Here is the mood board myself and Frankie have composed in order to see the aspects that will be incorporated in our film. In this storyboard the presence of female characters is very prominent therefore our film will appeal to a female audience. Also, the females in our film will be in their mid 20s therefore the film will appeal to young adults and teenagers as the plot includes problems teenagers and older people may face, our target audience is 15 - 25 year olds primarily. We have incorporated genre conventions in our film, such as guns, murder, blood and hostage, we believe that this will make our thriller as convincing as it can be. Also, we have included the gun and drugs in our mood board due to the fact, this is a key convention of the thriller genre. From this mood board you can gain the idea that our thriller will fit into the sub-genre of ' psychological' as one of the key characters is mentally disturbed and another is a transgender girl, plus the plot is very complicated and due to it being psychological, the audience will need to be engaged.
As a group we were given these scenarios to choose from individually, so that we could each produce a brainstorm for a thriller of our own. In total our group should have 4 brainstorms, one for each member.
Here is my brainstorm, I chose to take homage to Taxi Driver and Se7en, as my thriller is a psychological thriller called 'Redundancy'.
The reasons I chose Taxi Driver as I felt it has a very enticing storyline and the whole concept of being trusted when you are a taxi driver by your customer, made me think that this would be an ideal character for my thriller. Plus, the audience would expect the taxi driver to be trustworthy at first and would be surprised when he turns out to be the murderer of the film. I also chose Se7en as the murders in Se7en are very different to each other and yet they all have something in common, for instance, like John Doe, Luke Corseno is mentally unstable and even though they both give off the impression that they are sane, it is a front.
From this task, I found it easier to understand why the directors of thriller films included certain characters, props and the idea for their film a lot more clearer, as when thinking about the different aspects I wanted to incorporate in my film, I wanted to ensure that the plot would be enticing to the audience, that the story would conclude well and that it was understood. In all, this task has helped me a lot to think about the many different types of thrillers, the genre conventions and why they are used.
Synopsis: After being made redundant from the cab firm he worked at, Luke’s true colours begin to show, followed by his sordid secret, he’s the reason as to why the toll of missing people has arisen and what is worse, his plan is flawless. Carrying out his normal life, being a taxi driver even though he is no longer legally employed, he lures his victims to his secluded house in woodlands, and murders them all, with no remorse, to his naivety, his killings are not so ‘random’ after all. Introducing Lana Reed, who has suspected Luke from the beginning and concocts a plan to not only let him continue his sordid murders but to play a part in those he kills, unbeknown to Luke and the audience until the ending. In the end, Lana murders Luke and stores him in his shed along with the other victims, she seems to be the hero in this story and yet she continues the killing spree. Cliffhanger; does she ever get caught?
Plot: Psychological thriller where redundant taxi driver goes on killing spree, the obstacles on the way and the consequences, murder, espionage and vengeance all in one.
Treatment: The journey of Luke Corseno, who kills his 'clients' while taxing them, and the journey of the detectives on his tail, to solve the case.
Homage to director/films: Taxi Driver
Characters: Luke Corseno, Lana Reed, Dt. Miles and Dt. Lower.
In my analysis of V For Vendetta I have covered 5 questions:
1 - What makes it a thriller?
2 - What happens in the scene?
3 - How does it set up the story?
4 - How does it introduce the key thriller characters?
5 - How does it relate to the ending?
From looking at the ratings, it is denotes to me that this is a very popular film, as 28.6% of the people who rated gave the film a 10, 25.9% gave a 9 and 23.9% rated it an 8, therefore compared to the other ratings, it has fulfilled its aim of attracting it's target audience. 18-29 year old males rated the film the most so in effect I think that this film was aimed at the male gender and the specific age range of 18 - 29. Generally, due to the content of the film being scandalous and fast paced, it would keep the male audience enticed as they are primarily interest in action, plus seeing as the main character is a man, they can emphasise with him.
Fight Club
Setting aside that Fight Club is one of my all time favourite films, when looking at the statistics, it is relevant to say that many others enjoy watching the film as much as I do. The fact that 43% of the ratings are a 10, 28% are a 9 and 16% an 8, it is very clear that many of the people who have seen the film have enjoyed it rather than the minority of people who gave a low rating. The older the person, the lower rating they gave, which to me denotes that the target audience for this film was the younger generation of adults. Plus, due to the cast being male, with a fast paced storyline, it would explain why mostly men watch this film. Fight Club was one of the first films I watched knowing it was from the Thriller genre, therefore while watching it I could see it was a prominant film within the whole of the Thriller genre and its timeline.
Se7en
In comparison to the ratings for Double Indemnity and Fightclub, it seems that the older the viewer, the lower the rating, which in conclusion could be down to the fact that thrillers are dominantly certified for the viewing of 15 year olds and 18 year olds, therefore people of these ages are more likely to watch them and find them appealing. Also, following the trend of a male dominant audience, Se7en follows suit with 268,000 male ratings and just 45,000 female ratings. I think the reasoning behind the amount of males watching this film is due to the disgusting images from each crime, the male dominance of the cast and the enigma code of the film.
