change of setting in our thriller

        We chose to use this as our destination to film our thriller, this being Cornhill Manor located in Ewhurst. We wanted to film here as for one, the driver of the car (Simon) is meant to be some sort of successful politician and this house indicates that he has a lot of money and could potentially be easy to target. Another reason why we chose to use this location is that the house has a long drive way which we could stage the shoot on and this made it easier for us to utilise the weapons used for there potentially, without attracting any form of attention from the law. Isolation within some of the most famous thrillers are used to emphasises tension & threat, this also being a key convention in a thriller film. It also meant that we did not have to gain permission to close off public roads, so instead we managed to gain access to the drive way of the manor.

choosing the actresses for our thriller

                 We have chosen these two girls, Maggie & Georgia as firstly they appeal to a male target audience of 15 - 24 years due young appearances and air of vulnerability.

 

                Secondly, they were young enough to be our main actors daughters and as our film is going to be an action film like 'Taken 2' we felt that Maggie, as the dark haired girl had the requisite looks to be the new Jennifer Laurence which would help her appeal to a target audience of girls.

progress on our thriller

This week we have worked very well as a team, and made up for the lost time due to our delay in filming. We started the main editing last week and finished it off on Wednesday this week. We decided with all of the changes we would make and how we wanted to piece together our thriller, making sure that we kept up the tempo to make the film feel like a usual thriller, we made sure we got the right shots in the right places to well portray the important moments in the film. Also later on this week we have finished off the sound editing on Final Cut Pro, by doing so we have made it so the sound of the thriller is now well balanced and will be perfect for listening to on speakers via YouTube etc. Also, we have now converted the thriller from the original editing quality into the best form of high definition, thus our thriller looks good quality and will look great over the internet.

script for our thriller

Scene 1; Right side of car.

Simon: Can I help you officer?

Shane: Could you step out of the car please?

Simon: Okay.

Simon: Don't worry girls, I won't be a minute. We were probably going a bit too fast.

*Gets out of car*

*Protests as Shane pushes him into the car*

*Shane hands Simon a cellphone*

Simon: Hello?

Simon: Yes, speaking.

*Pauses to listen*

Simon: NO!

Scene 2; Left side of car.

George:Afternoon

Georgia: What's going on?

George: How many of you are there in here today?

Georgia: There's three of us.

George: Is that your father?

Georgia: Yes, what do you want?

*George pulls out some paper from jacket pocket*

George: I'm going to need you to step out of the car for a minute please.

Georgia: Maggie, no.

*Maggie exits the car*

George: I need you to turn around and face the car.

George: Hands behind your back.

*Draws handgun, pushes muzzle into the back of Maggie's neck*

George: Get down.

*Whistles*

Georgia: Dad!

George: Stand up, head down, don't talk.

new storyline

Two days prior to the shoot, we realised that it would be impossible to get the Russians, James Hartman and Ted Jackson for our thriller as all of our actors had pulled out of the shoot. We went back to the drawing board and decided to come up with a more realistic and 'belivable' storyline, while still following the basic principals of our original idea. After much deliberation, we decided to do a more politically based film. Many of the concepts are simmilar between our two ideas, there is an 'ambush' in which we used the same car and the same guns, however we changed the army uniforms with police ones. The police uniforms were inspired by a recent news article which states that the police are using private contracters; mercenary police officers. Instead of having mercenary soldiers ambushing a car with Ted and James in, we had two hired guns posing as officers flag down and intercept a car containing Simon (as some kind of political figure), Maggie (as his daughter) and Georgia (as his step daughter). We also have changed the location of the shoot from the woods to Cornhill, as this kind of estate looks like the kind of property a government minister might own. Shane and Myself played the intercepting officers and Greg directed much of the shoot and made an appearence as the sniper who takes out Georgia. In our new idea, the officars intercept the car, and Simon and Maggie are instructed to get out. Simon is handed a cell phone by one of the officers, with the man who employed the mercenaries on the other end of the line supposedly giving him some kind of ultimatum. In the meantime, Maggie is told to face the car, then restrained and dragged off by the second officer. Simon is then pistol whipped in the face and the phone is left in his pocket as he lies there unconsious. Georgia, who is left behind, attempts to escape and moves to exit the vehicle, but is shot and killed by the sniper as she is a witness. The reason for her death is that the hitmen want to make a point by killing someone close to Simon, but not someone who they feel is a necessary bargain chip, someone who is both invaluable and expendable at the same time, his step daughter.

influence for mercenaries ideas

Through the mass amount of research that we have done to do with the recent change in our film, changing the original mercenaries as disguised police officers, we have found out that mercenaries are joining the police force and the UK police force has become much more elite due to these new recruits.

 

 

 

So, in our change we have Shane Himathongkom & George Hill being the disguesed mercenaries kidnapping Simon Woods' daughters as he works for some sort or political party/company.

 

However, it does happen in the UK but not as often, but the events leading up to the Ludlow Massacre is a good example of this. The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company hired a "detective agency" however some people felt that they were more like thugs for them to break a miners strike. The detectives armored a car and put a machine gun on it and fired at the strikers. Not only that, every once and a while, they'd just randomly fire a bullet at the tents where the miners lived, sometimes killing someone. However, the Ludlow Massacre was in 1915, not being a recent event to prove the mercenaries police recruitment.

 

 

Above, there is is newspaper article about foriegn mercenary recruiments into the British army. This is our key eveidence towards the change of our film. Mercenaries and foreign fighters are now replacing British soldiers when Army numbers are slashed by 20,000. Also, there is eveidence that Legendary infantry units could have disappeared as Defence Secretary Philip Hammond admitted that ­“difficult decisions” will have to be made and that “Some units inevitably will be lost or will merge.” Mr Hammond then conceded that cuts would mean greater use of reserves and private contractors and that Britain would have to look to its Nato allies to provide future military support.

new main character

 Due to the changes of our thriller idea because of the actors pull out a day before the shooting. We have to come up with the new storyline and casting. Our new main character has changed to Simon Woods instead of James Hartman. We choose Simon because he has the mature look which fits to the category that we need because we need him to portrait the father role which needed to be mature, looks in control. Also we need someone who is fairly good-looking to attract the audience which he looks similar to Clive Owen from some angle. This will help to attract the mid 30s to mid   40s years old which are our secondary audience.