EVALUATION

Please click on the link below to find my evaluation.

http://www.slideshare.net/LaurenHunt17/thriller-opening-sequence-evaluationtion-3415586

The Final Outcome

My own contribution to this project:

During the planning and production of the thriller opening, people in our group were assigned different roles, and we all played a part in the piece of work. Mainly, we worked collectively together as a group.

During the planning, myself and the other group members used lesson time to try and come up with a successful final idea through brainstorming and testing different concepts. When we came up with our first final idea, I was part of planning the location, organising props and lighting. When we filmed, I was operating my mobile phone to make the scene successful. (making the mysterious call and operating the internet for the instant messenger conversation) I also helped with the camera positioning and deciding whether shots were successul or not. When we finished filming I also helped with the editing process, by selecting and cropping scenes to make the opening look good.

When we decided as a group to refilm our entire scene and come up with a new concept, I again was involved in the planning process. During the second attempt of filming, our actress could not make the shooting, so I had to step in. As I could not operate the camera this time, I helped with the establishing shot at the beginning as I was not required in the actual scene. I also helped to find suitable music and made decisions on the other elements of editing along with the rest of my group. This included; choosing when to crop/cut scenes, font selection for the titles and deciding on transitions we should use.

Film Distribution Research

What is a film distributor?

A film distributor is an independent company, which acts as the final agent between a film production company and a film exhibitor (the place the film is shown) - to the end of securing placement of the producer's film on the exhibitor's screen. How film distribution works:

• Somebody thinks of an idea for a film.
  
• They create a plot outline and use this to promote interest in the idea.


• A studio or independent investigator who likes the concept of the film, decides to purchase the rights to it.


• Screenwriter, producer, director, cast, crew etc, are all brought together to make the film.


• The film is finished and sent to the studio.


• The studio makes a licensing agreement with a film distribution company.


• The distribution company determines how many copies of the film to make.
  
• The distribution company shows the film to prospective buyers who represent the exhibitor.
  
• The buyers negotiate with the distribution company on the terms and conditions of the deal. (lease agreement)


• The prints are sent to the exhibitors a few days before the opening day.


• The exhibitor shows the movie for a specified number of weeks.


• People buy a ticket and watch the film.


• At the end of the decided screening allowance, the exhibitor sends the print back to the distribution company and makes payment on the lease agreement.

Film Distribution Companies

Below are some examples of film distribution companies:

• 20th Century Fox


• British Film Institute


• DreamWorks


• Miramax Films
  
• Universal Pictures


• Walt Disney Studios


• Warner Bros

All these distribution companies distribute different types of films. Each is usually specialised in a specific genre, e.g. Walt Disney Studios distributes children’s films.

Below are some examples of thriller films and their distributors:

• When A Stranger Calls - Sony Pictures


• Jaws - Universal Pictures


• Taken - 20th Century Fox


• Psycho - Paramount Pictures


• The Orphan - Warner Bros.
  
• The Bourne Ultimatum - Universal Pictures

Research Into Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures is an American film production and distribution company. The company was founded in 1912 and is owned by media conglomerate Viacom. Paramount Pictures is America's oldest existing film studio and is constantly ranked as one of the top grossing film studios.

Many films are owned by Paramount Pictures and therefore all rights are reserved to the company. Paramount is a major film distributor.

In 2007, Paramount Pictures established direct motion picture distribution operations in 15 key international countries. This international distribution increases the amount of people who are able to see the films they have the distribution rights to. The more people who can see the films, the more successful the film is and the more revenue can be generated. This is good for all parties involved in the production of the film.

Paramount Pictures has made many technological advances to keep up with competitors and remain in the top league when it comes to film making and distribution. In 2007, Paramount entered into an agreement with Apple to sell some of the company's movies as downloads through Apple's iTunes store. In January 2008, company representatives announced that Paramount would join a growing list of production studios that officially supported the transition to Blu-Ray technology over the more standard high-definition DVD format. This again, increases the number of people who can view the films owned by the company.

Below are some examples of thriller films Paramount Pictures have distributed

• Mission Impossible


• Till Human Voices Wake Us


• The Uninvited


• Fatal Attraction
  
• Psycho


• Witness

In our thriller film, we have invented a film distribution company called Genesis Pictures. This name is shown on our credits and makes our film production look a lot more realistic. We couldn't use an existing distribution company as this goes against copyright regulations.

Characters In Our Thriller Film

Three Main Characters In Our Film

The story revolves around the kidnapping of Mrs Anderson and the struggle Mr Anderson goes through to get his wife back. Three of the main characters are Mark Anderson, Kate Anderson (Mr and Mrs) and the kidnapper, David Jones.

Kate Anderson

Kate Anderson is a 35 year old women, who finds herself in a unexpected hostage situation. Her husband is Mark Anderson, and it is his unsuccessful past that puts his wife in danger. She is very much a maternal women who prides herself on her home, her appearance and the way she raises her only child. She only has a part time job, so spends the majority of her time doing housework and looking after her family. Kate is dependant on her husband and has been happily married for 15 years. As shown in this film she relies on Mark for most things, so when left to fend for herself, Kate has to find her inner strength and deal with the difficult situation alone.

Mark Anderson

Mark Anderson is a 40 year old man, husband of Kate and Father to the couples only child. He appears to have the 'perfect' life, but hidden behind this facade is a helpless man, drowning in debt. Mark's many failed business ventures have left him in a precarious position with one man in particular, his last business partner and hard man, David Jones. David is not a man you want to owe money too, and that is precisely the situation Mark finds himself in throughout the film. This places his much loved wife in huge danger and Mark decides that now is most definitely the time to take the matter head on. Mark is a very intelligent, courageous man and has no limits when it comes to his family. He will do anything in his power to protect them. Mark uses his intelligence to uncover the truth of his wife's disappearance and his courage to stop David Jones, the man whose presence has plagued him for over 5 years. This character identifies with men who have always worked hard, and never had any success in life.

David Jones

David Jones is a 45 year old businessman with an unhonourable reputation. He is very successful financially due to running his own debt collection company, but his life is one which revolves around making money and nothing else. He has never had time for family, friends, or anything that could take away from his monetry gain. David is known for using violent means and often takes advantage of people weaker than himself to get what he wants. He has no care for anyone else his actions may effect, he cares only for himself. David is a large man, who if the people he pays to fight his battles are not up to scratch, would not mind doing the dirty work himself. He has a way of avoiding the police, and uses his wealth as a powerful tool in defying the law. This includes paying people to keep the silence like he does in this film. David bailed Mark Anderson out when a joint business venture they had, failed miserably many years ago. Not one to forget a huge loss of money, David has been making Mark's life hell for the past 5 years, and is not about to give up now.

Storyboard And Planning For Final Task

When we were planning for our final task, we had lots of different ideas. We tried a few different ones, because some did not work out in reality, looked unprofessional or the final product was not hadt the effect we had hoped. Below is the storyboard for our first initial idea.


We decided to scrap this idea before we even got to the filming stage, as we felt that too much was going on in the first two minutes of the film and it would look like a small film rather than just the opening. It would also be difficult to make all the things happening in the opening happen in real life, so it would take a long time to film and edit, with an unsuccessful result.

Our second idea was completely different to the first and the storyboard for this is below.

We got to the filming stage for this idea, and we thought it worked well. We purposely blacked out all the lighting, to create a more sinister atmosphere. We filmed the opening exactly as we had storyboarded it. When we got to the editing stage, we discovered that our footage looked grainy and ammature. The main subject of the opening was not visible the majority of the time and there was no need to make the room dark, as this added nothing to the final product. This idea worked much better on paper than it did in reality, so the planning stage is very crucial.

On our third attempt, we managed to come up with yet another plot, and a further storyboard, shown below.

This idea was the one we filmed, edited and decided was our final idea. It is much more realistic for a film opening as it introduces the film rather than creates a short film in the first two minutes. We decided to create the thriller atmosphere and tension through the use of music and a red herring, rather than generic thriller conventions often found throughout the rest of the film. We have outlined how we would use such conventions later on in our film were we to film the entire thing. This storyboard allowed us to know exactly what shots, lighting, sound and props we were using and we could arrange this before it came to filming, to ensure it was as efficient as possible.

The Filming Process

Shotlist
Before we began filming we created a shotlist that told us exactly what shots we wanted to film for our opening. Along with our storyboard, this was very good planning and it meant that our filming went much smoother.

When we were given our brief to create an opening to a thriller film, most of our initial ideas were too complex to make into a reality. We were thinking too big. We also realised that our ideas were too full of action, and that it would be much more realistic and effective if the suspense and tension was created in a more subtle way. After analysing some other films in the same genre we discovered that this much more similar to what they do and that they do not try to create a mini film in the first two minutes, they simply set the scene.

When we finally decided on our idea, we made a storyboard and began to film. We had to film in our media lessons, which are timetabled during the daytime when it is light outside. When we got to our location, we thought that we needed to make it dark in the house to create an eerie atmosphere. After analysing other films we found out that this was incorrect and that our efforts to block out the light from windows in the house led to grainy footage that left the action undefined and the end result was not as effective as we had hoped.

Our idea involved a girl babysitting and we thought that by including an instant messenger conversation on the computer, we would be able to set the scene for the thriller. This proved very problematic. Having an instant messenger conversation required the use of MSN. To use this programme to have a conversation we needed two computers. We had one computer and a laptop, however the Internet was not working correctly on the laptop so we could not use MSN. We resolved this by using my mobile phone which had Internet, but this took a long time to respond to the computer so the conversation required a lot of editing. During the editing process, we decided that this idea was not successful as it looked very unprofessional when we had uploaded the footage. We then chose to come up with an entirely different storyboard.

When we had come up with a totally different concept that involved a fully lit house, which was much more realistic, we re filmed all our footage. On the second attempt to film, we were much more capable of using the camera, although we did still encounter some problems. The camera we were using would not work properly unless it was plugged into a mains supply. This was not much of a problem when we were filming inside, but when we had to film our establishing shot from outside the house, we had to use an long extension cable that ran from the garage. Whilst outside, there were some interruptions such as passing cars and noises that were not appropriate such as a car alarm. We could erase this on IMovie though, so that wasn't such a big problem.

When we had finally got the outside footage, we waited for our actress to arrive on set. She was running late and could not make the filming in the end. I stepped in so this was an easily resolved issue. The only other problems we encountered were the numerous outtakes we had. This was due to mistakes with the camera positioning and the occasional incident of laughing at inappropriate times or making other errors such as turning the wrong way when opening the door, blocking my face from the camera. This was fine though, as we could easily edit out any errors with IMovie.

Our end result was very effective and the lighting was much better this time as it looked more realistic and the image quality was highly improved. I am very pleased with the way our filming turned out and I am glad we learned from our mistakes from the first time we filmed. Those mistakes led to a much better final product. After all the editing, I think our opening sequence was a success.

Locations For Our Thriller Film Opening

When we planned our opening scene, we chose to do a babysitting scenario. This meant we only needed one location for filming. We filmed at a member of our groups house, which was not too far from school and fitted the babysitting scene well. This meant that during our allocated filming time during lessons, we could easily access the house on foot.

As the majority of the group members live in Hitchin, we then had to choose which of our houses would be the most suitable. We chose the location we did because the area outside the house was perfect for the establishing shot due to the amount of space, meaning we could get a large zoom - in to the house window. Also the lounge is open planned, which meant that we could easily set up the tripod for the inside scenes. The kitchen in the house was very close to the lounge, and this meant that the pan shot we wanted of the babysitting walking across the lounge to the kitchen could be acheived. The back door in the kitchen was perfect for the shot of the babysitter disappearing into darkness, meaning that this location was great for filming our opening 2 minutes of our film.