Institutions and audiences research

Institutions

20th Century Fox

• film corporation which is one of the six major film studios.
• founded in 1904 in New York City by William fox, a 25 year old Jewish Hungarian immigrant.
• subsidiary of News Corporation which is/was owned by Rupert Murdoch.
• Produced some very successful films, e.g. Avatar, Star Wars, Speed and The Chronicles of Narnia.
• Mostly create comedy and family films as these are more profitable, such as Alvin and The Chipmunks. However, they also create horror films, such as "From Hell".
• They also create thrillers, such as new release "A Good Day to Die Hard".

Warner Bros.

• founded in 1923
• American producer of film, television and music entertainment.
• a subsidiary of Time Warner
• has many of its own subsidiaries, such as Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Home Video.
• produced many recent films, such as "Beautiful Creatures" and "The Hangover Part 111" as well as well-known films, such as "The Dark Knight Rises" and "Red Dust". 
• it is a fully-integrated, broad-based, entertainment company and a global leader in the creation, production, distribution, licensing and marketing of all forms of entertainment and their related businesses.
• Warner Bros. either fully finance or co-finance the films it produces and maintains worldwide distribution rights.
• Monetizes its distribution and marketing operations by distributing films that are totally financed and produced by third parties.

Hammer Films

• a film production company based in the UK, founded in 1934.
• a hugely successful run of Gothic monster movies cemented the company's reputation as "Hammer House of Horror".
• although it focuses mainly on horror films, it also has a varied history, including noir, action-adventure movies, psychological thrillers and historical epics.
• worldwide smash "The Woman in Black" was produced by Hammer Films, and is now up for 2 Empire awards.
• This company is noticeably smaller in comparison to the above American companies, and tends to produce more individual films while the American institutions (Warner Bros. and 21st Century Fox) tend to produce more mainstream films.

Audiences

As the audience of any film is perhaps the most important aspect that will constitute the film's success, it is vital that I research the target audience of thriller films and relate it to my own film. This will be essential in ensuring that my film is successful in entertaining and enticing the audience.

Audiences of thrillers are not simply a certain age group, or gender, but also a certain type of personality. Those who watch thrillers tend to be:

•  individuals who could be considered "risk takers" 
• those who are educated (as there is usually an enigma which the individual works out independently while watching the film)
• people who enjoy suspense and tension within films

As we have decided that our thriller film would be primarily be aimed at a target audience of females aged between 18 and 24, we conducted interviews of people in this demographic. This would enable us to gain an insight into what our film should include and offer the audience in order for our film opening to be effective.

Hannah Duffin - 19 year old female

Gantt Chart

I have created this gantt chart (as seen below) in order to ensure that I complete all tasks set by the deadline. This will help me to manage my time and ensure that I can make any last minute changes and resolve issues. The use of this gantt chart is essential as they are used to break up large projects, such as creating a film opening into smaller, more manageable tasks. As the columns on the right suggest the week in which each task should be completed it puts the tasks into a chronological order, making completion deadlines easier to follow. In addition, by creating the gantt chart it becomes apparent that I, as an individual, understand the requirements of this project, meaning that it will be completed successfully.

Location Recce

We created a recce for each location that we shot our film in, in order establish whether the location was suitable for the event and if using the venue was likely to create any additional potential problems or additional costs.

Photographs while shooting

Informing the actress used (Georgia Milkins) of where to position herself in order for filming to commence.

The actress walking away from the bus stop and towards Victoria Road bridge.

Ready to begin filming the actress walking off the bus at the bus stop.

The actress turning to look the opposite direction due to what has been said during a phone call.

The actress adding the finishing touches to costume in order to begin filming of the opening scene.

Storyboard of our film

Before shooting or planning on location, we decided to storyboard what we intended to shoot as a guideline for shot types and positioning of actors and props. This helped us greatly when planning our filming, as the guideline proved useful when deciding where actors should be positions and what shots should be used to create the appropriate effects.

The first page of our storyboard

The second page of our storyboard

The third and final page of our storyboard

When we began filming, it soon became apparent that we would have to change our original plan, as we found many errors with our original story board. The largest error that soon became visible once we had began filming was the lack of close ups and medium close ups. We decided that there needed to be much more of these as they create tension, vital in ensuring that the audience know that they are watching a thriller. It is also important as our opening contains no dialogue, so close ups would be the only indication as to the emotion of the protagonist and also highlighting important areas of filming, for example, the importance of the briefcase.

In addition, we had originally planned to shoot the beginning half of our film opening in Bristol city centre, and the second half in Warmley, distinguishing between the two using shots of the protagonist on a bus. However, after shooting the end of our film first, we soon realised that filming in the city centre would be very complex for a number of reasons, including the fact that it would be busy and so passers by would constantly obstruct our filming. Also, we realised that if our camera were to run out of power, charging it would be an issue. This would not be so if we were filming in Warmley, as we could return home and charge it before continuing. This would reduce the risk of us getting behind on our filming schedule as we would not have to stop filming for the whole day if the camera were to run out of power.

Below is our second storyboard.

The first page of our storyboard

The second page of our storyboard

The third page of our storyboard

The fourth and final page of our storyboard

Actors, locations, costumes and props

Actor

Name: Georgia Milkins

D.O.B: 27/06/96

Sex: Female

Locations

• Inside a bus on the downstairs floor. The protagonist (the woman) will be sat two rows in front of the person filming.

• Victoria Road bridge where the protagonist will leave the briefcase at the end of the opening

• Bus stop where the protagonist will exit the bus and proceed to Victoria Road bridge

• Bus stop where the protagonist will get on the bus with the briefcase

• Pavements along the main road in between the bus stop in which the protagonist will exit and the Victoria Road bridge

• Coniston Close lane where the protagonist will collect the briefcase ensuring that their identity remains unknown.

Costume

• Blazer
• Smart trousers
• White floral blouse
• Red lipstick
• Classic up-do for hair 
• Black high heels

Georgia Milkins wearing her costume to begin filming, as described above. This costume, which makes the character appear to be relatively formal creates a binary opposition with the location, making the audience question what she would be doing in such an area.

Props

• Briefcase

• Mobile phone (black iPhone 4)

Shotlist

• Over shoulder shot - when following the woman through town

Example of over shoulder shot

• Close up - woman's legs as she reaches down to pick up the briefcase, woman's head as she walks towards the stairs on the bus, woman getting off the bus.

Example of close up

• Mid shot - woman walking away from bridge with briefcase, when follower hides behind pillar and woman turns around, woman getting on the bus, woman walking down a road to a small lane.

Example of mid shot

• Long shot - woman walking along the opposite side of the pavement, woman walking on to a bridge.

Example of long shot

• Medium close up - back of woman's head as the camera is following her closely.

Example of medium close up

• Medium long shot - woman sat three rows ahead of the follower on the bus.

Example of medium long shot

• Big close up - woman's face as she is on the phone, briefcase alone on the bridge.

Example of big close up

• Panning shot - follower looks where woman is looking and nothing is there.

Example of panning shot (would be moving)

My shortlist I have created

I have created the shortlist below to use while filming my thriller opening in order to ensure that I film all the relevant shots and also to make sure that I do not miss any shots, later realise and then have to re-film. I can then tick the "complete" column when each shot has been completed so that I know what still needs to be done and where I am at with my filming.