The Film Industry

1) The uk film industry is producing fewer and fewer films a year, convergence has lead to this decline. First of all piracy; it can eliminate 30% of a nomal paying viewer. This means that less of the needed money is getting earned back from the Uk film industry. With instant viewing and torrent seeding small budget to large budget films can be viewed for free, illegally after a week of be issued in screens- this clearly shows that less intake of money is inevitable. As britian doesn’t own the most powerful film/media companies in the world (US does), UK films converges with US money and resources- this means the money from the UK imput is lost in the US. Although there are plenty of negatives some postives can be drawn; uk actors getting noticed and ppreciated across the sea, for example Keria Knightley, Colin Firth, and Simon Pegg. This expands the UK films industry and increases a higher demand for similar talent. Also more romantically the convergence allows more and more individual unique projects and film can be made and watched all across the globe, this can create amazing cult films and ideas. 2) The internet has now opened up a cross over market of independent film makers- uploading their short films for free. The film makers of big films such as ‘Fanstic Four’ use the internet as a source of attracting audiences they did this in many way. ‘fantastic four’ was a PG, and appealed to a great deal of people. The film makers attracted audience throught the internet via online advertising such as toolbar advertising and trailers on youtube- two very simple methods. Initiation an online site its allowed to attract the audience to, free games, wallpapers and other co-operate internet media’s. The internet is open to allow companies to push out their films as much as possible- this form of push media costs a lot of money but can pay off directly. 3) Almost every film ever made since at least the 1960’s has some sort of fan page on facebook, this shows that social networks and the film usistry now in the 20th century have a very close bond. Youtube now allows anyone in the world to view video clips: trailers are the 2nd most viewed type viewed on youtube. With its simple user interface a person of ninety years old in suffolk has the potential to view the latest ‘Saw’ film trailer. Facebook, twitter and myspace are all turning over millions a year due to film advertising- you cannot escape knocking the latest realesing once on the internet. Against your own will on the internet you are constantly reminded of films in cinema’s, the creation of video format advertising and screen fills has shown the dominance of film in the social networks eg MSN home page. For someonelike me- intrested in film and popular internet sites, the convergence of the the two make my viewing much higher and enjoyable that it would be. I have found out about new films, films events and even managed to get to a film premier thought site such as Facebook. These ‘Super sites’ have enhanced the film industry, but also taken away the rough and surprise from a lot of small films. A true example of these media converging hand in hand is the release of ‘ The social network’ a recent film of a high budget about the creation of ‘facebook’.

Thriller Openings

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storyboard/shot list

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Location

House (exterior)

The exterior of the house will most likely to be filmed at night unless a lighting error is to occur which means not enough light can be seen. There will be a long shot of the character entering the house and then a POV shot from the upstairs right window to add to the narrative of the film and also set up the intro as the actor is to be staying in that room whilst he stays with family

House (Interior)

These two shots show the entrance way to the interior of the house which will be shown when the actor enters the house and is greeted by the actor who will play the father of the family whom the actor is staying with. During the small talk between the father and the actor over shoulder shots will be used as well as maybe a long shot of the actor entering the house from across the street. The location is good as it is the same house as what is shown on the exterior shot of the building and also other features such as a large staircase can give an eerie feeling to the house which we want to portray in this opening scene.

Train Station: Herne Hill Station

This is where the beginning of the film opening will be located, we will see the main character exiting a train at the station and from there walking towards a bus stop through the station. Various establishing shots will be used such as tunnels and alleys surrounding the station.

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Characters

Dad:

The dad will need to portray a fairly average British parent. Despite this it is important that the subtle sense of danger or malice is brought out. We feel that the two possible actors we have chosen would be able to do this, having both played similar roles in their cinematic careers.

Ciaran Hinds

Ciaran Hinds has played a number of imposing and menacing roles such as his portrayal of Fletcher in ‘There Will be Blood’ (2007). At the same time he is capable of playing the role of afather and displayed vulnerability in ‘Hallem Foe’ (2007)

Ralph Fiennes

In ‘Schindler’s List’ (1993) Fiennes plays a Nazi in charge of a concentration camp. Contrasted to this he also played an almost-comic gangster in ‘In Bruges’ but his character still has an air of heartlessness and evil. Interestingly in that particular film, he is also shown to be father and caring for a baby’s welfare during a shoot-out. This ability to combine elements of different character types would be a key asset and a very appropriate one for the role of the ‘dad’.

Main Character:

The main character, Tomos, is a character that with his youth would also be an easy victim. A feeling of innocence is important and both choices have shown their ability to do this in previous films. Despite this it is important that the character is not shown to be weak because ultimately our film would see the progression of his knowledge regarding the situation of his foreign exchange parents. Culminating in his escape, the film would need an actor able to show understated bravery and strength of character.

- Jamie Bell

Jamie Bell is established as a high quality, young British actor who has featured as a lead in a number of films, with a wide range of characters. In ‘Hallem Foe’ (2007) he played a loner living in a large country mansion outside of Edinburgh. The film then follows him as he goes to Edinburgh and his experiences in the ‘real world’. He brilliantly created an innocence allowing a furthered connection with the audience. It is this link that is crucial with regards to our young target audience.

Max Riemelt

We felt that Max Riemelt would be the perfect choice for the role of Tomos in our film. His youthfulness and normality would be important in the depiction of an apparently ‘average’ scenario. Coupled with his German nationality averting any language problems he has also played characters with similar emotional levels as Tomos. In ‘Die Welle’ (2008) he plays as a schoolboy whose teacher creates a social experiment with his class. His character Marco is shown to be strong whilst still not opinionated enough to realise the dark and twisted direction the ‘project’ is taking. This naivety is a similar characteristic of Tomos.

Mum:

Though not featured in the opening two minutes the character of the mum is one of great significance. Similarly to the dad, she would need to be acceptable within a normal household/environment. That is to say there should not be any outstanding features that would distract or imply the wrong sentiments.

- Francesca Annis

Francesca Annis has featured in a number of British TV drama and films. Her most recent film was ‘Shifty’ (2008) which circulated around the drug culture in a town on the edge of London. This shows her ability to play more edgy characters as well as having the sensitivity to act in period BBC dramas such as ‘Cranford’ (2007).

Harriet Walter

Harriet Walter has appeared in a number on films and TV dramas including ‘Babel’ (2006) and a portrayal of Queen Adelaide in ‘The Young Victoria’ (2009). Similarly to Annis Harriet Walter can give a sense of motherly kindness whilst capably switching to a more sinister character. Walter has also featured in ‘Law and Order: UK’.

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Production Models

We plan to use the following production companies for our film:

• Pathe


• StudioCanal


• Film Four

Pathe

Pathè films is both a French and international film production campany which has been included in many acclaimed movies such as "The Queen" in 2006 and Aardman's "Chicken Run" in 2000. We chose Pathè as we wanted to gain a mainly European audience,as the film features a German foreign exchange we believe this will appeal to people in mainland Europe and the UK, as the film is set in London.

StudioCanal

StudioCanal is a branch of the European televsion channel, Canal+ amajor networking company which is also a French based production company. The studio was founded in 1988 has made notable films such as "Mullholland Drive" that was released in 2001 and was directed by the acclaimed David Lynch. We chose this company for the same main reasons as we did for Pathe, it is French based and already has a good reputation in inland Europe and in the UK and therefore will bring in our target audience.

Film Four

Film Four is a British production company and was launched only in 1998 and therefore is still considered to be a very young film business. It has produced very successful and critically acclaimed films such as the new "127 hours" directed by Danny Boyle and starring James Franco to hard hitting topical dramas such as "This is England" directed by another great British director Shane Meadows who has been a large contributor to films produced by Film4. We chose this company as it already has an extremely good track record in terms of hard hitting, tense thrillers and dramas and therefore will bring in an audience for our film which fits into this category. As the film company is British this will hopefully attract a British audience.

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Graphics

Our opening will gave logo titles of FilmFour, Pathe and StudioCanal presented in standard and clean way. We will have our cast titles fading in and out of each other in either the bottom right or left corner of the screen in white colouring. Fonts of choice Copper gothic black Century Eras bold itc Footlight Haettenschweller Perpetua Raavi Verdana These links will also show fonts that have been drafted to show what are film name would look like if we were to choose any in our opening sequence:

http://www.dafont.com/learning-curve.font?text=Exchange

http://www.dafont.com/roman-acid.font?text=Exchange

http://www.dafont.com/confusion-girl.font?text=Exchange (chosen font)

http://www.dafont.com/negatron.font?text=Exchange

http://www.dafont.com/light-from-behind.font?text=Exchange

Our chosen font was found on dafont.com name confusion girl, this is modern and contemporary font that hasn't been really seen in film before. We feel this font was appropriate for our European feel and audience, and that when used would look very unique and would intrigue the viewer for the opening shots.

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Sound

For our opening 2 minutes we will be using a free download off soundcloud to incorperate a feeling of tension and ambience. We will use around 20 seconds worth of this track for the last part of our opening, we feel this would add to the thriller side of our film. In 'Exchange' we would want to use a varied sound track from artists such a bon iver, fleet foxes and Fanfarlo. This would all add to the 'indie' vibe to our film.

Bon Iver - Re stacks

Whales - Broken Horses

Fanfarlo - Outsiders

http://soundcloud.com/practisesounds This is the sound clip we would like to use towards the end of the 2 minute opening, we feel it would be appropriate for building tension ( due to the genre) and it isn't too overpowering or tacky. This different choice in sound is less obvious than other European thrillers, this adds to our sense of style that our audience should pick up on.

The indie vibe we will feel will be tackled by a less obvious style of music.

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Costume

Tomos our main character will wear plain yet stylish clothes that represents a cooler and calmer side of the common male teenager. His attire would consists of plain oxford shirts, sweats with slim fit and chinos styled trousers. Our Father will dress in a typical middle aged-middle class way, ralph lauren, woolen jumpers and beige trousers. The mother will attempt to dress really quite elegant, but her clothes will always look slightly awkward and colours wont match right, to give the audience a feeling that she is slightly neurotic.

Kenny Hoyle (Tomos)

Jamie Bell These two people represent the clothing and style that we believe our character would have. His image represents some sort of innocence that our character wants to posses. Adrian Chiles

Our father in our opening two minutes will only be briefly seen, but his dress style should be very british and that should be clear. He will be smart casual to represent his middle class status and clothing such as ralph lauren shirts, work trousers and sleeveless jumpers. This costume will make it clear to the audience his middle aged but seemingly quite normal.

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