Storyboard

Below is my finished storyboard. I have uploaded it via screenshots, so simply click to view in a larger size.

Character Relationships

Below you can see a character relationship diagram (which needs to be clicked to view properly) which shows how the 4 characters intertwine and their relationships. The other drawing to the right shows a diagram which shows how strong their relationships are from strong to weak.

Key -
SG - Scared guy.
CG - Confident girl.
TG - Technical guy.
MP - Main protagonist (alpha-male leader)

The Pitch

Opening Pitch - We wanted to create a tension-building thriller, following the exploration of an abondoned building by three characters; however unbeknownst to them, a fourth entity is following them throughout their journey.

Mise en Scéne - The single-most important element for us to achieve with our opening is suspense, meaning the mise en scéne will be extremely important. The location of our film is an abandoned building, containing cracks in the walls and deserted rooms (besides the junk lying around); low-key lit rooms do well to set the scene, normally only offering a single light source. We would also have shots of the characters on the roof of the building, which would of course be fully lit; however the light sources get dimmer and dimmer as they venture deeper into the building, showing their descent into the darkness.

Character Profiles - We were originally planning to have 4 characters within the film, however due to a lack of willing cast members we instead opted for 3.

Alpha-male leader - This is the character who organised the trip due to his previous experience, and leads the group throughout their journey of exploration. He would constantly reassure certain members and boost the morale of the group. We didn't want him to have any stereotypical defining features of a leader, such as height, build or scars. He needed to be assertive, fair and loyal, and above all responsible for the group. His confidence would contrast greatly to that of the other member of the group.

Scared character - This would be one of our stereotype breaking characters. He was going to be tall and well built, with a seemingly alpha-male attitude which masks his genuinely scared self. He was going to wear clothes that would make him out to be a stereotypical jock or chav, as in many other films they are seen to be cocky and arrogant, the exact opposite of in ours.

Technical character - The tech guy would be the person who records their journey throughout the building, occasionally having a first-person shot from his point of view to reinforce this. His relationship with the alpha-male character would be close, and his overall attitude would be passively positive. Most of the time he would be trying to get to the scared guy, messing with his head etc. He'd never feel a need to turn back as he has all confidence that the building is safe.

Brave, unamused character - This character was originally going to be the scared guy's girlfriend, who wanted to join the exploration. With this couple we are essentially playing on the un-stereotypical views of what their attitudes and feelings would be, by swapping them round. So instead of the big jock-like character who would normally be reassuring his scared girlfriend that nothing's wrong, it's the other-way round. She would find the building interesting, and show more confidence than would be expected of her.

Our final character design was that we dropped the scared guy's girlfriend. Due to this, we had to alter the scared guy's character slightly, because he was originally only there because of his girlfriend. Now that his girlfriend no longer exists, we had to change him from a jock-like character which would look notiably out of place, to a character similar to that of the other two.

Our final characters were the alpha-male leader, scared character and technical character.

Plot Ideads - Mindmap

Above you can see a mindmap we created for our thriller film.

The Plot - The plot was originally going to involve a number of people who gradually disappear until only one character remained; however we realised that the commitment needed by the cast would be too much for them and would possibly leave us too close to the deadline. Due to this we opted for a cast of 3-4 characters, which we could easily work and go further in-depth with.

The basic outline of the plot would be that 3-4 characters venture into an abondoned location, and that one of them would eventually stray from the group and become lost. There would also be an added element of a hidden figure, following them throughout the opening.

Location - We had a number of various locations for our film to be set. Ranging from:

Hospitals

Hospitals

Car Parks

Abandonded Houses

Mental Homes

Train stations

Our Houses

Forset or Woods

Fields

A Long Valley

Burnt Down Buildings

Sheds

Garages

Airports

Of course some of these seem too adventurous; however we were simply proposing as many locations as we could think of.

Codes & Conventions Of A Thriller

Thriller is a genre that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as the main elements. The primary subgenre is psychological thrillers; however there are various other subgenres.

Many thrillers present some form of crime/drama theme within the story, or have psychological elements to show uncertainty which helps build suspense and tension. A good thriller will keep the audience on the edge of their seat; it should provide thrills as the plot builds up to climax. Tension can be built up in a variety of different ways, varying from characters being placed into a menacing situation from which escaping seems impossible to a mystery.

Many films play on the theme of a character (generally being the main protagonist) being placed into a life-threatening situation, from which they eventually escape, to symbolise the character being strong. This can be seen in films such as:

Kill Bill 2 - Where the main protagonist is buried underground in a coffin.

Phonebooth - Where the main protagonist is (unbeknownst to onlookers) held hostage inside a phone booth.

Panic Room - Where the main protagonist locks herself inside a panic room inside her own home due to burglars.

Thrillers can be set in a multitude of different locations; however the conventional location is some kind of big city. This is because cities are huge, they can seem daunting to the viewer as they probably won’t know the city very well. However thrillers can be set in abnormal places such as places of extremity (deserts, arctic, abandoned locations).

Non-diagetic sounds are also used to build up tension, such as in Jaws when the great white is approaching. The non-diagetic sounds usually break/end when the tension does too.

The main protagonists in thrillers are conventionally some kind of cop, almost always being “the good guy”. This can be seen in many big name thrillers such as Die Hard and Bad Boys.

Suspense is also built up through the use of quick cuts between camera shots, as well as the camera having an extreme close up on a character’s face, such as the eyes, to show fear or urgency.

Lighting in thrillers can vary from noir to chiaroscuro, such as when the main protagonist is searching through a dark building or room to find the antagonist.

Another key feature/element in the mise en scéne is the clothes/props the protagonist has. For example when people think of “Die Hard” they think of the white shirt the protagonist wears which becomes dirtier and more blood-ridden as the movie progresses, or the classic tank top that Laura Croft wears in that franchise.

Below is a quote from James Patterson, a writer of thriller novels.

"Thrillers provide such a rich literary feast. There are all kinds. The legal thriller, spy thriller, action-adventure thriller, medical thriller, police thriller, romantic thriller, historical thriller, political thriller, religious thriller, high-tech thriller, military thriller. The list goes on and on, with new variations constantly being invented. In fact, this openness to expansion is one of the genre's most enduring characteristics. But what gives the variety of thrillers a common ground is the intensity of emotions they create, particularly those of apprehension and exhilaration, of excitement and breathlessness, all designed to generate that all-important thrill. By definition, if a thriller doesn't thrill, it's not doing its job."

Secondary Questionnaire About Thrillers

I have conducted a second questionnaire to further delve into what people want from a thriller. I have listed the questions below in the order I asked the questionees.

What do you want to feel when watching a thriller?

What is your favourite thriller?

What made it your favourite thriller?

When watching thrillers, what usually makes you jump?

How much does the opening matter to you?

What made you want to go and see it?

Where was the film set?

The results from my questionnaire were too sparse to put into table form. Instead I will sum them up in the report below.

When asked what they wanted to feel when watching a thriller, the most popular answer was for them to feel excited. This is what I predicted would be the most common result, as that’s what thrillers are all about, excitement and adrenaline. This excitement can come from various sources commonly found in thrillers such as deploying a bomb just in time, general edge of the seat entertainment. Several people wanted to feel a sense of anticipation, a “will they make it or won’t they?”-esque feeling. Fewer people said they wanted to be scared, but more of a quick jump/shocked feeling which one would receive from a thriller, than a horrified feeling which they’d get from a horror.

After asking ten people their favourite thrillers, I received 9 different results, listed below. Also below are their reasons for it being their favourite thriller.

The Godfather (part one) - “Overall incredible film. Not one part of it was lacking, plot was excellent and the actors were perfect for their roles.”

Pulp Fiction - “The film’s easily quotable, and it’s unconventional in that it’s not in chronological order and it follows three storylines.”

“The film is funny but not in the way a film normally is. The dialogue is amazing.”

Inception - “The cinematography is exceptional and the film lives up to the hype.”

The Dark Knight - “The film draws you in and the music/acting is spot on.”

Fight Club - “The hidden meanings and plot really made the film.”

Taken - “The action scenes were incredible and there’s so much suspense.”

Reservoir Dogs - “It’s not a typical crime/thriller, it’s much more real and pure.”

Sin City - “It’s amazing to watch in cinemas, due to the violence round every corner.”

V for Vendetta - “The mystery conveyed by the main character along with the storyline is amazing and keeps you wondering.”

From the above list I can see that many of the classic thrillers are amongst the people’s favourites. These are made up predominantly of new-age films such as Inception and The Dark Knight; however they stretch back to the mid 90’s with Pulp Fiction and 70’s with The Godfather. This shows that although new age films may be people’s films of choice as they are what they will have been exposed to, many classics are still amongst the favourites due to their popularity at the time of release.

When asked what would make them jump, the unanimous result was that a sudden movement or something appearing on the screen accompanied by a classic high-pitched note would scare people the most. Another result was that excessive amounts of blood/gore would make people scared/jump; however this is more frequently found in horrors than thrillers, possibly suggesting viewers sometimes it hard to distinguish between the two and classify movies into each genre. Two people said that a sudden gunshot when everything is quiet would make them jump, again relating to suspense and tension; two key elements to thrillers.

The classic response to the question of the importance of the opening ten minutes to a film is that it’s the most important part of the film, as it sets up the audience’s expectation and lets them know what they’re in for, and this is what my results shown. However, there were several responses saying that the opening, although important, does not totally determine their view of the film, because many films change and develop in the following scenes. Only one person said it would determine whether they continued to watch the film or not, going as far to say they would not continue to watch if the film was not up to their expectations. Although this is only one person, I will need to make sure the opening is as strong as it can be.

When asked what made them want to go and see the film, I received an array of various answers. The majority said they wanted to see the film after viewing the trailer; many specified further, saying they were attracted by the action in the film, the actors, the director’s previous work and the general outline of the plot/story. Some said they saw other forms of marketing such as posters they saw at bus stops, on the side of buses, on billboards etc. They also specified further, saying mainly the same reasons. One person was influenced by a friend who asked them to come along, so the film’s popularity was spread by word of mouth.

The location of almost all of the films were said to be in cities or industrial areas. The only anomaly was the answer from the questionee who saw Inception, where the location was in somebody’s dream. However inside the dream, the location was a city. Although this is what my questionnaire shown, this does not accurately represent the entire of the thriller genre. If my questionnaire ranged to more people, the results would have shown a much more diverse range of locations.

From this questionnaire I can see the many different concepts and ideas people have when thinking about the thriller genre, and I will attempt to create my film with the preferences of my target audience in mind. However I will need to ensure I do not over-complicate the opening and cluster it with too many different viewpoints.

Questionnaire & Target Audience

In this report I will analyse my questionnaire findings to assess my target audience and chosen genre of film. I will then conduct further research into the chosen genre to define my film.

According to the UK Film Council, cinema audiences was predominantly young, with the 7–34 age group (40% of the population) making up 64% of the audience. This is why I generally asked younger people to complete my questionnaire, as they are the age range that makes up the demographic.

I asked an even amount of female and male voters, then cross referencing their individual tallies with their favourite film genre; I saw that 3 of each gender voted for thriller, making my target audience female and male.

In terms of social grade, I could not find any middle or upper middle class people to fill in my questionnaire; however this is not an issue as they represent only a small portion of the population. The people that voted for thriller the most were the working class.

The results of this questionnaire primarily show that my target audience are male or females in the 20-25 range, generally categorised as the working class.

The results of my questionnaire show that thriller is the preferred option of the three genres, which is why I have chosen it as the genre for my own film opening. My decision was also influenced by the statistics from the UK Film Council which show the top films for each genre of 2008. We can see that thriller equalled horror with 28 releases, but made slightly less money at the gross box office. The top performing title for the thriller genre was No Country for Old Men (pictured below).