Institution Research:

There are many different institutions such as Paramount, Colombian, Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, Lions Gate and 20th Century Fox.

1) Paramount:

The Paramount logo is a Long shot of a mountain with a ring of stars around it. Paramount is presented on top of the mountain in fancy writing. The are nice pinky purple colours which help the institution stand out more. The mountain connotes adventure and explore as they are a cliche for action and thriller film. The twenty-four stars represent the twenty-four contracted movie stars that paramount had at the time.

Films created by Paramount pictures include Lara Croft, Rugrats Go Wild, School Of Rock, Mean Girls, Titanic, Transformers, Shrek, Indiana Jones, Mission: Impossible, Forest Gump, Iron Man, War of worlds, World War Z, Star Trek, Psycho and many many more.

Paramount is a film studio, television company and motion picture distributer. Ranked as the "Big Six" studio in Hollywood. 2012 was its 100th year in show business. Founded in 1912, it is the fifth oldest surviving film company. One of the most successful film production companies in the world!

2)Colombian:

Columbia film productions is an American film production and a studio of 'Sony pictures motion picture group'. One of the largest film productions in the world. Also a member of the "Big Six". Originally founded in 1918 but released its first film in August 1922. At first it was a small production in Hollywood but became much more well known in the late 1920's. 5th largest film production.

Films including The Smurfs, Stuart Little, Spider Man, Ghostbusters, 21 Jump Street, 2012, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Anatomy, Fright Night, Revenge and Murder By Death.

The title presents a women holding a flag and torch which signifies The Statue of Liberty. This could be to show power and peace.

3)Walt Disney: 

Walt Disney is an American film production company and is owned by The Walt Disney Company.  Also classifies as one of Hollywoods "Big Six" film studios. Founded in 1923, by the man himself Walt Disney. Disney produces a series of short animatic stories which then became huge sensations all over the world.

Disney films are usually made for young children and families, however if you start of watching them as a young child you will always watch the new popular Disney movie.

The Disney movies created include The Little Mermaid, Aladdin,  Finding Nemo, Cars, Maleficent, Mulan, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Monsters Inc, Up, Lilo & Stitch, Alice In Wonderland and the most recent, and hugely popular Frozen.

4)Warner Brothers:

Warner Brothers is an American entertainment company that produces film, television and music. One of the many major film studios whose headquarters is in Burbank, California. Founders= Albert, Harry, Sam and Jack Warner 1903.  First creation in 1927.

Creating super successful films such as the Harry Potter series, Inception, Dark Night, The Hangover and Superman.  These films are popular all around the world and are made with a huge budget.

Warner Brothers is the biggest film industry making them the most successful in film business.

5)Lions Gate:

Lions Gate is a Canadian-American entertainment company. Formed on July 3rd 1997 and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California.

From November 2013 it's the most commercially  successful mini major film and television company in North America and seventh most profitable company.

Films including the hugely successful Hunger Games, Saw, Abduction, Kick-Ass, American Psycho and Charlie St. Cloud.

6)20th Century Fox:

20th Century Fox is an American film studio and is one of the six major American film studios, located in Los Angeles west of Beverly Hills.

Founded May 31st 1935 by Joseph M. Schenck and Darryl F. Zanuck.

Distributed some famous films such as first two Star Wars, Ice Age, Diary Of A Wimpy Kid, Maze Runner, Home Alone, Planet Of The Apes, Night At The Museum, Taken, Power Rangers, Die Hard and Avatar.

Member of the Motion Picture Association Of America and celebrated its 80th anniversary as a studio in 2015.

Our Film Soundtrack Research:

For our films soundtrack we are going to be using the links below-


Opening Scene With All Characters In Shot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY0U432m8W0 = Inspirational Piano Music-Possible (Copyright Free)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDGP4rf4vJ0 = Inspirational and uplifting music- Northern Express (copyright and royalty free)


Coffee Scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je9bnuIqVVc = Epic and Inspiring music- Parallel (copyright and royalty free)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NGZQqPpDMw&spfreload=10 = Epic and Inspiring Music- New Frontiers (copyright and royalty free)


Killing Assault Scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NGZQqPpDMw&spfreload=10 =Scary Horror Music- Haunted (copyright and royalty free)

For the opening scene we thought these soundtracks would be effective as they are quite calm but have a mysterious hint to them. It helps set the scene and help the audience understand whats happening and the genre/theme.

For the coffee scene we thought this soundtrack was successful as its quite settling for the environment where its set but also has the same mysterious effect to it.

For the killing/assault scene we really liked this soundtrack as it has a really effective eerie noise but the beat drops suddenly giving a scary jump to the atmosphere. I feel it will work really well when our character is assaulted as it helps create a murder like non-diegetic sound.

Behind the scenes: First day of filming

Monday 30th February 2015- First day of filming.

Today myself, Nadiye, Katy and Chloe went to the local coffee shop Costa to film a scene for our opening scene. Nadiye, Katy and Chloe took it in turns filming and deciding which camera angles would be effective and help show me in appropriate viewpoints and angles. On the first day of filming we filmed my scene which will be played near the beginning as its a key scene which will inform the audience of whats happening in the opening and whats to come. Hopefully this will  leave the viewers gripped to the edges of their seats!

Location:
We chose to use this location as a place where the characters Tara and Ellie were going to meet and sort out their friendship.                              
We thought it would be successful as its an effective ordinary place.
We used the Coffee shop as its a local area, which has ordinary people who aren't involved with the film in it. In a thriller there is usually a scene where there are many people in shot but not main characters. We thought the location would be good here as its a place where friends would meet up which makes it reliable and not make the audience feel confused and feel as if that wouldn't happen.

Mise En Scene:

Mae(The character) wore a khaki puffer jacket, black jeans, black top, black shoes and a watch. I wanted to look quite innocent and interesting but also conform to a thriller genre. I wore the watch as a prop to show the audience i have been waiting and watching the clock.  We also show my bag to position the viewers to see its a normal day and I had been out and about. There is a mysterious storyline in this scene so I didn't want to dress really vibrant and not succeed in our theme/genre.
I bought a drink to use as a prop to make the location seem more reliable. The use of it being a christmas cup represents winter and coldness which is usually the weather type in a thriller film with parts of horror included.

Timing:
We chose to film at 14:30 as we thought it would be a lot quieter around our local coffee shop. We were lucky in which it was quiet meaning there won't be much background noise in our recordings. Seeing as its December it gets dark much quicker now so we ensured we got it done earlier in the afternoon so the lighting is successful. However there was a dimming lighting which helps conform to the mysterious thriller theme/genre.

It took myself a while to be able to get into character, as it was quite embarrassing with people walking past. However once I was in character I felt much more comfortable in acting my scene.

Camera and shots:
We are using Katy's Nikon D3200 camera for filming and borrowing a tripod from the school. Katy's Camera has a really good focus to get effective shots. The tripod also work really well in maintaining a steady shot/focus. You can tell we are using a tripod as there isn't lots of annoying movement in the shots.  
Our close up shots included showing my face and emotions, and a close up shot of me calling Tara to show the audience what I was doing and where I was.
We used a range of shots, such as close up, mid shot, behind the shoulder shot and match on action. These will hopefully help us pick up marks in our film.

Sound:
During the mid shot where Ellie (myself) is on the phone we will use a soundtrack of Tara's voicemail to inform the audience of what is happening. There is diegetic sound of myself(Ellie) talking on the phone as we want the audience to know what I'm saying and what is happening in the scene. We will also use non-diegetic sound in the background of a scary mysterious tune when I'm walking into the coffee shop as noone knows what I'm about to do.

We will be using Adobe Premier Plus to put all our footage together and get a effective finished scene.

Research on our practical task genre:

THRILLER
My group and I decided that our film was going to have a certificate of a 15. We decided this by taking into consideration the general certificate of Thrillers varying at 15-18.

A thriller targeting ages 18+ contains very graphic and violent scene which would not be suitable for anyone under the age of eighteen. This information is portrayed on the back of a dvd box or presented on screen when introducing the film. They will usually say what this film contains and who it is unsuitable for.

Our film will be aimed widely at the male gender audience. This is due to them having an interest in violence, aggression and crime. Violence is shown in our film when Rosemary suffocates Tara. Females would probably find this harder to view as they dislike the aggression in films. They would prefer to watch a romantic film with no violent gory scenes. Audiences tend to be able to relate to films, implying women are able to relate to romantic movies. Overall, our film will have a higher male viewer proportion to females, however females may also see like to see the film as there is female characters in it. Its interesting to see how they are presented in a certain genre and how they act in that certain film.

There are many films which have similar story lines to ours. For example:  Psycho, The Professional, Taken and House At The End Of The Street. These films all include mystery murders and have a 15 certificate.

Thriller Font Analysis:

The font used in Thriller movies are usually bold and eye catching. There is also different connotations behind the colour of the font to suggest death and blood.

In The Hunger Games the title is presented in capitals, bold and yellow. The connotations behind the bold capital title makes me think of a strong brave story line including fighting and violence. However, the yellow title suggests cowardliness and weakness. Having said that though the yellow title may just be used to complement the picture                                               on the front cover.




The Inception Title is also shown as bold and in capital letters. The use of the red title has the connotations of blood, death, murder and action. The colour of the title has away of positioning the audience to engage the film. The spaces between the letters I feel are effective as they look really striking and individual.





Titles give the viewers information and clues about the film before the play button is pressed. Here, the orphan has been written with poor writing to connote a child's handwriting. The fierce, sharp edges to the letters also connote sharp objects like knifes which link to murder. It looks like its been engraved by an intense object rather than by pen or pencil.




Black and red titles connote murder, death and aggression. This is used to capture the audience's fears  by giving information us information about the film. This then makes you want to watch it even more.

Seven, I feel has a engaging effective title in the opening as it creates tension and anxiousness. The twisted letters and words connote mystery and scare. They also look like they have been carved into a call suggesting a sharp object such as a knife. The white in the title stands out boldly against the brown background as the white is bright and eye catching. It conforms a thriller film as it looks quite creepy but also captivating.

Research and Planning Targets

Well done Mae - an excellent effort so far.  To improve your analysis of film openings revisit some posts and consider the following foci:

What shot/couple of shots stand out for you in the trailer and why?
How does the sound/music make us feel towards characters and locations?
How is this trailer similar or different to other trailers in the genre?
Are there any editing techniques you can comment on if you haven't already (cross-cutting, pace, prevalence - which is when a character is given slightly more screen time than another or the final shot.)

Well done so far!

Our Film Brainstorm

My group has decided and agreed that our opening two minutes will be a Thriller with parts which include the genre Horror.

Our Idea:
Four friends are represented as fairly close, however two friends don't seem to be getting along quite so well. Character 1 and character 2 organise to meet up to sort our their differences however, character 1 mysteriously gets killed leaving character 2 unaware of where she is and why she's not there. The other two friends who are presented as shady and quite. They are more involved with the disappearance than anyone else.

Characters: 
Tara-The victim of the murder.  -Played by:Nadiye Killick
Ellie-Friend who goes to meet Tara in a cafe. - Played by: Mae Fisher
Rosemary-Responsible for assault of Tara.  -Played by: Chloe Bennett
Bella-Tries to help Rosemary cover up the murder/partner in crime.  -Played by: Katy Welch

Props:
Phone for conversations and text messages
Plastic/Gun/Knife for murder scene
Fake blood and latex for wounds
Dog-murder scene/innocent dog walk

Ideas For Film Names:
We feel by using a short and engaging title it would make our film more effective and captivating.
Missing
The Dead
Murder Alley
Friendship Group?
Help

Techniques: 
Adobe Premier Elements
Video camera (GoPro)
Tripod
Photoshop(DVD front cover)