Evaluation - Technologies

Jade Smith

Brief

Our thriller opening sets up the story for the rest of the film. The opening starts with the shot of two detectives pulling up to what seems like an empty, run down building on a murky grey day. The scene follows them walking up to the building with a point of view shot from behind bushes to create suspense and intrigue for the audience. As the detectives enter and look around the building, flashbacks are included depicting the events of why the detectives seem to be at the building. As the detectives enter what seems to be a shower room, they discover pieces of evidence, including a kinfe covered in blood. As the opening builds to a conclusion, the flashbacks show the antagonist pouring petrol around a female portagnoist tied to a chair, before setting alight to a note. Here the opening cuts to the main title sequence, with the fate of the portagnist seemingly concluded.


Laurence Ruthven

Institutions

We researched different film institutions to see which would suit our thriller the best. We did this by looking at the films they had previously released and evaluating whether ours would suit the institution.

New Line Cinema

We researched New Line Cinema as they are a very successful film institution, founded in 1967. Though it initially began as an independent film studio, it became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996, and Warner Bros. in 2008. They operated several divisions including theatrical distribution, marketing and home video.

Films released by New Line Cinema of a thriller genre:
-Final Destination
-Friday 13th
-Se7en
-A Man Apart
However, through research we discover that these were some of few and that the majority of New Line Cinema's films are of a comedy or horror genre.



Universal Pictures

Universal Studios is a subsidiary of NBC Universal and is one of the six major American Movie studios. Its main motion picture production/distribution arm is called Universal Pictures.

Films released by Universal Studios of a thriller genre:
-Jaws
-Psycho
-Cape Fear
-Jurassic Park
-Hannibal
-The Watcher

We felt that Universal Studios would be a valid institution to produce our thriller as, although they make many comedies and science fiction films, they have a large repertoire which our thriller could fit into.

Paramount Pictures

Paramount is a American film production and distribution company, and the oldest existing one in America, constantly being ranked as one of the wealthiest institutions.

Films released by Paramount Pictures of a thriller genre:
-Bloodline
-Fatal Attractions
-Twisted
-Shutter Island

Although Paramount Pictures have made a broad range of films and have a lot of money to put into them, they have not made a huge amount of famous thriller films. However, their newest release 'Shutter Island' has been a success which could be a new turn for Paramount Pictures and our thriller could follow in it's footsteps.

Dreamworks

Dreamworks are an American production and distribution company, founded by the famous director Steven Spielberg. They have made more than ten films with box-office grosses totalling at more than $100 million each, making them a very successful institution.

Films released by Dreamworks of a thriller genre:

-Disturbia

-Sweeney Todd

-What Lies Beneath

After research, it could be seen that a lot of Dreamworks' successful films were animated and that there were few actual thrillers in contrast with the sub genres of thriller-horrors and science fiction-thrillers, but the majority of their films were also comedies. Therefore our thriller could possibly be produced by this institution but not as much as some others.

In conclusion after evaluating four main film institutions, we feel that our thriller would best suit being produced by Universal Studios due to their experience with the thriller genre and successful reputation.

Jade Smith

Poster for our Film

After coming up with a title for our film, we decided to produce a poster for our film. We decided to use basic colours, and decided on using white and red. Red is a colour that has strong connotations of danger and violence, elements that are in our film. We also had to come up with a tag line for our film, and used the title of our film Desolo, to help produce the tagline 'One Womans struggle to be found'. We decided to make the poster a teaser poster, so it only inlcuded the title, tagline and 'coming soon'.

Laurence Ruthven Jade Smith Matthew Simmons Elliott Joyner

Poster Analysis - The Strangers

Throughout the process of planning our thriller, we decided to research film posters to get a detailed idea of what a thriller should be like. We decided to research into the strangers because of how our thriller idea is very similar. In the poster we see three masked figures towering over the two main characters. This immediately tells us that the the film is going to be a horror/thriller because of how it creates a sense of danger and demonstrates the typical stereotypes of the antagonists. The poster also has a range of colour. The clolours consist of dark reds and browns which insinuate very normal surroundings. This is used to create a sense of irony because of how the clothes are the complete opposite to the type of thriller it is.

By Elliott Joyner

Poster Analysis - Se7en

To create a successful thriller, you have to research other thriller films to learn about what settings and what characters are best for a thriller. I have decided to take a look at a poster of the crime/thriller Seven. The poster shows us the main characters on either side with very serious and determined faces. This immediately tells the viewer that they are going to be very serious about catching the killer. It also tells the viewer that the film is going to be a crime thriller and gives the viewer an idea of what to expect. The poster also shows us the seven deadly sins. This is a powerful symbol to use on a poster because of how it creates suspense and danger, and also creates a sense of mystery because of how it links in with religion and the unknown. The background of the poster is seen to be on fire. This indicates back to danger and also symbolises hell which links in with the seven deadly sins. The poster also consists of a range of colours. The colours that are shown are black and a dark shade of yellow. These colours are very dark and often associated with evil.

By Elliott Joyner

Editing Diary

2nd April 2010

We uploaded the footage of the originals day shooting in the editing suite at school. This included the footage of Matt and Charlotte, as well as the detectives inside the building. Once the footage was uploaded we used the Pinnacle Studio software to edit with the footage that we could, including the scenes with the blood in the sink. Once we had edited these scenes, we decided to take a closer at the music. We decided to use the music Black Widow and Things to come from the website http://www.freeplaymusic.com/ and added this onto the footage. We included stings from the track Black Widow to help create tension and suspense in the film.


5th April 2010

We uploaded the final pieces of footage from the second day of filming which included all the detective scenes outside of the building. Once this had been uploaded we finalised all the pieces of the film to create an opening that was 1 minute 47 seconds. We then showed the film to our media teachers, and gained a positive response from them. Once this has been completed, we burned the footage onto a disk to create a hard copy and then transferred the film onto our blog.


Laurence Ruthven