Film Proposal

Style and Tone
I would like my two minute thriller opening to be a modern day spin on the noire genre, possibly even futuristic. I would also like it to be quite dark and mysterious, as reflected by my characters.
The style would be an action thriller much like "watchmen" or "sin city", and could have that graphic feel to it, which could be later added in editing.
The atmosphere of the piece would be a similar to that of "Drive" in that there wouldn't be much action or tension in the opening few minutes but there would be a sense something big is about to happen and possibly something climatic at the end. Possible some contrasting music in the background.
Narrative
I would like a detective to narrate the first two minutes. He will walk the streets of the city at night and talk about how he loathes it. At the end something climatic will occur, such as a death or an explosion. Specific narration and dialogue is yet to be figured out. There could be a detective, a cop and a villain. The detective would be followed by the cop whilst following the villain.
Character
A dark mysterious detective, low voice, possible mask, aged in the mid 20s, twisted mind. Much like Rorchach in "watchmen". You never see his face. He's a good guy and hates criminals but he had a twisted childhood and so he is also against the law and so is an enemy of the police. He doesn't use his real name.

The pictures to the left and right are of the character Rorschach from watchmen. This is what my character will be based on and will be very similar.












Location / Setting / Props
The city at night will be the setting and the location could be one of many places for instance south bank or just anywhere in central london.  The city at night is dark and mysterious but also beautiful so it would reflect the noire genre.
Titles
The title of the piece is yet to be decided but I would like it to be called something like "Silent City". The position of the title credits will be incoorporated into the city theme and will occur at the end, possible with something in the background such as the main character walking off or something.
The sound will be tense action music or possible contrasting music such as classical. There will be a narrator's voice over the top of the film, the voice of the main character. Possible diegetic sounds of the city and sound bridges.

Research on other openings to films

Below is the opening scene to Watchmen. This would be very difficult to do as the entire thing is mostly a fight scene. Fighting is very hard to do so I will stay away from that, however there are some aspects of this opening I would like to try and interpret in my opening. For instance the music in the background which is contrasting to the fight scene I think if pulled off well could be quite good. I also like the idea of filming at night or in the evenings because the city looks so much nicer in the evening. The colour in the opening on Watchmen is quite bland and grey, much like noir flims. I think I would like to have this in my film, I would film some recce shots of the city at night and people who are quite bland and grey, and then possible in contrast the city in the day time with lots of colours and see what fits best. I think the grey colour would work best as it fits in with the noir theme and even though i'm putting a modern spin on it I think it still needs to be grey.



Below are some pictures of noire detectives, this on the whole is what my character will be based on. However with the modern spin on it he will have more updated clothing and features. I also like the idea of the audience not seeing his face for the entire two minutes.

I think this would be hard to pull off but could be very effective if done properly.

Conclusion of Audience

From the graphs of the survey we see that the age of the people who our target audience will be is 15 to 18. Most of these people prefer thrillers. The certification of my film will be a 15 because most people were above this age and most of the thrillers people said they enjoyed were either a 15 or an 18. By researching types of audience I understand that the type of audience we appeal to depends on the type of film we make. If the film is a psychological thriller then we would perhaps appeal more to a cognitive audience, whom like to use their brain. If the film is an action thriller the audience would be more affective audience and a horror would be tension release. I think I want to make an action thriller so my audience would be an affective audience, who use escapism or even social/personal integration who want to live vicariously through a situation or character that I portray.

Preperation task

Two minute film called the Package that we filmed and edited in preparation

Survey and Graphs

The survey can be found here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JXMZ3C8

I don't have that many graphs. This is because my survey didn't turn out as well as i'd expect. I left too many open ended questions and at parts where they should have been able to only tick one box they were able to tick more than one. I have plans to redo the survey in the construction phase.

Figure 1. A graph of the age of the people who took the survey. We can see from this that most of the people that took the survey were 15 to 18. This will be our main target audience.

Figure 2. A graph of how the people who took the survey find out about films. We see from this graph that most people learn about films from adverts on TV or internet. We learn that very little people research the films so obviously people need to be told about the films.

Figure 3. A graph showing what type of thriller people prefer. We learn that most people prefer either action or psychological thrillers. I myself prefer action ones so I'll do an action thriller. We also see that the least amount of people prefer gore.

Figure 4. Genre of film people prefer. We see that most people prefer thrillers from this graph.

Certification

I have decided that the two minute opening to the thriller that I will make will be a 15 certificate.

I have decided this because at the moment I'm not sure whether I will make a reference to drugs or maybe even have a shot with drugs or sex in. I also think there will be a lot of violence in it which would be inappropriate for younger children. I also don't want to risk putting it at a 12A because most kids who see it with their parents might be scarred and I don't want to get sued.

Interview for thrillers

This is a video of an interview of two students. We learn from this that our main audience is 15, 16 or 17 year old's as they both say they enjoy the genre of thriller the most.
We also learn that  both boys find out about films from adverts on the internet and on TV.
We can see from the interviews that they are both students and therefore the pricing of the film would need to not be too expensive as they can't afford as much as people who have jobs can.
They both say they go to the cinema fairly often so they obviously enjoy it.

What i've learnt the past two weeks

For the past few weeks i've learnt:

• The basics of how to use a camera, a tripod and how to upload my footage.
• How to basically edit my work on final cut x using things like titles, cuts, sound bridges.
• How to split the audio and video of a clip so i can edit them separately.
• How to storyboard a short film before filming.
• How you can use different camera angles and movements to create things like suspense.
• Basic camera and lighting terms such as back lighting and high angle camera shot and establishing shot.
• We filmed a short two minutes video about a package and thus we've learnt how to film certain things and what not to do. We made some mistakes and had to differ the filming from the storyboard however we've learnt from these mistakes.
• Embedded below is the short film that we made.

Thriller Definition

Notes on trying to define a Thriller

Thriller films are movies that primarily use action and suspense to engage the audience.
They emphasise nervous tension and anxiety. Distinct from horror movies which emphasise fear or action which emphasise exhileration. Action in the case of thrillers isn't necessarily explosions, could be suspense a sequence of events. Put the common man in the position of the protagonist, often just an ordinary man as opposed to someone elite. Horror films are designed to scare people but thrillers are designed to suspend. The definition is narrow and most films are hybrids of thrillers and horrors or action films. Thriller are often suspense thrillers, noir thrillers, chase thrillers, women-in-danger thrillers, private eye thrillers, court room and legal thrillers, erotic thrillers, plot-twisting psychodramas.
Promote intense excitement. Genuine thriller is a film that relentlessly pursues a single minded goal to provide thrills and keep the audience cliff hanging at the edge of their seats as the plot builds toward as climax. Tension arrises when the main character needs to escape something or is put into a situation that's dangerous.

Characters

Ordinary heroes put against villains who want to destroy you or your country. Often just one person or a small group. Cut off of recourses from their organisation. Drawn into danger and intrigue by circumstances beyond their control. Criminals, innocent victims, cops, private eyes, twisted relationships, psycho-fiends, escaped cons, terrorists or psychotic individuals.