Ancilliary Task - draft one and research for poster

I found the movie posters for 'perfume' and 'silence of the lambs' very intriguing, as the colour blend evoked a sense of darkness and mysteriousness. I wanted to replicate this portrayal as it suited our film (as our film is is about the abduction of a young exploited girl, who's kidnapper is obsessive, creepy and psychotic). For our poster we used  the colours red and grey, as red implies danger whilst the grey has misty and gloomy connotations; all in all a perfect blend to represent our film. Furthermore, as 'the silence of the lambs' has similar aspects to our film - psychotic characters and horror elements - we feel that fans of the latter, will instantly be attracted to our film (through the similarities in poster appearance).

Here is my first draft of our ancillary task...

For the official one I will use my own Photo, although adopting a similar style and pose. The above draft image is one off of a website. I used it as it helps create a disturbing and creepy sense of isolation. The fact that their is no face on the image adds a sense of ambiguity, and allows the audience to create their own image of the fear and fright.

Audience for our film

The target audience for most psychological thrillers tends to be over 15, as they often include violence amongst other contentious themes.

We aim to attract an audience from ages 15-30. The reason why we have chosen a fairly young target audience, is due to the modern aspects/themes of our film. For instance we use social networking as a tool of communication between the victim and her soon-to-be kidnapper, so in this sense, a younger audience will find it easier to relate to these modern aspects of our film (as they are generally more active with social networking), so in turn, will become more emotionally engaged to the film. Also, our characters will be played by very young actors, so obviously this will in turn attract young viewers. People who aren't socially engaged in the internet may find it harder to relate to our film, as in order to empathise with the plot it is key to understand the huge role social networking plays in young peoples lives, whilst being aware that it can be used as a dangerous weapon for people like our male character (the abductor)

A2 projects/film openings

This first one 'Angeldust' has many similar aspects to ours, and I feel it would be wise to take inspiration from some parts. Much like with the latter, we have a scene based around typing on a computer. The mise en scene in this piece is something I wish to replicate; the darkness and eeriness of the room will help project the dark nature of the male abductor.

How to make a thriller genre movie

After reflecting on my various sources of research I put together ideas to do with and aspects of the genre 'thriller'. Develop a simple but cinematic story and script establishing the needed sense of danger for the main character and the other characters in the movie. Some of the popular elements a thriller story holds include suspense-filled chase scenes (which we are thinking of having), "whodunnit" plotting that allows the audience to wonder who killed a character or who committed the crime in the story. This is not the case with our film, as the 'whodunnit' element is taken away in the trailer; its more a case of 'what happens next'.  Also their should be shocking sounds and visuals that surprise the audience every now and then, and unexpected twists and turns in the story that provide adrenaline rush to both the characters and the audience. Usually, the plot of a thriller intends to isolate the protagonist from his or her surroundings (and possible help) as the danger to him grows. The latter point is vital, as it means the viewer develops a bond of sympathy with the protaganist and therefore becomes absorbed into the film. In our film, we think the audience will have this feeling for our protagonist, as she is essentially kidnapped

Furthermore, the camera should take on human qualities to make the audience feel as if they are there; you can play with there emotions. Plus, putting emphasis on the pacing of the movie during editing helps make fit in with the genre. Use variations of tight and long shots, short and long takes and moving and stationary shots to visually provide an effective succession of images, emotions and ideas.

Use sound, music and silence to evoke the needed emotions in every scene, infusing them in accordance with the scenes. Also a loud sudden noice (a bang for instance) after a long and tense silence will help to release emotions of restlessness, tension, nervousness and panic. Also the tempo of non-diagetic sound helps to evoke the desired affects.

Script for our project

Hebe and I have devised a rough script for our trailer, although, as of yet, it contains no dialogue. Of course we are likely to make some changes and developments at a later date.

-The first scene of our trailer will be a shot of the girl conversing with the older man, arranging to meet him in London. This conversation will be via the computer (we will make the dialogue very clear for the viewer) 

- The next will be her getting ready, with the implication that she is looking for a sexual relationship (e.g her picking up condoms etc.

-We will then have a parallel scene of the man getting ready, and using levi strauss' narrative theory, we will make the two scenes of getting ready completely contrasting in mise en scene (we may even do a split screen for more of an emphasis) for binary opposition

-The next scene will cut straight to her getting off the train at paddington (as paddington is symbolic of chaos and business). To add to this , it is dark and gloomy day. We will also begin to show suspense through tense music; we will increase the tempo as it builds up to the meeting in order to reflect the nerves and tension.

-Subsequently, we film her making her way out of the train station and then an arm grabs her fairly aggressively and takes her off into the distance (we will have non-diagetic sound to help emphasise this).

-At this point we stop the trailer and have a transition to a black screen with the name of our film on it.

3 Audience Theories

Hypodermic Theory

The Hypodermic 'needle' theory implies mass media have a direct and powerful influence over passive audiences. The word needle refers to how it 'injects' (like a drug) information that will affect the recipient. It is said that media text changes the behaviour of the consumer. The theory came about in the 1940/50's after the sudden expansion of radio and television industries (media industries) whereby societies were exposed to more advertisement and propaganda. Evidence of this theory being valid, would be the Nazi propaganda (masterminded by Goebells) which indoctrinated millions of people, causing people to support such an evil regime.  The population (with regard to this theory) is seen as a sitting duck.


Two Step Flow

This theory believes that information from the media moves in two distinct stages. First, individuals (opinion leaders) who pay close attention to the mass media and its messages receive and revise the information. They then pass on what they have learned to a more passive audience. They can be seen as a middle man between the mass media and audience.

Uses and Gratifications thoery

This is a widely accepted theory when understanding mass communication. It expresses the view that consumers are not passive, rather, they take an active role in interpreting text. Furthermore, the theory assumes that audiences use the media to fulfil specific gratifications and that people are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs. Critics claim that this is not the case; audiences cannot necessarily choose what they watch, read or hear as they are not in control of what is being produced.  

4 Narrative Theories

Propp's Theory

He argued that whatever the differences are between stories and fairy tales, they all share the same internal structure. Characters and actions should be grouped into:

- 8 roles (spheres of action)

- 31 functions

Levi Strauss' Theory

He believed that all narratives could be reduced down to binary opposites. He had little interest in looking at the order in which events were arranged, rather, he highlighted the importance of the deeper arrangements of themes. Here are some examples of binary opposites:

Good VS Evil

Modern Society VS Traditional Society

Weak VS Strong 

Domestic VS Savage

Joseph Campbell's Hero Quest 

Joseph Campbell believes that you should set your protagonist upon the hero's journey and create a justified narrative. He investigated many global religious texts and looked to see whether there were common attributes, whether there was a typical narrative structure. He then broke this down into 12 parts, 3 stages of 4 parts each:
The first stage was seting up he quest (call to adventue).
The second stage was the adventure itself .
The tird stage was the retern of the Hero. 

Todorov's Theory

Todorov came up with a theory that most narrative storylines include similar conventions, his theory argued that many storylines had 5 common conventions and that many story’s follow these conventions. These 5 conventions are:

The narrative is driven by attempts to restore an equilibrium. Although the equilibrium attained is never identical to the initial one. Moreover he believed that narrative must involve a transformation; the characters change and transform as the narrative develops and often, it is due to the disruption.

Dogme 95

Dogme 95 was a film making movement started in 1995 by 4 Danish directors; they set out some basic rules from which to follow:

1) Filming must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in.

2) The sounds must not be produced apart from the images vice-verca.

3) The camera must be handheld. However the camera must not be propped up on anything.

4) The film must be in colour. Any other artificial light is not allowed.

5) Optical work and filters are forbidden.

6) The film must not contain superficial action (eg a  murder.)

7) Temporal and geographical alienation is forbidden.

8) Genre movies are not allowed.

9) The film format must be Academy 35mm

10) The director must not be credited.

The movement started due to the high budget Hollywood movies being brought out at the time, the Dane's wanted to offer an effective but affordable alternative, which has certainly proven itself to be credible, and has stood the test of time (Dogme 95 films still being made today). These were rules to create filmmaking based on the traditional values of story, acting, and theme, and excluding the use of elaborate special effects or technology. So as a result, we see it as a prefect style with which to create our A-level films.

Exploring Creativity

In order to inspire ideas for my narrative I chose to do the '15 minute story' task, whereby I wrote a story off the top off my head within 15 minutes. I found it astonishing how I was able to come up with a story in such a short space of time.

Danny was just your average man living an average life. When it come to Saturday he was bursting with excitement at the prospect of a victory against Southend United. Danny and his fellow Millwall FC fans, made their way to the game, absorbed in the atmosphere, and of course the alcohol. Once they had entered the ground their was immediate sense of hostility between the two sets of fans. The game dragged on with the scores level at 0-0, up until the sixty sixth minute when Southend found the back of the net. Danny and his chums were extremely aggravated and began to pelt rocks at the Southend FC supporters. Suddenly, one of the oppositions fans pulled out a gun and, shot repeatedly in Danny's direction. The next few moments are a blur; Danny was a victim of this horrific act.