Similar Media Text: Chinatown

Chinatown is a 1974 American neo-noir mystery film, directed by Roman Polanski and written by Robert Towne, released by Paramount Pictures. The film Chinatown is based around a detective called Jake played by Jack Nicholson who is hired to expose an adulterer. This character through the film then finds himself being caught up in a web of deceit, corruption and murder.


However in our thriller film the character of the spy is wanting to the get the character of the assassin caught on his own behalf; he has not been hired. But these two films are similar as the character of the spy in our film also gets himself into trouble in the lead up to getting thee assassin caught. However this does not stop him.

Similar Media Text: Colombiana

Colombiana is a 2011 American action film, co-written and produced by Luc Besson and directed by Olivier Megaton, released in 2011 by Sony Pictures. Colombiana is about a young women who witnessed her parents being murdered as as a child has now grown up to be a stone-cold assassin.

However in our film the female character of the assassin lived with just her dad when she was a young child and was tortured by him. Making her grow up to hate men and kill them.

My film and the film Colombiana are very different as the two female assassins believe in different things, however the films are very similar as each of the females are doing what they do now because of what they have been through in there younger years.

Similar Media Text: Rear Window

Another film that has as similar plot to our film is; Rear Window, a 1954 American mystery thriller film, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by John Michael Hayes and released by Paramount Pictures. This film is similar to our thriller film in the same way that One Hour Photo is, someone is obsessed by someones actions and is trying to find deeper information. In the film Rear Window the character Jeff played by James Stewart has broken his leg which leaves him in a wheel chair constantly left in his apartment looking out his rear window to his neighbors. He suspects his neighbor has killed his wife and is trying to find out more information.


This plot is very similar to our thriller film as the character of the spy is trying to get deeper information from the character playing the Assassin. However, in our film the character of the spy is certain of who the assassin is and what she does etc he just needs to get more proof to get her caught. But in the film Rear Window Jeff only suspects what his neighbor is doing and is trying to find out the truth.

Similar media text: One Hour Photo

The film One Hour Photo written and directed by Mark Romanek and released by Fox Search Light Pictures on the 13th of September 2012 is a psychological thriller. This film is similar to our thriller as it focuses on the character Seymour played by Robin Williams developing an obsession with a certain family saving pictures and memorizing every personal detail about them. Just like in our thriller film, the character of the spy is obsessed with the character of the assassin and is determined to get her caught. In the opening sequence we want the character of the spy to be taking lots of pictures of the two females cars, faces, etc; getting as much information as he can. We also intend a walkie talkie to be placed near the women's cars so the spy is able to hear what they are saying as he hides in the bushes. By doing this it will be a clear indication to the audience what this character is like and the lengths he is willing to take to get the assassin caught.

MISE EN SCENE FOR THE OPENING SEQUENCE

PROS & CONS OF FILMING

When we filmed our opening sequence on Wednesday 21st January 2015 there were Pros and Cons which there are to everything, However I feel it is good to list them down to avoid the Cons happening again.

PROS:

• Costumes were what we had accepted 
• One of our props ( walkie talkie ) arrived on time 
• It was a relaxed atmosphere 
• It didn't take as much time as we had expected to film the sequence 
• The actors took corrections/orders well 
• The car park we were using wasn't busy; which meant it was easier & quicker to film

CONS: 

• It was extremely cold 
• We started late 
• The actors were very cold ( therefore we should of thought about warmer outfits ) 

The DIALOGUE

Once we had filmed our opening sequence we we needed to record the dialogue between the two female characters. So we sat down with the actors and talked about what they would and wouldn't say as we did not want it to be obvious to the audience what they were talking about but we also wanted there conversation to sound suspicious and lead clues to what the film leads on too. As the character playing the house wife is very nervous we wanted to give her lines that showed her concern and confusion and as the character playing the assassin is very powerful we wanted to give her lines that were more intimidating but also calming towards the other character; reassuring the house wife everything would be fine. When recording the conversation between the two actors we used a Sony NX5 in the sound booth with a boom microphone to pick up clear sound. 

FILMING THE OPENING SEQUENCE

Today myself and my group filmed our opening sequence; which went really well. We each helped each other by taking turns doing different roles and swapping each time we took a different shot. For example someone would be the director, someone would be on camera, someone would be holding the sound boom and someone would take note of continuity and when we had finished shooting a particular bit we would swap around and shoot something else. I feel from doing this our group got everything done really quickly and the filming was a very relaxed atmosphere.

Opening sequence: SCENE OUTLINE

Photographer’s set up ready to spy behind the trees

Woman ( killer ) pulls up in her car to the car park

Meets other woman waiting in her car already in the car park

They each get out of there cars; talk for a bit then ( wife ) hands woman a brown envelope

After a while both women look at the camera then scene ends

Opening sequence: SHOT LIST

By making this Shot list it will help my group and myself follow step by step what we need to film to make sure we do not forget anything. 

1st Shot: Establishing shot – of car park to set the tone of the sequence & to show the audience were they are. 

2nd Shot: Close up of the wife holding the steering wheel anxiously to show she is nervously waiting.

3rd Shot: Wide shot of the Killer driving in to the Car Park

4th Shot: Wide shot of the killer parking next to the wife's car; getting out of the car and looking around.

5th Shot: Same as the fourth shot however zooming into the number plates of both the cars

6th Shot: Same Shot again however, a close up of the killers face looking around as she gets out of the car.

7th Shot: Same Shot again, however a long shot; showing the killer walking round her car to meet the wife.

8th Shot: Long shot of both the women talking as the wife hands over the brown letter

9th Shot: Same shot again, however a close up of there faces ( take this shot 2 times )

10th shot: Wide shot of the Photographer hiding behind the trees

11th Shot: Close up of his hands as he is trying to work the broken walkie talkie

12th Shot: Wide shot of him again taking pictures; putting the walkie talkie to his ear

13th Shot: Close up of the women's faces as they see someone has spotted them

TRANSPORT TO THE FILMING LOCATION

As my group and myself will be choosing between two locations on the day of filming we will meet at school in the morning, as well as meeting the actors. We will then all get a Mini Bus to both locations, where we will then decide which one to pick. By taking a mini bus it will fit my group and myself as well the actors, cameras, costumes, and props we will be needing to take with us.

Opening sequence: SHOOTING SCHEDULE

When we shoot our opening sequence on Wednesday 21st of January 2015 my group and my self will meet the actors at approximately 9.30 at Hurtwood House main building, where will will  go through with them the plans for the day. After we have done this we all get a mini bus to the the chosen location, ready to start shooting for 10.30. Shooting the opening sequence should take around 3 hours to make sure we get everything we need for when we start the editing process.

Opening sequence: Costume

For our opening sequence we will need three different sets of costumes for the three different characters in our opening sequence. For each costume we have asked the actors themselves if they have what we would like them to wear in there wardrobes at home and fortunately for us they did; considering the low budget we had we could not afford to buy all of these things.

Character playing the WIFE:

• Black skirt 
• Black tights
• Red flat dolly shoes 
• Beige cardigan

We have chose this costume for the wife to make her look very relaxed like a typical house wife. 

Character playing the PHOTOGRAPHER:

• Blue Jacket
• Black fingerless gloves
• Light blue/grey jeans
• Grey hat 
• Grey Scarf 
• Grey boots

We have chose this costume for the killer to make him look relaxed, and not stand out; as he is trying to not be seen or look suspicious.

Character playing the KILLER:

• Black Jeans 
• Black/Grey roll neck jumper 
• Black flat leather boots 

We have chose this costume for the killer to make her look very sophisticated but at the same time not suspicious.

Opening sequence: PROPS

For our opening sequence we will need a variety of props, this includes:

• 1 camera  ( For the photographer taking pictures )
• 1 walkie talkie  ( For the photographer listening to the conversation of the 2 women )
• 2 cars ( 1 car for the character playing the wife and 1 for the killer who pulls into the car park ) 
• 1 envelope ( For the wife to hand to the killer )
  
  
  
  
  

Opening sequence: LOCATION

For our Thriller location we need 1 empty car park in a rural area; secluded from busy town centres. From doing research and visiting various locations we have decided on two locations which we are going to decide on the day of shooting. The first car park being in the woods and the second car park beside The Bulls head pub.

COSTUME IMAGES FOR: Photographer

COSTUME IMAGES FOR: The Wife

COSTUME IMAGES FOR: The Killer

WHAT KIND OF INSTITUTION WOULD PRODUCE OUR FILM

To find the ideal film company to make my group and my selfs film, I did a lot of research using IMDB to find the ideal company; and searched films that had similar themes and conventions to our film. 

The ideal institution to make our film I believe would be Vertigo Film Company as they are a british film institution that focus on producing and distributing low budget films which is what we would like our thriller to be. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibjhBxn2s1U

Vertigo films have made various different genres of films, however I feel the film WAZ is the most similar film to ours as it involves a lot of mystery and close up facial expression which is what we intend to use to convey emotions and build upt to tension and confusion for the audience. 

As mentioned above Vertigo Film Company are a british film company that produce and distribute low budget films. There website http://www.vertigofilms.com/ advertises the films they have produced and distributed and I feel our film would particular fit in with there other films. I also think our film would be good for there company because they seem to have produced a few thrillers so they will already have experience in order to help us to make the film the best it can be. 

Although our film is a low budget film that is produced by a small institution, ideally we would like to show our film in a chain cinema as they bring in the most audience which would make the biggest profit. 

Vertigo film company own the Firm and Football Factory which clearly makes them target a male audience. Our film we believe is targeted more at women than it is at men so we feel working Vertigo Film Company would bring in both male and female viewers, therefore increasing the films profit.