Researching Production Companies

I have currently been researching production companies and the genre of the film they produce to try and give our group inspiration with names. We wanted to see if there was a connection between the genre the production company produces, the history of the production companies and the name of the production company, we have discussed many names such as, J.E.D.I which is taken from Star Wars and we did not want people to think that our movie is science-fiction.

Below is research of the production company and the movies that they have produced.

Lions Gate Entertainment
The company's roots can be traced back to the original, and now-defunct, Los Angeles-based studio and the Production company who was run by filmmaker Robert Altman in the 1970s, which the director called Lion's Gate Films. Altman named the company for a hometown landmark - Greater Vancouver's Lion's Gate. The term Lion's Gate references the famed Lions Gate bridge. As of 2007, it is the most commercially successful independent film and television distribution company in North America. Lions Gate co-produced all of the Saw movies to date with Twisted Pictures. Lions Gate has produced a broad range of films with different genres, American Physco in 2000 and Crash 2004 which are both Thrillers, My Bloody Valentine 3D and The Haunting in Connecticut which are both Horrors, Youth in Revolt which is a comedy. Lions Gate produced many films with many different genres however it seems there are more Thriller and Horrors such as Crash, American Physco, The Haunting in Connecticut, My Bloody Valentine 3D, Teeth, Daybreakers and Drag me to Hell.

Paramount Vantage

Paramount Classics was launched in 1998 and released such art house fare as The Virgin Suicides, You Can Count on Me, Sunshine, Mostly Martha, Winter Solstice, and three Patrice Leconte films (Girl on the Bridge, Man on the Train, Intimate Strangers). In 2006, the Paramount Vantage brand branched off from Paramount Classics, which was relaunched in 2007 as a distributor of smaller, review-driven films including foreign-language acquisitions and documentaries. In 2007, Paramount Vantage co-produced No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood with Miramax Films. It seems that Paramount Vantage produce many Thriller films with horrific scenes such as Babel, Into the Wild, No Country for Old Men, The Kite Runner, There Will be Blood, Defiance, The Eye, The Duchess and Revolutionary Road.

Twisted Pictures

Twisted Pictures is a production company, mainly creating films of the horror genre. It gained wide attention through the production of the Saw series. The Saw Series was co-produced with Lions Gate Entertainment, the Saw series was the highest earned film with Twisted Pictures however they have made other films like Dead Silence, Repo! The Genetic Opera, The Tortured and Chain Letter.

Miramax Films

Miramax Films is an art-house/independent film production company that both produced

and distributed films including foreign films over its 31-year history. For its first 14 years the company was privately owned by its founders, Bob and Harvey Weinstein. Miramax Films has produced many different genres of films such as Romantic Comedies She's All That and Bridget Jones Diary, the Crime genre like Kill Bill vol. 1 and vol.2 and the Thriller genre such as There will be blood and No Country for Old Men with Paramount Vanatge and Comedy like Adventureland and Smart People. Miramax Films has a very broad range of films and that stands out from the other Production Companies.

After researching Lions Gate Entertainment, Paramount Vanage, Twisted Pictures and Miramax Films I find that most production companies mainly stick to one genre. Lions Gate Entertainment main genre is Thriller, Paramount Vantage main genre is Drama and Twisted Pictures is all horror films. However, Miramax Films is the only production company where I can not see that there is one main genre as all of the films have very broad genres. I have decided that the title of our production company should sound professional and I feel that we should call our production company some thing relevant to the Thriller/Horror genre as we can say that our production company could target many Thriller/Horror films as the popularity of Thriller/Horror films are increasing.

Se7en

In Friday's lesson our class watched the 1995 film Se7en directed by is a 1995 David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. The story follows a retiring detective Detective David Mills who was played by Morgan Freeman and his replacement Detective William Somerset who was played by Brad Pitt, jointly investigating a series of ritualistic murders inspired by the seven deadly sins.
I loved how dark and mysterious the fim was and how the viewer did not know what deadly sin was next, and how brutal the deaths were but the viewer understood how the murder matches the sin. I thought it was very clever how the director used different shots for example, the upcoming to the deaths the shots were quick but the scene was very long.
The camera shots used gave our group many ideas on what we think makes a good thriller/horror film, the camera shots and the techniques we may want to include. The speed of the cut aways was a camera technique my filming group has decided to do as it bulids up tension and the viewer finds themselves on the edge of their seat, the ending were Brad Pitt was deciding whether to kill Doe and there was a very bright shot of Somerset's wife Tracy but with a blink of the eye you can miss it but it adds mystery as the viewer wants to know what it was.
I really enjoyed this film, but I was disappointed with the ending but after thinking about it I cant see how they could of ended it another way. Watching Se7en has defiently been benefical as it has given our group many ideas of camera shots and techniques and how it make a brilliant Thriller film.

Thriller Research- Ideas

My group have been researching the thriller genre. I have become very intrigued in to the idea of basing the two minute film around a real experience.
There are many interesting stories that we could research more in to. However, many will be too hard to do, as we may not have sufficient resources and it will hard to try and get other people to act in the film as they may not be reliable or they may not be able to film.
I personally thought Jack the Ripper may be interesting as he is very historic and we could use or make interesting props, play on the idea of a villain and to keep him mysterious throughout the film and to create suspense and intense moments and we could also use Low Key lighting.
I really like using this idea but it seems more like a horror genre rather than a thriller.
I am going to research more real life experiences to try and to see if it is possible to have a Thriller film based on a historic experience.

Thriller Research- The Godfather

I have researched the genre Thriller and I found a worldwide poll in which the public chose the best and worst of thriller films. I then chose to look at the opening of the top best thriller film to see what what makes a good thriller opening. The Godfather reached number one with 365,190 votes.
The opening is intreging as the screen is blacked out, then the dialogue starts with 'I believe in America' which is intense as it makes the audience want to know the impact of what he just said and it sounds like he is defending himself.
The camera shot is a close up of a man talking about his daughter and as he talking the camera is in reverse zoom, which is a simple technique but effective in making the opening tense and already the audience are sitting on the edge of there seat.
I love how the opening is so dramatic and it adds tension to the atmosphere especially the dialogue as it talks about how his daughter was assaulted by her boyfriend and his friend, the audience gets a clear image that the man is the father and you get a sense of love he loves his daughter and the hatred he has for these men who attacked his daughter, this is easily told by the emotions in his face and his voice which has sunk the audience in to the film.
As the speech reaches to the most emotional part 'she was a beautiful girl (long pause) now she will never be beautiful again' and the father begins to cry and that line and acting is so dramatic and the audience gets emotional as well, and the camera begins to zoom out and the audience can see a shadowed head resting on a hand in the left hand corner, this makes the film more dramatic as the audience wonder who the man is and why is the father telling him this and it also gives a sense of the father seeing a councillor as the men are sitting opposite from each other.
As the camera is zooming out and the man figure is becoming clearer, then the other men immediately starts with 'Why didn't you come to me first' this gets the audience really wondering who the man is and how much power does he have to be saying that he is better than the law system.
In the opening my favourite part is when the second man asks what the other man wants done and the father whispers in his ear even though the camera is in extreme zoom between the two men the main focus is the mouth to ear, they are both blacked out which adds tension, mystery and a interest in the conversation between the two men.
As the father walks away the camera is medium zoom on the second man, he looks like he is thinking but his expression is blank which makes it seem he has heard worse things.
The opening is so dramatic and I think that's what makes a brilliant thriller opening.

Genres

In class we was discussing what genre we are interested in for our two minute film we will be creating.
The genres were thriller, romantic comedy, comedy, chick flick, horror and action all of the genres are different and have different aspects to the story lines and filming for example in a horror the camera may be shaky and zoomed into peoples faces to add tension and fear but in a comedy the camera is usually not zoomed in as many things may be going on in the background and to add a focus to the characters but also to become aware of the set.
I am very interested in thriller as i have been watching many thriller films and there are so camera shots and story lines you can add to create more drama and tension.
However, I am also interested in comedy films as not many people film them but I think it will be hard to try to be funny that it will end up being cheesy and idiotic.