Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production and distribution

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is one of the largest and most revered film studios.

Location: Beverly Hills, California, U.S

Founded in: April17, 1924

Founder: Marcus Loew

President of Film division: Jonathan Glickman

Products: motion pictures and television programs

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is an American company who are involved in production and distribution of feature films and television programs, mainly in the film industry. They were founf 91 years ago.

Some films that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has produced many action genre thriller films which includes the following:

·Skyfall

· The girl with the dragon tattoo

· 21 Jump street

· 22 Jump street

Our group will use and mimic this production and distrubtion company because they made successful action thrillers, which are similar to our movie project. This company also uses various codes and coventions, which are inevitably needed for our movie project. Movies such as '21 Jump Street' and 'Skyfall' has exactly the same types of codes and coventions needed for our movie project. Also, this production and distrubtion company is the closest company that includes the same type of action thrillers as we are considering to do.

   All movies start off in the cinema, they are first shown at limited access as you would have to pay to see the film and would pnly be there for a certain amount of time. Next it would be put on to things like box office   as well as things like nextflix. the next steps would include it to be on  Blu ray and DVDS out for the public to see anytime with extras such as deleted scenes/directors cut. Finally it would be put onto television for anyone to access which would only be after a few years

Treatment

Our story

Our piece is set in London, Hounslow in past tense and modern day. Sara Smith who is a pregnant woman in need of expenses borrows £50000 off a wealthy business man, Arthur Banks; however Sara is late on her payments and needs to pay the loan back. Sara Smith also has a husband called Marcus Smith who is very close to her; however he is unaware that she has to pay back a large amount of money. One day, Sara tells Marcus that she is going to see a friend, Marcus doesn't believe her as she tell goes out more frequently then usually. Sara then walks to the local park while Marcus is following her on a bike. Sara eventually ends up in the middle of the woods in the park where she is met by Arthur Banks and his two bodyguards. Arthur Banks then demands the loan she owes, however Sara wants Arthur to extend the deadline due to her pregnancy and other issues that she has occurring in her life. Arthur refuses, he then orders a bodyguard to shoot her in cold blood. This whole situation occurs while Marcus is watching from a distance. While Arthur walks away with his bodyguards, Marcus goes to the body of his dead wife and realises that she dropped her phone. He then puts it in his pocket, picks up Sara and walks away in tears. She is killed on the 17th of May in 2005. From looking at Sara's phone, Marcus sees the text message from Arthur Banks that initially demands £50000. Marcus then realises that his wife had a loan problem and plans out his plot to kill Arthur Banks. Ten years later, Marcus has managed to save up £50,000 with a minimum wage cleaning job. Marcus has planned to kill Arthur on Sara's tenth anniversary at her very grave on the 17th of May in 2005. Throughout the ten years Marcus has perfected his plan. He then gets Arthur's phone number from Sara's phone and texts him saying he got £50000 and for him to receive the payment Arthur must meet Marcus at the graveyard. Arthur comes to the graveyard with his two bodyguards; however the text he receives from Marcus previously states that he must come alone in order to receive his money. Arthur then goes to graveyard, only to find himself at gunpoint from Marcus. Marcus then explains how who he is, what his plan was for the last ten years and the pleasure he is getting from killing Arthur. However, Marcus notices a tattoo on Arthur's hand that reads "Madeline Smith". Marcus then questions Arthur about the tattoo. Arthur explains that the tattoo is the name of his wife that previously died of cancer. There is then a big twist, as Marcus had a mum that died of cancer also. Marcus then questions Arthur about the date of her death; Marcus knows that his mother died on the 14th of March in 1999. Shockingly Arthur replies with the exact same date. Marcus then asks Arthur about his name and why his second name is banks. He then replies by saying he changed his previous name to Arthur Banks to protect his identity as he had a criminal record before he became a business man. Marcus then asks what his previous name was, he replies with "George Smith". Marcus is now shocked as Arthur Banks may actually be his father who left him and Sara while they were still children. Marcus then suddenly says “Dad?” and the scene goes black and the piece is over. Our piece initially conforms to Todorovs Theory of films. In our thriller, Sara dies in the opening; therefore this is the disruption of the equilibrium. Later on, our film will carry on to Marcus revenge which is the attempt to restore the previous equilibrium. The equilibrium is not the same after his revenge however there is a new equilibrium.

 

Preliminary task video

preliminary task

Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. 

This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Recreating shots

Recreating shots

 

These are both high angle shots, in both of these shots which are high angle shots they can help us to understand the the characters personality. From a shot like this we can understand if the character is innocent or not. On the left is our recreation of the shot on the right. As you can see in our recreated shot the high angle shot can show a character to be quite vulnerable, this can also allow the audience to understand the importance of a particular scene. In this case in our recreation the character looks harmless and distracted of something else which is happening around her. A high angle shot is usually shot at a slightly higher level than the character to emphasise the scene.

These are extreme close up shots, these types of shots tend to zoom into a certain feature or an object for a dramatic affect or its importance. In out recreation of an extreme close up on the left, the camera has completely zoomed into the characters eye. By doing this it can lead to many messages of what the character is feeling such as misery, anger or happiness, its suppose to create an intense feeling. When the eye is crystal clear it allows the audience to see all the small details such as reflections which can lead to a characters backstory that could also be quite deep. These shots allow the audience to have a better insight on the characters feeling and thoughts.


These are both medium shots, medium shots are taken from the waist and above. A medium shot is usually used to show two people having a conversation the topics can vary from something serious or just general. Some diaglogues can be quite physical such as if the two characters are arguing. However in our recreation which is the shot on the left shows a calm dialogue between two, we can tell that they are in a relationship through their eye contact, the eye contact makes it easy for the audience to understand that the two people who are in the shot are in love. As there aren't many things featured in the background the shot focuses more on the two characters allowing the audience to understand the care they have for eachother as well as their connection with each other.

These are close up shots. Our recreation on the left of the shot on the right is a recreation of a shadowed man figure. The shot on the right show to be someone quite harmful as they are a shadowed figure and looks if they are holding a harmful object.  In our recreation which is shown in the shot of the left, we tried to recreate the violent and aggresive aspect of the orginal shot. In our recreation the character's face is hidden in the sunlight so it is not clear giving it a more tense feeling, it also makes the mystery aspect more intense. Overall this is an affective shot because its only showing what the character's doing and not what is is happening to whoever may be below.

These shots are low angle shots. These shots look up towards the character/s which may make them seem more powerful in some situtaions however it can also show them being depressed. Our recreation which is the shot on the left  shows our character being more upset rather than looking powerful. As we can see on the left in our recreation the character is holding some papers which may portray a message of him being confused or in shock of was is/has happened. In a low angle shot the backgrounf tends to be very simple so the character is the main part which is shown in our recreation shot. This allows the audience to see the importance of the character and able to see how the character is feeling.



This is also a medium shot. This is a recognisable pose which is featured in the film Rocky. The shot on the right is the original shot from the film Rocky. In our recreation which is on the left we have tried to recreate the inconic pose. A medium shot for this allows the audience to focus on the character as that is what takes up most of the shot. By the character having his fist in the air is allows the audience to understand that character feels powerful which we understand from the pose. The pose makes it seems that the character has accomplished a difficult goal. The shot is shown to be affective in many ways. This includes things like the simplicty of having a fist in the air as well having a plain background having all of the focus on the character.

These are also close up shots, these close up shots focus on showing that the two characters care for each other in some way. The shot on the right shows that they are in a strong and happy, we can see this from their emotions shown on their faces. A close up shot allows us to view this as the whole point of a close is to capture their emotions. Our recreation of the shot which is the one on the left shows that the two characters have a strong bond with each other, we can see this as one is leaning on the other and they both look happy.

Questionnaire

Questionnaire commentary

Questionnaire

1.     What is your Gender?

·         Male

·         Female

2.      What is your Age group?

·         15-20

·         21-25

·         26-30

·         31-36

·         37+

3.     What sub-genre do you prefer with Thriller as the main genre?

·         Psychological

·         Action

·         Spy

·         Romance

·         Crime

·         Comedy

·         Other

4.      What is it about thriller movies that you like? Circle ones that apply.

·         Story

·         Soundtrack

·         Action

·         Special Effects

·         Other - Please specify here:

5.     What is it about thriller movies you don’t like? Circle one

·         Story

·         Soundtrack

·         Action

·         Special Effects

·         Other - Please specify here: __________________

6.     What time period do you prefer the film to be set in? Circle one

·         30s

·         40s

·         50s

·         60s

·         70s

·         80s

·         90s

·         2000s

·         The future

7.     Do you like Thrillers?

·         Yes  (Move on to question 7)

·         No (Move on to question 8)

8.     Who is your favourite thriller director?

·         Alfred Hitchcock

·         Nicholas Meyer

·         Don Siegel

·         Quentin Taratino

·         Steven Spielburg

·         Other – Please state here: ___________________

9.     If you were a thriller director, what would you put in your own movie? State four things. E.g. Cars, Guns, Explosions and Relationships

·         __________________________

·         __________________________

·         __________________________

·         __________________________

10.   What setting do you prefer to be used for a thriller?

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Commentary

We will be asking 30 people a questionaire based on thriller movies. This will allow us to understand what kind of thrillers people are into. The questionnaire is an important part of our project as this will help us to understand what is needed for our thriller opening. This questionnaire will also give us more information on how we can interact with our target audience better which will help us with the opening making it more appealing for the target audience. These questions will allow us to find out what is wanted allowing us to develop more on our idea as we now have a better insight to what is being asked for.Through this we will be able to finalise an idea as we will have the answers from the viewers.

Preliminary Planning

Storyboard

 

Sub-genre: Action thriller

Action thriller

Initial idea brainstorm

 Ideas

These are some ideas for our piece including the themes, charaters, settings as well as camera angles

Thriller Pitch

Thriller pitch

Our pitch is about what our piece is about. This is what techniques as well convetions we will be using.

Thriller mood board

 

Thriller has a wide rand of genres. This shows the many sub genres that go under thriller. This mood board shows what most thriller posters are suppose to look like and what the main message the try to portray to the public.

Regulations research and justification (BBFC)

Film Classification

The BBFC

The role of the BBFC is to rate films so that they are suited to the correct age group and suited for those viewers. This is so when the film is released it is suitable for the viewers for which rating the BBFC have agreed to rate it.

FILMS THAT ARE SIMILAR TO OURS 

The Maze Runner is a action thriller, it has a rating of 15.This piece of work has been rated 15 due to the fact that there is violence, strong threats and intense scenes. There are versions of this film that have been cut this have have been because with these scenes it wouldn't be accessable to their target audience as this have have increased the age rating.

Jurassic World is also a action thriller film however it has a age rating of 12. This movie was not cut at all due to the fact that they fully understood ther target audience, it only has slight bits of gory which means it is suitable for younger viewers even though its an action thriller.

Fast & Furious 7 is rated 12 which is also an action thriller. They have a series of movies and now that they understand their target audience they were able to use the whole piece they produced it went uncut. The reason the BBFC have rated it 12 is because it only contains moderate bad violence and bad language.


Classification for our film 

Based on the fact that our sub genre of thriller considering some of the codes and conventions we will be using like violence, fake weapons such as guns and may be using male/female victims i believe our piece could be rated from 15 and above. As well as the use of a child victim as it wouldn't be appropriate for a such as young as 12 to view something like that.