North by Northwest (1959)

The film is directed by one of the most famous directors Alfred Hitchcock, and is writtedn by Ernest Lehmam. Many may describe the genre as mystery or thriller or even adventure.

In the film Roger Thornhill an advertising executive gets kidnapped by a gang of spies in New York, led by Philip Vandamm, who believe that Roger is CIA agent George Kaplan. Roger Thornhill escapes, but must find Kaplan in order to clear himself of a murder it is believed he committed. Following Kaplan to Chicago as a fugitive from justice, Thornhill is helped by a beautiful girl called Eve Kendall. This is often a famous type of character a beautfiful girl, often blonde and especially in Hitchcock's films. In Chicago, she delivers a message to Kaplan that almost costs Thornhill his life when he is chased across a cornfield by a crop-dusting plane.

This information is found from: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0053125/

What is a trailer and an opening?

Many often can get confused between a trailer and an opening. In reality, they are quite different for example:

- A trailer is jam packed full of action while an opening has very limited action to prevent giving too much away

- A trailer is quite fast paced, an opening is more slower to set the scene

Trailer

> Fast paced to cram as much highlights into a short period of time

> Highlights comedy and Jokes to engage the viewer

> Shows Best scenes to also engage the viewer

> Often Violent to describe the type of film

> Newspaper Quotes/Director- to show off the film and any awards

> Backing Track- add emotion, personality, helps audience to relate to it if they like the music,

I think that films use trailers primarily to show off the stars of the film but also to show the film to its best advantage. (whereas the opening scene won't show the best) creates excitement. The trailer tells people what the film is about e.g. the genre. The opening is not meant to give too much of the plot away. The trailer aims to showcase some of the best bits of the film also giving details about the production team.

This excercise is important because I think it may be difficult when producing the opening to cram a lot in, which can be easily diagnosed as the trailer, so contrasting the two helps to show differences and put them in the back of my mind ready for when we go to produce the film.

Questionnaire

We devised a questionnaire, which we will hand out and collect information from. Some of the questions included are; what do you like to see in a thriller, who are your favourite characters and how often do you watch thrillers.

1. Whats your favourite thriller?
________________________

2. What do you think a good name for a thriller would be?
· The Unknown· Kidnapped· Gone· Dead and Gone· Other, Please state__________________________

3. What do you like to see in a thriller?· Murder· Action· Kidnapping· Cliff Hangers· Other, Please state_______________________

4. Who are your favourite characters in thrillers?· Good guys· Bad Guys· Femme Fetale’s· Other, Please state____________________

5. Who is your favourite character in thrillers?· Alfred Hitchcock· James Bond· Batman· Other, Please state_____________________

6. How often do you watch thrillers?· 0-2 weeks· 2 weeks- 1 month· 1-4 months· 4-6 months· 6 months-1 year· 1 year+· Never

7. Do you prefer to watch films in..?· Colour· Black and White· Sepia· No Preference

8. Where do you like to see thrillers?· Cinema· At home· Internet· Phone· Other, Please state_______________

9. How long do you expect the opening to thrillers to last?· 0-2 minutes· 2-5 minutes· 5-10 minutes· 10+ minutes· Other, Please state____________________

10. What do you expect from a thriller?From our results we found out that most people's favourite thriller is Wanted.

The most popular names for a new thriller were The Unknown and Dead and Gone with 4 votes each. We therefore decided to call our thriller Dead and Gone. We think that this name will create an enigma for the audience.

Action was the most popular thing that people would like to see in a thriller. Therefore we have decided to do short, quick cuts to give the impression of action.

Most people prefer to watch films in colour rather than Black and White or Sepia. We are filming our thriller in colour as it shows realism

Industry

I researched into industry and looked at the best thrillers of all time

1. The Godfather (1972)
2. The Godfather Part II (1974)
3. The Dark Knight
4. Star Wars Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
5. Rear Window (1954)
6. Cidade de Deus (2002)
7. Fight Club (1999)
8. The Usual Suspects (1995)
9. Psycho (1960)
10. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)



The source was: http://www.imdb.com/chart/thriller

The Bourne Identity was adapted into a movie starring Matt Damon which used many of the thriller conventions of the plot. Though its sequels, , depart significantly from Robert Ludlum's storyline, the conspiracy-thriller genre is still well-preserved.

Phone Booth is a thriller about a selfish man trapped in a phone booth by a deranged sniper. Framed for the murder of a pimp, he finds himself surrounded by police who have no idea of the sniper's presence

The source for this informatoin is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre)#Film

23 March 2009: Reviewing Ms Dughan's Comments

Here is Ms Dughan's comments:

• Too short
• Incorrect spellings
• It is very rare to have a director as a star- change this title
• You cannot have Holly and Amy talking but we can't hear the words
• 1:04 empty screen as Dan has left it- cut this earlier
• Running shots- remember the 180 degrees rule. Amy and Holly run from right to left, the come back in from left to right
• Dan snatching Holly is badly framed, and why is there no audio to match the struggle
• The video ends too abruptly - think about your ending
• Overall, this doesnt make sense. Is Holly being chased from the beginning? If so, why does she stop for a hug and chat with Amy? Dan sometimes walks, sometimes runs, so it doesn't give the feeling of a chase. I think you need to be clear whether this is a chase or a stalker following someone.

9th March 2009: Shooting the Film

This week we have managed to record 01:20 of our film which is about 60% of it. We have been filming on location and have used a variety of shots as planned. We haven't really countered many problems now although it has struck me that we may need to alter our story boards because we have added more shots which havent been displayed on the blog. I think it has worked well that we have worked quite quickly because it means we can get a lot done. However, i think we need to try really hard to keep continuity as this can become an issue we don't neccessarily think about, and it is so easy to be uncontinuous as well without noticing. On Wednesday we have edited what we have so far, well we have captured it anyway and put it in order but not altered any of the actual settings except that we have decided that the film is going to be in Black and White, we have decided this because we think it would help that it wasn't so bright seeing as it isn't really the ideal time of day for an abduction, therefore black and white will help illusion that it is later on in the day then what time it actually is. We are all up to date at the moment, so we now need to film the remaining 40 seconds and put it into the film. And then, we can start actually editing the filming we have, by adding music and effects.

2nd March: Completing our Research and Planning

This week we completed all our research and planning, and we started filming our opening to the thriller. We collected our equipment and went on location where we took lots of shots. We decided not to film chronologically because it would be wiser to film with the people we have got and the circumstances we are in.

We also encountered a problem this week as we found that we could not upload the videos we have so far because they were in mp4 and so were formatted incorrectly. In the end, with the help of Mr Wheatley we converted it to the right material.

Risk Assessment

For the course of our filming there will be minimal risk of danger, however it is essential we take maximum precautions anyway.

Location- Because we are not in college, we must ensure that we return at the times negotiated to ensure the teachers are aware of where we are. Also, we must not cause nuisance or damage to any other pubic citizens we may meet in the process of filming. The only other risks about our location is the common sense risks like coming into contact with strangers, or prevent getting lost. We will ensure this by not filming out of day light hours.

Equipment- We must ensure the filming equipment is looked after correctly, and not damaged or exposed to water, fire or too much sunlight. All equipment borrowed must be returned in the same condition.