We went out to purchase a teddy bear that we could use for a prop in our production. we chose one that is not too big, but not too small so it would be easy to use. Having a teddy that is too large may distract from the actor in our scene, and take away from what is going on. A teddy that is too small may not be as noticeable to the audience watching it. We will feature this teddy bear in our film poster as it is one of the main focuses of the film.
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We made a Twitter page for our thriller film to advertise it as this is what Universal and Warner Brothers do when they have a new film which is coming out soon. Making a Twitter for the film is a good example of Viral Marketing as it involves social media and it is free.
We don't need very many props for our film as the story doesn't involve a lot of props. The props that we are planning to use for our opening thriller production will be a swing and a traditional looking teddy bear. We wanted to include a teddy bear in our production as we feel that as a prop it reflects the child's age. A teddy is also used to show that the child feels safe with it next to him. Teddy bears are not often used in thrillers but are used in films where there is a family or a child. We thought that we would twist the usual stereotype and show the teddy bear in a different light. also wanted to use a swing because children normally go to local parks to play. The park is normally a place where you can play but instead something bad is going to happen to the child. Empty parks are sometimes featured in thriller films as they have a sense of mystery. We decided to use a child in our production as films like Orphan and Chucky have children and as the main characters.
Various other names that we discussed are displayed in a spider diagram below.
This tells us that our music is a big part of creating suspense. We asked a group of 10 people some questions that will help us when we come to make our Thriller. Our questions were: 1: how old are you? 2: do you enjoy watching Thrillers? 3:do you find it appealing for a film to create tension suspense? 4: what element do you find up suspense within a Thriller? (music, lighting, pace, camera work, sound, quick changes in the plot) 5: what is the most appealing factor in a Thriller? (suspense, confusion, mystery, hero vs villain, characters, plot) 6: what would make you watch a Thriller? (actors in the film, for the tension and suspense, the plot, the title of the film, the film poster) 7: do you prefer to watch thrillers at home or at the cinema? 8: what was the last Thriller you watched? We asked mainly 16-18 year olds, as they appear to watch a lot of Thrillers and we believe they will have a lot of opinions on Thrillers. Most of the people we asked answered "sometimes" for question 2. most of the rest of them answered "yes" with only a few people answering "no". Seeing as most of the people we asked enjoy watching Thrillers sometimes, most the age group we asked seem to watch a lot of Thrillers. Everybody we asked likes their films to create suspense. This tells us that we should use suspense in our Thriller as many people enjoy it. We know to use a lot of suspense in our Thriller, as this appears to be a popular factor, along with an element of mystery. The plot appears to be the most important thing if we want to get people to watch our Thriller. Half of the people we asked said they prefer to watch a film at the cinema, the other half said at home. The results of this were 50/50.
The answers to question 10 varied a lot, but the answers included Paranormal Activity , Saw 2, Final Destination, Ouji, The Woman In Black, American Horror Story and Saw. Final Destination and Paranormal Activity both appeared as answers more than once. As a group we discussed the potential names we could use for our thriller film. We thought of names that related to our storyline. We planned to use words that connoted mystery and suspense so the audience would know that the film is a thriller. Some ideas that we had are displayed in a spider diagram. The final name that we have chosen is 'The Wandering'. We have chosen this name because we think that it relates to our story and it is an original name. Wandering means to 'travel aimlessly from place to place' which is what the main character is going to do in our production.
We had a lesson on narrative structure, and it made us think about the structure of our opening sequence. We have decided to use a circular narrative, as it would be interesting to see how events in the characters past influence the person he becomes later in life. Vladimir Propp (1920s) came up with the theory that any film has: 1) a hero 2) a false hero 3) a princess/damsel in distress 4) father of the princess 5) the helper 6) the villain 7) the donor (gives the hero something to help them) 8) the dispatcher (sends the hero on the quest) Todorov’s theory is very different to Vladimir Propp. His theory is when the start of a film is where you get to know more about the character and the situation. Then there will be a disruption so more characters may be introduced and the story will move forward. Then they should attempt to repair the disruption. This could also involve a plot twist or a dramatic point. The story should then end with the problem solved. This made us think about our opening, and the best way to introduce the characters and engage the audience in their storyline. Our opening is when you meet both the older version, and the younger version of our main character. Any other characters would be introduced alter in the film. The U symbol stands for Universal. U films are suitable for audiences aged four years and over. At U they only allow infrequent use of very mild bad language and the violence will generally be very mild. A U film may also include brief fight moments where the character is put in to danger which will be quickly resolved. The BBFC was set up in 1912 and is a not for profit organisation. Films are given a symbol in order to protect children from unsuitable and harmful content in films. It also gives the viewer information about the film and what it entails before watching it. The BBFC looks over the film and age rates the film before they are then released. PG stands for Parental Guidance. This means that the film may not be suitable for younger children. A PG film will not contain any themes which are not unsuitable for children. There may be mild bad language used in a PG. A 12 film is not suitable for children aged under 12. Although a 12A film can be consumed by someone younger if they have an adult with them. 15 films are only suitable for people 15 years and over. A 15 rated film will contain strong violence and language. 18 films are only suitable for adults, this is because these films can contain very strong violence and language. R18 films are a legally-restricted classification primarily for explicit works of consenting sex or strong fetish material involving adults. Films may only be shown to adults in specially licensed cinemas or bought in licensed sex shops. We are going to target our audience at about ages 14-16 therefore we will rate our film a 15.
Today we discussed various elements to include in our opening sequence.
Firstly, we decided on the music in the piece, although we still have to decide whether this is going to be diegetic or non-diegetic. We are inteneding on using 'Teddy Bear's Picnic' because of its connontations with forests, childhood innocence and ominous suggestions of 'you'd better be in disguise'. By making the music eerier, setting it in minor, it will create a suspenseful and ominous atmosphere. Secondly, after deciding on our music, we agreed on including aspects of a teddy bear in the piece, symbolising childhood innocence. This could be shown in the film poster by a child's hand holding onto a decrepit teddy bear, its eyes loose and its body torn, stuffing spilling out, implying broken innocence. Also, we wanted to include effects such as shadows, forest scenery, darkness and possibly blood. We began to discuss possible titles for our production, suggesting titles such as 'Solitude' or 'Wanderer' to imply the dark, ominous, lonlieness of our piece. This photo inspired our opening sequence. We liked the idea of something mysterious and unknown reaching out towards the victim.
To us, this picture connotes loneliness and fear of the unexpected. Also by looking at this photo, we got the idea of doing a flashback in our opening scene as this suggests fear of the past and the past following us, the same way the shadow is behind the boy and still attached and shadows "follow" us. |
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