Rules and Regulations

There are certain rules and regulations we have been issued via our teacher, that we must abide by during the filming of our thrillers and whilst we are featuring in the thrillers of other's.

1. Nothing explicit is to be performed infront of the public.
Eg: No guns, fights etc whilst in public places.

2. No risks are to be taken during filming.
Eg: No-one must at any time take any dangerous risks, such as laying in rivers pretending to be a body or using any dangerous filming positions.

We were then giving a list of things that we must do, it is as follows:
1) Book camera
2) Buy film
3)Make sure shooting schedule is appropriate to actors and they can make it

Survivors

Survivors is a new drama/thriller on BBC1. The plot line is that 90% of the worlds population has been wiped out by a flu virus and there is only a small congregation of people left to forage for themselves. There is little gore it is mainly based around how hard life is for people when a disaster such as this occurs and conflicts between different types of people and how the react in this situation. It features brilliant camera angles which cause the correct feeling in each situation, most of which could be highly influential on out thriller opening as both are modern and in a way phsycological.

Storyboard

I have completed/coloured my storyboard which takes you frame by frame through how the thriller opening is going to look and scanned it onto the computer it is as follows:

Scenes 1, 2 and 3.

The frames read,

Shot 1#: Pitch black, just noise of heavy breathing and someone running through woods

Shot 2#: Camera acts as character's eyes as they are running through woods towards arch.

Shot3#: Camera on floor, watches as character runs past, only sees feet.

Scenes 4, 5 and 6.

The frames read,

Shot 4#: Camera in tree watching character run towards camera until she has passed it and gone out of sight, camera then changes to shot 4#.

Shot 5#: Camera in the tree across from that of shot 4#, watching character running still.

Shot 6#: On roof of building, watching character in distance stumbling over and running on, to the building.

Scenes 7, 8, and 9.

The frames read,

Shot 7#: Watching, from under the stairs, the character running up them.

Shot 8#: Watching down on character running up the stairs and trying the door.

Shot9#: Watches character enter the room from a high point inside the room.

Scenes 10, 11 and 12.

The frames read,

Shot 10#: Camera follows character's head as she lookd around the kitchen, getting used to the dark. It then focuses on the open fridge door.

Shot 11#: Camera watches as character walks through kitchen towards fridge.

Shot 12#: Camera watches character open fridge door and enter the fridge.#

Scenes 13, 14 and 15.

The frames read,

Shot 13#: Watches the door being pulled closed and gently shutting.

Shot 14#: Pitch black (emphasis on the darkness inside the fridge.)

Shot 15#: Focusing on lights powering up.

Shots 16, 17 and 18.

The frames read,

Shot 16#: Focuses on legs of body inside fridge.

Shot 17#: The camera follows the legs up to the abdomen and gives a full shot of the body.

Shot 18#: Watches character back into corner and slide down the wall to sit on the floor. (Having dropped the brief case.)

Shots 19 and 20

The frames read,

Shot 19#: Camera focuses on the open brief case and its contents. (Bags of coccaine.)

Shot 20#: Lights go out and leave her in pitch black darkness and the lock on the door clicks. (She then screams and the opening is over.)

Location Evaluation

All of our film is going to be shot in and around Drayton Old Lodge, an Edwardian Country Manor just off Drayton High Road in Drayton. We will be using the back of the building and the woodland area around it to shoot the film, so it will be the more unglamorous part of the property where the staff smoke and the bins are kept.

The area indicated by the yellow arrow, in the map shot above, is where abouts the film is going to be shot.

We have been around the area and photographed the main parts where we will be filming:

1.

This arch, that is in the wall that runs through the woods, is featured in our first shot, where the camera is acting as the character's eyes as she runs through the woods.

2.

This is the path that she then carries on running up towards the building. Note: plenty of leaves at this time of year, which are useful in providing digetic sound that is needed along with the character's breathing.

3.

This is the less glamorous part of the building she comes to after running through the woods. Note: the dingey lit area featuring the bins and temporary fencing give the area the unglamorous location effect and the lone light in the foreground emphasises the loneliness and almost emptiness of the area.

4.

These are the steps the character comes to when she reaches the building, Note: the broken gate, empty paint bucket full of cigarette ends etc both ephasise the lack of care given to the area. The steps are also important for one of the shots used, its going to be shot from the angle the following picture was taken from:

This shot will be taken as the character runs up the steps to the fire exit.

5.

This is the shot used as the character enters the fire exit doors into the kitchen, where she finds the fridge, Note: the inside of the building is rather unglamorous too, this is emphasised by the bland colours used in the kitchen. The bright white walls too fit into the mise en scene as they almost seem to dazzle the character after she has entered from the darkness outside.

6.

This is the immediate shot as the character looks around the room. She then looks to the left side of the room and sees:

The character then looks to the right and the camera looks across too and sees this half of the kitchen:

7.

The character then focuses on the fridge door which is open slightly and starts walking over to it.

8.

This is the roof window that the shots, following the character's progress across the room, will be filmed through.

This location that we have chosen utilises the thriller genre as it gives us ideal opportunities to create the perfect mise en scene of a thriller. Such as the dark staircase and woodland area contrasting with the blindingly white, sterile looking kitchen. The fridge for instance, it is a small claustrophobic space, connoting entrapment, and without interior light is absolutely pitch black creating fear and a feeling of not knowing what could happen next.

Questionnaire Results (Graphs)

Here are the results we collected, by getting individuals to fill out our questionnaire, in the form of bar graphs.

1. What gender are you? Male Female

This graph is proof that we asked an equal amount of males and females.

2. Which age bracket do you fit into? (12-15) (16-20) (21-31) (31 - 40) (40+)

This Graph gives us a good idea of the age range we got the majority of our answers from, which would be people aged 16 - 31, so we know our target audiences rough age.

3. What is your favourite genre of film? Horror Comedy Thriller Action Other

From this graph we can tell that the majority of our target audience prefer the Thriller genre to any other.

4. What is your current aspiration/occupation? Student Find-Job Further-Education College

We can tell from this graph that the majority of our target audience are also students. This is will help us when making decisions on distribution options later in teh film making process because we now know the majority of our target audience are on student income and will therefore be tighter for money than perhaps other audiences. This means we will be better off distributing it somewhere cheap, such as Youtube.com or any online rental companies such as lovefilm.com.

5. How often do you watch films? (Weekly) Once Twice Three-times Four-times

This graph shows us that there is a split within the majority of our target audience as half seem to be keen film watchers and the other half only seem to be recreational film watchers. This is the same as the previous question in the way that it helps us decide on pricing strategies and distribution methods due to the film watching habits of our target audience. Because they are not that into films they will not be prepared to pay as much for them, especially when they are on student income.

6. Where do you prefer to watch your films? Home Cinema

We can tell from these findings that our target audience are more cinema based when it comes to watching films, this could be because they prefer new films or because they prefer the environment. This is another question that is beneficial to us in the way that it helps us draw up conclusions about where and how we should distribute our film.

7. What kind of thriller would you prefer? Noir-classic (Psycho) Modern-thriller (Kill Bill)

The graph above indicates that the majority of people would prefer to see a more modern style thriller such as Kill Bill or Layer Cake, instead of a film like Phsyco or The Birds. This is different to the previous questions as it has an effect on a different part of the film making process. This information will help us decide on how we are going to craft our thriller and what sort of mise en scene and connotations we need to try and create to please our target audience.

8. Which gender lead do you prefer in films? Male Female

This graph provides us with signifcant advice about the gender that our lead role should be, this will have a large effect on the casting on our thriller as we now know that in order to create a thriller sufficient enough for our target audience, we will need a female lead role.

9. How do your prefer your openings? Cliff-hanger Explanatory

The information that we gathered from this graph has effected the way we have crafted our thriller opening in a number of ways. All of these ways put together have resulted in our thriller opening being one with a cliff hanger ending because it is what pleases our target audience the most.

10. Which style thriller do you prefer? Sci-fi Horror Crime Psychological Action

The final graph is the one which has provided the information which will have the largest effect on the way we make our thriller. We now know that in order to fullfill our audience's tastes we need to give the thriller a psychological edge, rather than one more leaning towards the horror genre or with sci fi connotations.

Overall we used this questionnaire to gain some information on our target audience, personal and about their film watching habits, and to gain they're opinions on which styles etc we should use.

Prop Evaluation

Originally as a group we had not intended on using and props in our opening. However since then we have changed the plot to include a brief-case full of coccaine, as the main object of the opening. so for this we have decided to include a briefcase like the following:

We also need to find a suitable prop to be used as the coccaine which is stashed away inside the suitcase. So we decided to use clear polythene bags filled with flour, like the following:

We did also consider using a prop for the corpse, inside the fridge, however we decided to just get another actor in to play the part.

Character Description

Our ideal character for the lead role in our opening thriller sequence must fit the following description:
-White
-Female
-Blonde
-Oldish looking (18+)


We are also going to include the corpse inside the fridge as a character, as its going to be a person posing as the corpse, not a prop. However the appearance/description only needs to include the following:
-White
-Male
-Dressed in a suit

Plot Summary

The Character featured in our thriller is carrying a suitcase, she has stolen. She is running through woods towards a building she can see in the distance to escape from what is following her. She reaches the building, clambers up the stairs to the fire exit and manages to get in. Once inside she surveys the kitchen she has entered and notices the walk-in fridge door is open and ventures inside to for a hiding place. She feels the wall and finds the light-switch and turns on the lights. She then sees on the floor the body of a man and in the shock drops the suitcase which opens, spilling bags of coccaine onto the floor. Its then that the lights go out and the door lock clicks, she screams and its over.

Questionnaire Results

Here are the results for the questionnaires that have been filled out concerning our Target Audience and Ideas on our Thriller opening:

1. What gender are you? Male-20 Female-20

2. Which age bracket do you fit into? (12-15)-8 (16-20)-21 (21-31)-8 (31 - 40)-3 (40+)-0

3. What is your favourite genre of film? Horror-14 Comedy-11 Thriller-4 Action-8 Other-3

4. What is your current aspiration/occupation? Student-18 Find-Job-2 Further-Education-12 College-8

5. How often do you watch films? (Weekly) Once-13 Twice-10 Three-times-12 Four-times-5

6. Where do you prefer to watch your films? Home-24 Cinema-16

7. What kind of thriller would you prefer? Noir-classic (Psycho)-15 Modern-thriller (Kill Bill)-25

8. Which gender lead do you prefer in films? Male-18 Female-22

9. How do your prefer your openings? Cliff-hanger-24 Explanatory-16

10. Which style thriller do you prefer? Sci-fi-5 Horror-7 Crime-5 Psychological-13 Action-10

My Finished Campaign....

Here is the perfume campaign I decided to go with in the end....

Its the poster that is aimed at the older generation, I have not featured the bottle itself or that it is for a perfume to coincide with the campaign idea I had of keeping it mysterious to get people talking about it and to build up a sence of anticipation surrounding the product. This poster will appeal to the older British generation as it features the iconic lambretta and British Royal Air Force logo, both of which are linked with the ear that this generation recognises as their youth.