Production Schedule

Filming Dates: 8th November - 22nd November


Shooting Timetable

Tuesday 9th
Film the clock for half an hour the time being 1:30pm - 2:00pm
Location: Hannah's living room
Filming: Hannah
Actors: NoneProps: Clock
Estimated Time: 1 hr

Wednesday 10th: 
Afternoon: All the outside scenes in the daylight of walking to meet.
Location: Streets of Selhurst
Filming: Sophie, Hannah, Jack
Actors: Hannah, Jack
Props: Costumes, ring.
Estimated time: 2 hrs


Evening: Walking shots in the evening of exchanging the document.REMEMBER to take picture.
Location: School (corner with street lamp)
Filming: Hannah, Jack, Sophie
Actors: Jack, Sophie, Hannah. Props: Camera, ring, envelope, bag, briefcase and costumes.
Estimated time: 1 hr

Thursday 11th:
Morning: film woman 2 on the train.
Location: Train
Filming: Sophie
Actors: Hannah
Props: Ring, costume.
Estimated time: 15mins


Late Morning: Cafe scene in the day light.
Location: Cafe
Filming: Sophie, Jack
Actors: Hannah, Jack.
Props: Printed photo, cup of tea, costumes
Estimated time: 1 hr
Afternoon: Email scenes and phone scenes in the edit suite (dark lighting to show evening) and a classroom bright lighting to show morning.
Location: Edit suite and classroom.
Filming: Hannah, Sophie, Jack.
Actors: Jack, Hannah. Props: Phone, laptop, computer, coffee, ring, camera and costumes.
Estimated time: 2 hrs

Friday 12th:
Email and phone scenes if we are unable to film on Thursday.



We printed a copy of this

Initial Thoughts - Our Thriller Opening

We chose our groups that we would be working in to create our own thriller opening. We decided to work in the same group that we did for our prelim task because we knew that we could work well together. I have been best friends with Sophie for years and we know we can work productively together and be honest about what we think of each others ideas. We also live very close to each other so we are able to meet up regularly. Jack is a valuable group member because unlike me and Sophie, he did media for GCSE and is a bit more experienced, he is easy to get along with and fun to work with.

Once we chose our groups we watched a few of the thriller openings that were made by the previous year so we could get some ideas and see what was achievable. We began to discuss our ideas and put them together to create a synopsis by the end of the lesson.

Our initial idea was to have a flashback incorporated into the scene. We developed this idea and decided to have a girl sitting by herself in a room looking blankly. We would then create a flashback of her seeing a crime being committed and her running away not knowing what to do. We thought more about this idea and decided to reject it as it would be very hard to achieve the flashback effectively and successfully without it looking strange or confusing.

We thought back to one of the films we saw from the previous AS group and liked the idea of information being passed on. Therefore we decided to do something similar by basing it in the city. We came up with the idea of an image or photograph being passed on which could ruin someones career. We liked the idea of blackmail or a ransom being involved also.

We developed this by creating a story of a man and a woman talking to each other in a way that made it appear that they were having an affair. There would then be an onlooker in the scene with a camera who would take photos. We liked the idea of making it look like the shot was from the camera's point of view. If these photos got out, it would jeopardise the man's career. We then had the idea that the woman taking the photos would be a friend of the man's wife and a work colleague of the man. She would then be seen planting the pictures in places where the man could see them, there would be notes attached to the pictures threatening the man in some way. We decided that it would be good not to show the woman's face during the opening until the end. Instead, we would show close ups of her hands and she could be wearing a ring so that the audience could identify who she was. We wanted to involve the city in our opening somehow but didn't know what to do.

We looked back on our notes and thought that an affair wouldn't really be thrilling and couldn't work out how we could put suspense into our opening to make it exciting. We spoke to our teacher about this and she agreed that she wasn't sure about the affair idea and suggested that we should re-think this and maybe have two men instead. She also suggested that we use email instead of planting the pictures. We re-thought our ideas again and came up with a new scenario...

- Two men discussing something, one hands over some documents of some kind in a secretive manner.

- A woman is seen inside a car overlooking the scene with a camera. We only see her hands (and her ring) she takes photos of the men (shots from the cameras point of view in black and white)

- The woman is seen on a computer typing an e-mail. (shots showing her from behind, shots showing her fingers typing and her ring) we do not see the message she is typing yet.

- One of the men is seen opening the e-mail and opens the picture (of him and the other man) attached to the e-mail and reads the message which tells him to meet the woman in a certain place at a certain time.

- He then calls the other man and says "They know".

- Both the man and the woman are shown on their way to the place. We still do not see the woman's entire face. Maybe extreme close ups of her eye or mouth and shots of her hands.

- They meet at the place (cafe?) and the woman slides the picture across the table (we see her hand with the ring)

- The man says "What do you want?" and looks at her. The woman's face is seen for the first time and she is looking down at the picture. She then looks up at him and says "You know" (evil smile)

Synopsis

Notes

Notes

Thriller Institutions

Paramount Pictures Corporation

As the oldest existing film studio, founded by Adolph Zukor in 1912, the American Paramount Pictures is one of the top selling and most popular. It is also the last major studio in Hollywood and the oldest surviving Hollywood film logo in which appear at the start of every Paramount film. The logo was said to have been based on a doodle of the Ben Lomond mountains by W.W. Hodkinson in a meeting with Zukor.
Paramount has worked with various directors including well known thriller director James Cameron. They have also worked with other companies like Dreamworks, Marvel Comics and Universal Studios.
Paramount has many different divisions like digital entertainment, home entertainment and international. Holding the number 1 position in worldwide market share at $3.7billion, Paramount have produced many thriller films including Collateral, Indiana Jones, Lara Croft, Mission Impossible, Top Gun, Eagle Eye, Deterrence, Disturbia, The Talented Mr Ripley, The Gift and Shutter Island. However, Paramount is a very mixed genre company and has produced and distributed various types of film, some of the most popular including: The Titanic, Iron Man, Kung Fu Panda, Tropic Thunder, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Forrest Gump, Braveheart, Madagascar, Transformers and The Ring.
Distribution filmography - over 6000 films
Production  filmography - over 2500 films
Miscellaneous filmography - 250 films

Thriller Directors

Alfred Hitchcock - "Always make the audience suffer as much as possible."

Alfred Hitchcock was born in the East end of London (Leytonstone) in 1899 and died in California aged 80. He as famous for being "The master of suspense" because he successfully built tension in all of his films, which are very psychological. He also appeared in his films as cameos and extras. His most famous films include: Psycho (1960), Vertigo (1958), Rear Window (1954) and Suspicion (1941).
He has directed a huge 58 films and had a long career spanning from the 1920s to the 1970s. A common trade mark of a Hitchcock film is a beautiful blonde lead.






Steven Spielberg - "I dream for a living."
 
Born in Ohio in 1946, Oscar-winning Steven Spielberg is an American director, producer and writer. He is probably the most famous Hollywood director and has directed a huge number of successful films, including thrillers such as Jaws (1975), Jurassic Park (1993) and the Indiana Jones series. His career spans from the 1950s to present day. Some conventions of his films are: people often discover something extraordinary, powerful flashlight scenes, references to World War 2 and uses piano music in key scenes. 




James Cameron - "The magic doesn't come from within the director's mind, it comes from within the hearts of the actors."

Canadian director, James Cameron, was born in Ontario in 1954. He worked his way from an art director to a successful director, who's work includes action-packed thrillers like Alien (1986), The Terminator (1984) and Avatar (2009). Common trade mark often seen in his films include: a strong lead female (eg. Ripley in Alien), close-up tracking shots, dreams, have water or the ocean as a theme, the line "Go! Go! Go!". His career spans from the late 70s to present day.

 

Thriller Actors

Actors/Actresses who make regular appearances in thriller films include:
- Tom Cruise
- Matt Damon
- Janet Leigh
- Harrison Ford
- Angelina Jolie
- Leonardo DiCaprio
- Grace Kelly
- Samuel L Jackson
- Nicole Kidman
- Cary Grant
- Sigourney Weaver
- Robert De Niro 
- Bruce Willis
- Clive Owen
- Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Johnny Depp
- Will Smith

Janet Leigh

Janet Leigh, born in 1927, had an acting career spanning over many decades dating from the 1940s right up until the 2000s, she died in 2004. She was well known for her role as ill-fated heroine Marion Crane(Mary Bates) in Psycho in the 60s. Her character dies in an iconic scene... She goes to her room and takes a shower, which feels to her like absolution for a crime she had commited. But it's too late for that. The motel owner enters the bathroom masquerading as his mother carrying a kitchen knife, which he uses to stab Mary to death. 
Janet Leigh appeared in many other thrillers like Touch of Evil and The Fog. She plays similar helpless characters in most of her films and is usually a victim. She was chosen for her role in Psycho for her good looks and acting skills. This meant that she was type casted from then on.

Angelina Jolie 
Angelina Jolie, a more recent actress born in 1975, is well known for her role as Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider series. Unlike most female characters in thriller films, she is portrayed as a heroic character. She comes across as even more powerful than the men in the films and is an inspiration to young women. She plays similar characters in Salt, The Wanted and Mr and Mrs Smith. Angelina Jolie could be a thriller actress because she is considered as one of the worlds most beautiful women and would appeal to the male audience because of her attractiveness. However she would also appeal to a female audience because people would want to be like her. She is very strong and therefore is more suited to an action thriller. 

Matt Damon
Matt Damon, another recent thriller actor born in 1970, is well known for his role in the Bourne series in which he plays Jason Bourne. The spy films explore the life of Bourne, a former CIA assassin suffering with psychogenic amnesia. Matt Damon plays a heroic character with a tormented past fighting to learn about himself. He also appears in Oceans Eleven, Oceans Twelve and Oceans Thirteen. He may have been picked to play these characters in thrillers because he is young and good looking which would attract a female audience. However he is also quite normal looking which would make a male audience identify with him and want to be like him.

Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford, born in 1942, has had a film career spanning from the 60s up until now. He is recognised for his role the Indiana Jones series where he played an intelligent hero who is notable for his trademark whip, hat, leather jacket and fear of snakes, but rose to fame for his earlier appearances in the sci-fi Star Wars series. Harrison Ford may have been chosen to appear in thrillers because he is a fairly normal looking man with a certain attractiveness. This means that he appeals to a wide audience of male and females. Also, in the most recent Indiana Jones film he appeared as his character even though he is much older now which would attract the older audience.