The distributors are the link between film producers and the exhibitors (the cinema chains). Their aim is to get as many people as possible to see the film at as many cinemas as possible, thus there are a number of elements that need to be considered when preparing to distribute the film.
They need to market the film and initiate a suitable advertising campaign to ensure as wide a population as possible are aware of the film’s release. This is done because they need to create interest in their film and a common feature of this type of marketing is using a clear selling point. An example of this, is promoting the prominent role of a star actor in the film: Matt Damon in the Bourne Trilogy. (To view my Film Analysis of The Bourne Supremacy, follow this link: The Bourne Supremacy)
In order to advertise the film, they need to identify an appropriate audience that should be targeted after the film promotion. For this, researchers are employed to track the recognition of the film with the target audience and from this they can gage what was successful and what was unsuccessful about the movie and the advertising campaign.
The UK has major distributors (affiliated to Hollywood studios) and independent (unaffiliated) distributors who tend to handle films made outside the major studios. This is important so that all films are given a fair and realistic chance of getting shown on a much wider scale than just locally.
How does this affect STARS OF CCTV?
What all this means for our film is that distributors will transport our movie to cinema chains around the country/world. Our film demographic is for 17-25 year olds, as the ‘thriller’ genre is more suited to the younger adult who seeks excitement by getting involved in something (by watching the goings on in a movie) that they wouldn’t experience in reality.
A marketing campaign for our film would highlight the fast speed and unpredictability of our story-line, so any advertisements or trailers would feature a series of quick shots from parts of the movie. The key selling points of the movie are the two main characters, Theo Moone and Bob Coyne, and the car that the latter owns (Theo is portrayed by me (Nathan Bees) and Bob is portrayed by Alex Hanks). The rivalry between the two can be displayed in an advertising campaign, perhaps with the car shown in the background.
A production company develops the script and raises funding.
Chain of film production to cinema release.
Our film could get distributed by a number of institutions across the country, including several major industry players.
It is certainly not a ‘Disney’ film, for example, so a specialist institution would have to distribute it. It wouldn’t make the film or Disney credible if they were the ones to distribute it, as the genre is totally contrasting from one of their typical style of films.
Storyboard we worked towards in the end. Not in as much detail as I was the scriptwriter.
- The opening of the film consists of an establishing mid-shot of outside Bob Coyne’s car. Accompanied by non-diegetic backing music. No dialogue.
- The next significant shot is a mid-shot of Bob Coyne, followed by a freeze frame with his name in the bottom corner. Accompanied again by non-diegetic music. No dialogue.
- Over-shoulder shot (Theo) of Bob driving towards him. Accompanied by non-diegetic music. No dialogue.
- Over-shoulder shot in Bob’s car. Dialogue between Bob and Theo (over handsfree device)
- Medium over-shoulder shot of the conversation between Bob and Theo in car. Dialogue.
- Close up. Footsteps and speech. Theo talks directly to camera.
Towards the end of the film opening, we address the audience through Theo (main character) who looks at the camera and says ‘I’m Theo Moone and I’m in the shit… and I need to find a way out.’
I feel that this direct talking to the audience invites them to explore the character and what has gone on in the opening 2 minutes of the film. It opens the film up and partially explains the hectic beginning, evoking interest from those who are watching.
We’d received some feedback from questionnaires we distributed to people from our demographic, and were informed by them that the opening remained slightly hectic and confusing, which made it uneasy for them to follow. We agreed with this and after watching the film through again, we decided that it would benefit the opening if we used direct address, with Theo explaining what’s going on as the events unfold, in voiceover form.
In terms of attracting our audience, we have ensured we challenge the conventions of the thriller genre to excite the audience – bordering on indie film – without detracting from the contractual agreement of the film – to thrill the audience. This itself portrays the film in a good light and as we have varied it from a typical thriller opening, it offers something slightly different for the audience.
The Prestige, 2006 Director: Christopher Nolan
This film is a true thriller in the sense it keeps the audience in suspense and is never predictable. The inevitable twists in the film are not easy to figure out and certainly ensure that the movie continues to entertain until the very end. Even if the finer details are followed closely, it’s very easy to be fooled by the clever story-line and the illusion of the magicians involved; the magicians themselves continue to shock and remain unpredictable – much like the plot.
‘Every magic trick consists of three parts…’ is the opening and elliptical sentence that begins the film. This speech is accompanied by the sight of budgies in cages and reinforces the genre of the film. The man who utters those first words then goes on to say; ‘The first part is called the pledge’, before grabbing hold of one of the budgies. It then becomes evident that he is explaining/talking to a young girl and it is then thought that he is explaining what is being shown on screen.
This introduction portrays the conventions of the genre and the expected content of the film title, however it’s got an edgy feel that is quite unsettling for the audience. This is something we wish to replicate in our film to keep the audience in a sustained period of suspense and uncertainty throughout the opening. There are certain contractual agreements between film and audience – fundamentally, the audience expect to be thrilled when watching the movie – that’s something we have to aim to deliver ourselves.
It’s a basic and unextravagant opening but certainly entices suspicion which is paramount for a thriller film – it doesn’t offer an explosive introduction to the film, but the revealing of ‘magic tricks’ is an intriguing element. The use of ‘magic’ opens up a new world of possibilities for the rest of the film and makes it hard to predict what is going to happen. It hints at mystery and secrecy, which are the two main ingredients to the film’s affect on the audience. In support of this, the final 20 seconds of the opening 2 minutes introduces a related sound effect: electricity/shocks. This sound effect is prolonged for a number of seconds and is supported by a low, inquisitive orchestral piece, which creates the illusion of uncertainty.
The below link is a Youtube clip of the opening part of the film:
The demographic for our film is typically 17-25 year old males due to the nature of the film and it’s content. As the film is set in suburban areas and exaggerates the transitional period between teenage life and adulthood, it’s easy for these types of people to relate to it. The issue of drug-dealing ensures the film is hard-hitting and emulates certain aspects of reality, meaning that it would not appeal to a much wider demographic. This dictates how significant it is for us to establish our demographic and maintain the genre requirements to produce a film that exploits the conventions of a ‘thriller’, without detracting from what the audience expect us to create.
It’s a dark film at times which is not going to appeal to a much wider demographic, and this underlines the niche genre that a ‘thriller’ film has become since it’s revolution in the past decade. There is scope within the film to experiment with the expected boundaries of the genre, however there is only so far you can drift away from the fixed-term “contractual” expectancy of ‘thriller’ – it would be easy for us to transform the film in to a gangster movie for example, something that would break our promise to those who watch the film expecting a ‘thriller’.
The name STARS OF CCTV, is reflective of the intended audience and provides a hint as to what the film will be like. It represents the suburban feel of back-street gangs and provides ammunition to be able to “thrill” the audience. It maintains the majority of the genre conventions which is in keeping with the contractual agreement between film and audience. Despite this, the film itself does challenge the conventions but this cannot be predicted from the title itself.
The story-line in our film represents young men from different backgrounds who’s paths happen to cross in unforeseen circumstances.
Theo Moone represents a normal suburban guy who is neither rich nor poor. He works for a living, enjoys socialising with friends down the pub and is single. He has a certain charm and charisma that is only evident in this type of male demographic. He reflects everyday males – a character that can be related to by the male audience, similar age, social position.
Bob Coyne on the other hand portrays someone on the other side of the social spectrum. He’s an intimidating, mentally-twisted man who is involved in drug-dealing and other potentially dangerous crimes. He doesn’t work but earns money through various dodgy dealing, including through the selling of drugs. He’s not so charming but needs a certain charisma to disguise his crimes to other people. He represents the dark side of society and the reality that certain crimes do take place, even if the public don’t realise.
The two represent alternative parts of a suburban area that the audience can relate to and portrays the reality of modern life, whether we like it or not. By representing these two contrasting social groups, many of the audience will empathise and/or relate to their actions and what goes on throughout the film.
Earlier in history, Russian Vladimir Propp (1895-1970) analysed basic plot components of Russian Folk Tales and concluded (from the 100 or so he had looked at) that characters could be grouped in to one of 8 categories. Of the 8 categories he suggested (villain, dispatcher, helper, princess/prize, father, donor, hero, false hero) we have one character that fits in to one of them perfectly:
- The villain; Bob Coyne, portrayed as antagonist in opening of film. Theo’s path unfortunately crosses Bob and results in many consequences and trouble for him, underlying the negative influence Bob has on people.
This research has provided me with further examples of how social groups can be represented to audiences.
It’s important we establish our intended audience for our film early on so throughout the process of developing it, we would know who we were creating it for. We are working it to an age demographic (17-30) as a thriller film is watched mainly by teenagers through to 30-year old adults. Knowing this information, we wanted to ensure the lead characters in the film were of a similar age as it would appeal to the audience and form a relationship with them as individuals. Theo Moone is a young suburban male trying to find his way in the world who, like many, gets caught up in the backstreet goings on in his local area after being influenced by the wrong people – many members of the audience will be able to relate to this through first hand experience or through knowing somebody who has done. In terms of mise-en-scene for Theo, he wears modern trendy clothing, without expressing that he has any considerable wealth that most other people don’t have – this is a likely situation that the majority of our audience will have found themselves in before, or aspire to be like now. Theo is a great example of a normal guy that is relatable to a large number of our demographic.
Bob Coyne on the other hand is far different to Theo, and the audience will view him as the chief antagonist to Theo’s downfall in the film. He’s big, brash and intimidating to other people. He’s also not afraid to show the money he has and the items he owns (iPhone, drugs etc…). He is a character that potentially some of our audience may be able to relate to through similarities in their own lives. Another reason the audience may relate to him is because he is seen as an enemy, someone that everybody will have come across in their life.
If we didn’t bear in mind our intended audience during the production of the film, we would be creating something that didn’t appeal to anybody. A thriller film is a specialist genre and if we lost sight of the specific audience by alienating them, we would have a film that would appeal to nobody.
Thriller…
The stand-out features and main elements of the thriller genre are suspense, tension and excitement. There is also a focus on mystery, crime and psychology which together contributes to an atmosphere of menace and violence. There is a dependence on the literary side of the film, with cliff-hangers and plot twists regularly used to inject new energy, anticipation, uncertainty and direction to the story.
Genuine characteristics of a ‘thriller’ film is the ability to keep the audience on the ‘edge of their seats’, particularly as the plot builds up towards a climax. There is usually a stand-out situation or mystery that the characters find themselves in, to an extent where their lives are threatened, sometimes because the lead character unknowingly lands them in a potentially very dangerous situation.
The plot is villain-driven, meaning he poses problems and obstacles that the hero must overcome. Despite the elements of mystery and violence, a Thriller usually has a happy ending as the villains are either arrested or killed.
There are different types of thriller’s, for example; Conspiracy thriller, Disaster thriller, Political thriller, Techno thriller etc…
In simple terms, if a film ‘thrills’, it is a thriller. A major anthology explains,
“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.”
James Patterson, June 2006, “Introduction,” Thriller
It is globally stated that “Homer’s Odyssey is one of the oldest stories in the Western world and is regarded as an early prototype of the thriller”.
Thriller films possess numerous technical tricks as “norm”. They include the use of particular musical pieces at key points throughout the film, for example, in the opening scene there is likely to be an iconic tune that builds up suspense until concluding when a character/place is introduced. Often, this music will be heard again at another point in the film, so the audience are able to link one particular scene to another – they will recognise the circumstances in which the music was first heard and predict that the same thing may be happening again.
Sound effects are emphasised in a thriller to strengthen the effect they have on the audience. Common sound effects include heavy breathing and footsteps when there is no non-diegetic music playing over the top of the film. These particular examples are simple yet effective, as they give the illusion that something or someone is a lot closer to the main character and audience than they actually are.
Camera shots and movement are a pivotal tool in evoking a particular emotion in scenes. Thrillers include plenty of close-ups throughout to portray the stress and horror particular characters are feeling at certain times – this adds to the effect on the audience, who are likely to feel more in touch with the film if they can “feel” what the characters are feeling as well. Establishing shots are common at the beginning of scenes in new locations, as they introduce the environment in which the movie is set at a particular time (the setting is commonly a dark suburban area, with little light). In terms of movement, handheld is a significant type and is a major technique in enhancing the atmosphere in a particular scene – often, handheld shots are used to express uncertainty and fright, they are accompanied by sound effects (heavy breathing). Editing is an important process for a film director, as they have to ensure they do not include footage that has little or no relevance to the film. They can also edit certain scenes by cutting them short – this adds to the uncertainty (a common convention for thriller) and by increasing/decreasing the pace of a scene – this again adds to the tone of a scene.
Another integral element to creating a thriller is mise-en-scene. This ranges from the cast, costumes worn by characters, the make-up used on them, the setting, the props and the environment in which it is set. It’s vitally important to use this to full effect to ensure everything looks authentic and realistic – this plays a big part in the audience committing to the story-line and film on the whole.
These are all major factors that my group and I must consider prior to the creating of our film. These conventions and techniques combine to produce a thriller film that exploits the technology it has at it’s disposal, something we are all very keen to do ourselves.
