl is much more tense than Shutter Island. I think this is because there is a lot of action and suspense in Gone Girl and Shutter Island is a little more relaxed. We also know the story of gone girl, we know what’s going on as we watch it whereas in shutter island, we are watching it through the characters perspective so we think he is an investigator, when infact he has a mental illness. You would think this would build suspense, but because of the way we are shown, it is portrayed as he is there as an investigator, so that’s what we think, it didn’t really feel tense to me. These films have different subgenres, Gone girl being an action thriller and Shutter Island being a psychological thriller.

Introduction To Genre.

What is A genre, what does the word mean? Give some examples.

A genre is the category in which a film falls into. There are many genres such as Romantic, Sci-Fi, Western, Thriller and Horror. We can identify genres by conventions. A convention is something we can associate with a genre, for example, conventions of a romantic film would be; love hearts, break ups, pretty girls, and relationships. Conventions of a western would be: horses, cowboys, sand, deserts and guns.

We also hear sound within films. If it’s a soundtrack, the sound will be non-diegetic, but if its dialogue, it will be diegetic. Horror and Thriller films sometimes use the same type of sound, which is contrapuntal sound. An example of this is a nursery rhyme playing while people shooting each other; the sound does not fit the narrative. However, thrillers can also

The editing techniques used in films may also be similar in some genres. For example, in romantic films, we usually see shots with a long duration and the pace of the cuts are not very quick,  this is so we can see the actors emotions and empathise with them, we would also see this in Comedy and family films. Whereas, action films would include a lot of quick cuts and the face would be very fast to create suspense and action.

Intended Target Audience.

What Age and Gender?

I would say that our film would have to be a 15. This is because we would like to include

violent content in the actual film, all though there isn't a lot in the opening sequence, there

would be more in the actual film. I would also say that our film would be slightly more

targeted at males, this is because as they are more into action/thriller films and like the

violence included in them. So i'd say the target audience will be Males aged 18-25 as they'd 

find it most enjoyable. All though the main target audience is 18, the certificate i would give

it would be 15 meaning people between 15 and 18 would still enjoy it. 

What will they be into?
They will be into other thriller and horror films, if they're into them then they will definitely like

our film. They would also be into

Why would they like your film?

They would like our film because the main actress is a young attractive female and she is stuck in a coffin, the males will therefore feel protective over her as they want to help her get out the coffin and protect her from the man outside.

How will you attract them in the first 2 minutes?
We will attract our audience by using one actress who they will find attractive, we will also use music that will help build tension. The fact that we can hear dirt being shovelled on top of the coffin, indicates that someone is there but we never actually see them. Which makes people want to carry on watching so they can find out what happens. 

My original ideas & Class Feedback.

Media.
Thriller Ideas and Opening Sequence.

Seeing Double.

Man is leading a double life. He is a police officer but has also committed a lot of very bad and serious crimes. He has raped and murdered 3 women in his other life, but 5 years later he is at work and is now investigating the crime as one of the bodies has just been found. Will people find out it was him?

For the opening sequence, I would like to use several clips from different news channels about the 3 girls going missing. The clips would cut from one channel to the next and eventually the sound from the clips would play over each other and then it would cut to black. Next we would see the back of a man dragging some bodies, but we don’t ever see his face. Next it cuts to the policeman at work and we hear a voice over of a news presenter saying that a girl who went missing 5 years ago, body has been found. We see the man at work trying to investigate the incident. An image of a wrist tied to a bed flashes on the screen and then we cut back to the man talking at work. We then see another body revealed with a voice over, it quickly cuts to a woman with hands around her throat. The speed of the cuts get quicker and we see a lot more shots of violent things. Then it cuts straight to black and there is a big bang. Finally we see a man slowly walking towards the camera with his hood up but we cannot see his face.

Bomb.
Terrorist is trying to blow up the UK & the police have found out. They don’t have enough evidence to arrest him but the deadline for when he is blowing up the country is getting closer. They are getting frustrated trying to find evidence, but keep getting distracted by other incidents and crimes. Will they arrest him before he blows the country up? It is like a ticking time bomb.

It would start with a close up of a digital clock, saying 07:00 (70 days before the attack) we would then hear the alarm ring and see a man hit the snooze button. It will then cut to the police station where we see a conference going on and we hear about the man who is trying to blow up the UK. It then cuts back to the man, who is in his house on the computer researching chemical explosives. It cuts back to the police and we hear one of them say, “ We don’t have enough evidence”. Next there will be quick cuts of car chases, gunshots and shouting. Finally there is a huge explosion and the screen goes black.

The hunt.

A woman has given birth to a baby girl and soon after it’s born, the baby gets stolen. The mother is an outcast and doesn’t really have many friends in the town. When she rings the police to report what has happened, they laugh and say she is still high off the drugs from labour so they ignore her. The woman decides to look for the baby on her own, but every time she gets close to finding it, something gets in the way or distracts her. Its as if someone is watching her and trying to stop her.

We see a row of babies all lying in their hospital cribs and one of them is empty. We hear a voice over of a phone call to the police of the mother reporting the baby missing and in reply we hear laughter. We then see the mother jump into a car and speed with the address of a nursery. We see a close up of the nursery’s sign, but no one to be seen. The journey continues and fades in and out of different stages. It fades to black and we hear a scream.

Holiday from Hell.

A family decide to go on holiday. They arrive at their hotel in Mexico and open their room door to be greeted by a man who invites them inside. He has lots of dangerous tools and a lot of dangerous chemicals. He keeps the family locked up and tortures them while doing experiments at the same time. Another guest at the hotel realises what is going on inside the room and begins to get help to try and set the family free, but he needs to be careful who he speaks to as a lot of people working in the hotel are also in on the incident.

It starts of with a family conversation of where they would like to go on holiday this year. We hear Mexico being screamed and then Mexcian music starts to play as we see the plane leave the runway and we see shots of the family on the plane. It then cuts to a door opening and we see lots of quick cuts to different tools and chemicals and we see a close up of a scary old mans face and he says ‘ come on in’ it fades to black and we hear a bang sound as the door slams. Next we see wires connected to arms and someone getting their hair shaved off. Next we see a man running shouting help and the screen goes dark.

 Feedback from my original idea. 

I found that when presenting my main idea to the class (Seeing Double) a lot of people liked the idea that it was channeling two different lives, they said I had understood the genre and they also liked the idea of the news clips running over each otherHowever people said that the idea was quite complicated for an opening sequence and it was more like a trailer. To help improve my idea, perhaps I could take a few things out, especially the shot of the man at the end. 

Genre.

What is a genre, sub-genre and hybrid genre?  

A genre is the category in which a film falls into, for example, Romantic. A sub-genre is a category within a category, for example…. Finally, a hybrid genre is a mixture of two genres, for example, Romantic Comedy. 

Why is genre used?

Genre is used to target specific audiences. For instance, Romantic films are usually targeted at women aged 15 and above. It is also a way of categorising films so we know what we are going to expect in each genre. 

What are genre conventions ?

A convention is something we use in order to identify a Genre. In western films we would normally see Horses, guns, deserts etc. In romantic films, we normally expect to see a lot of Pink/Red, relationships, breakups and pretty girls.

Thrillers:

What is a thriller genre?
A thriller is a genre that uses a lot of suspense, excitement and action as its main elements.

Conventions of a thriller
There are many conventions of a thriller. For example, there are alot of quick cuts used in thrillers, there is also music that creates tension and suspense. Assaination, Psychological mind games, crime and action are also conventions of thrillers. 

Sub-genres of thriller?
There are around 10  sub-genres of thrillers:

Action Thriller; Such as die hard & point break. 

Conspiracy Thriller; Such as The Conversation & JFK

Crime Thriller; Such as Sin City & No Country for Old Men

Disaster Thriller: Such as Final Destination & The Day After Tomorrow

Erotic Thriller; Such as Body Heat

Legal Thrillers: Such as A Time to Kill

Medical Thriller; Such as Coma&Awake

Psychological Thrillers; Such as Jacob’s Ladder 

Political Thriller; Such as  In the Line of Fire & Valkyrie

Religious Thriller; Such as The Davinci Code & Angels and Demons

Spy Thriller Such as Mission Impossible & The Bourne Identity.

Supernatural Thriller; Such as Cat People & Carrie