Thriller Opening Titles Practice

We have also added titles to our thriller opening using Adobe After Effects. 

Thriller Sub-Genres

The use of Prezi allowed us to created a playable slideshow in order to show the different sub-genres of thrillers. 

British Board of Film Classification Research

The U symbol stands for Universal. A U film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over. However, it is impossible to predict what might upset a particular child, especially at this lower end of the category range.

PG stands for Parental Guidance. This means a film is suitable for general viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for younger children. A PG film should not disturb a child aged around eight or older. Parents should consider whether the content might upset younger or more sensitive children.

12A means that anyone aged 12 or over can go and see the film unaccompanied. The A stands for 'accompanied' and 'advisory'. Children younger than 12 may see the film if they are accompanied by an adult (eg someone over the age of 18), who must watch the film with them. The 12 certificate is just for videos, DVDs and Blu-rays. 12A is for films at the cinema only.

No-one under 15 is allowed to see a 15 film at the cinema or buy/rent a ‘15’ rated DVD. 15 rated works are not suitable for children under 15 years of age.

Films rated 18 are for adults. No-one under 18 is allowed to see an 18 film at the cinema or buy/rent an 18 rated DVD. No 18 rated works are suitable for children.

The ‘R18’ category is a special and legally restricted classification primarily for explicit works of consenting sex or strong fetish material involving adults. Films may only be shown to adults in specially licensed cinemas, and video works may be supplied to adults only in licensed sex shops. ‘R18’ videos may not be supplied by mail order.

Thriller Opening Pitch

Natasha and Kieran's Group

• Our thriller will be a crime thriller and our idea is that there will include two characters, a computer hacker and a killer. 

• The computer hacker will be our protagonist and the killer will be our antagonist.

• The plot for our opening is that the computer hacker has something valuable that the killer wants, for example government information on a USB stick. In order to get this, the killer kills the computer hacker. 

• The killer will not be revealed because this will want the viewers to continue watching in order to find out who the killer is.

• The opening for our thriller will include scenes that switch between the two characters and their lead up to the final killing.

• We will film our opening at either an office or somewhere where there is a desk with computers in which the hacker can use.

Linear and non linear animation

Linear - A film that has a clear beginning, middle and end

Non linear - A film that throws the audience off track by showing flashbacks

Thriller Audience Research

Black Swan:

We got these graphs from the IMDb website, this top graph shows that out of 10 this film was rated around 8, which means it was quite a good film. This bottom graph shows what sort of people such as males or female and what aged people prefered this film.

This graph shows that the highest rating was from males under 18 the lowest rating for this film was from females aged 45+ so this is clearly not the target audience for this film, this graph shows that the audience for this thriller is males 18 and under.

Shutter island:

These results show that the average out of 10 is 8.1, which shows that there was some good feedback from this film. The graph below shows the amount of males and female and what their age group that liked this film. The highest rating was from under 18 males. i think this is because this film is quite jump and creates a lot of suspense. I don't think this sort of film would suit the people aged 30+.

Fight Club:

We obtained these results from IMDb that show the ratings of viewers. They show that the average vote out of 10 is 8.8, which shows that there was positive feedback about the film Fight Club, especially since the film was nominated for an Oscar.

The chart below shows votes based on their gender. On average men voted 0.2% higher than women. This is probably because of the amount of violence that is contained in the film. Even more so, there are higher votes from people aged under 18 than people aged over 45. This is based on the fact that the film would appeal to a younger audience who can relate to release their frustration through violence. Plus studies show that an action-packed film can be a more appealing one.

Runner Runner

The new film starring Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck show that the average vote is 5/6 out of 10. The results are not as positive as previous audience research as Runner Runner has only just been released.

The film reviews show that the films starts progressively slowly which results in the viewers lack of interest throughout the film. There's a similar pattern in Runner Runner as there is in the film Fight Club. This means that because of the violence and action in the two films, it appeals more to men, as seen by the rise in votes from men. this film seems to appeal to more men under the age of 18 rather then men 18 and up this is because of how the film portrayed.

The silence of the lambs 

The film The silence of the lambs was voted a rating of about 8.6 out of 10 which means this film got some good feedback from the views.

this film was higher rated from men and women aged under 18, as men under 18 rated this film on average at about 8.9 and the women under 18 rated this film at about 8.8, we think that the audience for this film does not have a set gender but was liked more by people under 18, this is probably because it contains action and suspense.

Taken 

The film taken was rated an 8 out of 10 which is not bad, most of the ratings were 7 and above, the picture below shows what age and gender rated this film the highest, the highest rating was from males under 18, this is because there is a lot of action in this film and most teenagers like violence and can relate to this where someone 45+would not be as interest in this as it is mainly violence in this film.

Inception 

The film Inception was rated a high 8.8 out of 10 which shows that it was liked by all ages and is a good film. the lowest rated for this film was from females 45+ and the rating was 7.8 which is good, the highest rating was from males under 18 which was rated at 9.2 which means they really got into the film. The audience for this film would be males under 18 because there is a lot of action and violence in the film which would appeal to this age group and also males as this is stereotypically what a male would like.

The prestige 

This film was rated an 8.5 out of 10 which means that it was liked quite a lot by the views, once again the highest rated audience was from under 18 males this is because this film contains mystery and suspense throughout the film which keeps the attention of the viewer. 

From looking at these films we can see that in most thriller films it is like most by people under the age of 18 and males this is probably because most of the films contain the same thing, action and violence. this is stereotypically what a male is interested in. Most thriller films seem to appeal to the younger generations due to action, suspense, mystery and violence.

Synopsis Thriller Sub-Genres

Main Sub Genres

• Conspiracy
• Crime
• Mystery
• Political
• Religious

Other Sub Genres

• Techno
• Supernatural
• Disaster
• Action

Crime Thrillers

• Crime thrillers are a classic sub-genre of a thriller
• Mainly set in an urban society
• It focuses either on the criminals and their plot leading to the crime
• Or mainly the detective trying to solve the mystery
• Usually a mixture of action and psychology and often with a twist at the end
• Main investigation scenes consist of murders. robberies, chases, heist and investigations.

Mystery

• Relates to all thrillers because without mystery and suspense there is no thrillers
• Usually links mystery with crime
• Uses mainly detectives or investigators to solve the mystery
• Also allows the audience to solve the mystery
• Usually involves a dramatic twist that shocks the audience

Conspiracy

• The storyline usually involves a sort of hero
• Usually either a journalist or investigator
• Find corrupt secrets that the government are involved in (a secret organisation or cult)
• Secret powerful organisation goes after protagonist to keep the secret organisation alive
• Protagonist takes down the organisation
• Conspiracy thrillers usually plot against the secrecy of governments

Political

• Usually relies on a hero to save the government to prevent a bad thing form happening
• Usually consists of assassinations of presidents/ prime ministers
• Links mainly to conspiracy thrillers

Religious

• The plot is linked to religio. The narrative focuses closely on religious objects, institutions and questions (enigma codes)
• Religious thrillers often contain conspiracies as part of the narrative
• Within the narrative, it unravels the good and bad elements related to religion in particular the catholic belief

Characters

Computer Hacker

• Props - for the computer hacker we need the actor to wear either smart office wear or casual wear, depending on the hierarchy of the workplace. More props that the computer hacker would need is a computer, a chair, an office and a desk. Various other office equipment would be advised as well.

• Additional Information - The computer hacker is going to be played by a male as I think it appeals to viewers that can associate with violence, also if played by a female the film would be too controversial and risky. The face of the computer hacker may or not be shown, depending on who and how well the actor beforms.

Killer

• Props - for the killer, a hooded jumper or jacket may be needed in order to cover the identity so that the viewer is left in suspense and left wanting to know who the killer is. Another prop needed would be a knife or a gun. However a knife is easier to find than a gun so this would be the more likely weapon.

• Additional Information - The killer can be female or male because the killer will be almost covered to hide the identity of the killer. A mask may be worn but this could borderline onto a horror movie. 

Our Thriller Ideas

Moodboard 1

This is a collection of some of the ideas for the characters in our opening for our thriller. We will also have the build-up of how the murderer gets to the scene. One idea would be to arrive by car then have shots of the killer travelling by foot. In between this would be shots of the computer hacker at the scene of the crime working by a computer, with close up of the screen such as the middle-right picture seen above. Then as a cliffhanger the computer hacker will by stabbed in the back by the killer. This will finish with the killer walking out of the building. Hopefully this will create suspense for a thriller film.

Rainbow Productions Intro

For our production titles introduction we used Photoshop and Keynote to create the effect that makes the rainbow wipe across with the title. We also added audio from the opening intro for Paramount, which was trimmed in GarageBand to fit to our production intro. Also I think that the audio fits with the background as it looks like a picture from Wizard of Oz.

Rainbow Productions Logo

We based our logo on Castle Rock Entertainment Intro in which the lighthouse shines it's light to reveal the words. We believe that our logo represents our production and that with an animation can be added to the beginning of the opening title for our film.