positioning of the body

While filming we decided to test out which position jasmine would look the most realistic as while laying on the floor. 

This was the first position we looked at and straight away we all agreed that it did not look realistic and looked very staged. It also doesn't look like the typical position a body would be in.

We then looked at this position. Originally we thought it looked realistic, However after looking at it a bit more we agreed that the placement of the hand on the stomach did not look realistic.

We then looked at the final position and as a group we agreed it looked the most realistic and the most natural as her hands don't look like they have been placed there.  

where did we get our inspiration from for our thriller..

After researching into the existing A level media thriller openings, we really liked the concept of 'captive' as the opening does not tell the watcher who has exactly taken the main character captive. From this, it is something we thought we could apply to our opening by not showing exactly what has happened to jasmine, leaving the audience question if jasmine has been murdered? if so who did it? or had she done something to herself? 
By doing this we thought it would be a good way to get the audiences attention and to grip them to the story, therefor making them want to watch more to find out what has actually happened. 

We also took some inspiration from some TV dramas that we have watched such as Paranoid, Broad church and The Missing. We took inspiration from these as they are TV programmes which have story lines related to crime. 

location, location, location

Throughout the making of the opening thriller, we set the location within josh's house and garden area.
We used:

• the garden
• the garage 
• the actual house 

We didn't use a variety of locations as we thought it would stray away from the narrative of our story. Therefor we thought by keeping the location of the opening within the same place it would help keep the audience on track. 

fildming day 2

For the second day of filming we were able to film the scenes with jasmine. For this we were able to test where the best place was to have jasmine lay down to see what looked best and in different lighting.

The image above was was taken around 4 pm outside on the path.

The image above was in the same place was taken at around half 5 in the evening.

From these we agreed as a group we preferred the lighting in the image taken at half 5 as it makes it look more eerie and more typical of a thriller. 

First day of filming

Today was the first day of filming! We all went to Josh's house to film, however Jasmine was unable to attend, But we were still able to film Josh and Hannah's scene for the opening. 

We were able to try out numerous shots and different ways to achieve shots. We were also able to see what worked best for their scene.

Applying theorists to our film

For our thriller we will be using Todorov's theory of equilibrium and disequilibrium, as well as levi strauss' theory of binary opposites. 
As a group we have come up with the idea of a photo montage to be displayed at the beginning of the opening, showing the equilibrium. Which we then thought could move to a shot of jasmine laying on the floor, showing the disequilibrium. However, the equilibrium will not the shown again in the actual opening, but would be shown at the end of the film.

We will apply the theory of binary opposites to the characters within the opening. They will be good vs evil, and life vs death. These will be shown through the shot of jasmine on the floor and the shot of josh and Hannah arguing. It will also be shown through the zoom in and zoom out shot which will show the binary opposites of Josh and Jasmine.

Media Theorists

LEVI STRAUSS

Levi-strauss believed in the theory of binary opposites as a film narrative. This is where the film would display very evident contrasts between the characters(people), states of beings or groups.
Some examples of these are:

• Good vs Evil
• Boy vs Girl
• Life vs Death
• Strong vs Weak
• Hero vs Villain
• White vs Black
• Human vs Supernatural

Levi strauss' theory is put in place within films which creates conflict between the opposites of the main characters which then helps to create a thicker plot and a more evident narrative. 

Some films where this theory has been put in place could be:

• Batman - within this film, the binary opposites would be Batman himself and the joker (Good vs Evil,Hero vs villain.)
• Snow white - the binary opposites here would be Snow white and the Queen (good vs evil)

PROPP

Propps theory for narrative was having defined roles for characters within film, in which he had 7-8 roles.

(image link)

Propp believed that the protagonist, would act as the Hero within films and the antagonist, would act as the villain. 

TODOROV

Todorovs theory within film to create narrative was the theory of equilibrium, disequilibrium and equilibrium again, which could be used in any film. This is the theory in which the film would start off really good (equilibrium) which would then lead to something bad happening (disequilibrium) and then ending on a good scene again (equilibrium)

This theory would be spread out within a film through 5 steps:

(image link)

This theory is put into place within many films such as Taken, Lord of the rings, the choice and spiderman. 

planning the narrative

Me and my group decided to brainstorm some possible ideas for our narrative for our thriller film opening...

distribution of our film

While thinking about our target audience and how our target audience are more likely to find films through the internet we decided we would make ours accessible though the internet. This is also because a lot of films these days are streamed through websites such as Netflix, amazon prime and many other film streaming sites. 
From this, we were then interested in the Hybrid Distribution of our thriller film as it would ensure that our film would be get out there and be easily accessed through social media. 

We then looked into some companies we thought would be ideal to produce our film. The two we thought would be more suitable are:

We thought BBC Three and Film 4 would be the best to produce our film as they are independent companies but hold a large audience. They also stream online which can then lead to their films being moved to a streaming site such as Netflix.

Anther reason for choosing these as suitable production companies is for the fact that they produce a lot of thriller films, which is the genre of our film. 

The main reason for choosing online distribution for our film is for the fact that our target audience are more likely to watch a film online as it is cheaper than going to the cinema. Following on from that point, smaller independent companies would work out cheaper than bigger companies. Therefor, we came to the conclusion that the Hybrid Distribution of our film using smaller companies and online streaming websites would be the most effective way to produce our thriller film.

industry research

INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION COMPANIES 

UK
There is many indpendant production companies throughout the uk, all of which make a variety of films and TV programmes, below, I have listed some of the most commonly known ones.

• BBC
• ITV
• Aardman animations 
• Heyday films 
• Baby cow productions 
• Working title 
• focus films 
• film 4 

INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION COMPANIES

USA
The USA is a place which is commonly known for its productions of films from big companies. The  USA is also known for its adertisement of big budget films before they are released. Below I have listed some of the many well known production companies within the USA.

• Paramount pictures
• Warner bros
• Universal pictures 
• DreamWorks
• 20th Century Fox
• Lionsgate
• Marvel studios 
• MGM

UK PRODUCTION COMPANIES

  

USA PRODUCTION COMPANIES

THRILLER PRODUCTION COMPANIES WITHIN THE UK
HAMMER FILM PRODUCTIONS


Hammer Film Productions is a British film production company which is based within London, UK. The company is best known for their series of Gothic 'hammer films'.
The company was founded in 1934, and is known for their classics Dracula, The curse of Frankenstein and the Mummy. All of which have numerous sequels. The company is known for their series of horror films, however only 1/3 is horror. The company has also tackled genres such as sci-fi, noir, psychological thrillers and historical epic. 

WORKING TITLE FILMS

Working title films is another UK based production company based in London. However it is actually owned by universal studios, which is a USA based production company. It was founded in 1983 and is known for producing feature films and several television productions. They have produced many films such as Love Actually, Shaun of the dead, Bridget Jones, Nanny Mcphe and The Theory of Everything. Working title films are known mainly for their classic films and are not known for making thriller films, however they have actually produced some thrillers such as Green Zone, Contraband, Closed circuit and The Interpreter.

USA HOLLYWOOD BIG 6 
The Hollywood Big 6 consist of the following production companies Warner bros, 20TH Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures and Walt Disney Pictures. These production companies are the biggest production companies within the USA and all produce the majority of the highest grossing movies within the world. These film studios direct both American cinema and the Global film industry. The majority of the films that are made to suit international audiences within numerous languages are normally produced and then distributed by the Hollywood Big 6.