Survey and Mini Pitch - Jasleen

My Survey 

In order to help my group and I think of ideas for the plot of our thriller opening, I created a survey that would help get an audience opinion on what we should consider to make our thriller as best as we can. I asked friends and family members to complete this survey. In total, 15 people completed my survey, of different ages.

The first question asked the person their age. The majority of people who completed my survey were between the ages of 15-25. 4 out of the 15 that completed the survey said their favorite genre of film was romance (and this turned out to be the most popular genre). Many people also said the story line is what attracts them to a thriller film, which suggested our group had to have a strong story line in order to attract people to our thriller. 78% of those who took part (11/15) said the story line was the most important thing to consider when making a thriller, and 14% (2 people) said the music was the most important. 

Furthermore, tension is obviously important in a thriller and most people agreed that the music was the main thing that creates the most suspense, while some also said setting creates the most tension, as these are the forms of a thriller genre. This helped our group because it enabled us to understand how we can create suspense in our own thriller opening (we need an eerie setting and tension filled music to create suspense). This also conforms to the conventions of a thriller.

One of the most important questions in my survey was 'What do you think is the best way for a thriller film to open?'. This was one of the most important questions because our task is to create the opening to a thriller. We want to make ours as best as we can, and by the results of my survey, the best way to start our thriller is in the past or by using flashbacks and jump cuts.

Mini Pitch 

Title: Why so serious?

My idea for our thriller focusses on an extraordinary man in the park where he is in a standstill whilst the world blurs past time, the man has an eerie presence about him as the camera closes in on him, you can see scars over his face with blood all over him, but as time moves on you tell it’s not his blood but the blood of someone or something, someone is following him he don’t see the person but can sense them like he has a sixth sense. As the person is in touching distance the man disappears all of a sudden leaving the follower angry and distressed 

Visuals and Sound: 

The film would open on a black screen, and you can hear police sirens in the background. Suddenly, a man appears on the screen. This man is standing alone amidst a park and the fog is partially covering is face. His eyes are red and it’s quite obvious he may be using a drug. The sound of sirens would be echoing in the background, making it clear he is hiding from the police. The camera has a close up on his face and the camera shows the audience scars on this man’s face. He’s standing in the middle of the park with the police cars driving around the park. While his head is whipping, flashbacks would be shown. 

The first flashback would be of this boy, his 3 friends and 5 other boys (drug dealers) sitting around a table in a second floor flat. There are drugs on the table. It would then cut back to the man holding his head and blood dripping from his hands. The sound of the sirens has got louder and you can now hear the voices of the policemen in the background shouting.

When he whips his head around for the second time, another flashback occurs. This time, the flashback shows a couple of men bursting in to his house with knives. These men were searching for this man for a long time with a deep reason. This may have been the reason why this man has so many scars on his face and an eerie background.

The third flashback has the police bursting into the house. They are shouting and flashing lights. The police think that they have been involved in something and tries to arrest them. These men shout to one another "run.... get out" and all the men try to escape. He then jumps out of a window and runs. It then cuts back to present time. The sound of the sirens and the policemen's voices are getting louder and louder and he feels the police getting closer and closer. He walks slowly and mysteriously off into the park just to find out that he’s being watched and followed. The screens then turns black.

Mini Pitch Evaluation: New Idea First Draft

Title: Bystander

Our new idea will also be based at a teenagers house party, instead of it being based on the main characters doing drugs, one of the friends will go upstairs to find the bathroom, when he gets upstairs he sees something that he shouldn't have seen. As he makes his way up he can see a group of dangerous looking teenage boys pulling another boy into a room and quickly shutting the door, before he could hear the boys screaming "Shut up and stay put", just before the door slammed shot one of the bullies saw the bystander watching in disbelief, although he was aware that they were being watched they continued to scare the victim. This was followed by continuous screaming and threatening. The bystander walks away without saying a word. A half an hour passed until one of the bullies left the room and began searching for the bystander. 

Survey and mini pitch

My Survey (https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/QRV2BPP)

In order to accumulate any ideas for our thriller opening, I created a survey using SurveyMonkey. I produced 10 questions which I asked my friends and family to complete. 12 people took part in the survey. Here are the results from those who partook in the survey: 

The first question I asked was the surveyor's preferred genre of film. I wanted to use this later to compare with what they would like to see in a thriller. This will allow us to decide on what our target audience would like to see, allowing us to determine the sub genre of thriller we would use.

The key question I asked in the survey was "How would a good thriller begin?". The most popular choice was flashback. For us, I feel like this question was an amazing source of communication between our audience and us. The feedback used in this survey and the others from my group will be used to find the most appropriate beginning to our thriller opening which will appeal to our target audience.


MINI PITCH

My initial idea was a mixed group of 16/17 year olds from North London who enjoying going out and partying. They decide one night before a party to try a Class A drug because they want something new. The night takes a bad turn when one friend becomes unconscious and has several fits before going into cardiac arrest. The group of teens cover up the death by hiding the body and creating an alibi which gets them out of the clear...or so they think.

A potential idea for a title had to contain the central theme of youth, drug use and it needed to give away what the film is about, without completely spoiling it. In order to appropriately name the thriller, i decided upon Banged Up.

*PPT GOES HERE*

'The Breakfast Club' title sequence - Katie

Survey and Mini Pitch - Katie

My Survey 

In order to help my group and I think of ideas for the plot of our thriller opening, I individually created a survey that would help get an audience opinion on what we should consider to make our thriller as best as we can. I asked friends and family members to complete this survey. In total, 15 people completed my survey.

The first question asked the person their age. The majority of people who completed my survey were between the ages of 15-25. 4 out of the 15 that completed the survey said their favourite genre of film was romance (and this turned out to be the most popular genre). Also, most people said the story line is what attracts them to a thriller film, which suggested our group had to have a strong story line in order to attract people to our thriller. 78% of those who took part (11/15) said the story line was the most important thing to consider when making a thriller, and 14% (2 people) said the music was the most important. 

Furthermore, tension is obviously important in a thriller and most people agreed that the music was the main thing that creates the most suspense, while some also said setting creates the most tension. This helped our group because it enabled us to understand how we can create suspense in our own thriller opening (we need an eerie setting and tension filled music to create suspense). 

One of the most important questions in my survey was 'What do you think is the best way for a thriller film to open?'. This was one of the most important questions because our task is to create the opening to a thriller. We want to make ours as best as we can, and by the results of my survey, the best way to start our thriller is in the past. 






(Link to survey results) https://www.surveymonkey.com/analyze/KwmrtYXkT3MqT62qkg2ajOfpnoru1U8XJ5sf4A3O4DY_3D

Mini Pitch 

Title: Adolescents 

My idea for our thriller focuses on a group of 4 teenagers - mainly zooming in on one boy, age 17-18, who have found themselves on the run from the police. They are located in London (meaning most of the filming would take place in London. I imagine them to be from the Hampstead area). These 4 teenage boys have found themselves caught up in a drug scandal which has resulted in them on the run. 

Visuals and Sound: 

The film would open on a black screen, and you can hear police sirens in the background. Suddenly, a boy appears on the screen. This boy is running down a road at night, sweat covering his face. His pupils would be dilated and his eyes red - it is obvious he is on some sort of drug. The sound of sirens would be echoing in the background, making it clear he is running from the police. The boy then turns a corner. After this I picture a close up shot on this boys face while his head is whipping around looking for his friends, perhaps shouting their names quietly. He is still walking slowly while getting his breath back. While his head is whipping, flashbacks would be shown. 
The first flashback would be of this boy, his 3 friends and 5 other boys (obviously drug dealers) sitting around a table in a second floor grungy flat in Camden. Drugs are on the table. It would then cut back to the boy running. His pace has now started to increase again. The sound of the sirens have got louder and you can now hear the voices of the policemen in the background shouting. The boy is looking back, whipping his head around. 
When he whips his head around for the second time, another flashback occurs. This time, the flashback shows the police bursting into the house. They are shouting and flashing lights. The drug dealers that the 4 boys were involved with were known to the police and wanted. As the police burst in there is a lot of shouting - during this flashback the pace of camera work is slightly sped up. All the boys depart from round the table and run to whatever exit they can. The boy who we have been focusing on is shown shouting to his friends saying "run....get out". He then jumps out of a window and runs. 
It then cuts back to present time. The sound of the sirens and the policemen's voices are getting louder and louder and he feels the police getting closer and closer. The boy starts running faster. He keeps looking back to check he is safe, then turns a corner. As he turns the corner, he slams into someone. The screen then cuts black. 

IMDb figures - Jasleen

Maze Runner: Scorch Trials (Wes Ball, 2015)

Box Office

Budget:

 $61,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

 $30,316,510 (USA) (18 September 2015)

(3,791 Screens)

Gross:

 $81,687,587 (USA) (8 January 2016)

Jurassic World  (Joss Whedon, 2015)


Box Office

Budget:

 $150,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

 $204,600,000 (USA) (12 June 2015) (4,274 Screens)

Gross:

 $652,177,271 (USA) (13 November 2015)

The Sixth Sense (Shyamalan, 1999)

Budget: $40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:                                   

 $26,681,262 (USA) (2,161 Screens)


 £257,479 (UK) (9 Screens)


Gross: $293,501,675 (USA) (12 May 2000)

Kingsman: The Secret Service (James Gunn, 2014)

Budget:

 $81,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

 $42,000,000 (USA) (13 February 2015) (3,204 Screens)
  £4,152,128 (UK) (1 February 2015)

Gross:

 $128,248,205 (USA) (26 June 2015)

This shows us that a lot of films are very successful in bringing revenue, especially during the opening weekend. The films above were very successful at the box office and therefore made a lot of profit. Most of these films are also release near the end or right at the starting of the year and this may be a reason to why they are so successful and maybe we should also follow that path.

Film Distributors' Association Research

By looking at the FDA website (launchingfilms.com), we can see the latest and upcoming thriller films to hit the screens and compare them in a range of ways.

FILM	BOX OFFICE (GROSS)	CERTIFICATE	RELEASE	RATING
The Boy	$30,778,587	PG- 13	2016	6.3
Deadpool	$235,394,887	R	2016	8.6
Misconduct		R	2016	5.4
The Revenant	$165,116,550	R	2015	8.2

This could suggest the content that would be appropriate to show our target audience. 15 certificates are much easier to carry out and this may be a good option to consider as there is an abundance of themes that can be included but due to the age restriction, these themes must be cut off for less mature audiences. This will enable our thriller opening to contain themes of a grown up nature, i.e. violence, however, this can only be taken to a certain extent.