Extra research into our genre.

When doing my initial research I've found that our genre can be spilt into many different sections. 

So I've decided to do see what there is and if we can incorporate elements into our own work. Suspense is a crucial characteristic of the thriller genre. It gives the viewer a feeling of pleasurable fascination and excitement mixed with apprehension, uncertainty, anticipation, tension, and anxiety. These develop from unpredictable, mysterious and rousing events during the narrative, which make the viewer or reader think about the outcome of certain actions. It also gives the person the so-called "on-edge" feeling. Suspense builds in order to make those final moments, no matter how short, the most memorable. They are the defining features in a thriller.

Research into Genre

Possible distributor of our film.

Possible distributors of our film

Because we are college students on a tight budget we decided that the best way to distribute our film 

would be to go with an independent film company. Our film is a crime thriller so we wanted a relevant developer. After researching potential developers this is what I have come up with. 

 1) Richwater Films.

Richwater films is a new independent company. The films they have developed are mainly crime thrillers staring Danny Dyer. Films such as- Vendetta, Assassin, Top Dog, Age of Kill and We still kill the old way. These films are all crime thrillers similar to ours they have alot of drugs and crime.  Richwater aims to produce and/or co-produce 6 to 8 movies each year across a range of budget levels.

2) Big Buddha Films

Big Buddha Films is an in independent film company in Sheffield that focuses on making films with a strong female voice, that tackle human dilemmas and show the vulnerabilities of human existence. This can relate to our film because our film has a female main character who is in a vulnerable situation.

3) Vertigo Films

Vertigo films is a London based film distribution company. They have produced films like football factory and the business. The business is very similar to our film because it is a crime thriller. With things like drugs and guns similar to ours. 

15 Minute analysis of The Da Vinci Code

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mjjRLiUT6IZg-KCOoLzz7mf4nsImmTOq4PeLgbZk2vc/edit

Research into title sequences.

When doing my research into title sequences i wanted them to be very similar and re-ablate to the piece we are going to produce. Researching this will be good to give us lots of inspiration and ideas for our own crime thriller title sequence.
I chose three that i thought were the best and could relate well to our film:

Catch me if you can 
I chose 'catch me if you can' which is a very original bold design for a opening sequence. I like how the music fastens and slows according to whats going on screen. Also it has no vocals in the background just music so you get to read who stars in it. I like also how they've made the big stars names bigger and bolder than the rest. To add to this at the beginning it shows what company produced the film. I think the use of suspicion in the title sequence would go well with our film as it has lots of tension and sneakiness in it.


Vertigo 
Secondly i decided to chose 'vertigo' opening sequence because it gives out the sense that something bad is going to happen. I love how it uses the woman's face at the beginning to incorporate the main titles then the close up of the eye. Its very effective the way they use the red filter to symbolize blood maybe. I think this kind of thing could be used for ours definitely so the audience will be very interested. Furthermore the use of patterns after the woman is very clever as it makes it remember able so you don't forget it. Vertigo features a masterfully crafted and almost hypnotic title sequence. A perfect opening to the film.

Reservoir Dogs
Thirdly i chose reservoir dogs by Quentin Tarantino which is a brilliant film. Unlike other films it starts off by an opening scene of some characters round a dinner table accompanied by dialogue unique by far. This is probably the best title sequence I've seen its very cool and the use of voice overs and the way the camera fades out is all to its advantage. The way the characters are walking along the roadside in slow motion is slick and gets the audience into that mindset straight away. I like how it stops on every character at first and provides the name below their face i would definitely think about doing this in our film although can be portrayed as cheesy i think it can sometimes work in a crime thriller like Reservoir Dogs. The back in track is perfect as well because it goes with the men all dressed in classic black suits.

Research into a specific title sequence.

For my title sequence i chose Dexter from the tv series which is in the crime thriller genre. First of all from the onset we see the name 'dexter' wrote in big red letters then blood drip down on it implying crime and gore is yet to come. It stands out on the white background. Each shot is close up to the character in the beginning and i noticed that a lot of focus pulls are used to distort the image to make the audience think its something else. No other shots are used this is to probably intensify the opening sequence. It jumps from one scene/shot to another throughout.
Slow motion editing techniques are used the character cracks the egg into the pan same when the character cuts the orange in half juice spurts all over indicating a murder scene because that's what the blood would actually do. Every sound that the character does is intensified and can be heard clearly over the soundtrack that's being played however their is no vocals in the song just a tune. Each shot is very close up so the viewer gets to see every little detail hinting that the character is very specific and likes to do things a certain way his 'killings' for example. An very good example of this would be at the beginning when it goes in on the hair on his arms when he slaps that fly dead then again suggesting a crime and that the character has no conscious. I think this is a very good example for us because its very memorable and gets the viewers intrigued in every way. I think it could even be linked to psychological thrillers because the way he cuts the bacon would make you think he was cutting up a dead body when as a matter of fact hes just having his morning breakfast and getting ready. We finally see the characters face at the end when he puts his top on in a mid shot. This is very tactical as it makes the audience think this character is very suspicious and they want to know more.

Genre of our film.

The genre of our film is a crime thriller and is meant to keep the viewer on the edge of their seats. Thriller is a genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as its main elements. Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods, giving them a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and/or terror. Films of this genre tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced. 

Common methods and themes in crime thrillers are mainly ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings. More common in mystery thrillers are investigations and the whodunit technique. Common elements in psychological thrillers are mind games, psychological themes, stalking, confinement/deathtraps, horror-of-personality, and obsession. Elements such as fringe theories, false accusations and paranoia are common in paranoid thrillers.
By doing some research ive found that most crime and thriller films overlap such as the godfather or Heat. This is where they combine the use of crime novels and insert violent scenes for example a gun fight or a chase. 
This exactly what we want for our film to keep the audience excited and wanting to know whats next so this is what we categorized it in for our film 'Jackpot'. 

Some good examples of these films would be: 
1. Vertigo
2. 21 jump street
3. pulp fiction
4. James bond casino royale 
5. Kill bill 

Distributors of our film.

Research into possible distributors of our film
Our film is going to be done on a very tight budget so we are probably going to be financed by a independent film developer that is interested in crime dramas or coming of age films. So I've done some specific research into what our film would work well with.

Axiom films 
Looks like a good independent film company that have worked with big stars such as Ryan Gosling in Half nelson. The company also screens in other countries so we could get a lot of publicity that way. Over the past decade, Axiom has steadily built a reputation for taking creative risks, working with new talent and original ideas; producing a diverse body of work from directors from all parts of the world. Uniquely, each film project that the company has been involved with has been both a critical and commercial success, frequently winning awards, sold for distribution in most key markets and, without exception, selected to screen at the major international film festivals (Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Toronto). 

Metrodome film
This company could be a possible distributor of our film because it has produced films like Shifty, Pusher and fifty dead men walking. All these films link top the genre of our film because their action crime based thrillers. Plus they are london based making them regionally attractive to our audience so their style will compliment our film lots. They also have just produced a film called big bad wolves which looks like its set somewhere we'd want it to be set for our film. 

Studio Canal 
I found this film company which is a, look like they could produce and help distribute our film. I think this because by doing some research I've found out that they produced a film called Drug war which is perfect for us. This is because now we know that studio canal wont be afraid to push the boundaries and are comfortable to deal with drug issues and violence. STUDIOCANAL is a subsidiary of the CANAL+ Group. It is one of Europe’s leading companies in the market for co-production, acquisition, distribution and sale of international feature films. STUDIOCANAL is the only studio operating simultaneously in three main territories across Europe: France, the United Kingdom and Germany. The company distributes a total of more than 50 films a year throughout Europe. Additionally, STUDIOCANAL owns one of the most important libraries in the world, with more than 5,000 international titles. However studiocanal is owned by CANAL+ making it an owned company and their really well known in France so maybe this would not be an appropriate choice for our film. 

Character Profile

Roxanne Partridge

Age: 17

Occupation: Student at Barnsley College studying A Levels

Personality: She is a very girly person and knows what is right and wrong. Her addictions lie on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. She has blond hair and wears a lot of cream/white colours to show off her feminism. She wants to be an accountant and study Accounting/Maths at University.

Her perspective of the situation: She has done a full day from College and is walking home to do some English Literature revision with her mate Kelly. She accidentally bumps into a man and tries to help him out. The man is insistant that he is alright but once he accepts its his fault they start to chat. She chats about her plan for the future for her and walks over to her house. Kelly is waiting there and opens the door for her. She starts to get everything ready when she knocks her handbag and in the bag is a small plastic bag of cocaine. She suddenly starts to think that she didn't do it and realises who was responsible for it.

Martin Leonard

Age: 26

Occupation: Lawyer at Barnsley Law Courts

Personality: He is a very formal and masculine person. His job reflects the personality as he is prepared to argue his point. He is supposedly engrossed in his job and wants to continue it as a full-time job but he also has an addiction to illegal drugs and has done drug deals in the past. However, because he knows the law really well, he knows how to get away with it and also how to frame people.

His perspective of the situation: He has just finished his day at the courts and has done an illegal drug deal offscreen. He walks into the park to find his next victim to frame. He makes a scene by prentending to fall over causing a distraction. He starts to argue with a girl infront of him and makes her feel like its her fault. He then pretends to accept that he was wrong and she was right and starts to talk to the girl and learn about her. As she talks with him he secretly places a bag of cocaine within her handbag to frame her for an illegal drug deal and walks away. He has got away with  his latest crime.

Kelly Jenkins

Age: 17

Occupation: Student at Barnsley College studying A Levels.

Personality: She is also a very girl person and quite gullible to believe in anything. Her addiction lie on Boy-bands such as One Direction, The Wanted and also Arctic Monkey's. She wears a lot of dark red's and light browns to show off her looks. She wants to be a poet and study English Literature at University.

Her perspective of the situation:  She has finished College and has been waiting for Roxanne for 5 -10 minutes outside her house. She is starting to wonder whether it was a joke and starts to walk away. Suddenly Roxanne appears and starts to complain and ask her where she's been. Roxanne says that she met a man and starts to talk a bit about him. Kelly gets the wrong end of the stick and tries to ignore it. Both the girls start to get their English Literature work sorted when suddenly Roxanne's bag falls to the ground. Kelly suddenly notices the bag of cocaine inside the handbag and starts to believe that Roxanne did a drug deal. Roxanne denies it but she doesn't believe in her.

Title Sequences

Writing on the titles

•Writing on the titles can be done in block capitals normally on crime dramas/thrillers to give the idea that everything is top secret and dangerous.

•Examples can include James Bond as they give the idea that everything is top secret and has to be kept safe.

•This links to our film as in the film a man drops a bag of cocaine into a woman’s handbag and therefore we want the idea that everything is top secret and we want to give the idea to the audience that everything is dangerous.
http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/skyfall/

Imagery on the Titles

•Imagery on crime thrillers can include use of guns, drugs and cars.

•Examples can include The Sweeney as they show a car going down a street and a man loading a gun.

•This links to our film as the film include all of these iconographies and therefore we want to give the idea to the audience that nothing is safe and danger can lurk around the corner.

•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmUOee7fRRQ

Colour on the Titles

•Colours on the titles can include something like a harsh orange or blue to reflect the idea that danger is lurking around the corner and also to represent the police.

•Examples can include 21 Jump Street and the James Bond movies such as Skyfall and Goldfinger as they give the idea that the world is not as nice as people think it is.

• This links to the film as a man puts a bag of cocaine in a woman’s handbag and frames her for a drug deal. Because we want the audience to understand on what the genre is, we may go for harsh colours to give a sense of foreboding and clue to give the idea on what the film may be about.

•http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/21-jump-street/

 

Possible Distributors of our film

http://www.slideshare.net/danielfotheringham21/possible-distributors-for-our-film

Certification of our film

After considering many certifications, including 12's/ 12A's, we have decided that our movie should be rated at 15. This is down to numerous reasons:
http://www.slideshare.net/danfoth21/reasons-on-certification

Final Script