British Film Companies Research

BBC Films produce and co-produce around 7 or 8 films a year. Previous projects include Eastern Promises (2007), a British thriller about the secrets surrounding a Russian mob family, and Brighton Rock (2010), another British thriller about small-town gang violence. And more recently, We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011), a psychological thriller based on the novel by Lionel Shriver, and The Awakening(2011), a World War I thriller depicting a woman who is haunted by a child ghost.
BBC Films aims to showcase the best of British talent and British independant films. They commit themselves to finding and developing new talent.
I think they would be a good company to produce our thriller, as we are still fairly new to the process and they could help bring publicity to our film as they already so well established in the production industry. Their films also tend to be low to mid budgeted, and I believe our film falls comfortably into that bracket. Although they don't limit themselves to thrillers, they seem to specialise in them, therefore they would have the capacity, resources, and expertise to produce our film, as it will be a thriller.

Film4 don't appear to made a lot of thrillers but have made many dramas so I will look at those as well.
One of the thrillers that Film4 have made is Dead Man's Shoes, a psychological thriller starring Paddy Considine and directed by Shane Meadows (who went on to direct This is England). It had a very small budget - £723,000 and was all shot in England. Although it seems a bit darker than our film and is rated an 18, it seems similar to to our film in some ways and thus I think Film4 could be a good company to produce our film.
Film4 also made the drama This is England which had a medium budget of £1,500,000. It was all filmed in England, although not in London where our film will be filmed. It did well in the box office, grossing $8,176,544.
Clearly Film4 specialise in films that are low-mid budget and are not averse to thrillers. I think they would do a good job with our film if they were to produce it and that they would be a strong choice if we were to look for a production company.

Film London are a film and television production company who's credits mainly include low budget British films such as Shifty. They have also been involved in the production of films such as My Week With Marylin, a popular Oscar contender, and Is Anybody There?, starring Michael Caine. Aside from being involved in films as producers, Film London also offer resources to aspiring or independent film makers. They can offer application or permission forms for directors to film in certain parts of London and help independent film makers with advice on and what to film in London.

We would most likely aim for this production company as many of it's resources would most likely be of use to us. Half of our film is set on the Docklands Light Railway and the stations surrounding it, meaning that we would be able to use Film London to secure permission to film on it. Furthermore, some of the films it has produced seem to be of a similar budget and style to the one we are currently making, meaning it would be a useful production company for our film.

We have chosen BBC Films in association with Film London and another independent company of ours to produce our film. This is because we feel that BBC Films will give us the right production budget and value, while Film London will aid us with filming in areas of London.

The French Connection (1971)

The French Connection is a police thriller based on true events, directed by William Friedkin and written by Ernest Tidyman, starring Gene Hackman. The two production companies involved in The French Connection were Schine-Moore Productions and D'Antoni Productions. Both production companies were only involved in the production of this film, though it's distributor, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, is highly renowned, having been involved in many big budget films year in year out.

Bullitt (1968)

Bullitt is a police thriller directed by Peter Yates and written by Alan Trustman and Harry Kleiner, starring Steve McQueen. The two production companies involved were Warner Brothers/Seven Arts and  Solar Productions. The Warner Brothers/Seven Arts partnership stopped producing films in 1970, though in it's time it made some reasonably popular and critically acclaimed films such as Cool Hand Luke and The Green Berets - all these films notably star popular leading actors. Solar Productions was solely involved in the films of Steve McQueen, including The Thomas Crown Affair and The Getaway.

The Long Good Friday (1980)

The Long Good Friday is a crime film directed by John Mackenzie and written by Barrie Keeffe, starring Bob Hoskyns. The three production companies involved in the film were British Lion Film Corporation, Calendar Productions and HandMade Films. British Lion Film Corporation has mainly been involved in independent projects, while Calendar Productions was solely involved in the production of The Long Good Friday. HandMade Films has also largely been involved in independent projects, though it produced the highly popular Withnail & I.

Thriller - Definition

A thriller is a genre of literature and film which is based around evoking an atmosphere of suspense, fear and tension. We are attempting to achieve the effect which most thrillers have by making a story which is based around danger, being the story of an assassin, and introducing tension and surprises from the story's beginning, through using ambiguous screams heard over the opening titles.

November 24th/22nd Production Meeting

Tuesday - progress was reasonably slow, as the majority of the lesson was based around completing the shot list for the film. We completed around half of the shot list by the end of the lesson and began re-drawing the storyboards of the opening shots.

Thursday - we finished the shot list at the very beginning of the lesson and began working on the finalised storyboards for the entire film. During the second half of the lesson, we began to discuss specific films and studios which we felt would be similar to ours. Films brought up included The French Connection and Blue Velvet.

DLR - Reccy 1

Having taken the DLR route (through Canary Wharf) which is where we intend to film our sequence, I now have a better idea of what to expect. The DLR itself was not monumentally busy, meaning it should be easy enough to film on board the train. However, we may not be able to achieve our desired effect of having the train empty unless we go later at night, when the line is presumably emptier than it was in the afternoon, as there will be no difference in the light (now that the nights are earlier). The stations themselves are also not particularly busy, and there are some particularly cinematic locations surrounding the DLR such as Canary Wharf, which I have taken a few shots of with my camera to gain an understanding of what filming will be like. The video can be found through this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3jQH4jp-Xs

Shot List - Table

Number	Cut	Type	Visual Content	Sound		Colour	Time			Actors	Drawn By
1	-	-	Black screen	Muffled sounds, then a sharp scream		Black	5 seconds			-
2	Quick cut	CU on face	Main character wakes up on DLR, looks to his side as other man speaks	Dialogue ‘You alright mate?’		High key – DLR lights	6 seconds			-
3	Straight cut	MS on both characters from behind	Both characters seen from behind, partially obscured by seats	Dialogue ‘Yeah I’m fine… long day’		High Key – DLR lights	4 seconds			-
4	Straight cut	Revert back to shot 2	Character looks back out of window	Diegetic		High key – DLR lights	3 seconds			-
5	Straight cut	Long shot	Canary wharf +surrounding buildings	Diegetic		Low key – night time, with ambient lights	3 seconds			-
6	Straight cut	Revert back to shot 4	Second character has gone	Diegetic		High key – DLR lights	2 seconds			-
7	Straight cut	Wide shot	Empty carriage, apart from main character	Diegetic – train sounds	High key – DLR lights			4 seconds	-
8	Straight cut	Revert back to shot 3	Character looks down to seat	Diegetic	High key – DLR lights			2 seconds	-
9	Straight cut	High angle, book on chair	‘Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad	Diegetic	High key – DLR lights			2 seconds	-
10	Straight cut	Low angle of main character	He looks up from book at closing doors	‘Stand clear of the doors’	High key – DLR lights			4 seconds
11	Straight cut	Wide angle of DLR	DLR leaves platform	Train begins to start up and leaves	Low key – ambient lights of station			6 seconds	-

Thriller Opening - My Ideas

1) The film opens with two characters in car parked in a suburban street at night. The driver is wearing a navy blue suit while the passenger wears light grey - both are wearing 60s style knitted ties. The film starts near the end of a conversation they have, and what they are saying seems ambiguous and is for the moment unexplained - they frequently refer to the time of someone arriving somewhere and 'whether a door will be left open'. They both observe a third man walking down the road, to which the driver points out that 'he is the one'. As the walking man turns a corner to walk down a long, dark driveway with gothic style gates, the passenger gets out and places a mask over his face - it is haloween, though the man intends to use it for other reasons. As he approaches his target - the two men are assassins - he bumps into a woman in the street, though she is unsuspicious of him due to the haloween context. He turns round the corner and the driver takes the car to the top of the driveway so as to block it from view, opening the passengers door as he arrives there. As he opens it, a shot of gunfire is heard from down the driveway. Following this, the passenger runs back in - it is implied that he has killed the man. As the passenger gets in, the driver asks if he has picked up his empty shell, and the passenger realises his mistake - evidence is lying with the dead victim. As he places his hand on the doorhandle to retrieve the shell, another set of headlights from the bottom of the driveway flicker on, revealing the entire crime scene.

2) Over a blank screen, muffled voices can be heard for three or four seconds. Eventually, they crescendo into a scream - at this point, the film cuts in to a man waking up on the DLR wearing a denim jacket. The man sat next to him - who has just arrived - asks him if he is alright, to which the man - who is the main character - responds that he is fine. We then establish the location of the DLR with a wide shot of Canary Wharf. Without any further conversation, the second man leaves, while the main character stays seated. The character notices a book the other man left behind, though instead of calling out to him, he picks it up and opens it to a page where a note is concealed. It reads a place and a time, 'Deptford Bridge, 5:10'. The character looks at his watch and sees that it is this time, then looks at the station. It is Deptford, and the man hurries off. We then cut to a street by the station where a taller man is standing. It is getting dark at this point. The main chararcter arrives to meet this man from the station, to which they have a conversation. The main character tells the taller man that he needs the information the man has about a frind of his, to which the taller man replies, asking for the money the main character was supposed to give him. The main character tells them that 'money wasn't part of the deal'. After a painful pause, the taller man asks the main character to come with him, and leads him into the night.

Sam's 1st idea - an interesting, involving plot with some good locations. The potential to have an ensemble cast is exciting, though it may also be a problem with the casting and direction of the scene. The suggestion that it should be raining is also interesting, but subsequently difficult to pull off, especially with regard to keeping the cameras working.

Sam's 2nd idea - though also having a number of different locations which may or may not be difficult to film, the concept would be easy enough to execute, and is certainly very tense. Ideas such as having the man assemble the camera and having an ambiguous gunshot noise at the end are very clever, and would be interesting to film.

Kayleigh's 1st idea - it has a set piece feeling, with some tense moments. This makes it both an interesting idea and easy to film, with some simple locations.

Kayleigh's 2nd idea - this has some very clever concepts, particularly the idea of masks. It would be very interesting to film and cast, and has easy locations. I particularly like the idea of ambiguities brought up with the involvement of masks, which would be very interesting to film.

Film Audience Questionnaire

1) Do you like films?

Yes.  30

No.       0

It is clear from this that films are appreciated by almost all people of all age ranges. 

2) Where do you watch your films?

Cinema 17

DVD/Blu-Ray 17

Television 12

Online/iTunes 17

The cinema, DVDs and online downloads are the most popular here - television is less popular, perhaps because it does not offer the experience of the cinema or because it does not give audiences freedom to watch what they want unlike DVDs and online film websites do.

3) How many times per week do you watch films?

Once a week 16

Twice a week 8

Three times a week 5

Four plus times a week 1

The majority of people watch films one time a week, above twice a week seems to be rare.

4) Which cinemas do you go to?

Arthouse 16

Multiplex 20

West End cinemas 2

City centre cinema 4

Most people attend arthouse or multiplex cinemas. It is likely to be the case because they are more accessible to people living in suburban areas, more so than city centre or West End cinemas are.

5) What food/drink do you get when you go to the cinema?

Sweets 13

Popcorn 16

Fizzy drinks 8

Nothing 6

Hot food 0

This shows that popcorn is particularly popular, suggesting that it is still typical to buy, whereas hot food seems to be very unpopular.

6) What persuades you to see a particular film?

Word of mouth 21

Critical reception 15

Advertising 14

Favourite actors 19

Favourite directors 9

The word of mouth is the most common reason why people see a film. This may be because the 15-25 age bracket, who are responsible for the majority of film ticket sales, are the most outgoing. However, many people seem to be persuaded to see films if their favourite actors are involved, as the use of some actors often assures audiences that a film will be good or successful. Around a third of participates said that their favourite directors convince them to see a film, suggesting that a fair few people take an interest into the film industry.

7) What kinds of films do you prefer?

Rom-com 17

Science fiction 16

Thriller 24

Musicals 8

Horror 10

War 16

Drama 15

Comedy 23

 Thrillers, comedies and romantic comedies are the most popular here, perhaps because they do not require as much effort to watch as, for example, hard-hitting war films would do. Few seem to like horror films or musicals, suggesting that the quality of these films is either in decline or not appealing to a younger age range (the age range which most people asked in this questionnaire belonged to).

8) What do you like about thrillers? 

Fast paced, clever, suspense, action, realism, escapism, plot twists, thought provoking, ambiguous, interesting, exciting, stylish.

There seem to be several reasons why people enjoy thrillers here, though the main reason seems to be because they offer a mixture of visual excitement i.e. realism, style and action, and thought provoking excitement i.e. plot twists, ambiguity and suspense. 

9) Do you have any favourite actors? If so, which ones?

Blake Lively, Tom Hardy x5, John Cusack x2, Megan Fox, James Franco, Leighton Meester, Beyonce, Ashton Kutcher, Ryan Gosling x4, Robert de Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, Kirsten Dunst, Sofia Coppola, Christian Bale x2, Gene Hackman, Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman, Tom Selleck x12, David Lynch, Daniel Day Lewis, Chris Tucker x2, Malcolm McDowell, Britney Spears, Jack Nicholson, Tom Sizemore x2, Mark Ruffalo, David Cross, Clint Eastwood, Mark Paul Gosselar, Val Kilmer, Jim Caviezel, Nick Nolte x2, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Paul Rudd, Steve Coogan, Bill Hader, Michael Cera, Jesse Eisenberg, Anton Yelchin, Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson x3, Steve Carrel,  Tom Cruise, Zoe Saldana, Robert Downey Jr, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jake Gyllenhaal, James Caan, Michael Fassbender x2, Benedict Cumberbatch.

There seems to be a wide range of favourite in this list, from comedians such as Seth Rogen to veteran actors such as James Caan. Among the 15-20 age range, which made up the majority of the questionnaire, younger actors seem to be the most popular, whether it is the 'eye candy' female actors or charismatic, talented younger actors such as Ryan Gosling, Tom Hardy or Maggie Gyllenhaal.