Planning My Thriller - Draft Script

Today I made a draft of the storyboard I would like to use in script format:

• The first part will show the antagonist running away from the protagonist, this will be done through various shots, such as close ups and establishing shots of the protagonist running.
• We will then film the antagonist acting "cool" by filming him in dark sunglasses with him leaning on a wall smoking.
• Their will then be shots of the antagonist climbing into his car and driving off.
• The shots will turn to the protagonist still running yet getting tired with the antagonist getting closer and closer.
• Soon we will show the antagonist who catches up to the protagonist and will then taunt him, the protagonist will run off to an area where he can't be followed by the car but while running away falls over.
• Lastly we will film the protagonist being caught in the headlights like a hare being dazed into the lights as if he is hunted.
• It will end by the antagonist leaving the car and walking up to the protagonist, he will raise a gun but we will not know what happens.

I will use a lot of various camera angles, shots, equipment and editing tools to make this thriller intro unique, suspenseful and exiting. Even though I am not planning to have any talking in this intro as I feel if anything it will add to the tension.

The next step I will take is updating this draft script into a finalised storyboard.

Planning My Thriller - Costumes

Planning my thriller has caused me to think what are the general characteristics of some of the characters e.g. my antagonist is dark, mean, emotionless, and deadly. My protagonist is innocent, weak and scared. So how can I transfer these characteristics from the screen into the subconscious mind of my audience through costumes and props?

I have researched what costumes the characters should wear through looking up similar characters over the internet and other forms of media.

The antagonist is an easy choice for me, I have chosen for him to wear dark, smart yet serious clothes which will show off his attitude and demeanor. Similar characters are the classic bodyguard and assassin shown below:

These characters are often dressed in similar dark, serious clothes to my character, Items of clothing which I want my antagonist to wear are: a dark black coat, suit, black shoes and sunglasses.

The protagonist was a lot harder to figure out. I wanted him to seem very innocent and helpless. What I thought of doing was focussing on the protagonist acting as if he was an innocent civilian. I wanted to do this because I believed that if the audience where able to associate themselves with the character they could then realise this could happen to them and generally bring more tension into the film.

Here are some of he following type of casual items I would like my protagonist to wear to show he is a simple civilian:

 

 

As you can see very usual, normal, casual clothes that the actor can bring himself.

 

Before the filming of my thriller starts I will make sure all of the actors send me pictures or show me what they are planning to wear, if it does not fit with exactly I have shown here I will provide them with something that will.

Research on Target Audience

The following is some information I found in researching potential target audience, I will use this information to my advantage in trying to find out whether or not I should include certain characteristics in my thriller to attract a certain audience group.

Target Audience Expectations:

Thriller is a popular genre for film within mainly young adults aged 18-25. This is because people this age are usually drawn in by the intense storylines and graphic action, which is commonly seen within the thriller genre. Unravelling the narrative as it plays out in the film, and working it out whilst watching the films attracts older audiences them to this specific genre.

However, the different sub genres of the thriller genre appeal to different ages and audiences. For example, action thrillers appeal to a more male dominated audience aged around 15-30 as they’re drawn in the by the action and fast paced edits/camera angles, whereas a more female dominated audience would be attracted to romantic thrillers such as Wicker Park. This is because they can relate the characters and storylines within the film. For example, psychological/crime thrillers such as Silence of the Lambs, Dream House, American Psycho and Fatal Attraction attract a mainly male dominated audience of the typical young adult age. This is because they’re drawn in by the conventional male leads, and can relate certain characters to people they know or even themselves, connecting and engaging the audience with the film/characters (both protagonists and antagonists). This male age range is also drawn into the action aspect of the crime thrillers.  However, films that are supernatural thrillers (e.g. The Rite and The Others) appeal to more teenage – young adult female audiences, who are attracted by the ‘scare factor’ and possibly they will get scared or slightly affected by the film.

The generic target audience for thriller films expect a normal situation, which is effected by something negative and threatening. For example, in disaster thriller The Day After Tomorrow, everything is normal and life goes on as ordinary at the beginning, until the world begins to descend into disaster as freak storms occur. However, this is still something out of the ordinary disturbing the peace in a normal situation that seems realistic, which is something that the audience expect of thriller films.  Audiences of disaster thrillers similar to The Day After Tomorrowalso expect fast pace editing techniques, as they make the film more action packed and engaging. It also makes the film exciting to watch, and makes sure the audience are connected with what’s going on, which is what the audience expect of this genre.

Target audiences also expect to be thrilled and left on the edge of their seats by thriller films. A thriller film is deemed successful if it manages to achieve this. An example of a thriller managing to have this effect on the audience would be in thriller film Dream House starring Daniel Craig. This manages to leave the audience on the edge of their seats with the scene in the house, where Daniel’s character is fighting the antagonist. The audience are left watching in suspense to see if this character they’ve watched develop manages to overcome the one who is against him.
The audience also expects to be engaged with the characters and the storyline. The characters as they’re usually developed and have their own stories which are revealed to the audience, and the storylines because they involve the audience as they have to figure out the storyline along with the characters and unravel it themselves, which makes them want to watch more. In our own film opening sequence, we will do this by having our main character walking down the street with someone following her the whole way in the background without her knowing. Then, at the end she’s about to enter her house, he captures her, then that will be the end of the opening sequence. This will appeal and engage the audience as they will not know what will happen to her, unless they watched the whole film.

One of the conventions which the audience expect to see when watching films from the thriller genre is for the protagonist to have an ‘Achilles’ heel’ which the antagonist uses against them and uses it to try and defeat them. An example of this would be action thriller Taken, in which the antagonist takes a CIA agent’s daughter and the main character has to fight to get her back. We will incorporate this into our own opening sequence by having the main character on her own throughout the whole sequence, making it seem as if she’s an outcast, making her an easy target for the stalker as there will be no one else to intervene him kidnapping her.

Original article

Planning My Thriller - Ideas

I have now begun to start planning my actual thriller, today I have been writing down possible ideas to use. I came up with a few ideas and after asking around a few people and using the research I obtained,  I have came to the conclusion of using an original idea I had of a protagonist running away from a hit-man antagonist, who uses his car to catch and kill people as if he is hunting.

Preliminary Task

This is my preliminary task which was filmed and edited by me and others so that I could learn the basic techniques needed to make my final film, it was very useful learning how to setup the cameras and equipment, make areas available to film and also chose certain angles and film them too see how they worked. After getting the shots it was also extremely useful to start using Final Cut Pro to cut, organise and eventually finalise the short film. In general the preliminary task was extremely useful for me and should help in making my film.

Questionnaire Results

The following are the results of each of the questions that I included in my questionnaire:

1) The Results of this question are to be concealed so as not to invade people's privacy, I did however ask 6 people and got a wide range of names all of whom were not at all related.

2) I got exactly 3 males and 3 females to take part in the questionnaire.

3) Out of the six participants there were three participants in the 10 - 20 range, one in the 21 - 30 range, one in 31 - 40 range and lastly one in the 41 - 50 range.

4) The following were people's choices of the last thriller movies seen: Se7en (was chosen twice), Hannibal, The Orphan, The Dark Knight Rises and The Da Vinci Code were all stated.

5) Everyone stated how much they enjoyed the thriller they watched, There were absolutely no bad comments on any of the movies seen.

6) Thriller sub-genre's that were peoples favourite from the questionnaire were: Psychological thrillers (chosen three times), Action thrillers (chosen twice) and Conspiracy thrillers was chosen.

7) There was a wide range of answers for this question including Da Vinci Code, Reservoir Dogs and Shutter Island.

8) Question 8 was very interesting as it showed me what people enjoyed in a thriller and there was a wide range of results, ultimately each option got at least one person voting it as the most important part of a thriller, with suspense actually getting two votes as the most important. However Puzzles and mind games was voted the least important three times! As well as emotion getting two votes as the least important. Overall and in average people put the list into the following order with Suspense the most important, action, horror, Emotion and then Puzzles/mind games getting voted the least important.

9) There was also a wide range of answers for the participants favourite thriller actor: Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Nicholas Cage and Christian Bale were all chosen. I will take this into account by looking at what movies they have been and trying to see why they make that role popular.

10) The following are directors which were voted the best by the participants of my questionnaire: Christopher Nolan (for Dark Knight), Quentin Tarantino (for Reservoir dogs and Kill Bill) and Marry Harron (for American Psycho). Again I will have a look at the movies made by these directors and possibly use some of their techniques in my own movie.

11) The results of this question were not only very useful for me but also quite surprising and informative. I believed most people would chose the option of getting straight into the action with no credits. I was surprised to find most people actually chose a build up to the action with short credits. The other less popular option was long credits and then the least popular option was no credits and straight into action. This means I should put short credits onto a build up of action to really please yet also grab the attention of my audience.

Overall I found doing the questionnaire very useful and informative and it has definitely influenced what I would like to do for my final intro of a thriller.

Potential Target Audience - Questionnaire

The following is a questionnaire that I have made to gather more information on the type of film I would like to make:

1) What is your name?

2) What is your gender? (Please circle)
    Male     Female

3) What is your age range? (Please circle)
    Under 10   10-20   21-30   31-40   41-50   Over 50

4) Name the last thriller you watched?

5) What did you think about that thriller and why?

6) What is your favourite thriller sub genre?

7) What is your favourite thriller in that sub genre?

8) What is the most important part of a thriller? (Please rank from 1 being highest importance to 5)
    Suspense     Action      Emotion      Horror      Puzzles/mind games

9) Favourite thriller actor and why?

10) Favourite thriller director and why?

11) What characteristics of a thriller's intro do you prefer? (Please circle)
      Long credits    Short credits      No credits       Build up     Straight into   action