Shot list- Peter Otuwehinmi

shot list

Certificate - Sam Lee

The certificate for our film “Ikonic” was decided by our group because we felt our film would not be appropriate for younger viewers as there is violence throughout the film. We also took the feedback from our questionnaire and the face book page we created. The majority of people who gave their opinion and analysed our blog was teenagers over the age of 15, this made our decision easier and also gave us our target audience.

The film was also mainly analysed by a male majority. Few females looked at our blog and this has made us change a couple of ideas so we could bring in a wider range of viewers.

A lot of Thriller films are either 15 certificate or 18, this is because they are normally violent, sexual, contain bad language and also many thriller films take their theme from real life tragedies which can be explicit and disturbing. Taken is a good film that takes a real life situation, the sex trade, and shows the tragic effects it has on young women and their families.

The taking of Pelham 123 is about the hijack of an underground train and the hijackers blackmail the American government to give them money. This is representative of real life for example, at present Somalian pirates have taken several cargo ships and used their crew as hostages to try and extort money from their governments.

Ikonic is rated 15 because there is no sexual content or excessive violence to warrant an 18 rating. However, as there is some violence and the plot is relatively complicated it would not appeal to a younger audience, they may find it disturbing or not understandable.

Audience Research Questionnaire Results - Emmanuel Olobio

Below is the results of the poll we posted on the blog and also the questionnaire we printed off and gave to the general public in order to get feedback on our thriller.

Audience Research Question a Ire

Target Audience - Sam Lee

Whilst creating our media product we were trying to relate to our target audience. After receiving feed back about our production we decided as a group that our target audience would be aimed at people aged between 16-25.We decided this because we received a lot of positive and constructive feedback from that age group. Our production attracts a high percentage of male audience as well, this is probably because the story line is quite violent and graphic. We got our feed back from our blogs questionnaire and also our face book page.

Software - Emmanuel Olobio

Our group had to encompass many different types of software in order to help make our blog more presentable and show our planning in a better format. Some of the software was unfamiliar to us so we had to learn how to use them.

The first piece of software we used was ‘bubbl.us’, it was our first time in using the software which created our brainstorm for our thriller. It enables viewers to our blog to navigate through our mind map in an informative and highly presentable way.



We then used the software called ‘scribd’ to create our script. The format allows viewers of the blog to view the script easier and we were happy with the outcome of the script. We did have some problems initially when uploading it to our blog, but they were shortly resolved with some adjustments.


Whilst doing our preliminary task we came across the software ‘final cut pro’ which was used for editing our preliminary and we will also be using this software when editing our opening two minute sequence to a thriller. Peter who is the editor used the software which at first he found difficult but after time through practice it became easier and we are now confident about using this software on our opening sequence.

Character Profiles - Emmanuel Olobio

Name: Sophie McDonald
Age: 17
Appearance: Dark hair
Height: 5ft 4
Costume: hand bag to carry bag, leggings ugg boots.
Sophie is a vulnerable teenage girl who is cautious about herself but sometimes can be careless which gets her into a lot of trouble as we will see as the film goes on.

The character of Sophie is now being played by Georgie Watters who was a replacement for Keira Stone. Georgie fits the description of our character as she looks like a student and also vulnerable. She is also reliable and could make the filming times. I have chosen Georgie to play the character of Sophie because we wanted Sophie to have a student looks and have a typical teenage so her character is easily recognisable to the audience. We believe that Georgie has all these attributes as she is studying and has the right look that we are looking for in the character of Sophie.






Name: Betty Blackstock
Age: 22
Appearance: Dark hair
Height: 5ft 6
Costume: white t-shirt, cardigan, leggings.
Betty is an intimidating women in her 20's who has no concious and kidnaps women for the prostitution industry. She works for a mafia boss and cares only about her wellbeing and fears nobody.For the character of Betty we would need an actor that would be abit more older than Sophie. The aim would be to make this character look smart, or even harmless. The audience should be able to tell this by the tone of her voice and the mise-en-scene. The character of the women would have to look around her early/mid twenties so fairly young but older than the character of Sophie

We chose Haley Male to play the role of betty because we wanted betties character to change from nice when she asks Sophie for the time to villain when she brutally nocks her unconscious and drags her away. It was vital that her appearance can be intimidating and she can act the role of a protagonist very convincingly and i feel she can play the role well.

Title Sequence - Emmanuel Olobio

A title sequence is the way in which films or television programs present their title, production and cast members, or both and also sound. It usually follows but should not be confused with the opening credits.

Above is the title sequence to the film Hostage. The first shot shows the name of the film which is then followed by the directors name to show the audience who the film was directed by and also to show that they have the biggest role in the production process. The titles then move on to mentioning the producers in this case “Bruce Willis and Arnold Ripkin”. This would then lead on to mentioning any of the company that helped produce the film in this case it was Miramax films. The research into title sequences has enabled me and my group to gain a better understanding on what title sequences are and how we will be able to incorporate this during the editing process.

Props- Peter Otuwehinmi

The glasses are used by Sophie to create a representation of her. The glasses will connote to the audience that she is less able and weak which will add to her sense of vulnerability which is key to establishing her character.

Headphones so that will help us in our representation of sophie as a young teenage girl.


Textbook
The prop in the form of a media studies textbook will be used to connote to the audience why he is chasing Sophie down the alley to give her the book, which in turn shows that Jerome is not the antagonist, when he hands the textbook to her.

A bag for sophie so the audience can represent her as being a student.

A car, for the scene where sophie gets dragged into 1.

Music notes/Score Notes - Peter Otuwehinmi

Vibrating by peterotus

sound used for the opening scene, this would be used to build up suspence within the film, and also give tyhe film the feeling of a thriller.

Adrenaline by peterotus
sound used for chase. this is a fast drum beat which also adds suspence throughout the film

Heartbeat slow by peterotus

heart beat. used for the scene where our "trick antagonist" first brings out his media text book

Production poster- Peter Otuwehinmi

This is the poster for promotion of our film. I chose this design because it add suspense, in addition to it fulfills some of the codes and conventions of a thriller for example a dark background, and use of light . the poster includes the staring cast, production company and the age classification. The font was chosen to attract the attention of the audience and make the film worth watching.

Textual Analysis- Peter Otuwehinmi

Textual analysis on the departed.
We are first introduced to our main character (the protagonist) as a child. This is done through an Irish mobster who grooms our protagonist and a few other youths. As the film goes on our protagonist is portrayed as cocky obnoxious and arrogant. We are shown this through one of the scenes at the very beginning in where we see him loose in a game of rugby, and ends up doing insultive hand gestures toward the opposing team in addition to make insultive and abusive comments toward the opposing team. As our protagonist grows up we see him in a police academy which gives us the idea that he is training to be a police officer due to his experience in the mob, although later on in the film our protagonist soon agrees to drop out of the academy to do time in prison because of a “Phony assault charge.” This as we see later on in the film increases his credibility. The audience identifies with the protagonist as he grows up, being groomed by the Irish mobster, as a boy who knows no better as he’s lived a rough life, so he looks up to this mobster as a father figure.

Throughout this film people are not aware of our protagonist’s true identity. This secret would be one of the Irish mob that he was part of when he was younger. This secret puts him in a lot of danger as everybody is now after him to get to the father figure we were introduced to at the beginning of the film. The director builds a sense of suspense that makes the audience find out our protagonist has been found out. This is during the scene where one of the force tells our protagonist that he knows his real identity, but then the camera cuts into a shot wound that this character has endured and later on he dies. This scene here puts the audience on the edge as someone now knows something that they do as well.

The quick editing adds a lot of suspense to this action thriller, and it successfully keeps the audience at the edge of their seats at all time. Moreover the anticipation of our protagonist getting caught is even more nail biting. Moreover the use of dark lights with fire in the background in many scenes adds to the action within the scene, in addition to it represents the danger and implications of getting caught.

Unlike most thrillers this thriller contains a lot close ups on the characters, and other shots to establish our characters. I think the director does this to help the Audience relate to the character, as he is growing up within the film, almost like a life juney.

Taken - Film Influence (Emmanuel Olobio)

Taken is a big box office thriller, the plot had an influence on our thriller because it has action and is interesting to the audience. This film inspired us to use shots that could have dramatic affects on the audience, for instance when Sophie is being dragged out of the shot it creates suspense and keeps the audience wanting more this is important for the title sequence to create a credible thriller.

Production Logo (Emmanuel Olobio)

Our group have decided to name our production as Ikonic as we feel this name best represents the production group. And below is the logo.



Image by Cool Text: Logo and Button Generator - Create Your Own

Possible Character Profile 2 (not used) - Sam Lee

Name: Sophie McDonald
Age: 17
Appearance: slim, blond hair, attractive,
Hight: 5ft 7
Costume:hand bag to carry bag, glasses, ipod.
Sophie is a vunrable teenage girl who is cautious about herself but sometimes can be careless which gets her into alot of trouble as we will see as the film goes on.

The character of Sophie would have been played by Keira Stone although due to her not being able to make our filming date she was not in our thriller. We Originally chose Keira to play the character of Sophie because we wanted Sophie to have attractive and studious looks. We believe that Keira has all these attributes as she is studying and has these attractive looks that we are looking for in the character of Sophie.

Character Profiles - (Emmanuel Olobio)

Antagonist


Name: Jerome Brown
Gender: Male
Age: 16
Appearance: Tall, black hair, brown eyes, average build 6ft 3
Costume: Dark jeans, hooded top and white trainers
Props: Media textbook
Character Profile: Jerome is an innocent
teenage college who is mistaken for an attacker.




The character of Jerome needs look intimidating and Peter fits the representation because he is tall and also he has a black skin tone which fits the characteristics of Jerome. The intimidation of the character and the stereoype of black ethnicity will scare the audience into thinking that Jerome will attack Sophie. We would want Jerome to be wearing all black, moreover we would want to try and play with many stereotypes that the audience might have. So the location of an alley with the character of a black man which Jerome is would add expense to the scene. When the audience see that he is chasing Sophie then they’ll think he will attack her due to their stereotypes also the role of the antagonist will change when they find out he doesnt .

Facebook Group Page - Emmanuel Olobio

Facebook has many features that make it an easily accessible program in which to make our production company's fan group. The Facebook fan page is a tool in which you can extend your social network, connect with your target audience and consumer promotions alike. I created the page for our film in order to get constructive feedback from our audience and also discussion. This can also aid us in our evaluation.

Preliminary Task (Emmanuel Olobio)

The preliminary Task enabled us to get fimiliar with the eqiupment and filming.The task featured somebody walking into a room having a conversation and then leaving. The preliminary had to include a long shot, close-up shot, two shot, match on action, shot reverse shot and also show the 180 degree rule. It took us two attempts to film the preliminary, becuase in the first attempt changes in the diologue meant it could not be edited. The task enabled us to fimiliarise ourselves with final cut pro, the software in which we will be using to edit our thriller. The role of editor was given to peter who succesfully completed the editing of the preliminary task.


180 degree rule had to be followed in order for the continuity in the Priliminary to work .

Weekly Updates - Sam Lee. On going

Week 1 - 15/1/10

The first week of the course week we started by creating a blogger where we would upload all our research and the work we have done. Once our blog was finished we started brainstorming our ideas for our thriller. Whilst Sam was creating the brainstorm peter was starting to create a script.

We all took on roles.

Emmanuel Olobio - Director

Sam Lee - Camera Man

Peter Otuwehinmi - Editor

Week 2 - 18/1/10

In our night class Pianki showed us all the equipment we would be using to create our thriller, after we started our premillinary task. Our premillinary task had to consist of expects such as match on action, 180 degree rule, two shot and shot reverse shot. Due to the incompitance of one of our actors not to laugh we had to stop and shoot again next week.

21/1/10

In our friday lesson Peter finished the script and Emmanuel uploaded the Genre research and the two minute synopsis that he done during the week. We also organised the group members responsibilities, we done this so everyone knew the jobs they had to do. A calander was also made so we could plan out when we was going film and when we was going to hand in each peace of work.

Week 3 - 24/1/10

In Tobys class we analysed a thriller called "The Lady From Shanghai", we had to establish who was the protagonist and antagonist in the film. This would help us establish the differences between them both.

25/1/10

After Pianki showed us what our perliminary task should look like we started refilming again. Using the method trial and error we finally came out with a decent bit of film ready for editing.

28/1/10

Sam started the research on Kyle Cooper a title sequence desighner and finished it. Emmanuel checked over his 2 minture synopsis and the genre research and improved them whilst Peter finished the Script. We also discussed where and when we was going to start to filming.

Week 4 - 1/2/10

We watched Scream and analysed the way it was shot and the different techniques and the classic techniques that were used to make the horror. Peter wrote up some notes about audience and research as me and Emmanuel done questions for the questionaire.

2/2/10

Peter started and finished the editing of the perliminary task, whilst emmanuel started to create the treatment. Sam typed up his title sequence research and put it on the blog.

5/2/10

Pianki checked everyones blog and told us where abouts we were and what grade we were looking at. Once we realised we were behing and that our blog needed to be presented better as it was bland sam changed the background and emmanuel finished of the treatment so more could be presented on the blog. During the week Peter took location shots where we was planning on shooting our thriller.

Week 5 - 8/2/10

Class was cancelled

9/2/10

Though Peter and finished the editing of the perliminary task he forgot to add the opening and ending credits. Once Peter and finished he uploaded the task to our blog. Emmanuel created the production name and logo whilst Sam uploaded the audience research.

12/2/10

Throughout the week Sam and Peter were asking people to be in our production, once we had the correct actors for the job Emmanuel uploaded them and we all wrote the character profiles for each charactor.

Final Location Shots - Emmanuel Olobio

Alleyway

Entrance

This shot shows the path in which betty will walk up to ask Sophie for a cigarette. We used this alleyway because it is secluded so it fits in with the codes and conventions of the thriller genre.

College Entrance

This picture shows the outside of Havering College. The college will be used in the background when Sophie leaves the gates.

Alleyway

After much deliberation from our group we have decided that the alley above and the street opposite is the best location for the thriller as it is accessible from both entrances to allow the car to manoeuvre in and also the lighting is qood enough to film. It is also quite so it will be perfect for filming. As well as the alley above we have decided to use the outside of Havering College in the opening scene to show that Sophie is a student this is the best place in terms of location and setting to use the college.

Genre/ audience - Sam Lee

Thrillers refer to an emotion, this differs from other genres with refer to a particular location (western) or plot device (science fiction). Thrillers are also known to promote intense excitement, and nerve racking story lines to the audience. A typical thriller usually concentrates on the plot and what is going on around the characters rather than concentrating on the characters. This is why in many thrillers you see a lot of editing, point of view shots and very much of different lighting within the film.

One thing that is very noticeable within the audiences of thrillers is its high number of males in its market. The fasts pace movie with massive concentration on shots, props and scenery has been proven to go down well with the male population. Moreover a huge number of the audience for thrillers are teenagers and young adults. For our film the target audience would be teenagers and young adults, this would be mainly through the use of the sound, characters, props and most Importantly a more modern style of music.

Thrillers tend to also use the actions and sense of humans to build emotion through out their sequence. One way they do this is by almost engaging the audience into the film. For example if there was a murder and the director shows us the scene where the murderer killed his victim, the way in which the director had successfully engaged the audience into the film is by giving the answers to the audience through the sequence.

In the sequence we are doing we are going to use the method of confusing the audience into thinking a stereotypical person with be an antagonist. This is another method a lot of thrillers use. A good example of a thriller that does this is 24. at the end of the first episode where we find out who the real antagonist was, while the audience was thinking it was somebody else.
Below are some key elements that thrillers use within a scene that hopefully we would come around to using within our thriller.


With the picture thrillers use:-
3 point lighting
Key light- main light source
Full light- to take out shadows
Backlight- to take out background
Uses low key light, dim and shadowy which is another way of withholding information from the audience.
They also use continuality editing to add to the expense.
Some thrillers have restricted narration, and hence the audience know more than the protagonist and is equally confused. Thrillers have a complex narrative structure which is non linear, and are multithread.

From our questionaire we have had a mixed response about our ideas and what we are going film. Many people feel that the script doesn't suit the genre of film, as people think this we will have to either change the script or as we film we will have to improvise and try to add more suspense as we film.

Our facebook page also gave us some criticism though it was constructive and helped us change our blog and work. However we also recieved some good feedbacks and this has encouraged us to expand on our idea and take it to the next stage.

From what we have learnt from the questionaire and the facebook page is that our 2 mintue sequence should be aimed at an audience for 15 year olds and above. Also the majority of people who have looked at the blog is male thus making the film generally interesting an young male audience.

Questionaire - Emmanuel Olobio

I have created a poll to the left of our Blog which is open to viewers of our blog to answer. This will help us in finding a target audience and wether the quality and concept of our two minute opening sequence to a thriller fits into the specified genre.

Treatment - (Emmanuel Olobio)

Product
We are creating the opening 2 minute sequence to a thriller. We chose the thriller genre as it is very popular amongst many of the big box office films and also has broad codes and conventions. Our thriller is called ‘Abduction’ and is based on the theory of an unclear protagonist. At the beginning of the 2 minute sequence it appears that Peter is the antagonist as he is chasing after the protagonist Sophie. We have shown this through the location as it is partly set in a dark alley which is a confined space and has a connotation as dangerous and remote. The casting of Jerome who is black creates a stereotype to the audience that he is violent and threatening as he is of black ethnicity. The lighting in the film is quite dim as it adds danger and suspense which are codes of the thriller genre. Score non-diegetic music is used when the first antagonist Jerome is chasing Sophie. The music helps to create atmosphere. The antagonist threat changes to Betty who approaches when Jerome leaves the scene down the alley after handing the book to Sophie. She is now seen as a mysterious character and at the end when Sophie is knocked unconscious it is clear that betty is the antagonist. Throughout the thriller the antagonist changes to create a twist in the plot therefore creating a realistic thriller. We are marketing our film through you tube. We have chosen www.YouTube.com because it is a globally known website and would be accessed by our target audience, as statistically the age category of 16-35 is the dominant age group for you tube users.

Target Audience
Our group have decided through the questionnaire and research that the age demographic for our thriller is in the 16-34 category as it contains some scenes of violence which would not be suitable for the under 16 category and is to intense and action packed for 34+ age demographic.

Representations
Our thriller uses stereotypes to convey representations as in many films the woman in our case Sophie is weak and vulnerable. Also the antagonist at the start Is Jerome who is black this allows the audience to perceive him as the villain based on his skin colour which creates a representation and also his cloths in this case the hoody and the score music used.

Media Language
Our product will contain many of the normal codes and conventions you will find in a thriller. This includes action, suspense, chases, isolated locations, protagonist, antagonist and also lighting. Many different types of shots will be used like for instance a pov shot will be used to show Sophie’s view point when Jerome pulls the book out of his jacket. Close up shots will be used to show changes in emotions and mid-long shots to construct the chase between the protagonist and the antagonist. The use of score music in our thriller will help to create suspense and vulnerability for the protagonist at beginning of our two minute sequence and also at the end.

Institutions
We will be using lions gate and twisted pictures as our distributors, because they are multinational film companies that can reach our target audience on a global scale. Ikonic Productions (our group) will be making the film.

Title Sequences, Kyle Cooper and Saul Bass - Sam Lee

Kyle Cooper

Kyle Cooper is one of the most successful modern designers of motion picture title sequences. He has created many Films such as Flubber (1997), Hulk (2008) and his latest film Tropic Thunder. In addition to this he has created various computer games such as metal gear solid 2 and metal gear solid 3.

These are the some examples of Kyle’s work on the film hulk. The Title sequence basically tells the story and also runs some credits telling the audience who is starring in the film and what is happening in the opening scene. It tells the audience what is happening and gives them a rough idea what the film is about. Kyle wanted to run credits over the opening scene, people believed it would confuse the audience however it was effective and worked well. This title sequence is from the film Dawn of dead, the sequence shows that there is a war going on against the super natural (zombies) and that it is happening all around the world. The white house is shown to represent America; a mosque is shown to represent the Middle East. The overall picture is put together as a collage to represent the clashes with the supernatural on a world wide base.


Saul Bass

Saul Bass was also a notorious title sequence producer. Bass became hugely known in the film industry after creating the title sequence for Otto Preminger's, The Man with the Golden Arm (1955). The subject of the film was a jazz musician's epic struggle to overcome his heroin addiction. Bass decided to create a controversial title sequence to match the films controversial subject. He chose an arm as his central image, as the arm is a strong image relating to taking heroin and drug addiction. He expected it would cause quite a sensation therefore the title sequence featured an animated, black paper-cut out arm of an heroin addict. Over 40 years bass carried on creating title sequences some of the most famous being Spartacus (1960), Cape fear(1991) and Casino (1995).Bass created many title sequences for thrillers such as Vertigo (1958). The film is about a man trying to find a woman’s identity. Bass uses the story line to get the audience fixed to the film straight away, he does this buy showing each facial feature of the woman’s face in various close up shots. After showing various body parts the camera becomes transfixed on the lady’s eye. The Camera then turns to her face and before her true identity in shown the screen becomes soaked in red thus making the woman anonymous pmce again. Bass does this to make the audience ask the question who was that and it also sets the mood for the film.

Thriller Research - Sub Genres (Emmanuel Olobio)

Some of the sub genres that thrillers branch out to are as follows

• Action thriller: In which the work often features a race against the clock, contains lots of violence, and an obvious antagonist. These films usually contain large amounts of guns, explosions, and large elaborate set pieces for the action to take place. These films often have elements of mystery films and crime films but these elements take a backseat to action. Some examples include the James Bond films and The Transporter.

Spy thriller (also a subgenre of spy fiction): In which the hero is generally a government agent who must take violent action against agents of a rival government or (in recent years) terrorists. Examples include From Russia, with Love by Ian Fleming, The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum, and television series such as Mission: Impossible and 24 (the latter demonstrating a break from the norm by Robert Ludlum, as it is as much a psychological thriller as a spy thriller).

• Drama thriller: In which the story consists of the elements of a thriller and drama film. These films are usually slower paced and involve a great deal of character development along with plot twists. Some examples include The Illusionist and The Prestige.

• Crime thriller: This particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal(s) rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasize action over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, and double-crosses are central ingredients. Some examples include Seven and Reservoir Dogs.


• Eco-thriller: In which the protagonist must avert or rectify an environmental or biological calamity, often in addition to dealing with the usual types of enemies or obstacles present in other thriller genres. This environmental component often forms a central message or theme of the story. Examples include Nicholas Evans's The Loop, C. George Muller's Echoes in the Blue, and Wilbur Smith's Elephant Song, all of which highlight real-life environmental issues. Futuristic eco-thrillers are of the science fiction genre that propose ideas that will or may occur. Some examples include Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy and Ian Irvine's Human Rites Trilogy.

• Psychological thriller: In which (until the often violent resolution) the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical. Some examples include Shadow of a Doubt and Blue Velvet.

• Religious thriller: In which the plot is closely connected to religious objects, institutions and questions. While suspense stories have always shown a significant affinity for religion and philosophical issues. Some examples include The Name of the Rose and The Da Vinci Code.

Our film fits into the action and crime thriller genre as there is violence and also criminal activity in our 90 minuite film.

Source we used was: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre)