Institutions to produce the Thriller Film.

At the beginning of films, there is always a mention of the institution that produces the film; for example Warner Bros.



Warner Bros have produced films such as; Harry Potter, Mystic River and cradle 2 the grave. Warner Bros however started their company making cartoons, which still exist as of today like, Looney Tunes, Porky Pig and Bugs Bunny



Warner Bros is a company from Time Warner, which also controls a number of television under the name of HBO aswell as Warner Bros, PC games and also deals with AOL. Time Warner Inc, a global leader in media and entertainment with businesses in television networks, filmed entertainment and publishing, uses its industry-leading operating scale and brands to create, package and deliver high-quality content worldwide through multiple distribution outlets.

The main officers who run the corporation which is Warner Brothers are :-
Officers:
Chairman and CEO: Barry M. Meyer
President and COO: Alan F. Horn
EVP and CFO: Edward A. Romano

With a running revenue of $11.8 billion, you could say that Warner Brothers are successful at what they do and have certainly established themselves. Founded in Hollywood in 1918 this multi-billion company will continue to produce films, TV programmes and even video games for many years to come.

Directors from the Thriller genre

Steven Spielberg




He created the magic of ET and countless award-winning films including the thriller Jaws. He was born in 1946, in Ohio USA. He started off with being assistant editor in small budget films, the first he assisted was of a different genre to those created by himself later on, a western called' Wagon Train'. Afterwards he delved a little deeper into directing when he started with 'Escape to nowhere', 'The last Gun' and 'Fireflight' which seemed to have features simular to ET but on a smaller scale.

His first acclaimed film was 'The Sugarland Express' featuring actress Goldie Hawn. This was the first of his many films which established him as a serious working director. Then followed the thriller which scared everyone from having a day at the seaside, 'Jaws'.



Steven Spielberg doesnt specialise in thrillers, but has ticked off on his list of multi-genred films. He has made many different films and with Jaws it follows a different pattern on events from a UFO film. As you have to create suspense, and that takes a certain skill.


M Night Shyamalan




Born in 1970 in a Wealthy Surburban area of Penn Valley, he is the son of two doctors. When given a camera at age 8 his creative geniuses came alive.
There is a pattern in his thriller films, as they all include a link to the main characters past, and creates characters that have extrodinary abilites or events happening to them.He uses patterning throughout his films, as to create the same successful thrilling movies he needs to keep the same feeling all the way through.

The camera shots are usually lengthy, uncut, immovable shot of two people talking. Usually the two characters are standing a distance from the camera.
Colours are important too as the use of bright colors, especially red, to signify a clue or crucial item in the movie.

He has made serious money with his films also like Steven Spielberg. His success shows that people enjoy thriller films, as he has made over $7 billion dollars with just his films; 'The Sixth Sense', 'The Village' and 'Unbreakable'.





Thrillers have developed over the years, with introduction of new technology such as CGI( computer generated technology) which includes computer graphics. It was first used in movies in 1973's 'Westworld'. This helps anyy strange scenes suddenly become more believable to look at and view as the audience. This helps the form of Thriller take even more creative risks, as they can make nearly anything possible. With its easy accessibility to all, this has made even the lowest of profession directors make professional film grade films.
Also with equipment like Apple Macs being more and more commonly spread, it is easy for students like myself to be able to attempt and create amateur films.

Times have changed...

My group have recently changed the complete plot of our thriller, as we wanted a plot which suited the genre of the thriller and moulded our opening around that.

Our new plot goes as follows :-

Young girl babysitting, normal situation. Enters kitchin to get drink, when the door opens, she goes to venture out into the darkness....which is where the opening ends.

The plot continues with...at the restaurant where the parents are having a night out, the wife goes to what seems to be an average trip to the restroom but she never returns. Husband becomes worried.

He asks the waiters in the restaurant surrounding the table where are his wifes whereabouts only for them to reply, 'she was never there'. Goes home to find no photots, or no trace of his wife ever existing. Makes the husband and the audience doubt his sanity.

Different flashbacks throughout about the abduction, everytime you see a different shot and it leads to a different clue. Bringing everyone one step closer to solving what happened to his wife.

We later find out the husband was in debt with his business partner, who kidnapped his wife and was holding her captive- waiters were in on the plan.

Man wakes up to find child has also gone missing, starting to realise these disappearances are no coincidence. Puts pieces of the puzzle together and realises whats going on and why his family are going missing.

He tricks his business partner abductor and fights him to get his wife and child back, he ties him up and gives an ultimatum of 'tell me where they are or ill kill you' the abductor tells him where they are. Then kills him anyway.


With our new plot came new title ideas which are as followed; Last Orders, Untraceable, Conspiracy, Ransom, Decpetion, The Deceit and Forgotten.
We got votes from our peers, which lead untraceable to be put strongly in the lead with the most votes. So majority rules....Untraceable it is !

Alongside with our many plot changes we also changed the title of our film. As the plot got narrowed down our list of different names got longer.

Our options were :-
Untraceable
Last Orders
The Conspiracy
Ransom
Forgotten
Deceit

We asked our peers to take a class vote, with majority ruling 'Untraceable' was our decided name of choice.

Planning continues

Also when planning our own production we watched movies to help inspire our own work, including Blue Velvet. It starts off with scenes that include the song 'Blue Velvet' which creates an odd atmosphere, as it starts slow and eery. There is a theme of blue throughout the first scene which continues the theme of 'Blue Velvet' clearly the film has some sort of relevance with the title. It uses an enigma which is the aspect of a thriller used within the opening, as you start asking yourself questions about the opening leading into the film. Including also a contrast between the sinister death of the bugs then the beauty of the green fields around him. All these features are something that can be used within a thriller, and gives some thought for my own individual thriller opening.




Decisions on location, characters and props need to be made as filming will proceed in the next few weeks.

We had decided on a plot, with a babysitter scenario involving a strange phone conversation followed with a scary woman appearing outside, to create an air of mystery and intensity. Deciding temporarily on this idea we made a script


Dialogue Script

Phone- Scene 1

(Girl picks up phone, reads witheld)

GIRL: Hello?

WOMAN: Hi, is everything alright?

GIRL: Yeah, fine- everythings fine

WOMAN:(sounds abrupt) and the children

GIRL: ye.....

(line goes dead)


Scene with old woman

(Woman stands staring)

GIRL: Are you alright?

(woman continues to stare)

GIRL: err..hello?

(Woman slowly walks away)


Phone- Scene 2

(Babyistter rings parents)

PHONE: caller has not been recognised.

We then decided not to use this idea, as casting an old woman would take longer than filming, and with time management this would not suit as it would be longer than 2 minutes (max. opening time) in the opening scene.

Beginning your plan production: Step 1

First ideas of Thriller

Main Character: Young woman, babysitter
Plot outline: Woman babysits at a house where strange things happen, repeatedly. There is a certain time when these occurances happen, at 8 o'clock as many things occur. Old woman always appears and makes comments that can only stir the imagination.

Opening: For the coursework we are currently creating an opening for a project, which is to be no longer than 120 seconds. We have considered lighting, camera movements and what would fit in with our plot. Which includeas a dark scene with an effect of bright light in the first scene, as a phone vibrating sets the scene. We then zoom out to show the girl taking the phone. While trying to create suspense we also have to consider timings and types of shot which would be used most effectively, alongside transitions. With a mixture of medium close-ups and long shots, and special effects mixed with editing to bring lights flickering, Tv's fuzzing and Loud door knocks to create the tension, to bring the thriller to life.


But we are yet to decide what the entire plot of this story is going to include.

Even though we are no longer using this plot idea, i will keep this on my blog so that i can compare my previous ideas to my current ones.