RESEARCH: USER PROFILE

Target Audience: 
I made an audience profile on who we think our target audience would be. This is the target market that our film would be appealing to. Our film would be competing to get these people to watch our film rather than anyone else's. We think our target audience are male and female between the ages of 15-40. The reason that both genders are able to watch this is because it is a psychological thriller rather than a gruesome one. The social group of people that our film would be targeted at are students. They are interested in psychological films and television series and issues to do with psychology.

Clothes: Topshop, Asos, Urban Outiftters, Superdry, Topman, Vans, Converse, Toms.

Restaurants: Nandos, KFC, Wagammas, Creams, Subway.

Films: Taken, Gravity, Hunger Games: Catching Fire,

TV: Suits, Zen, Criminal Minds, CSI, The Following, Poirot, Breaking Bad, Dexter.

Technology: iPad, Android Phone, Xbox, PS3, Netflix, Twitter, Instagram.

Games: Call of Duty, FIFA, Battlefields.

Music: The Vaccines, Mumford and Sons, The 1975, Alt-J, Artic Monkeys, Bombay Bicycle Club.

We decided that we would make a audience profile like NME had as it included text and images. We did this on Photoshop as we had used this before therefore it was an easy task.

RESEARCH: WAR PHOTOGRAPHERS

I also made an Animoto to collate and present a few really influential War images. These images show the trauma that these war photographers see everyday, the only difference is it is happening right in front of them. These images really explain why war photographers do end up being so influenced by what they see and why this may lead to depression and alcoholism.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY ANIMOTO

RESEARCH: FILM DISTRIBUTORS ASSOCIATION

Today I looked into how our film would be distributed. We looked on the FDA website which gave a step to step guide of how you would distribute your film to get as many people to watch it in the opening weekend which decides its success. You must make sure that the marketing campaign is as successful as possible and that your film stands out from other films that are available at the time. The video that informed us of what happens in the professional world of film can be seen here.

The video that we watched gave us tips on things such as how the smallest advertisement can be successful. David Willings (CEO, Miracle Media Group) explains how people are constantly bombarded with different advertisements even if it is just for three seconds it can be successful.

David Willings also explains that the trailer is probably the most important part of selling the film however it is only one element and there are many other important factors to selling the film. He explains that synergy is important as it is something that is associated with the film. For example Stuart Williams (Deputy managing director and marketing director, Sony Pictures Releasing) uses Spider Man as an example as the font is the same in every film, it "works around the world" he explains. This is one way of selling a film: getting people to make the connection between films. There are three different trailers: the teaser, the TV spot trailer and the official trailer. These all do different things and are different lengths. It is explained that a good trailer shouldn't need to have any explanation to it and should also classify the genre of the film. For example thrillers tend to have less voice overs. I will take this into account when making my opening.

The poster that we see in the cinema, on the internet, in newspapers and around our town is an important part in the campaign. Robin Behling (FEREF) says that the poster should instantly show the genre of the film so that audiences know straight away what the film is about as this is normally the first look people will have of the movie.

Multimedia is also a key factor of the campaign. This is the internet and different things that we can do on it. For example a film may have a game, video, a gallery and an interview which interacts the audience before the film even comes out. I will make sure that we include an official website with our film and also make social media pages for it such as Facebook and Twitter so that the film goes viral. The facebook page has nine million followers.






The opening weekend of a film is crucial. This is a three day figure which is of your opening day which is normally on a friday. Your film has to have been successful by Monday and made more money than any film in that cinema. The results of this all depends on the success of the campaign as it is what will be attracting audiences.

RESEARCH: WAR PHOTOGRAPHERS

After deciding the job of the protagonist we have come to the conclusion that she is going to be a war photographer. The reason that we have decided this is because of the effects it has on people: watching this trauma going on can have horrific consequences. For example the most common impact on women war photographers is PTSD, depression and alcoholism. We feel that this is also a good job for Susan to have as it could be a reason for her aggressive outburst and kidnapping.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY PINTEREST ON WAR PHOTOGRAPHERS

Here I have taken some screenshots from some well known war photography:

PLANNING: NEW STORYBOARD

We decided to make another storyboard, this is because we felt we needed one which was more in depth, we also have added some new ideas to our new storyboard which we would like to use in our opening.

PLANNING: STORYBOARD

Today we created a storyboard so we know what is happening throughout our opening so each scene is clear.

RESEARCH: PHOTOGRAPHERS AND JOURNALISTS

After deciding that we should develop the protagonist role we decided that her name would be Susan March and her job should be a photographer or journalist. There are many women who are photographers and journalists. We think that this would be a good job for her to have because it shows she is interested in current affairs.

RESEARCH: MAKING A SCOOP IT

Today I made a Scoop It. This is a new way to collect and collate information from online and have it all in one place. I find this useful as then all my information is in one place online and I can see it all simply. This is also new technology which enables me to use other technologies when doing my work.

I researched other Psychological Thriller openings on Scoop It and found very little that would help me. Therefore I Scooped my own posts from other websites for example You Tubes of film trailers and Rotten Tomatoes reviews on what critics liked. This means that my videos and reviews of other professional films are all in one place. I find this a lot more simple than having everything all over the place. You can see screenshots of my Scoop It below or click here to view it.

RESEARCH: CHILD ABDUCTIONS

I have decided to look into child abduction cases which show that the ideas we have had could actually happen. When typing into google "little girl snatched" the amount of pages that came up were incredible. The amount of kidnappings that happen all around the world is horrific. This suggests that what happens in our story could actually happen.

One well known case is the Madeline McCann case which has been in the public eye for years now. This is one example of where we do not know what has happened to the child that has been abducted.

PLANNING: INITIAL IDEAS

We would like to work with the codes of enigma and suspense. Our openings begins with a woman in a hospital who has just received news that she cannot have children. This causes her to become mentally unstable. You see her watching programmes on mothers and reading books on children such as child names books. This creates enigma as we have just found out she cannot have children. We then see the reason for her actions is her obsession with dolls and young children due to trauma that she has seen at war due to her being a war photographer. We then see her reveal a doll from an old suitcase. She treats the doll like a child which is not the behavior of a mentally stable person. We then end the sequence with the woman in a park watching the other children. She then snatches one of the young children that resemble the doll and we see her walking off with this child.

We have chosen to do this as it is not a typical film that would be made by people that are given the same task as me: youngsters running through the woods with knives, however it is a film opening that would create suspense and enigma as we do not know what this woman is going to do now that she has kidnapped this child. The reason that we came up with the idea of the doll is because it is something that has been used before for example films such as Chucky (1988, Tom Holland) however not in this way. We think that creating this opening sequence will bring new ideas into the film industry.

I have written a formal treatment about our ideas: 

• Our film will start in a doctors office
• There will be a woman who is clearly nervous: shaking her foot
• A doctor comes out whilst there is a voice over of him
• She then seems angry and gets up
• Then she leaves the office 
• She leaves and goes home
• She rummages through old images
• They are of war photography
• She then rips up an image of a child
• She throws the pieces on the floor
• Then gets down on her knees and holds the images in agony 
• She watches a child with a toy
• Then goes to an old suitcase
• A doll is revealed
• There is a montage of images of her and the doll
• She treats the doll in a human way 
• She is in the park watching the previously seen child play
• The child is on the swing
• Her mother walks off 
• The protagonist begins to push the child due to her mothers absence
• The mother and child go home as the mother is startled
• There are clear camera movements indicating the woman is following the mother and daughter home
• The woman bribes the child when she is alone
• She kidnaps the child
• The end shot is of the child's toy which is now not with the child indicating danger

RESEARCH: EXISTING FILM THRILLERS

I researched psychological thriller films to find films that are similar to mine. I began looking at The Machinist which is about a man who has insomnia.

The use of this shot from The Machinist (Brad Anderson,2004), is that it forces the viewer to look at the post it note. As he leans down to look at it we become eager to see what he is looking at. I could use shots in my thriller opening to make the viewer look at what the point of the shot is rather than just put the camera on it.

This screenshot is from a film called The Experiment (Paul Sheuring, 2010). I like this shot as it is as if they are being watched and recorded on a camera. This enables us to know that what is about to happen could be significant since not only the views are watching but the people in the world of the film also are. 

This shot is from Black Swan (Darren Oronofsky, 2010.) I think this shot is effective as it is a close up reaction shot and really captures the girls fear. I could use this in my opening sequence.

The above screenshots are both from American Psycho (Mary Harron, 2000) The top one I like as the camera has just tilted down showing a group of weapons that the psycho could use to commit the crime. I like the way that the camera does this to almost show what he is thinking. The second camera angle is effective as the camera is on focus on the man that is about to have some sort of harm done. The use of black gloves suggests he is evil and this
creates suspense as we want to know what happens to the victim.

This image is from We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay 2011) The reason that I would want to recreate a shot like this is because you can see her in the reflection of the camera. Simple words like this are effective as the audience want to know what it means. Having her reflection in the computer also gives a different view shot. 

RESEARCH: DON'T LOOK NOW

Today we analysed Don't Look Now (Nicholas Roeg, 1973.) Although this is a slightly older thriller in comparison to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, it is still completely effective in demonstrating thriller codes and conventions.