Thriller Film Audience Research - Questionaire

1. Which of these Actors most appeals to you if you were watching a thriller film
-   Leonardo DiCaprio (5)
-   Matt Damon (2)
-   Harrison Ford (2)
-   Samuel L. Jackson (3)
-   Tom Cruise (3)

2. What type of thriller subgenre appeals to you?
-   Action/Adventure Thriller (3)
-   Science Fiction Thriller (1)
-   Psychological Thriller (4)
-   Espionage Thriller (4)
-   Crime Thriller (1)

3. What kind of setting appeals to you in a thriller film?
-   A Dark Urban Alleyway Setting (1)
-   A Claustrophobic Interior Building Setting (4)
-   An Open Public Setting (2)
-   A Dark Basement/Dungeon Setting (2)
-   Mysterious Open Space Setting (4)

4. What type of storyline in a thriller film appeals to you?
-   A Brutal Fast Paced Action Packed Story (3)
-   A Story Heavily Involved With the Crime (2)
-   A Plot Filled With Loads of Twists (1)
-   A Mysterious Plot Filled With Suspense (3)
-   An In Depth Conspiracy Plot (4)

5. What is your favourite Thriller Film and Why?
 -   The Untouchables – Brilliant actors
-   Duel – Stephen Spielberg’s 1^st film
-   Blade Runner – The lighting adds a great atmosphere and the gritty futuristic setting really stands out
-   Inception – An original and inventive idea that has an amazing cast
-   Clover field – The camera angles are inventive and a good story
-   The Dark Knight – Because the story is very dark and keeps you entertained
-   Inception – I like the action twist, it’s an original idea and an amazing cast
-   The Bourne Ultimatum – Faced paced

6. What elements of a thriller film appeal to you?
-   Accurate deception of society
-   Lighting
-   The plot and content
-   The cast’s performance
-   Camera angles
-   The directors input and choice
-   Mystery – claustrophobia
-   Action


The results found in this questionnaire is there is a divide in peoples opinion on what they hope to see in a thriller film. Most people preferred to see an Espionage Thriller film and this was the sub genre most people would like to see. This is a good outcome as my thriller film genre is an Espionage thriller. So it shows that my thriller will appeal to people. 
A lot of people would prefer to see a claustrophobic setting or a mysterious open space which suggests that this is what kind of setting we should use and make it fit in with our plot. The elements of a thriller that appeal to people is pretty much basic and is the kind of things that I was hoping people would say. My opening will have a lot of camera angles and lighting will play a big part in it. Mystery will definitely play a big part in out opening as that plot is revolved around mystery.

Camera Angles

Close Up

Extreme Close Up

Long Shot

Medium Shot

Eye Level

Waist Angle

Tilt Or Canted Shot

Birds Eye Shot

Worm's eye View

Over The Shoulder Shot

Chiaroscuro

Chiaroscuro is a visual effect that is used a lot in film. It is a contrast between dark and light in images and films to capture a certain dramatic effect. It is used widely in Film noir, but it’s found in all sorts of media. It originated during the Renaissance and was used as a method to add volume to three-dimensional objects in pictures. It represents the shadow and light we use in lighting, and gives the scene a more in depth look into the plot or story, and gives the story emotion. It also helps to create the theme of a film or a theme of character, whether it is, mysterious or powerful. Even though the plot or story does convey this, it wouldn’t be able to capture the certain effects without the right atmosphere and attitude to define the story.

An example of a film with Chiaroscuro in it is ‘The Godfather’. This film shows how powerful light and shadow can be. The scene where he is in his office is lit bright yellow with colour and lit with fluorescent light fixtures. This creates the mysterious atmosphere to the character. If it was just lit normally, it wouldn’t capture any effect to the scene.

Now, it is drifting towards mainstream video games and movies.

Thriller Film Audience Research – Proposal

What I want to find out:

1. The audience expectations of independent/mainstream film
2. Popular actors in mainstream, unknown actors in independent films
3. Different music
4. Setting Difference
5. Different Plotline

How I am going to find out:

1. Interview
2. Questionnaire
3. Survey – favourite thriller films
4. Reading Film Reviews

What I expect to find out:

1. Key themes
2. The Attraction
3. The Age Range

Essex Boys Opening Scene

In the beginning scene of Essex Boys, we’re inside a garage with a car in a low, dark atmosphere. There is a dark light in the garage, which gives the scene a sinister aspect to it. The camera shifts slowly forward to make the audience feel that we’re in some abandoned place. A man comes onto the screen and gets in the car about to go about his daily business.

A mysterious man then appears in front of the car and we have a long shot from inside the garage to the man standing outside. He’s wearing a classic east end costume especially picking out the bold shirt and the long leather jacket. The light behind him being positioned so the light shines on him makes out that he’s a dominant figure here.

Here, we have an extreme long shot of the tunnel; this makes the tunnel a more claustrophobic and tight space. The music at this point is quite strange, which then makes this scene, darker.

At this point, the mysterious stranger is in the car with the boy, and is driving him somewhere. Quite a good point here is the lighting. As they drive through the tunnel, the flicker of the lights, flash on the car. This shows that the lights are like prison bars as what he’s about to do is a bad act, and it could result him in going to prison.

As they drive out of the tunnel, the weather is quite miserable and bleak which makes the place that they’re at, a dirty and gritty place. Similar to one of the earlier scenes, the camera has a long shot of the car coming out of the tunnel, which makes the audience think, ‘where are they going?’

This is quite a dramatic scene, as the man comes out of a white van and walks through a warehouse until he finds a suited person and attacks him, and throws him to the floor. The location of the warehouse shows that it’s quite a dirty place and it gives that dark feeling to it.  In his dialogue, there’s a lot of swearing which makes the events edgier, and destructive. Also with his accent, it makes him a “hard” and not to be messed with figure.

The mysterious east end man, throws acid at the suited person, and stings him in the eyes, the rest of the workers are strangely liking what’s taking place and you can hear chants and cheers. He throws the suited man into the white van. You can see the facial expressions of the man who’s driving the van, the young boy, is quote mesmerised at what he’s seen, and realizes what he’s got himself into. You see 2 close shots of the man beating him up from both sides. The white van gives us the impression of distrust, as people think that white vans are miserable and horrible. They then drive off.

In this last scene, the suited man is crying for relief after having acid thrown in his face. They pull up at an abandoned dock and he lets him out. The man who’s has acid thrown his face goes to the water to stop the pain, but the east end man, comes after him and kicks him in the gut. The abandoned dock gives us another sinister, dark impression as there’s now wear to go and it’s all by itself. There’s an extreme long shot at this points as the boy and the east end man, get back in the car and drive off, leaving the suited person left in the dirty, muddy, abandoned docks, and we can see in the distance of them driving off and leaving him for dead. The lighting here is very grey and grim along with the bad weather. This matches the plot as they both have both left a half destroyed man in the dirt.

Cosmetic Advertisement Evaluation

On my advertisement, aimed at an audience between the age range of 14 to 17 year olds, there are specific features to it that appeal to the overall audience. The setting of my advertisement is on an American main road in the evening rush our. It is in a typical city with big skyscraper buildings and offices for big corporations and business. In the background and one of the features that brings the advertisement together, is the big sunset behind ‘Superman’. The sunset itself provides a light for Superman and to show him being a dominating figure, in the picture. It also lights up most of the picture and shows that it is dusk/evening time, and trouble and evil starts to commence at around this time, and this is when Superman does his work. The costume itself is the midway transformation between the average human that superman is, giving us a sneak peek that he is a big superhero.  The logo on his chest gives away a big clue of this. The product that is being advertised is a deodorant called ‘Unlimited’. The font itself is very plain and simple as it gives the picture a sharp tone to it to bring out all the colours in it. The deodorant can is in the right hand corner of the picture and is surrounded in an edgy; flare design, to make it separate from the rest of the picture. That the product is this glamorous and a big object that everyone wants there hands on, and only Superman has it. This is to fit with the genre that the picture fits. The slogan ‘Any man can be a super man’ suggests that if you buy this product you can be a super man and have an alternative lifestyle. It’s selling a big lifestyle. The style that it is promoting is the traditional good guy, action/super hero figure that people want to be especially at this age range. I chose this genre as I think that it would appeal to the target audience because it sells an ‘action’ lifestyle and children of this age, think that this is cool. The social group that is represented in my advertisement are skilled blue-collar workers. Such as Shop assistants, Plumbers and Builders. The target audience the advertisement is aimed at are males from the age of 14 to 17.  It would be for children who read comic books and are interested in superheroes or certain franchises in the ‘Marvel’ series. It’s aimed at children who may want to have this lifestyle and the lifestyle appeals to them. It also may appeal to children who may have certain aspirations of either wanting to be a big character, or the certain characters in these big movies, inspires them reach big in the world of work.

The strengths of my advertisements were mainly based on the design itself. Some of the effects that I used on Adobe Photoshop really brought out colours and I was able to create a sharp, edgy landscape for the background. I was able to make the product (the deodorant can) a lot more bright in the way that the glow behind it to make it the must have cosmetic. This would make it more appealing then just keeping it as an average, dull cosmetic. I was able to make the Superman figure in the middle of the advertisement, a lot more like Superman as I only had just a plain picture of Jake, and I had to change some of the colours to fit the character.  Positioning Jake in front of the sunset was a good idea as the sunset would’ve brought him out and also fitted a typical Superman scene.

Some weaknesses I had were mostly with taking Jake out of a picture. I had to cut the background out from the originally picture I took of him so I could put just him in the advertisement picture. As I did cut him out, I had to try and smooth out the edges around his body, as it would look obvious that it was taken out of a picture, but still some edges on him are still a bit rough. One big issue is that there is still colour from the original picture of which I took him in, on the left side of his glasses. However, I couldn’t take it out as there would be a big white hole in that part of his face and I would have to cover it with something. Bringing everything together, I like the picture I created and I think that all the effects of colour and light bring the advertisement together to make it a good cosmetic advertisement and appeal to the target audience.

The Differences Between A Mainstream And Independent Film

Production

Independent films tend to have unknown actors and unknown directors with the locations being in a small town or city. The films are mostly produced outside of a major film studio. In addition to having it be produced by an independent company, these independent films are often produced or distributed by various, other, major studios. Independent films are set apart from mainstream films mostly because of their style or by their content, and the way in which the maker of the films, personal vision is realized. Special effects and lighting would be kept to a minimum and it wouldn’t any big CGI moments or big lighting as the budget for the film is usually smaller then a mainstream film. However, because of this, the plot would be different and would make the film interesting, it would set it apart from a mainstream film and be very different to an average plot from a mainstream film. What would make a mainstream film popular would be the a-list actors that would be in it or the popular genre at the time and could reflect the mood of the moment. The plot could be an adaptation from a novel, but this can have consequences as it could be made differently to how it is told in the novel, and people turning away from it. A mainstream film would have big special effects, and the director would spend a lot of the money on special effects, as they would have a bigger budget then an independent film would. This would make the film more entertaining for viewers to watch.

Marketing

The marketing of an independent film can is usually word of mouth and would usually be limitedly realised to reach a small specific audience based on the films genre. Their marketing can be very different, as they are advertised in different ways. Mainstream films here their trailers advertised all over the Internet and on TV. It can also be advertised on billboards and posters (these posters can be on buses or just around cities or towns.)

Independent films are advertised a little differently. A big way it is advertised is through film festivals such as the London Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. These festivals can generate publicity for the films and awards can come out of them, which would make the film more popular and make the films gross, a lot bigger. Some cinemas are independent film only cinemas, so the films that are shown there, can be advertised through the cinema company.

A month or so, after the films are released, DVD and TV releases will be advertised for the mainstream film and would gross in more money from the DVD sales. Independent films will realise their films through DVD and TV sales, but wouldn’t have as much publicity then a mainstream would, for the certain attributes that the mainstream film had, such as an award winning director or popular actor.

Distribution

Big companies such as Warner Bros. Sony, and Buena Vista would distribute mainstream films and would realise the film for home viewing (DVD, Video-On-Demand, Download or Television.) This could also be a theatrical release and this would usually happen when the distributor works with the theatrical exhibitor to make it happen. The distributor must also ensure that a full line of film advertising material is available on each film that’s been distributed. This will help the exhibitor attract a big audience for the film.

Independent Films would have film distributors as well, but the film distributor companies would be small and underrated.  Examples of these companies are Republic Pictures, Monogram Pictures and Grand National.

Exhibition

On my findings and comments on the different listings at the cinemas, I found that they would show certain films according to times that they would put them out. For example in the summer, the cinemas institutions would distribute more family and children’s films. They would put them out at this time as children would be taking there annual summer holidays, so more families would come to watch these films, at around these times and they would gross in more money. However, more horror films were shown at night. This is a sensible idea as most family films are shown during the day, and it wouldn’t be a good idea to show horror movies during the day. Plus, showing horror films during the day would be strange as it couldn’t capture the moment and the emotion that you could with showing them in the evening.