First group meeting and ideas

Yesterday, I met up with my group (myself, Tanwyn Smith-Meek and Helen Blyth) to decide on some ideas for our 2-3 minute introduction to a thriller. After thinking though several ideas, such as a chase scene, we decided that the best thing we could do to show off our ability was to have a simple plot where two men meet in a desolate area, hand over a briefcase, and a betrayal takes place. Although the finer parts of the plot have not yet been decided, I thought a good idea would be to have 1 minute of hearing one persons thoughts on the issue while he approaches the destination, and then 1 minute of the other persons. The final minute would be the trade/betrayal itself. This idea gives us a large amount of room to show off camera shots and editing - I thought that using a split screen with one character on each half would be a powerful use of both those things. With two characters and a briefcase, the rule of thirds will be very easy to use, with the men on either side and the briefcase in the middle.
For the "desolate area", we have decided to bring video footage of somewhere we think would be good in for monday, so we can see how the lighting ect works in the place, what might get in our way, and how we might film it. I am going to go to the car park which I have already written about, as I still think it would be a prime location, especially if we could get a good view of the cityscape. However, I would need to find out when it shuts, and when I could film without distractions. Other ideas so far include a forest and a lake, but I'd like to see footage of them both before I try to list good and bad points, as I am currently biased.We have decided that we do not want to create a film which challenges the thriller genre, but takes successful parts from other thrillers, and rolls them into one. This is not only very likely to succeed, as what has already been proven can rarely go wrong, but this will also give us the chance to learn lots of new techniques and watch new films. In short, we think it to be the most efficient way to learn, and that is more important than nearly anything else the subject can give us.Already we have decided that we want to create a dark thriller, which possibly means looking into the film noir genre, and watching some dark psychological thrillers, such as "The Machinist". Studing psychological thrillers also helps us with our rough idea for a plot, as the two characters will need to be very carefully planned out and must have distinct personalities. We have also decided that we want our film to have a style which stands out, maybe influenced by "Sin City", and it's use of high contrasting. It is too early to say how many of these ideas we will stick with, and so to start, we will watch and analyse the thriller genre in it's simplest form, and find out about some of the best techniques used in it, and then conciser the best way to use them for ourselves.

Spirals, Staircases, and why my metaphor is better

Recently, me and some friends went to the Lucky Star, a Chinese restaurant, which is located in the car park near Iceland. As soon as I came up, I realised that there was a staircase running through it. Perfect! Just what Miss Heald said was perfect for thrillers. Then I realised that I was stuck in a car park. Is that not an even better metaphor?

Spirals are a classic thriller signifiers because the twisting shape of the spiral reflects the twisting nature of the story, which is why they are commonly used in thrillers; for example, the intro to “Vertigo”. This is an effect that Hitchcock, who is often regarded to have been the leading figure in the thriller genre, used a lot in his films, and influenced many others to do the same (“The Matrix”, “Leon”, “Sin City”). From there, the spiral moved into staircases, which follow the same shape and ideas, but as you can view the character climbing them, it adds to the metaphor of moving through the storyline, as well as being another place to use the spiral (as you can imagine, not many films have a spiral as a central part of the plot).

So, when I was outside the Lucky Star, I saw the staircase, and then realised what could be even better than a staircase or spiral - a car park. If this was a shape, it wouldn't be as easy to describe as a spiral, it would be as complex as the thriller genre itself: dead ends, twists and turns. This is why I think that the changing shape of car parks are perfect for a thriller. Now consider all the other bonuses. It often seems abandoned, it's desolate, it's urban, it's high up, it's confusing. It's perfect. It would be the ideal place to film a shady deal or a chase, or even a mix of both. It would be great for stunts, and as I've already asked somebody I know who is skilled at parkour to possibly act in the film, stunts could easily be done. Overall, I find think that this car park should be made into a key part of our film due to the many things that can be done on it and the connotations connected with it.

This annotated video shows some first ideas based on the mise-en-scene of the car park. 

Following are some more images of the mise-en-scene of the inside of the car park taken in places I thought looked interesting. We may use these locations as guides in the storyboarding stage.

Update: We have since decided to film our thriller mainly in this car park.

Combined genre

I recently started watching "Firefly", Joss Whedon's cult-classic sci-fi/western hybrid, and I was taken aback by how well the two genres mixed. It's not the same sci-fi/western that "Star Wars" was, which had far more emphasis on sci-fi; it is far better described as a western in the future. Much like "Cowboy Bebop", the series features all the stereotypical western signifiers: civil war, train heists and shoot-outs; as well as subtly mixing in other western aspects; there is scene where the cargo bay is filled with cattle, a nod to the western stereotype of cattle ranches.

After seeing this brilliant combination of genre work so well, I realised that there are thousands of things writers could be doing with genre, instead of recycling the same generic plots over and over. However, judging from the cancellation of "Firefly", it looks like companies are afraid of taking any risks. Fox Networks didn't think that the genre would fit in with today's market, being too different, and due to that, it was only shown for a few episodes (in the wrong order) before being cancelled. Even though "Firefly has built up one of the strongest fan-bases for any program ever over the years due to its amazing DVD sales, even going as far as buying tens of copies of the series just for Whedon's birthday, it is still stuck with only one series.


This gives me a lot more options regarding my own thriller. Given the amount of genres that have been left unexplored in terms of thriller, I could very easily make something quite original, but the problem is that it could well be too different, not fitting in with the demands of the target audience, and straying away from the thriller genre altogether. I need to make sure that the target audience's (and if I were trying to get it produced professionally, the company's) requests are met, to avoid making the same mistake as “Firefly”.I should also mention that part of the reason thrillers have such an effect on the audience is that it relates to them. If, for example, I made a sci-fi, replacing all the humans with aliens, it takes away this relation and the audience would have far less interest. This thriller genre itself is also nowadays built automatically into most films, even those with no relation to it, especially in action and horror films, which often borrow ideas from the thriller genre. (In “Lord of the Rings”, there are often chase scenes, like near the start of the first film when Arwen is chased by the Black Riders. This is very closely related with the thriller genre.)

Overall, changing the genre for my film is risky, as it could lead to straying too far from a thriller, and with only 3 minutes to show that it is one, I might not have enough time. Although I will definitely consider having two genres, I am much more likely to instead have a sub-genre, one which is popular and helps to show off the film.

Perfume Advert Target audience

The target audiences for my perfume advert are the B and C1 classes. They have the money to spend on expensive perfume, and the two classes take up over 50% of the "UK Adult (15+) demographic classification of audience" chart. Audience Segmentation: From this list, I choose to aim at the reformers group, due to all the nature connotations in the draft. However, the advert is aimed at the idea of nature and being "green" being part of everyday life, and as these things are getting more and more fashionable, the advert is also aimed at the mainstreamers, although the focus is still far more on the reformers. Social Value: The self actualisers would be the group most suited to my advert, as they are the group most likely to fit into the choices from “audience segmentation”. “Enthusiastically exploring change”, a very useful thing to have when marketing a new product. This also means that if they don’t fit into my audience segmentation target, they would likely change or still give the product a try regardless. In a way, I am aiming for the contented conformers, as, I will try nothing radical in my advert, and are likely to follow the self actualisers group if it becomes a trend. Independence in choice is also one of their key aspects, and are free to buy the perfume if it fits with their choices with the segmentation or for other reasons.My advert is created with the theme of nature, calming, beautiful and free. The pose must reflect this, and still show confidence, fitting in with the higher, more complex tiers of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The bottom tier of the advert is avoided, as I expect the target audience to be more sophisticated and be above the simpler things. Although it does fit into the second tier of the triangle, "Safety", the advert is more focused on the higher tiers.From all this data, I have come up with a summary of the ideal buyer.I am aiming at a confident, secure woman; calm, but happy to try new things. She is young, in her 20s, and is at the stage of her life when her dreams in life could well become reality. She has a boyfriend, who they share a large, clean flat with, and is very happy and secure with their relationship. Although very much in touch with nature, modern technology is not beyond her. Although environmentally concious and does her part, but this barely affects the way she lives her life.

Chinatown and use of narrative

“Chinatown” has one of the most cliché thriller narratives ever. A tale of deceit, lies and corruption, the film stars J.J. Gittes, a private detective with a short temper and sharp tongue. The story is narrated mainly from his point of view- there are no scenes not featuring him as the lead, so we receive only one perspective on the story, helping us to feel his emotions far more than anybody else's. This is the same technique used in the classic detective novels by Raymond Chandler, featuring his hard-boiled, wisecracking detective, Philip Marlowe, who was the narrator in ever scene too. This has a major impact on the narrative, as his personality greatly affects the storyline. As a person, he is very serious and dedicated about his job, and as an ex-cop, still hates crime. Although he keeps up the “Tough guy” bravado as much as possible, there are scenes deliberately designed to make him seem weak underneath, such as when we see him snuggled up in bed, very defenceless. It it because of this refusal to give up and clever detective techniques (using his watch to find out when the car was moved) that the story is able to progress as it does. Gittes isn't the only character who has a major impact on the narrative though, as the female lead and femme fatale, Ms Mulwray, a seductive, dangerous woman with a dark past, is the character with contact to all the main characters in the film, which makes her a key player in the plot. She too, is made to seem very one-dimensional and hard on the surface, but we soon see her as a far weaker, defenceless character with a very troubled past. This in itself is a major twist in the plot, as from a character that we first assume is going to be trouble, (our first view of her is a very strict, confident woman, mixed with the “femme fatale” label) that she is revealed to be a very selfless, caring individual is a large plot development, which helps us, as the audience to warm to her, which is why the ending comes as such a crushing blow. How the audience sees things is a vital part of any narrative. Although Gittes isn't the nicest or most honest guy, he does what is best, and does it well, so we instantly strike up a lot of respect for the character.
A very common trait of the thriller genre is to take the basic “beginning, middle, end”, and twist it in new and interesting ways. For example, this is done in the film “Memento”, by reversing the story, starting at the end and ending at the beginning, or in “The Butterfly Effect”, where the entire plot flits between different timeliness and dimensions, adding a great deal of depth. However, “Chinatown” changes this pattern by complicating the storyline, taking us down different routes with the use of red herrings and twists. For example, the story begins when Gittes gets a request to spy on a woman's husband. After this, it is made clear that the woman was not his husband after all. Where does the intro end in this? You could claim that the story begins when he is hired to track down Mr. Mulwray's killer, as this is when the real plot begins, but then you skip out some major parts of the story. The problem with narrowing the plot down to “beginning, middle, end” is that the plot twists madly with every new revelation, so the whole story could be described as a twisting line, snaking from side to side, and sometimes even back on itself. Although the film ends, the film is never concluded on a perfect cadence, as the plot is left deliberately unfinished. What happens to Kathrine? Does Cross ever try to silence Gittes? Does Gittes ever try to get revenge on Cross? The film never even wraps up the water scandal, a part of the plot which gets left behind when peoples lives start to be at risk. For any media, to end on a negative note is very unusual, especially such an clear one.
One of the major themes that drives the plot forwards, is the darkness in the hearts of each of the characters- there are no major characters in the film that are completely innocent of anything, even the dubious, illegal methods of the protagonist. The only character to show all the characteristics of good are the two who get killed or kidnapped, namely Hollis Mulwray and Kathrine, which tells us that the narrative of the film is very negative and dark, which it is, as shown by the ending. Kathrine doesn't appear until quite late in the film either, so at the beginning, that Hollis is killed off so fast tells us that there is no room for good in the story at all.
I think narrative is a vital part of any thriller. Plot twists, red herrings and cliffhangers are all essential, almost defining the genre. It adds depth to a plot, and makes it very exiting, which is the very definition of the word “thrill”. “Chinatown” wouldn't be the film it is without those features. Although this is debatable, this film would be far worse without them. The twists and red herrings are parts of the plot, and without them, the story becomes far simpler and therefore far more dull. The same can be said for the other thriller signifiers. Without the flawed hero protagonist character, we are left with a very simple, (although possibly more likeable) main character. In the end, if we took out all these things, we are left with a very dull and unimaginative storyline. The genre would no longer be a thriller, it could either be a very simple and boring detective story, or an action film, but the film lacks a lot of action, so either way, we are left with a shell of a film. This leads me to conclude that narrative is an incredibly important part of any film; in fact, it is barely a film without it. All the choices made have a butterfly effect on the story: the way we view the characters, the way we view the surroundings, the way we view the very film itself.

How camera angles are used to show tension and unease in Lord Of The Rings

From this scene from "The Lord Of The Rings", we can see various different techniques used to create an air of tension and unease. The first used technique is moving the camera around the subject, while they move with it, to make it look like it is mainly the background that is moving. This can have a very disconcerting effect on the viewer, and while it is combined with the wary expression on Frodo's face and the tense, "warning" music, a tense atmosphere is created from a very lighthearted one in just a few seconds. This effect is very good for showing that a character is aware of something or someone, and could be used to rotate around a person to reveal somebody else standing behind them.

Next, notice the use of the 'dutch tilt', created by holding the camera at an angle so that the ground, (and everything on it) is slanted. This effect is used repeatedly throughout the scene, often in conjunction with other effects to show what is at first at first unease, but soon becomes fear. This is a shot I would like to use in my opening, due to the ease and effect of it. I could use it to portray a large range of emotions, all of which would be related to desperation and madness, which are very commonly used in thrillers. The shot has also been used in many famous thrillers such as "The Third Man" and "Twelve Monkeys"

It is also worth noting that while Frodo suspects that something is wrong, the shots are constantly being changed, as if to reflect his growing anxiety. When the Hobbits decide to hide, the camera stays in the same place for a good 10 seconds before starting to track forwards and tilt upwards at the Black Rider to make it clear that he is a very dangerous character. This is a technique I have noticed before, notably in "Analysis Of 'Spunky, the video game influenced monkey'", where in the murder scene the camera is constantly changing. This is an effect I am likely to use, as during a tense or violent scene, I will be able to emphasize the effect, as well as keeping the scene interesting and lively.

The next shot used is of the road imbetween a line of trees towards a vanishing point. This is where the "Dolly Zoom" is used. The Dolly Zoom is an effect that makes it look like the layers in the distance are moving closer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Contra-zoom_aka_dolly_zoom_animation.gif). The effect is created by tracking backwards while zooming in, or vice-versa, depending on whether the deisred effect is to have the background moved forwards or backwards. In this case it is used to echo the shriek of the Black Rider, and to show its effect on Frodo. This is another shot I would very much like to use, or at least try out, as it is stimulating and not very common, yet very effective at showing how unsettled a person is, realisation or paranoia. I think this shot would work very well at portraying the latter if combined with a close up.

Although i've mentioned this several times before, it is still worth noting that the camera moves downwards, to make the hobbits seem smaller in comparison the the Ring Wraith, showing the Wraith to be a powerful character.

Sin City and Layer Cake introductions

"Sin City"and "Layer Cake", two very different thrillers, opening in two very different ways. Where "Sin City" uses the opportunity to show off the fancy visual effects, and at the same time give us an idea of the sort of film we're about to watch; "Layer Cake" gives us a run-down of crime through the ages, setting the scene for the movie as well as introducing the main character as a cool, slick, intelligent man, so we instantly have respect for him, even with his dubious role in society. 

"When I was born, the world was a far simpler place." The opening shot to "Layer Cake" is the back of a plain, dark van. The camera zooms out slowly, showing us what it is, adding an air of faint interest into what is going to be revealed. "It was all just...cops and robbers." The van blows up, and a mellow chord fades in. All hell breaks loose, but everything feels washed out, the lack of colour, the soft music, the slow speed of the scene, even the voice of the robber shouting is quiet, as if in a dream. A smooth edit later, and we're zooming out into a 70's pad, facing a group of hippies. The colour is washed back into the scene, replacing dull blues with warming shades of orange. The camera swivels around, and next thing we know, we're facing a prison, facing the two types of inmates introduced from the other scenes. The connection between the two types of criminal isn't just in hair length though, as it's worth noting that the colour scheme of the prison is a mix of the orange and blues from the past shots, combining to create a dingy shade of green. Everything about this whole scene relates to drugs, the central theme of the film. The slow, relaxing music is a nod to the calm hippie lifestyle, the camera movement too, slow and free. The voice-over, performed by Daniel Craig, fits perfectly into the melody of the song, contributing to its sound. His slow, controlled voice fits perfectly into the tone of both the diegetic music and the pictures, as well as giving us an insight into his opinions. 
"Drugs. Changed. Everything." We skip once more, and the dopey music picks up, adding a rhythm, getting more lively. Now, we've entered the future. The dark, dull flashbacks are replaced with clean, clinical metal shelves, each lined with orderly rows of sleek metal bottles, and our protagonist walks onto the scene, observing the racks as they start to change from the future to now. The use of time skipping is very effective in the scene, as the brief history lesson makes us come to agree with Daniel Craig, which as a drug dealer, is a very hard thing to do. This way, as soon as we start the film proper, we take his side, his enemies are ours. 

Note the structure of the very start of the intro. The mainly unrelated scene, the van, slowly zooming out as our interest increases, subtly building tension, until the complete unexpected happens. This same technique is used in the opening to Sin City. It opens with an establishing shot of the city, (of which corruption and darkness is a major theme) with a woman in a flowing red dress is viewing from a balcony. A soft, yet masculine voice narrates. "She shivers in the wind like the last leaf on a dying tree" This generic, poetic use of narration used in the same way as its detective genre roots, stemming back from Raymond Chander's books. 
It is impossible not to notice the clever black and white effect of the film, which the intro first shows us. A not-too-subtle nod to the black and white film noir genre, although that isn't the only thing. As the camera switched from an establishing shot to a mid shot, revealing a man walk towards her, he speaks "I let her hear my footsteps". However, we have no idea whether the man actually lets her hear his footsteps, as the narrator, he can tell us whatever he likes, but he would want us to think that he has the upper hand. This also ties in the the Philip Marlowe stories, as we only know what he tells us, and have no idea if the truth is hidden from us. There are even more things that tie in with the film noir genre in this shot. There is the use of chiaroscuro lighting, a very common film noir signifier, used to make the man seem mysterious, as we can only see a silhouette, as well as the positioning of the 3 characters, both on the vertical lines of the rule of thirds, balancing out the shot. More obviously, there is the use of darkness and rain, which are both used throughout the whole film. Both create a very gloomy and pessimistic atmosphere, perfect for the dark deeds to be carried out.

Dream

To help me to create my own ideas, I created this document explaining simularities between different existing perfume adverts. This not only gave me a good idea of the standards and ideas used but helped me to find an idea for my perfume advert.



As a concept, "dream" is bright, heavenly. I will use the theme of nature to show this, bright green grass, the clear blue sea or soft white clouds.
Whichever I choose, the pose of the model will be dependant.
I will use bright colours to make everything dreamlike, and emphasize shimmers and lighting effects.
Lighting is very important to the theme of ad- streaks of light of heavenly light will be used to shine in, to look magical and dreamlike, exactly the effect I’m looking for. A lens flare could also be used for this effect, with the added bonus of adding some bright, positive colours to the scene. The font will be used to reflect the nature of the perfume and its audience, colourful and light-hearted. To create this effect, it must be sans-serif, simple and colourful, possibly all in lower case.
My target audience is a B or C1 class, as they will have the money to spend on perfume, and still take up over 50% of the population.
From the audience segmation list, I am aiming mainly for the reformers due to the theme of nature and because they tend to have a lot of money, but particually the more mainstream side of them, as the group is rapidly becoming mainstream as fashion gets closer and closer to nature and recycling. This fits into the simple ideas of my advert, as it tries nothing new or unexpected.

A close up version of the original to be used as a a different version of the same advert. Would be primarily used for smaller prints, as the face is easier to see.
A version of the ad aimed males so they will buy the perfume for a girlfriend. I'm not too fond of this one, but there are ideas that I could incorperate into the advert, like using a man and woman.

Influences
Thatgamecompany
Yiruma
Cloud Cult

Audience Questionnaire On The Thriller Genre

QUESTIONNAIRE RESEARCHING AUDIENCE PREFERENCES IN THE THRILLER GENRE

Copy the questionnaire into a comment and mark the correct answer(s)

How old are you?
0-12
13-18
19-29
30-49
50+

What gender are you?
Male
Female

What are your aspirations?
Further education
Travelling
Finding a job
Settling down
Other

On average, how often do you watch films?
Every few days
Weekly
Fortnightly
Monthly
Less

On average, how often do you watch thrillers?
Every few days
Weekly
Fortnightly
Monthly
Less

On average, how often do you watch British films?
Every few days
Weekly
Fortnightly
Monthly
Less

How do you watch films?
Rented
Purchased
TV
Internet download
Cinema
Other

How do you prefer to watch films?
Alone
With Partner
With Friends/Family
Other
On average, how much TV do you watch?
15+ hours per week
10-14 hours per week
5-9 hours per week
1-5 hours per week
Less than 1 hour per week

On average, how often do you watch crime/cop shows?
15+ hours per week
10-14 hours per week
5-9 hours per week
1-5 hours per week
Less than 1 hour per week

How do you watch TV shows?
TV
DVD/HD DVD/VHS/Ect
Online TV service (4OD, BBCi)
Other

What attracts you to a film or TV show?
Actor(s)
Director
Word of mouth
Advertising
Reviews
Genre
Company
Other

What sort of thriller do you prefer?
Action thriller
Crime thriller
Horror thriller
Psychological thriller
Science Fiction thriller
Spy thriller
Supernatural thriller
Other

What is your single favourite thriller from this list?
The Godfather
The Dark Knight
Alien
Chinatown
Reservoir Dogs
Sin City
Psycho
Fight Club
The Matrix
Memento
Se7en
Leon
Seen none of the above

Thank you for taking your time to complete this questionnaire.

Plot Ideas

I was thinking of the plot of "The Matrix", and how it uses very stereotypical thriller plot devices, such as the flawed hero and large amounts of mystery, when I thought that a really good idea (in my opinion) would be to lure the viewer into a perfectly ordinary world, and then twist the story completely, throwing off the watcher completely. So yes, exactly what the concept of the Matrix does to us, only instead of the rest of the film, I would focus it around another different idea. For example: A perfectly normal man finds out that nothing exists- everything is in his mind. Following ideas used in "The Truman Show" and "The Island", the man realises that once he knows this, he can shape the world in anyway he sees fit. The film could then take a "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" style twist, revealing that everything he has seen is in his mind, and he has been trapped in a coma for years. Although the idea is one that follows thousands of basic ideas used in even more films, thinking about "The Matrix" really got me thinking. The films I've already mentioned are among my favourites, so I've decided to list any ideas I get for my thriller here, and eventually come back with my group, and select the ones we like the most, and create the intro to it.

1. A series of people live out their lives, not realising that whatever they are not looking at does not exist at all, questioning their very existance. The idea would be shown by having a perfectly ordinary story for the first 5 minutes, until the camera starts to slip around the character's fields of view, revealing discrete spots of complete black. At first these would be subtle, almost invisible to anybody not watching, slowly revealed throughout the film until this is revealed completely to the viewer. The ideas in the film would reflect this, the characters bringing up the topic, as well as others that fit in, such as one dimensional views people would show on different topics. Although the storyline needs a form, would be difficult to create and is very abstract, I like the idea for a film like this, and I'm sure I could figure something out that would make it a deep and interesting film to watch, like "Revolver", a film that questions the motives and ideas of the characters. A film like this would be easy to form around the thriller genre, and I hope to work more on this idea at some point.


2. Based on "Reservoir Dogs", but focusing more on the distrust and lust for money than the separate storylines and robbery. 6 Men have just escaped from robbing a Swiss bank, and when the 7th member of the team does not regroup, the criminals debate about whether he deliberately ditched them to tell the police where to find them or whether he was shot by the police upon escaping. The tension slowly climbs upwards when the separate characters realise that not only do they have either a rat or someone who murdered the 7th character in their mist, but with the 7th gone, they all get a higher share of the money. They begin to argue about who introduced the 7th to the group, and if they too, were in on the scheme, if there even was one. All the characters begin to distrust everybody in the room until a serious row breaks out, fights begin, and another member of the team is shot. The others are all far more focused on the money than the murder, until eventually, the separate characters all start to be murdered, run away, or die trying, until only 1 is left. Upon exiting the building, the man realises that he is surrounded by police, and realises that the 7th member was in fact a spy. He shoots the traitor, and is killed by the police. This story has a lot of potential, but I don't want it to be thought as of "that copy of "Reservoir Dogs"". The entire film must focus around the relationship between the characters, filled with awkward and tense moments, for example "Hey, guys, 1.2 mil divided by the 5 of us, that's 240 grand each!".
I really like the idea of showing the feelings the characters would show after hearing this, so distrustful and uncomfortable. This film would not easily take up 2 hours though, so it could be made into a short, depending on how long I can make the script.

3. A film based around the mindset of a murdering lunatic. Although I have no real plot as of yet, I would like to film something focusing on the crazy side of a person, showing what drives him to murder, and why. Such a film would involve a lot of tense moments, bordering on horror, but also leaves me free to experiment with different ways he could commit his murders. I really liked how "The Joker" was portrayed in "The Dark Knight", but i think we saw too much of "Batman, and, and not enough of "The Joker". Also influenced by Ichi the Killer, although even with that lunatic being far closer to my vision, I don't think he was shown enough. It would be a challenge to create this sort of character as a protagonist in a way that the viewer can not be put off, but if it were done well, I see no reason why this could not be possible, films nowadays often have a lot of unjustified murders performed by the protagonist. However, on my very limited budget, something with so much graphic detail would be hard to do, unless the killer was very subtle, but this goes against his character. Although I like the idea of playing with the mindset of the insane, I doubt this idea would work too well. I could use ideas from it for something else though.

4. The intro this thriller would be two men walking towards a spot where they will meet and exchange a briefcase. However, in the space of the 2-3 minutes, we hear both characters thoughts while they approach the destination. Although they both plan to double cross each other, a new twist is revealed when the complete unexpected happens, for example, one of the men gets shot by a sniper or the police arrive. I would have just 30-45 seconds of each person's thoughts and the remaining time on the climax.

5. Another simpler opening to a thriller, this one would be a chase scene between one man and a black van. The van would seem more dangerous, and is therefore shown as a "bad guy". The scene would end with a twist, the man being chased would appear to have escaped, but upon looking around at the end, it turns out he is surrounded. Although simple and generic, this idea would work, although would be near impossible to shoot as driving a car around the city to chase someone would be dangerous and illegal.

Although some of the ideas are pretty out there, but it really shows that thinking about one films can get me thinking about a lot of things.

En7ry of the Gladiators

Sure, so Mr.Seal's comment on my essay on the intro to Se7en was probably rhetorical, but the point is, I have changed the music from the intro scene to give it an entirely different, far less sinister tone. Enjoy.Right, so, from seeing that, you should have realised, just like me, the importance of music in a scene, and how horrible it can be if you get it wrong.

Why I think "Dragon Wars" is a thriller (albeit a bad one) and more!

Yes fans, that right, I'm back, this time to discuss my hate of something stupid and boring, “D War”, or “Dragon Wars” if you live in the UK. Sure, the concept sounds totally awesome, massive dragons breathing fire and wrestling with each other, hopefully with some Satan-worshipping death metal group playing in the background. In fact, just for the contrast effect, think about all the great things a film with the title “Dragon Wars” could have. Before I continue, I should probably confirm your thoughts that I have indeed been wanting 5 minutes, a shovel and “D-War” in a windowless room for some time now, and have been struggling to find a way to justify putting my feeling on it here. So, I promptly googled “thriller d war dragon wars” in order to find any site that can back me up here. Fine, so very few sites seem to agree with me, and none of these were worth mentioning, but the point is, it is a kind of thriller, two bad actors get chased by a sna -I mean dragon- for half the film. Fine, so I guess this is a good way to vent my anger and get a half-decent grade for my A-Level. For me (although you could argue that that's not really the point), a thriller is a film that is thrilling. A thrill ride. But lets not take my word for it, lets ask “http://www.thefreedictionary.com” “One that thrills, especially a sensational or suspenseful book, story, play, or movie.” (And while you check that it is indeed a website, find “thriller” and press on the speech button. Microsoft Sam always makes me laugh) Anyway, so that's a thriller. Sure, I wasn't thrilled by the film, but if it had been good, it would have been thrilling; dragon/car chases, tension build up, cliffhangers are all thrilling, therefore make up the thriller genre. Either way, IMBD does not agree. So this post is related, don't shoot me down. Anyway, back to the bad film. So, while I craftily raised the tension just there, I can now release it. Yes, that's right, I barely raised the tension at all, I just asked you to think of a good film, and then rambled on about something else. Was that just my bad writing structure? Yes and no, because my point is that the film does just that. By “raising the tension”, the film goes off on a tangent and offers an inexplicable flashback where some delinquent teenager runs off with a princess to save her from a sna- sorry, dragon – actually, I'm going to break the flow some more, and quickly mention that the dragon is in fact a snake. No, not the cool dragons in ”Reign of Fire”, or even the bad one in “Eragon”, one of those eel/snake hybrid things in eastern mythology (They don't even breath fire!) Basically, it just suffocates things, like a big Boa constrictor, which we all know wouldn't last a second against Smaug. Either way, lots of inexplicable things happen, such as Sauron's armies being unleashed upon the earth (no, I am not joking), and giant snakes displaying stealth that would make Sam Fisher weep. The storyline is generic and features twists as simple as a metaphorical straight line, the acting is empty and cheap, and had special effects that would have looked nice 10 years ago, and seeing as the budget obviously did not go on actors, I can only assume it was spent on trying to create a dragon of their own using several eels, snakes, and a factory of aphrodisiac. “Dragon Wars” is a bit of a misnomer, as the only real fight between dragons was at the very end when they headbutted each other for a bit in Mordor (once again, really!) The problem with this is that the film struggles to show much difference between the good dragon and the evil one. In general, the people or in this case, things, fighting for the side of all which is well and good tend to be incredibly good looking, even the dragons (watch “Mulan” again and try to disagree with me) The dragon in this case was slimy and scaly, and didn't look much better than the evil one. In summary, there was no awesome guitar solo, and very little fire. Don't bother.

I found this cartoon that explains my sentiments in greater detail.
http://www.legorobotcomics.com/?id=48