Audience Research Results

Where do you normally watch films?

As you can see from this graph most people watch films at Vue which is the cinema in the city centre so it is easier for people to get to. Cinema City is the other cinema in the city centre but it is out of the main city. Also it shows a different selection of films such as independent and a few specific mainstream films. People might not go here as they haven’t heard of the films because there aren’t any TV advertisements. There is only a fraction of people that actually go to Cinema City. A lot of people watch films on the television which are just a random selection of mainstream films, and occasionally independent. 

Do you usually watch mainstream or independent films?

As you can see from these results only 1 person just watches independent films who was a 50-year-old lady. The rest were 16 or 17 year olds. This shows that most people aged 16-17 watch mainstream films and about half of them watch independent films as well. This is good to know as we were planning our thriller to be independent and to know that our target audience age will also watch independent films as well as mainstream. We will definitely make our thriller opening scene independent because we don’t have the mainstream equipment or money. Also from this graph it shows that maybe older people would enjoy our opening to a thriller, as it will be independent.

What do you like about mainstream films?

The main reason why people like mainstream films is because of the special effects, actors and the locations, having high budget they are able to do this. During our opening scene we will not be using famous locations as it is an independent film and they do not include them, mainly because of money but also it gives it a sense of reality for some viewers as they can imagine it happening in their own town. All of the people that said they enjoy special features in mainstream films were mainly male apart from one and all teenagers that are 16 or 17.

 

What do you like about independent films?

A majority of the people we asked said that they like the storylines because they are different and realistic. Another main reason why people like independent films is because of the actors as they are not ones you see everyday, which gives the sense of mystery. Whereas in mainstream films if you see an actor in more then one film you are likely to associate them with a different character.

Characters and Castings

Archie
Archie is going to be the main character in our thriller opening scene. This character was part of a gang with friends until the murder of his brother. This character is 19 years old and had a bad reputation. But since his close brothers murder he has turned his back on his gang because a member of the gang was the reason for his borthers death. The beginning of the film is a slow start as this will show how hurt and lonely he is without his brother and this will set the scene for the thriller opening.

Nathan
Nathan is the main characters brother who is his twin brother. He was the newsest member to the gang and the most naive and innocent, but this didn't always mean he ended up in the right situations. Being the newest to the gang always made him do their dirty work and he didn't always feel comfortable about with these decisions but his brother was always there to try and help him out. When Nathan refused to do a job that was given to him by the gang leader it resulted in death.

Gang Leader/Murderer 
He is a very sly and serious character when it comes the gang and their jobs, the gang is the most important thing is his eyes and when it comes to crime and jobs they do, he will do anything to make sure they are completed. He is the murderer of Nathan and the fact that he is the gang leader it gives him higher status and authority over all of the gang members and definitely Nathan.

Castings

We decided to use Jack (Hattie's brother) to play Archie and Nathan as the characters are twins. He was a good candidate because he around the correct age of what we were looking for. Also he was convenient as he was able to help us out at any time. Unfortunately this was a problem as it wasn't completely obvious that he was supposed to be acting two people not just one. We used Martin (Hattie's Dad) as he was around at the time we wanted to film also the we were filming in his house so it was convenient to use him. He is going to play the part of the murderer/gang leader as he needed to be older so it looked like he had more experience leading gangs. He was maybe a bit older than we anticipated, but it wasn't much of a problem once we dress him correctly.

Locations:



Cellar



Cellar

We have decided to use my cellar as one of our locations as we thought this would be a good place to have the main character plan revenge, because it is a dark, small and messy space which will give the sense of claustrophobia which is used in a range a British gangster thriller such as Essex Boys. This this is a convenient as it is at my house and also the garage location we are going to use is at Hattie's house, which makes both locations easy to get to. Also we will be shooting our thriller opening in the city on top of the mall; this will be good to show typical British weather and also shots of the city to help the scene be British gangster. Another good feature of using the city it that it’s a fast paced environment which will be good for a running shot. Also for the flashbacks we have decided to use Hattie’s garage because we thought this is a good place to have a murder as it is gritty, claustrophobic and there is no escape.

Cellar

Props, Objects and Costumes:

To make the scene more life like and for our target audience to relate to the opening scene we have decided that our characters should wear everyday gangster clothes such as hoodies, jackets, jeans and a hat. In Essex Boys the characters are wearing jeans, shirts and leather jackets so this has influenced our idea as we are also making a British gangster film. Also the costumes relate to other thrillers for example 'Kidulthood' and 'Bullet Boy'. I think a quite important prop is the photo of the main character and his brother as it shows the connection between them and why he actually wants to take revenge. Other props we are going to use are money, table, a chair, paper, phone, a whiteboard to plan revenge and shelf. These will all help our opening film become a British gangster.

The props such as pen, paper, address book and photos will help suggest what kind of person the main character is, for example, this suggests that he is determined and strong willed. But during the film he starts to push these props off the table suggesting that he is also depressed, stressed and upset about his twin brothers death. One of the main props is the gun and it shows how vicious, harmful and hateful the gang leader can be. It also helps the audience to see what type of gang the two brothers were in and helps shows what type of trouble they got in. As well as the props hopefully the costumes will show what type of people the characters are, for example, the gang leaders black hat and hoodie shows the dark side of him.



Storyboard:

Practise Shots

Long Shot

Medium Shot

Close up

Bird's eye view

Opening to Thriller - Proposal

In the opening of our thriller the main characters brother is murdered in garage by the gang leader. The main character keeps having flashbacks to his brothers murder. Whilst getting more and more distressed and decides to take revenge in his cellar.

In this British gangster thriller we will be using ideas from Casino Royale as it's opening scene contains flashbacks as will ours. In the opening to our thriller we will be using a garage and cellar as settings, also we will be using an outdoor city environment. These will be representing themes from Essex Boys as it includes claustrophobic spaces and typical English grey sky. The flashbacks are going to be in black and white which the same technique is used in Momento as they present day is in colour and the flashbacks are in black and white which will be the same in the opening to our thriller opening scene.

The elements that will engage our audience will be because of the characters are of a similar ages that the target group is, which could make it easier for them to relate to. Also we hope the music we selected is appropriate and attract the audience because it will set the mood of the storyline.