Change of Thriller name

Our group had some discussions about changing our thriller's name from Bad Blood to something else. We wanted to change it because we didn't think that it fit in with our film as well as it should do. We talked about several suggestions but in the end settled with Bloody Vendetta. We chose this because we think it fits in with the theme of our thriller. And as Vendetta means revenge, it fits in with the revenge and deception in our thriller film.

Our Cast

For our thriller opening we needed four male (preferably not student) actors. They would play the parts of Patrick Callaghan, Aidan Quinlan, Sean McLennan and Connor Malone. To pick our cast we used convienience and age, as this was the quickest way to pick the four actors we wanted to use. We needed an older man to play the part of Patrick Callaghan because his part is a boss, and a crime leader in our opening. He is also threatening, but the 3 other men in the film are supposed to come accross as this too. (The character profiles have more detail about the mens characteristics).

Here are our 4 actors:

Phil Buttinger as Patrick Callaghan.

We thought that this man fit the look of the character we are asking him to play, because he looks like a man who could be threatening to others and fits the age category he needs to be in to be a boss/crime leader.

Leon Hogarth as Aidan Quinlan.

We again thought that Leon fit the character we needed him to play, as he is tall and big therefore has a threatening appearence.

Patrick Bloomfield as Sean McLennan

Ralf Kendall as Connor Malone.

For these two characters we did not think that facial features were important as the other two because they do not have a focused shot on them, so we tried to fit them into an age group rather than what they looked like.

However, after we had chosen the two actors we found to play are parts had to cancel because of certain school rules. We tried to find replacements that fit the part as well as they did, but due to lack of time we had to go with who we thought was best and not be too picky.

Here are the two actors we decided to replace them with:

Josh Rowe as Sean Mclennan

Louis Martin as Connor Malone

Preliminary Task: Film

This is our final film for the preliminary task.

Narrative of Chinatown

I studied the film Chinatown to get a feel of the narrative structure of thriller films (this may not be true to all thriller films, but is an example).


A narrative is a more detailed version of a plot which tells the story, but also tells how the story is told. A narrative commonly involves ‘twists’ in the plot and also sometimes tells the story in a particular person’s perspective or maybe even different peoples’ perspectives. This can be used to show how different characters feel throughout the film and can show how it links together. For different characters their perspective may be shown in different ways to reflect on that character’s personality.

An internal monologue can be used to tell the story of a film, this is when a character verbally commentates what is happening and what his thoughts are. The story can suddenly come to a dead end without any questions answered, which leaves the audience wondering and wanting to know what happens next. This is how a narrative can form a cliff hanger. Internal monologues and cliff hangers are typical of thrillers as they can help add a certain feel and style to the story and can also help add a mysterious and maybe dramatic effect. The use of a cliff hanger is true in Chinatown as at the end of the film Noah Cross takes away his daughter/granddaughter after his other daughter who is also the mother of his granddaughter/daughter is shot. This leaves the audience not knowing what is going to happen to the granddaughter/daughter called Catherine; her relations with her father/grandfather are bound to have a drastically bad effect on her later life (she does not know that he is her grandfather as well as father.

I would describe the narrative of Chinatown as being mysterious and tension building throughout. There are plot twists which add drama to the story a plot twist in Chinatown is when Mrs Mulwrey reveals that Catherine is her daughter as well as her sister (this is one of several twists). The story is given in the perspective of private detective Mr Gittes. Giving the story from this perspective shows what his life and work was like as a private detective at the time. It helped give us a feel of how he must have felt and seen things throughout the film. The narrative engages the audience in Chinatown as you make realisations as Mr Gittes does which makes you feel as If you yourself are uncovering the story and secrets.

The narrative of the film is very important as without it there would be no way to tell the story. The narrative is the foundation of any film and gives each film its own identity. Narrative is important in Chinatown because it creates the film to be a thriller by using the methods of how the story is told and what the story is about. Narrative is important in a thriller because you can show the narrative in many ways (e.g. an internal monologue). The narrative plays a big part in making films into thrillers.

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.