Film and thriller genre questionnaire

Here is my questionnaire I produced for my audience research:

Please circle your answers.

1. Gender: M/F

2. Age: ________

3. Occupation:
Student
Working
Other: ____________

4. Aspirations:
Going to university
Travelling
Getting a Job
Other: _____________

5. How many times a month do you go to the cinema at the moment?
More than 6
5-6
3-4
1-2
Less than once

6. Who do you go to the cinema with?
Friends
Family
Girlfriend/boyfriend
Alone
Other ________________

7. Which certificate of film do you normally watch?
U
PG
12A
15
18

8. Which genre was the last film you saw at the cinema?
Action
Comedy
Thriller
Western
Documentary
Romantic Comedy
Horror
Adventure
Science Fiction
Musicals
Other: ____________________________________

9. Which type of Media do you most frequently consume?
Radio
Television
Cinema
Video
DVD
Newspapers
Internet
Other: _________________________________

10. How many hours a week do you consume media? (e.g. T.V, Radio)
1-5
6-10
11-15
16 +

11. What type of advertisement would attract you to a film?

Picture in a magazine/newspaper
Trailer on the television
Billboards
Reviews
Internet advertisements (E.g. Pop ups)
Word of mouth
Director
Actors/Actresses
Other: __________________________

12. Do you enjoy thriller films?

Yes/No

13. What was the last thriller film you watched, and what did you think of it?

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

14. Have you ever watched any of these thriller films?

Sin City Layer Cake Essex boys No Country for Old Men

Vertigo Panic Room Rock N Rolla V for Vendetta

The Godfather Chinatown

If you have watched one of more of these films which was your favourite?

__________________________________________________________________-

15. How many thrillers do you think you have watched in the past 6 months?

1-5 6-11 12+

16. What thriller signifiers do you recognise?

Plot Twists Internal Monologues Mystery Femme-fatal

Good Vs Evil Tension building Spirals Enclosed Spaces

Chiaroscuro lighting other: ________________________________

Preliminary Task Shooting Maps

These are our shooting maps for our preliminary filming task. These show the camera positions for each of our shots and demonstrates that we didn't cross the 180 degree line, in relation to the 180 degree rule.

Props & Costumes

Here are the props and costumes we intend to use for our thriller film:

1. A car, preferably black, dark blue or any shade of colour that doesn’t draw attention to itself. As it is a car of an organised crime group it can’t be too flashy or too big but has to be considerably fast, to race away when there are any car chases from police or other gangs as they are criminals, and high horsepower because of the dead body and the amount of people in the car. As we decided to do our opening as a gangster type thriller, and these do tend to involve illegal activities like dumping a dead body in a remote and inhabited area, transportation is needed to do this so a car is suitable for the burying of the body. An example of a car that would be good to use for our thriller is a 1990 Bentley Turbo R. However we know that car would be unattainable. So realistically we would go for something fairly old, dark coloured and fast. Such as a 1999 Saab 93 sedan or 1999 BMW 528i.

1990 Bently Turbo R (above)

1999 BMW 528i (above)

1999 Saab Sedan (above)

2. A simple black body bag/ sack to contain the dead body; with thick, shiny plastic and the zippers. This murder is a crucial twist in the film so we thought it best to keep the identity of the body hidden as to convey a sense of mystery and wonderment to the audience. Also, this was an organised murder instead of an impulsive, accidental murder so the body bag, location of burial, transportation is already arranged. Therefore the body bag is necessary to show the level of preparation in the removal of this person and the importance in which the dead person is to the narrative of the thriller.

3. Something to be the dead body e.g.: pillows/ rolled-up duvet/ sand/ punch bag. Probably the punch bag would be the best option, as it is heavy enough to make a sound and for the actors to have some difficulty carrying it.

4. Cigarettes and Zippo lighters. Zippo lighters used to give the characters in the opening a more sophisticated look and impression of higher status (working for one of the biggest gangs). Shows importance to the dead body because if the people burying the dead guy is using a Zippo lighter, and Zippo lighters are linked to higher profiled personal, than the person being buried must be important.

5. Desk is needed as we have included in the opening a gang leader and he will be in his office. Maybe a mahogany desk that’s quite wide, something that’s grand and sophisticated that reflects the characteristic of the man on the desk. He is a gang leader of significant age so his sense of style wood be a bit old fashioned and hints of tradition; so maybe a darker rather than lighter shade of brown.

6. Big chair that is most probably made of leather to correspond with the mahogany desk.

7. Lamp is the source of the lighting in the office as we will be doing some chiaroscuro lighting - this could connote mystery and sinicism to the audience and also give the idea that this man is not a good guy.

8. Slated blinds behind the desk so light shines in from outside of the room, to create a thrillerish look to the scene.

Costumes: Smart clothes and overcoats for the gangsters e.g. dark suits and dark trench coats.

These are what would be ideal, and what we hope we can get hold of, but we know that we may have to make slight changes to the props and/or costumes.

Preliminary filming task: Script

IN CORRIDOR. CAMERA TRACKS TOM down the corridor. CUTS to interior of room. CHARLIE is already sitting at the table, TOM walks to the table and sits opposite her.


TOM

Ok Charlie, now we’re all here to help you but you have to talk to us.

CHARLIE

(silence)

TOM

Come on we can never bring this
man to justice if you don’t help us.

CHARLIE

(silence)

[Gives evil stare and raises middle finger]

TOM

Now there’s no need for that.

CHARLIE

(silence)

TOM

Fine have it your way!!!

[Turns, walks out the room, slamming the door]

Thriller Storyboard

Here is our groups storyboard:

Map & Satellite Image of Our Filming Location

We used this map of the area we found to find the best suited road to film on:

We also used this satellite image to help see whether there was likely a wooded area on the side of the road which we could use to film the 'body dumping' part of our thriller:

Naming Our Thriller

Our group discussed what we should call our thriller and it was decided that because one of the main themes in our thriller is corruption and deceit, to have a title that reflects and works-around this theme.

We asked peoples opinions on each of the names we thought of and we decided on the one most liked by all.

This is a list of ideas that we came up with:
Sordid Details
Sordid Affairs
Shady Affairs
Twisted Affairs
Twisted Fiction
Twisted Specifics
Sordid Delusions
Tales of Deception
Tales of Deceit
Bad Blood

Finally, we decided on using Bad Blood the name of our thriller.

Soundtrack to Thriller Film

Our first idea for a soundtack to our film is from Sergei Prokofiev's ballet 'Romeo and Juliet', the track being 'Montagues and Capulets'. We thought this piece would fit in well with our film because it is powerful and sinister which would tie in with the betrayal and deception from our film. The soundtrack is a classical piece, giving our thriller a classic style.
Our second idea for the soundtrack was a more modern piece, which is dark and industrial. An example of this might be the soundtrack from the opening sequence of Sin City. If we went with something such as this, our thriller would have a more modern style.