Weekly Updates (Abigail Odum)
Week 2
This week we made a few changes to our 2 min synopsis as we felt that the storyline wasn't that great so we came up with a completely new concept and we are happy with it now. In addition we made a questionnaire to allow people to vote on our blog and to also give us feedback. Also as a group we decided to create a Thriller sequence as we preferred that genre and after reading through the genre research, we understood the genre a lot more.
We created a shot list for our preliminary task and we also did research on the 30 degree rule and the 180 degree rule. By next week we hope to make a start on filming our preliminary task and also editing it.
The 30 Degree Rule (Abigail Odum)
The 180 Degree Rule (Abigail Odum)
Basically this means that when filming you shouldn’t cross the line of vision, this is an invisible line that has been established in the first shot. This is because it will disorient the viewer as the character’s position on screen will switch. The rule must never be broken however some film makers purposefully break the rule to disorient the viewer. An example is that in a car chase scene, if the car is travelling from right to left, the next shot must also be shot from the same side. This helped us as we were filming our preliminary because it gave as an insight of what the rule was about and how to stick to the 180 degree rule whilst filming.
This helped us as we were filming our preliminary because it gave as an insight of what the rule was about and how to stick to the 180 degree rule whilst filming.
Thriller Sub-Genres (Abigail Odum)
Thriller films are difficult to put a definition on, this is mainly because they can cover a range of different types of films. A few different types of thrillers can be seen below:
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 sequence falls under the action thriller category as the audience don't witness any violence in the opening sequence however it's there will be elements of action in our 90 minuite film.
Source used: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre)
Featured Film Synopsis (Billy Camden)
David Smith (23) was an employee hired by a man named Stephen Brown and has recently been fired from his job, leaving David with no money and bankrupt. Davids idea is to kidnap Stephen Browns daughter name Jessica (16). David sees her walking home from college one day and follows her, forcing her to run away and search for help. Jessica sees a woman in a window named Melinda Fox (20), and goes to her for help, but what Jessica does not know is that David has paid Melinda to capture Jessica in her home and then when she is in there, David will kidnap her. David ends up kidnapping Jessica and takes her to a place which is very hostile and remote.
The next day Stephen Brown rings up the police and reports his daughter missing, then a search for Jessica begins. Stephen then receives a phone call that same day from David, David tells Stephen that he is holding his daughter for ransom, and will only release her for a sum of £5,000,000. David then puts down the phone and Stephen reports the phone call to the police.
After a few days David is approached by Melinda (the woman who set up the kidnap) and she explains how she has heard of the ransom sum of £5,000,000 David is holding over Jessica, she explains that she wants a sum of that money for helping David before, David refuses and Melinda goes on to explain how she will tell the police if he does not respond to her wishes. David turns on her and beats her up and explains that if she ever did tell the police of what happened and what David is doing then he will kill her and she will never see a spec of money again. He then throws her out and she says "I'm gonna get you for this, and the money, I'm going to get every last penny!".
As a few weeks pass on Stephen and the police are trying to search for David and Jessica by tracing the phone call and trying to ring that number back. After a numerous number of failures, Stephen receives an unsuspected phone call from his daughter Jessica, saying where she is, whos holding her captive and what to do. She tells her dad to meet her and David at an old rust yard tomorrow. As Stephen agrees to this David takes hold of the phone and begins to talk to Stephen, explaining that Stephen should come unarmed without any police or any other people with him and with the £5,000,000. He also explains that he will have five men with him, all armed with guns and if Stephen turns up with any police then David and his men will kill Stephen and his daughter Jessica. Stephen agrees and both men put down the phones.
The next day, Stephen prepares all of the money in a brief case and prepares to leave, as he leaves he is approached by a number of police officers who hear that Stephen is about to meet with David and they try and convince Stephen to let them go with him and arrest David, but Stephen thinks of his daughter and says no to the police, not telling them where he is meeting them and who David is with and leaves to collect his daughter.
Stephen arrives at the old rust yard alone, and after 5 minutes of waiting David and his 5 men arrive with Jessica. The two men exchange words and then discuss how the exchange is going to be made. David wants Stephen to hand over the money first and then he will release Jessica, but Stephen is reluctant and insists that David passes over his daughter first. Suddenly David pulls out a gun and points it to Jessica's head and says to David that if he doesn't pass over the money now he will shoot Jessica. Stephen tries to calm David down and swiftly passes the money over to him. As David receives the money he pushes Jessica over to Stephen, he then points the gun at her and says "you should never have sacked me Stephen" and a gun shot is sounded. Everything is silent and the audience believe that David has shot Jessica but as the camera has a shot of the back of David, you see him fall down slowly and it is shown that David has been shot. Stephen and Jessica are still standing there believing David has pulled the trigger but as they look up they see a squad rant of police officers arresting Davids men and see David laying on the floor.
The head investigator of the police approaches Stephen and explains how the police tracked down the location of the meeting between Stephen and David and how they new David was going to try and kill both Stephen and Jessica. After a the police have finished, and returned the money back to Stephen, he takes Jessica to the hospital so they can see if she has suffered from anything, after she has been checked they both go back to their home. As they arrive at their house Stephen notices that the window is open in the side alley of their house. Stephen tells Jessica to wait in the hall way whilst he sees what the window is doing open. He goes to the window and closes it. He then says "don't worry honey, false alarm" and as he turns around he is smashed on the head with a golf club by a shadowed person. Jessica is trying to speak to her dad but she receives no response as Stephen is nocked out. Then appearing from the shadows comes Melinda who had helped David kidnap Jessica. She begins to explain what she has done and as the intensity grows Melinda approaches the scared and frightened Jessica and says "what's the matter? a little 'unsuspected'?" and knocks her out. You then see Melinda walk out the door with the briefcase that contains the £5,000,000.