History of Thrillers...

The genre of thriller has been in the film business for roughly 70 years. Various directors have gained their acclaim for success through the thriller genre. Here is a picture from the website timerime which shows the progression of thriller films...

Here are summaries of just a few of them...

Rebecca was made in 1940 and was amongst the first lot of films in the thriller genre. It was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and stars Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. Rebecca was the first film to be shown at the 1st Berlin International Film Festival and set the bar for thriller films: it won two Academy Awards (which included Best Picture) and both the lead actors aswell as Judith Anderson were nominated for Oscar awards. Based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier, the story centres on a young woman who has recently married a man and moved into his mansion, only to find herself being haunted by his ex wife.The picture is filmed in all black and white which is what Hitchcock wanted to give the film a darker edge and atmosphere. Rebecca was Alfred Hitchcock's first film to be made in Hollywood.


 

Psycho was made in 1960 and was again directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It starred Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, John Gavin and Vera Miles. Psycho was nominated for four Academy Awards even though it got mixed reviews. It is generally considered to be one of the best films Hitchcock made. The story focusses on a young woman who steals money so her and her lover can get married, but it comes with serious consequences. Psycho was the last picture Hitchcock filmed in black and white - he thought if it was in colour, it would be too gory to watch. He used various camera shots and lenses to help give the audience a deeper sense of realism.

The Shining was made in 1980 and was directed by Stanley Kubrick. It stars Jack Nicholson as the main protagonist and is based on a man who takes a job at a hotel only to find it does strange things to him and therefore to his family. The Shining is based on the novel by Stephen King. Stanley Kubrick forced the cast and crew to re-take scenes over and over again for a lot of crucial scenes and distinct shots. The Shining has been  named as one of the top ten most scariest films ever.

Pulp Fiction was made in 1994 and was directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars John Travolta, Samuel L.Jackson and Uma Thurman-all of them were nominated for Academy Awards for the film. Pulp Fiction is based on a intersected and knitted group of LA 'mobsters'. Tarantino has a very unique style and a love for crime and violence being used in his films. Pulp Fiction was named the 94th Greatest Movie of All Time by the American Film Institute.

Inception was made in 2010 and was directed by Christopher Nolan. It stars numerous actors and actresses including Leonardo DiCaprio. It is based on a world based on technology of humans and how they deal with it when strange things start to happen. Inception was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won five of them. Nolan uses many large scale shots and created one of the most interesting thriller films of the twenty first century

Potential Problem!

How the actors are getting to the shoot?
Amy can drive and as she is James' girlfriend, we can probably ask them to come together, will confirm whether that will happen later. Connor will get a lift with either Abbie or Maisy. For the second shoot, I will get the bus up to Gravesend to meet everyone there. We are beginning filming at 12pm on both days for continuity.

Group meeting 5th December

Connor confirmed that he will be our second actor, pictures of him to follow.
Shooting should start on the 19th December at my house (South Darenth) from 12pm & on the 20th December at 12pm (Gravesend.) Pictures of locations are to follow.
Another meeting will follow tomorrow (we will also begin to create our timeline & storyboard in this time.)
All actors have agreed to show up to the shoot.

Costumes

For actor 1 (James) he will have two main outfits: the army outfit & a coat with jeans. We have an army all in one which we will cover up the fact it is an all in one. The coat & jeans, James will have but we will possibly change it to a trench coat. For Amy (the female) we were thinking of her wearing a night gown or dressing gown or possible tracksuit to show she has been lonely since her husband went to war. The other actor, possibly Connor, will have a hoodie and jeans. We will cover up his face, it seems very horror film-ish at the start but that is intentional as it is a thriller. There will be no murders or anything horror-y apart from their outfits.

Actors Pictures (& Pictures of relevenace towards the shoot)

We have permission to use these photos in our shoot and for our blog.

 Main actor: James Mann. He has already said that he will be able for the shoot on Monday 19th December & Tuesday 20th December. Amy (girl in the picture with him) may possibly be used. Waiting to hear back from our second main actor.




We decided to use these actors as we decided that they would be the best suitable to portray our characters. Overall our piece will contain 3 characters (including connor featured in a later post). James will play our main character whose stroy will be followed by the audience. He will portray a man who has OCD whose family has dissapeared and he is trying to find them.
Amy will play the girlfriend/wife of James's character. She will feature in the jump cut alongside James.
Connor will play the mysterious character who is seen lurking behind James's character in most shots. The audoence will never see Connors whole face, only the bottom half as we want to keep the audience interested and intrigued.

We decided to use these actrors because they are known by members in the group so we know we can trust them. Also we wanted actors who looked older for their age but still mainting that youthfull look as we didnt want to use older actors.

Synopsis Of Our Thriller - Dead By Alliance

An ex soldier returns home after being away from his loved ones for years, things have changed and everything he has ever known is a lie. Will he ever get his old life back? Or will he finally be broken?

Group meeting 1/12/11