Credits

To create the credits for my thriller I used software called motion. It has lots of different fonts on it that and actions that can make your writing move around. For the beginning of my thriller I used a pre made title sequence and just edited in what I wanted it to say but the rest I created myself in motion.

 

Music

To create the music for my thriller I am using software called garage band. I used several sequences of the music they already had on the software and edited it down to fit with my thriller. It was helpful because it has the basic sound effects for example with in my thriller the girl goes into the shower so therefore I need the sound effect of a shower which it had. 

Editing

After I had finished filming my thriller scenes I then went on to edit it. To edit my footage I used a programme called FinalCutPro, which is a programme made by Apple.inc

I started with just getting used to FinalCutPro, and then started to edit my footage. I started with just chunking it together and then putting fades in.

I then had a slight technical glitch. After I had saved my work I took my memory card out and all my footage went offline. I then had to spend an hour getting it all back. I also lost some of my edited footage in the process.

Filming

I filmed with my actors this weekend. I got most of the filming done but had a few dodgy shots which i may have to re-film, but over all I am very pleased. I managed to film all my footage in one day which is a success.


I really like the floor shot of the girl walking along the side of the pool. Even though it wasn't intended I like the lighting in my filming it gives it an creepy feel to it. 


Some of the filming wasn't too great but I will be able to edit that out. 

Shooting Schedule

This saturday my actors are coming round to my house so we can start shooting. 

I hope to get all of my filming done. I will be mainly filming  the swimming pool scene but will have to film in the evening when it is dark. 

I can film the inside parts in the light. so it wont be too time consuming. 

5:00 actors arrive, go though a briefing of what they are supposed to be doing

5:30 start filming the first and last scenes from inside

6:00 (when dark) film the pool house scene 

7:00 film balcony shots when it really is dark

8:00 look over footage and make sure it is all okay... maybe take more footage (if need be) 

Letter of Concent

I will need consent from my actors for them to appear in my thriller, this means that they need to agree to being in my video. This is an example of the letter

I _________________ agree to partake in the filming and allow the public viewing of Ellie Sell's AS media thriller. She may post her video on her blog. 

Signed:_____________

Storyboard

This is my story board for my thriller. I think it quite clearly explains what will happen.

Questionnaire

I decided to make a questionnaire to help me understand what my target audience would like to see in a thriller. I gave 10 questionnaires out to my target audience.

1.    Are you :

Male ☐   Female ☐

2.    What is your all time favorite thriller? And why?

3.    Who is your favorite thriller actor/actress?

4.    What is your favorite genre of thriller? E.g. action thriller.

5.    Who is your favorite thriller director?

6.    What makes a good thriller?

7.    What type of music should be in a thriller?

8.    What do you usually expect to be in a thriller?

Preliminary Task

We did a prelim task to make sure we know how to use all the sofware and how to use the camera. We had to copy a short sequence as accurately as possible. we used a tripod to film the majority of it.
The group I was in had there footage lost so had to use another groups footage. 
We then used some software called final cut pro. I will be using this to make my thriller. It took us a while to learn how to use Final Cut Pro as the majority had never used it before.  

Basic Plot

There is a girl getting ready, tying her hair up in her bikini. She walks out of the bathroom into the pool and puts her stuff down on the side and her ipod in the speaker. She then gets in the swimming pool.
It is then shown that a man is watching her from a balcony into the pool house. He watches her get in to the swimming pool and swim lengths.
She then gets out of the pool and walks to the shower, not realizing that the man is on the stair case. He then follows her into the shower, she screams and it is assumed that he has murdered her.

Target Audience

From my research so far I have found that the majority of Thriller films have been rated '15' if they are a Horror thriller and the action adventure thrillers have been rated a '12'. But then there are thriller films like Taken that have been rated an 18 as it is quite graphic and has a lot of violence and very adult themes.


My thriller will most likely be a '15' rated film so my audience will most likey be from 15 upwards. It will have the right themes and types of editing and it wont be grousome so therefore it will be alright to rate it as a '15'.

Film Classification

There are many types of films and they all have different film ratings within good reason. You would not want a five year old child watching an 18 rated film because of vile language and grusome scenes.

This rating means Universal - Suitable for all. They should be set in a poisitive moral framework and should not offend people or offer threats, violence or horror.

These are usally the ratings on childrens TV programmes and films.

This rating stands for Parental Guidence 'PG'. childeren of any age may watch a PG film. it is aimed that the film should not offened or disturb anychild from the age of eight. however parents should consider whether the content may upset a more sensitive child.



The 12 and 12A rating stands for suitable for childern who are 12years and older. This catogoriy is given to a film when what is in it is generally suitable for anyone over the age of 12.

The ‘12A’ category is only for cinema films. No one younger than 12 may see a ‘12A’ in a cinema unless accompanied by an adult, and films classified ‘12A’ are not recommended for a child below 12. An adult may take a younger child if, in their judgement, the film is suitable for that particular child. In such circumstances, responsibility for allowing a child under 12 to view lies with the accompanying adult.

This rating stands for 15. Only 15 year olds are permitted to watch a '15' rated film in the cinema and they cannot rent a '15' rated film if they are under the age of 15. 

This stands for 18 rated. No-one younger than 18 may see an ‘18’ film in a cinema.
No-one younger than 18 may rent or buy an ‘18’ rated video.
In line with the consistent findings of the BBFC’s public consultations and The Human Rights Act 1998, at ‘18’ the BBFC’s guideline concerns will not normally override the principle that adults should be free to choose their own entertainment. Exceptions are most likely in the following areas:

• where the material is in breach of the criminal law, or has been created through the commission of a criminal offence
• where material or treatment appears to the BBFC to risk harm to individuals or, through their behaviour, to society – for example, any detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use, which may cause harm to public health or morals. This may include portrayals of sexual or sexualised violence which might, for example, eroticise or endorse sexual assault
• where there are more explicit images of sexual activity which cannot be justified by context. Such images may be appropriate in ‘R18’ works, and in ‘sex works’ would normally be confined to that category.

In the case of video works (including video games), which may be more accessible to younger viewers, intervention may be more frequent than for cinema films.

Thrillers that have influenced the planning of my thriller.

There are so many thriller films that I have watched and a few have influenced my idea for my thriller. Although the majority of thrillers I have watched have been Action Thrillers. I want my Thriller to be a Horror Thrillers. Some of the thrillers that have given me inspiration are:

Taken
Director: Pierre Morel
Producer: Luc Besson
Starring: Liam Nesson, Katie Cassidy, Maggie Grace.

The Town 

Director: Ben Affleck 

Producer: Graham King, Basil Iwanyk

 Starring: Ben Affleck, Blake Lively, Jon Hamm

Sucker Punch

Director: Zack Snyder

Producer: Deborah Snyder 

Starring: Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens, Abbie Cornish, Jamie Chung,

The Woman In Black

This Febuary the film the woman in black is coming out. It has been classed as a horror thriller. I will defiantly watch this for research for my thriller.   

I am Number Four Trailer

This is the thriller for I am Number Four which is an action thriller.

Cleaner Trailer

This is the trailer for the Cleaner, another one of my favorite films.

Abduction Trailer

 

This is one of my favorite action thriller trailers, Abduction. 

My Favourite Thrillers

I have watched quite a few thrillers and i Know there are many amazing ones out there.
I have decided to make a list of my favourite films:

-The A-Team, Action Thriller
-Black Swan, Psychological Thriller
-I Am Number Four, Action Thriller
-The Bourne Film Series, Action Thriller
-2 Fast 2 Furious, Action Thriller
-Deja Vu, Thriller
-Premonition, Psychological Thriller
-Taken, Action Thriller
-Valkyrie, Political Thriller
-The Taking of Pelham 123, Thriller
-Abduction, Action Thriller
-Cleaner, Thriller

Kate Beclinsale

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Kate_Beckinsale_2011_Comic-Con_%28truer_color%29.jpg

Kathrin Romary "Kate" Beckinsale born 26 July 1973 is an English actress. After some minor television roles, she made her film debut in Much Ado About Nothing (1993) while still a student at Oxford University. She then appeared in British costume dramas, in addition to various stage and radio productions. She began to seek film work in the United States in the late 1990s and, after appearing in small-scale dramas, she had a breakout year in 2001 with starring roles in the war epic Pearl Harbor. She built on this success with appearances in the bio-pic The Aviator (2004) and the comedy Click (2006).


She has been in many thriller films
-Pearl Harbour (2001) directed by Michael Bay
-Vacancy (2007) directed by Nimród Antal
-Contraband (2012) directed by Baltasar Kormákur

Bruce Willis

There are many actors that just specialize or have been in many thriller films, regardless of the genre.


Bruce Willis

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Bruce_Willis_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg

Walter Bruce Willis was born 19 March 1955, he is an american actor, producer and musician. His career began with TV in the 1980's and he has continued in both television and film since, including comedy, dramatic, and action roles. He is well known for the role of John McClane in the Die Hard film series, which were mostly critical and uniformly financial successes.


He has been in quite a few thriller films, such as
- Pulp Fiction (1994) directed by Quentin Tarantino
-Moral Thoughts (1991) directed by Alan Rudolph
-The Sixth Sense (1999) directed by M. Night Shyamalan
-Sin City (2005) directed by Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez and special guest Quentin Tarantino
-Kane and Lynch (2010) directed by Simon Crane
-Red (2010) directed by Robert Schwentke
-Catch 44 (2011) directed by Aaron Harvey

Steven Spielberg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Steven_Spielberg_2011.jpg 

Steven Speilberg

Steven Speilberg is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. He is very popular in the Thriller genre for directing the film Jaws. Spielberg has often referred to the gruelling shoot  of Jaws as his professional crucible. Despite the film's ultimate, enormous success, it was nearly shut down due to delays and budget over-runs. But Spielberg persevered and finished the film. It was an enormous hit, that won three Academy Awards (for editing, original score and sound) and making more than $470 million worldwide at the box office. It also set the domestic record for box office gross, leading to what the press described as "Jawsmania." Jaws made him a household name, as well as one of America's youngest multi-millionaires, and allowed Spielberg a great deal of autonomy for his future projects. It was nominated for Best Picture and featured Spielberg's first of three collaborations with actor Richard Dreyfuss.

He is also very famous for directing and producing  Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic park III. Jurassic Park is regarded as a landmark in the use of computer-generated imagery, and received highly positive reviews from most critics.  

Spielberg's most recent Thriller film is Super 8. Although he didn't film it he was the co-producer with J.J Abrams.  He has recently signed on to produce the new Men In Black III. 

List of Spielberg's films that he has directed produced and written 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Spielberg_filmography 

I have used http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Spielberg to find my information.

Trailer for Rebecca

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55eO6N7LjbQ


This is one of Hitchcock's first Hollywood films, I couldn't find the first two minutes like i will be filming for my Thriller coursework, but found the trailer which I will analyse and it will help me to get an idea of how Thrillers were made before we had colour and lots of film technology.

Alfred Hitchcock

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Alfred_Hitchcock_NYWTSm.jpg

Alfred Hitchcock 

Alfred Hitchcock was a British film director and producer. He was the first to use many different techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. He was one of the biggest directors in the Thriller film genre. His was first credited in his films as title designer instead of director, he then went on to be art director and then finally he was credited as a director in the 1920's. His first film he was credited as director was 'No.13'. He then went on to film lots more films, he began to shape what the modern day thriller is now with his beginning films such as his early silent film 'The Lodger'. His next film was 'Blackmail' his first sound film.

In the 1940's he then peaked at Hollywood and moved to America. Hitchcock's fondness for his homeland resulted in numerous American films set in, or filmed in, the United Kingdom, including his penultimate film, Frenzy. In the 1940's Hitchcock made a wide rage of films including a romantic comedy 'Mr & Mrs Smith'. In the 1950's, Hitchcock filmed Stage Fright on location in the UK. For the first time, Hitchcock matched one of Warner Bros.' biggest stars, Jane Wyman, with the sultry German actress Marlene Dietrich. Hitchcock liked to use British actors so used a number of prominent British actors, including Michael Wilding, Richard Todd, and Alastair Sim. This was Hitchcock's first production for Warner Bros., which had distributed Rope and Under Capricorn, because Transatlantic Pictures was experiencing financial difficulties.

Near the end of his life, Hitchcock had worked on the script for a projected spy thriller, The Short Night, collaborating with screenwriters James Costigan and Ernest Lehman. Despite some preliminary work, the story was never filmed. This was because primarily to Hitchcock's own failing health and his concerns over the health of his wife, Alma, who had suffered from a stroke. The script was eventually published posthumously, in a book on Hitchcock's last years.
Hitchcock died in his Bel Air home of renal failure at 9:17 AM on 29 April 1980. He was survived by his wife and their daughter. Hitchcock's funeral service was held at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Beverly Hills, after which his body was cremated and his cremains were scattered over the Pacific Ocean.


List of Hitchcock's film credits
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock_filmography

What are the Characteristics of a Thriller

Thrillers are mainly set in slightly exotic settings, for example foreign countries, usually cities, deserts and high seas depending on what type of thriller they are, for example if it was a horror/thriller then it would most likely be set in a deserted place with not very many people around. The protagonists in most thrillers are usually hard men, that are used to danger. Protagonists are traditionally men but women have become more frequently used than they used to be.
Thrillers usually overlap with other genres such as Action/Thriller or Horror/Thriller. They also usually overlap with some sort of mystery.
The characters of a thriller usually involve convicts, criminals, stalkers assassins, people with psychological problems (psychopaths), innocent victims, terrorists, someone who is involved in a twisted relationship, characters with dark pasts and more. Themes usually include terrorism, pursuit or romantic triangles leading to murder. 

What is a Thriller?

The definition of a thriller is a novel, play, or movie with an exciting plot, typically involving crime or espionage. Thrillers can be defined by the primary mood that they have upon people, for example, fearful, excitement. If it 'thrills' it is a thriller. 
Thrillers have now become one of the biggest film genres of the twenty first century. They have become huge due to the mix of a Horror/Thriller film genre. Thrillers use suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements of the genre. After the assassination of President Kennedy, the political thriller and the paranoid thriller be came very popular film genres. There are many successful thriller films but the most successful have come mostly form Alfred Hitchcock. He helped shape the modern day thriller genre. 15 of his major films were made between 1925 and 1935. 
The first thriller film came out in 1926 it was called 'The Bat' it was directed by Roland West. 

Classic Thriller Films

So I have found that there are decades worth of thriller films, and the lists of thriller films being produced are getting bigger each decade. The top ten thriller films of all time are as follows

1. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - Director: Jonathan Demme 
2. Sev7n (1995) - Director: David Fincher
3. Rear Window (1954) - Director: Alfred Hitchcock
4. Taxi Driver (1976) - Director: Martin Scorsese 
5. The Usual Suspects (1995) - Director: Bryan Singer
6. Vertigo (1958) - Director: Alfred Hitchcock 
7. Jaws (1975) - Director: Steven Spielberg 
8. The Shining (1980) - Director: Stanley Kurbrick
9. No Country For Old Men (2007) - Director: Ethan Coen
10. The Sixth Sense (1999) - Director: M. Night Shyamalan 

The most popular director out of all these thriller films is Alfred Hitchcock, later on in my blog I will do a study on him.


I used the website http://www.filmcrave.com/list_genre_movie.php?genre=Thriller