Focus Group & animatic story board

Animatic story board (story board 2):  



focus group:

To view what happened at the focus group press the link below

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-kZ2Ehb93h0TXhYQ0RfbUJtTk0/view?usp=drive_web

what happened in the focus group:

The focus group was a year nine class which is mainly aged 15 year olds. We first wanted to see what their idea of a thriller was.When we went to the focus group we found out things which we could improve from our first story board. The first thing that we found out was that our ending doesn't make sense from one of the pupils. One part in the focus group which we were told that didn't make sense was why did Marcus wait 10 years for his revenge on Arthur, so we decided to change it and show what had actually happened to Sara Smith. Our orginal ending was to have Marcus Smith to put a gun to Arthur Bank's head. So we changed it so that we don't see the whole story line which was what was originally planned. However now we are changing it so that the ending is when Marcus Smith sees his wife Sara Smith fall to her death and he just cant believe what he just saw. This ending will allow the audience to finish what could happen.

Genre

What is genre

Genre is is the catagories what different thing can be classed as such as films which can be classed as such as thriller, horror as well as many others.

What is sub-genre

A sub-genre is a subcategory within a particular genre

Thriller Sub genres

What is a thriller?

Thriller Film is a genre that goes around the idea of suspense. The aim for thrillers is to keep the audience alert at all times, making sure that their at the edge of their seat waiting to find out what hapens next. Thiller tend to usually have a protagonist who is set against a problem. No matter what sub-genre it will tend to consist of danger the protagonist against the antagonists this may involve fights throughout. Throughout a thriller film it will always end up leading to a highly stressful climax.

Action Thriller
focuses on the action segment which mainly consists of explosions and violence.

Crime Thriller
This subgenre focuses on crime, it tends to be from the criminal’s point of view. Physical action and involves the police tracking the event. It mainly consists of gathering evidence and trying to find out who the criminal is.

Disaster Thriller
In this subgenre a  natural disaster occurs,  the antagonist is either trying to stop the disaster, the extent of the disaster, or just save themselves before time runs out and the disaster has run its course.

Forensic Thriller
In this subgenre the protagonist tends to be a forensic scientists who is involved in a unsolved crime threatens which their lives.

Legal Thriller
This subgenre takes place in and around the courtroom. The protagonist is a lawyer who has found their case threatening death for either them or their client.

Medical Thriller
This subgenre involves something usually used for medical purposes becoming a deadly weapon. It usually tends to be a  virus leaking out to the public. The protagonist, antagonist or they are both  doctors.

Political Thriller
In this subgenre political relations or the whole government is at stake, and the protagonist is employed by the government to stop the decline. The protagonist may have been low-level before having attracted attention.

Psychological Thriller
 In this subgenre a lot of there is a lot of mental conflict rather than physical. The protagonist has become involved in a dangerous situation which literally threatens their sanity. They must use mental prowess to overcome their opponent, whether the battle is inside their own head or it a battle of wits.

Romantic Thriller
This is a subgenre of both thrillers and romantic novels. The plot line follows a typical thriller’s tension, suspense, and excitement, but a main element is the growing relationship between two characters.

script

Script

Scene 1

Setting: The Smith Home. It’s a normal afternoon on a normal day, a toilet flushes and Sara walks out of the bathroom and puts something in her bag. She enters the living room and sees Marcus who is quietly working.. She sits down next to him with her phone and they exchange a few lines of dialogue.

MARCUS: Hey, you alright?

SARA: Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.

MARCUS: You’ve been on your phone all day, who are you talking to?

SARA: It’s just my friend, why you stressing.

MARCUS: Never mind.

As they sit down across each other , Sara gets a text message from her phone that tells her to meet at crane park.

SARA: Oh it’s Holly; she wants me to meet with her. I’ll call you when I’m on my way back home.

MARCUS: Okay, tell her I said hi.

SARA: Will do.

Sara is on her way to the park, as she is walking Marcus appears behind a tree and follows her until she ends up in the middle of the woods where she is looking for someone

Scene 2

Setting: The woods. Sara is walking in the woods looking for someone, far behind is Marcus who remains unseen. When Sara looks back, Marcus quickly dives to the nearest tree and remains hidden until she turns back and walks on.

Sara at one point drops her phone, as she picks it up Arthur Banks appears in a powerful and dominant manor.

ARTHUR: So, Have you got what you owe me?

SARA: (Slightly scared) I-I need more time. Please! I can’t pay you back right now but I swear I’ll pay you back, I just need more time.

ARTHUR: Time… £50,000 is a lot of money and you’re testing my patience. I have waited long enough. You leave me no choice.

Arthur pulls out a gun and aims it towards her neck.

SARA: Please! No!

Arthur pulls the trigger and watches her fall to the ground;. As soon as Arthur walks away. Marcus rushes towards Sara and is on his knees towards her with his hands towards the blood wound.

Sara comes to a complete stand still and remains lying with her eyes closed. Marcus finds something sticking out of Sara’s bag and Marcus picks it up and finds out it’s a pregnancy test, showing positive. Sadness starts to grow on Marcus face. The scene fades to the title screen.

Location

The setting of our piece had to reflect the tone and atmosphere of our story. We set our piece in local places, this essentially would give us easy access when filming. We set our two minute opening in a number of places, look down below:
Crane Park,Whitton

 

We also chose Crane Park in Whitton as we could potentially film the murder of the protagonist here. Since, it is a quiet area, filming would also be fairly easy and we could link the park back to the storyline. For example, the victim was strolling through the park adoring the nature while suddenly she gets kidnapped or murdered also ruining the films equilibrium.

Another film that is quite similar in setting would be "Twilight New Moon", this scene includes "Bella" walking through a forest when she is startled by a vampire, the vampire then attempts to murder her. The forest in this scene is also effective as it shows something morally wrong happening around nature. It will meet our audience expectations as the forest will represent the loneliness and isolation of the victim, the victims murder can be reflected on the quiet and undisturbed location as the is murdered with no help or outside communication.

Hounslow Heath

We also filmed in Hounslow Heath Park, however I will not explain this as this park is almost identical to crane park therefore they both project the same aspects and tones.

School Office

We also decided to film our piece at a school office. We chose this as our protagonist is suppose to be a rich and snobbish businessman, an office would show the characters professionalism and realism. Another film that shows a wealthy businessman in an office would be" Richie Rich" , the richest man on the planet has an enemy that wants to take his place, this enemy also has an office in which he plans his evil plots. This film also portrays a businessman who aims to abuse his power and authority. This location will meet audience expectations as the protagonist will be a true representation of the typical villain.

Group Members house

We decided to film the beginning of our thriller piece at a group members house at this would create a realistic house setting .The house would also illustrate that the couple are living together which would further show theyre close connection as they are happily living together.

Charater profile

Characters 

Antagonist - Arthur Banks

• Age: 30 - Arthur Banks can be in his middle ages to perfectly show the portrayal of the character and the Godfather, someone in their middle age who is rich and powerful as well as young and entrepreneurial.
• Gender: Male - A male typically fits the role of someone who is a rich, powerful and a no-nonsense person who is strict. He is seen as the alpha male and is more than capable of taking care of himself.
• Personality: Stern and straightforward when addressing issues. Non hesitant and confident in making decisions, this is essential for Arthur as he is a man of authority and business.
• Ethnic Group: White - This is a typicial role for a character of an white ethnic group in most Hollywood movies.
• Arthur Banks is the main antagonist of the film and is responsible for the death of the protagonist's wife Sara Smith.
• We wanted to make him look like the Godfather because Arthur is portrayed as a powerful and rich man who owns some kind of huge gang.

Protagonist– Marcus Smith

• Age: 24 - A young man who has recently married a young beautiful woman
• Gender: Male - In most hollywood films, the protagonist are seen to be male. This protagonist is a dominant character who is seen to be the centre of everything.
• Personality: Marcus is a young adult who is happy with life, he is also carefree, friendly and also clever in solving problems and other situations. But he can have a change of personality when he is angry or upset. He can be a no-nonsense, serious man until the problem is solved.
• Ethnic Group: Black British
• Marcus is the main protagonist who tries to get back at Arthur for killing his younger sister, Sara.
• Marcus could look a lot like Bryan Mills from Taken this is because Bryan is the main protagonist ofTaken as he tries to track down the person who kidnapped his daughter.
  
  Protagonist’s relation – Sara Smith
  
  
  

  • Age: 22 - A young woman, who is married to Marcus Smith.
  • Gender: Female - In hollywood films, female roles are seen to be the victim. Sara will be the centre of attention most of the time during the opening of the film which is when it moves on towards Marcus.
  • Personality: Secretive towards the start, innocent and desperate Her personality normally portrays the normal victim of the thriller film, therefore it abides but our normal thriller roles.
  • Ethnic Group: White British
  • Sara is married to the protagonist Marcus who is tragically killed by the antagonist, Arthur. Marcus then gets his revenge to avenge her death.
  • Sara Smith could be an illustration of Tina Gray from Nightmare on Elm Street as she is shown as a victim who has been murdered in cold blood.

  
  

  

Props and costumes

Arthur Banks

Costume
Arthur Banks will be wearing a suit , looking formal. It is important to portray Arthur as rich and sharp/alert of everything that's going on. He will specifically wear a grey/black suit, white shirt, black tie, black gloves and smart black coat. These type of clothing are specifically chosen as they symbolise superiority and uses their power to crush their opponents. This is what we want to convey in Arthur Banks as he represents these stereotypes, and we want the audience to decide what he will do, which will grasp the audience's attention.

Props
The props that Arthur Banks will use is a gun. This is because his clothes are going to emphasise how wealthy he is. We will also use a gun to show that he is the antagonist and to show how dangerous he is. The gun will give the audience an idea of what kind of character he is. It automatically allows the audience to understand that this person is the antagonist.

Marcus Smith

Costume
Marcus Smith will be wearing casual clothes, which consist of jeans, shirt, trainers and hoodie. This type of clothing reflects of what type of character is and how wealthy he is. This type of clothing is chosen for Marcus because it shows that he is a laid back character. These clothes show that he has a casual personality this can be understood from the plain shirt, hoodie however he never really uses the hood because it can create a bad impression. The jeans also create a casual image and show that he is the good and he also wears simple trainers which implies how simple he is. During the scenes we film outside Marcus will be wearing a winter jacket and a winter hat. A he is simple everything that he wears throughout this opening must portray that.

Props
Marcus will have a some work during one scene of our thriller opening. This will show Marcus to be a a practical person who likes to get their work done. This will be the one thing which Marcus will be occupied with whilst Sara is on her mobile phone.

 Sara Smith

Costume
Sara Smith will be wearing a jumper, blue jeans and trainers. This type of clothing automatically tells us that she is the heroine and she is innocent, which makes her seem like the victim. These clothing items which have been used for Sara help to represent her innocent character, the jumper respresents simplicity as well as that she does try and make herself look pretty, she cares about her appearance and believes its important. The jeans represents her fashion style as well as her simplicity however the trainers represents her simplicity and how she loves them and its the reason there worn out. She will also be wearing a jacket and gloves as it will be quite windy to make the overall thriller seem more realsistic. The gloves and the jacket again will show that she is a simple person.

Props
Sara will have a mobile phone. The phone  isn't as new its a decent phone which does all the basic requirments which she needs in her everyday life. This shows sara to be a simple and practical character. We will also be using a pregnancy test as her husband finds it after her death which will fall out of her black tote bag. The pregnanacy test is to create suspense in the begining. The black tote bag again shows her to be simple.