Location planning

For the location we want some backstreets and alleys behind or next to suburban houses with the main male character living in one of the houses. We were lucky enough to have a lot of snow around the time of filming, so we decided to use this to our advantage and came out with some effective shots. However, because we have included the snow in one shot, we want to include it in the whole opening. Another room will be used for the main character to go and meet one of the dealers. The room we chose to use is a work staff room, because it is an everyday environment and the audience would not expect this type of business to take place there.

Chosen characters and actors

Our film mainly involves male characters, so only one female actor will be used. The reason for choosing males is that females are not often associated with our theme and we wanted to include the main character's sister to show the two sides to his character. The main character, Tommy Walsh, is in his mid-20s and based on appearance the audience would not think he was a drug dealer. We wanted to show two sides to the character by including the close relationship between him and his sister, who does not know anything about the business he is involved with. Tommy Walsh is not a stereotypical drug dealer.
We tried to choose actors of the same age and gender as the target audience - young adult males. The clothes worn, the speech and the overall look represents the target audience.

Ideas for film title

The film is based on tht tale of a frailed athlete who seeks dealing drugs when his mum and dad repel him. Closely bonded to his sister and a few close friends Tommy Walsh is faced with a deal that might take him off the rails for good. Set in small suburbs outside the largest dealing city of London we explore who's really the most cunning of dealers and the emotions and actions thay have to go through from the short risk of having everything to nothing.

Therefore we decided to go with the title 'Dealer' for our film, but would like some feedback to help us decide.

Dealer

Tommy Walsh

Depravity - a corrupt act or practise

Hallucination

The Sixth Sense

The Sixth Sense is a typical thriller which includes most of the conventions expected to be seen in this genre of film.

Firstly, when the woman goes down into the wine cellar to get another bottle, a noise is heard and a cold draft makes her shiver. Because the woman is celebrating her husband's success with her, the audience learns about his character. When they both go upstairs the woman sees a broken window in the bedroom (the audience then realises this was the noise from the opening scene) and then a shadow move across the room. The husband walks to the bathroom to see a man stood there, but at first you only see his feet to create fear and tension. He thinks the man is a burgular and has broken in to take something, bu tthen realises he was once one of his patients. The patient then shoots the husband and then himself.

This opening sequence alone is very action-packed and fast-paced so the audience will want to continue watching the film.

Institutions producing thrillers

Other than Universal and Warner Bros, there aren't many big institutions that have produced thriller films.

Universal are a well-known institution that produce a very wide variety of films that become successful. The thriller films that were produced by them include Angels and Demons, The Bourne Ultimatum, Psycho and Beautiful Mind. Universal often make very big budget films that are extremely popular and have a lot of success because they can afford to, being one of the most important institutions in film-making.

We decided that our film would not be made with a big budget, because the theme is like that involved in the film Layer Cake and that had a small budget of just £4 million. Therefore we would need a small institution to produce our film such as Miramax Films which is involved with Film 4. Layer Cake was still a successful thriller despite this small budget and although films with bigger budgets, such as Angels and Demons, stay out in cinemas for longer and make a lot more money, films with lower budgets would not need to make as much money to get a profit out of it.

Film 4 also has a television channel on which they show films produced by them and films produced by other institutions. These films are of many different genres and appeal to a wide variety of audiences.

Target Audience

Our film is of the thriller, therefore audiences who enjoy watching thrillers will want to watch it. However we have also tried to include elements that will suit other audiences such as sub-genres like action and horror.

The rating for our film is a 15 because some content would be unsuitable for anybody under that age to watch, also they may not understand it. Therefore the target audience is young, male adults but older people might also enjoy it. We are aiming our film at this audience because the actors used will be of that age and mostly male. Our film has a fast pace, so the audience will have to be able to keep up with it and work out things quickly in order to understand it.

Another film which has a similar theme to ours is Layer Cake, so people who watched that and liked it might also enjoy ours.

Thriller film directors

Alfred Hitchcock pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genre. He directed more than fifty feature films and remains one of the most recognised and popular filmmakers. Psycho; Rear Window; Strangers on a Train; Shadow of a Doubt; Suspicion and The 39 Steps are just some of his famous films which are still watched today. Psycho is probably the most well-known thriller. He often had quick cameos in his films, he started to make appearances at the beginnings of his films. Hitchcock also used bathrooms as plot devices and the actresses always had blonde hair. In a lot of his early black and white films, he cast shadows on the walls to create suspense and tension.



Martin Scorsese is a film director, screenwriter, producer, actor and film historian. His work addresses themes such as Italian American identity, Roman Catholic concepts of guilt and violence. He frequently collaborates with actors like Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio and Thelma Schoonmaker. The main characters in Scorsese's films are often sociopathic and lots of white lighting is used. Other techniques used are slow motion and diagetic music, for example a piano being played in the scene. Slow motion was used in his films Means Streets, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. He sometimes casts pop stars in small acting roles such as David Bowie in The Last Temptation of Christ, Iggy Pop in The Color of Money and Gwen Stefani in The Aviator.

Sub-genres within the Thriller genre

• Action thriller: In which the film often features a race against time, contains lots of violence and an obvious rival. These films usually contain large amounts of weapons (mostly guns), explosions, and large elaborate set pieces for the action to take place. They also often have elements of crime and mystery films. Examples of action thrillers are James Bond, The Transporter and Jason Bourne films.
  
• Crime thriller: This particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers. These films focus on the criminal rather than the good guy e.g. the policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasize action over psychological aspects. Most crime thrillers include robberies, chases, murders and shoot-outs. Examples include Seven, The Killing, Reservoir Dogs and Inside Man.
  
• Medical thriller: The main character (hero/heroine) is in the medical profession and work to solve an expanding medical problem. An example of a medical thriller is Awake.
  
• Psychological thriller: In which the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional. Alfred Hitchcock films are good examples of this, Shadow of a Doubt, Strangers on a Train, Suspicion.
  
• Spy thriller: In which the hero is generally a government agent who must take violent action against agents of a rival government or (in recent years) terrorists. Examples include The Bourne Identity and Mission Impossible.
  

Conventions of the thriller genre

Using 'Flightplan' as an example, the conventions of thriller films can be explored.
A build up to the action was created by non diagetic sound coming from the train and innocent music to represent the child involved.
The character being alone at the train station created fear, apprehension, anticipation and an unsettling feeling.
The atmosphere is dark because it is nighttime and this makes it mysterious. It continues to stay dark throughout the opening and the turbulence of the plane builds tension. The innocent piano music plays over the turbulence.
Flashbacks are also included when the mother thinks back to when her daughter was pronounced dead.
A realistic setting is used to create a sense of 'the unusual' occurring within a normal setting. Here the realistic setting is an aeroplane. When the mother is looking for her daughter, the pace of both the music and the camera shots is fast.

Analysis of thriller openings

'Seven' - the music created fear and tension and was quite disturbing. Faces were hidden which created curiosity and the atmosphere was dark and mysterious. You could tell the character was planning something from close up shots of their notes and photos. I liked the whole opening to this film because it included most conventions typical of a thriller.


'The Usual Suspects' - a dark room with characters dressed in black with their faces hidden. The music begins slow and builds up with the action creating tension. Because it is set on a boat, this gives the feeling they are trapped. However, I thought this was a more appropriate opening for an action film.


'Hostage' - the colours white, red and black were used which are typical of a thriller. In this case, the red could represent blood. The titles were part of the action by being placed on buildings which established the location. However, therre was nothing established about the charcters or much about the narrative content.