Final storyboard

Institution research

Universal Pictures

Universal pictures is an American film studio founded in 1912 by several people and is the oldest film studio in the United States and is one of Hollywood's 'Big six' studios. They are owned by Comcast through the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group and they have two main studios, one in California and the other in New York City. They have created several thriller movies which include all the Bourne films, The silence of the lambs, Jaws, Inside man, Safe house and many more. 

Warner Brothers

Warner brothers is another American entertainment company, film distributer and film company and is also in the Hollywood's 'Big Six' companies. Founded in 1923 by the 4 Warner brothers, Harry, Sam, Jack and Albert, which is also the reason for the name of the brand. The headquarters are located in Burbank, California with an estimated number of employees of over 8000. As they are such a big company their revenue in 2015 was 12.99 billion dollars. They have produced well known films that include The Dark Knight, Inception, The Matrix, Harry Potter, Lethal Weapon, The Exorcist and many more.

           

20th Century Fox

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation is an American film studio of which is another one of the Big Six film companies. They are based in Los Angeles  in a studio that was previously owned by a News Corporation. It was founded in 1935 by William Fox, Joseph M Schenk, Darryl F. Zanuck. This film company was a result of a merger between the founders, Joseph M Schenk and Darryl F. Zanuck wanted to merge with William Fox's company, Fox film due to it financially failing. They then created 20th Century Fox and produced many successful films which put them all in a financially stable situation. 20th Century Fox has been responsible for many films including, Avatar, Star Wars, Gone Girl, The Revenant and many more.

Questionnaire Results

To show the results that our questionnaire showed, we decided to create a presentation on prezi as it shows the result in a clearer way. The prezi is shown below..
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Title ideas

The first title design ides that I have found is this very thin and light grey coloured font. This design is very simple and sophisticated as the thinness really brings the attention to the words being capitalised. I have chosen the letters to be capitals because it ,aces it a lot bolder and makes the letters stand out a lot more and increases the impotence of the title, as capitals are usually used when something big is happening, which is the feeling we want to give with the thriller. Another reason why i like this design is because its very clean and looks very professional because of the simplicity.

The second title is a much bolder choice, I have chosen this because it looks very similar to a newspaper article title, which would really fit with the story that we have because the young girl has been abducted which would be shown in the news so this title is almost foreshadowing that this girl has been taken. The title is also very thick which makes it appear much louder than the previous title, however it doesn't look as clean and professional as the first chosen title which is a negative factor because we want our title to look as professional as possible, and the thickness appears quite amateur like, so this title may not be the chosen one.



The final title design that i have chose is almost a mixture of the two above, it has the darkness and boldness of the second choice, with there professionalism of the first choice. This is good because it's a nice thickness to where its bold and eye catching, but its isn't too thick that it looks tacky. The actual letters also have a unique design because some of the letter have a different edge to them which relates to the film, because it shows that something complicated or intelligent is going to happen.

Psychological thriller

Black swan opening

A psychological thriller is a story which emphasises the abnormal mental state of its characters often focusing on mental illnesses and creating fear within the film based on the mental state.

One psychological thriller is Black Swan which is based on a female ballerina that struggles to keep her sanity when given the lead role in the "Swan Lake" dance. In the film we see her as a very innocent young woman, but throughout, we see how her dark side shows when the pressure increases.

The opening to the thriller is shown below in the video.

This opening is both simple but effective as it just shows one scene on a black crayon being pressed on paper drawing something that's unclear. By using the colour black it instantly sows that there is some darkness within the film because the colour is often associated with death or something evil, so by using it in the opening sequence it makes it clear to the audience that the film is a thriller. The use of the crayon as oppose to a pencil brings a harshness when on the paper and a much darker and messy effect because of the uneven application it has. The crayon allows for the drawing to look a lot more sinister especially as the sequence continues and the lines get more intense it starts to appear as something that maybe someone who is mentally unstable is creating it. This is because the pressure increases with the music so maybe they are suggesting that the music being played has a connection with the person drawing. This then gives the thriller the psychological feeling with the very quick change of emotion that the music can have.
The music used in the opening is "The Swan Lake" by Tchaikovsky, which is has a key relationship to the storyline of the film because Nina is dancing the swan lake show. So by using the music it instantly foreshadows the ending of the film, or at least the main theme of the thriller. The music starts of very calm and correlates with the actions of the drawing, but as the beginning continues, the music gets more and more impactful and concentrated because the classical sounds progress into sharp noises that are very commonly used within thrillers. This is technique in a psychological thriller is very powerful because as they are about mental conditions, its something you cannot notice or see at first but as time goes by you become to understand that there is something deeper, which is what the music does, because initially the opening seems normal, but as the music increases in sound and pitch, it progresses the whole opening to something different to how it started. Just like how psychological thrillers present there stories, they use time to reveal the real story.
Within the thriller it is just using one shot, this is an extreme close up with the crayon, paper and a hand being shown. The use of these three simple features allows this thriller to maintain all of its focus on the music and black lines. This is good because we aren't distracted by other props or characters that could potentially impact the intensity if the shot was perhaps a wide shot or a long shot.
The titles uses throughout the thriller opening are quite small compared to other thrillers, but they are still very noticeable and clear. They are clear because the white background of the paper allows for anything to be seen clearly and as the writing is black is stands out a lot more. The theme of black and white is also quite different to other openings because usually there would be colour to draw in the audience but because the sole focus is placed on the music and drawing, it allows for the audience to actually have all their focus on it, because if there was a lot of action in the scene then they would be much less likely to see the message of the opening.
Overall this psychological thriller is very successful when creating suspense and an intense atmosphere, and it clearly shows that the thriller is a psychological sub genre, which is one of the most important parts of an opening.

location research

House

We have chosen our main and only location to be in a house, this is because our storyline is about an intruder and a kidnapping which we thought would be best in a house as oppose to a different location such as a workplace or school.

The house that we have chosen to film in is Isobel's house, we have chosen her house because it is the most accessible and larger, which will allow us to get different angles and a wider variation of shots to film because there will be more options. Another reason is because the lay out of the bedroom will allow for the victim to be under the bed which is an important feature needed for the thriller. The layout also allows of us to do extra effects with the props because the layout of her house has windows that look out the street, we can show the shot where she drops the sheet out very clearly and easily because of how cooperative her house would be.

We decided to use a house because it also increases the fear that the audience will have because your house can symbolise a safe place, so when that is questioned and danger is brought to it, it makes you question your own safety at home. This will then make the opening a more effective and successful thriller opening. 

As we have chosen to film in a house there are limited outside variables that could effect the filming process, this is because we aren't in a public area with many other people that could potentially ruin the shot. Instead we are in a controlled environment where we can make sure that there won't be anyone walking in shots or making noise that we don't want.