Character Profile: Emma

 

 

Character Profile - Emma 

GENDER: Female

AGE: 18

Emma is very close to her family, she has one sibling considerably younger than her and therefore feels exceptionally protective over them. She is equally close to both her parents who were married and happy. She is very intelligent and is successful at school. She values everything she has as her parents work very hard for their pay and, as a result, the family is moderately well off. However, it means her parents are away a lot and she spends a lot of evenings alone with her sibling. Therefore she is very independent and can look after herself and is attuned to the needs of others. She shows her appreciation to her parents through her successes and achievements, especially her  academic ones; this has led to her becoming a perfectionist, she now feels as though her worth is judged on what she can physically show. Now, anything she sets her mind to she will achieve and, if not, she will beat herself up about it until she puts it right. 

Due to the schedule of her parents, she doesn't go out a lot as she is tied to caring for her sibling. It is a less than ideal situation as she now struggles to socialise with people her own age but is drawn to the company of adults as she is living an adult life herself. This leads to her attachment to the chief police officer in the investigation who she feels comforted and protected by; this is not something she is massively used to as it is usually her caring for her sibling. She enjoys the relief of being taken care of herself. 

Unfortunately, the age of her sibling means they require a lot of attention and, with her parents often away, this falls on the shoulders of Emma. This leads to a feeling of resentment towards her sibling because she feels they are ‘stealing her childhood’. They are but there is nothing to be done about this situation so she learns to deal with it. She often feels guilty about her feelings towards her sibling, especially when they are translated into actions when she is exceptionally frustrated. Deep down she knows it’s not the child’s fault but channelling her anger into one individual helps her deal with her frustration and the feeling of being trapped. 

However, this never lasts long and beneath all the negative emotions that too often cloud her judgement, she loves her sibling and would do anything to protect them from harm. They are very close. 

Emma's not interested in fashion or style so normally wears something practical, easy for her to move in and that's low maintenance; she has more important things to worry about than her clothes. She usually goes for jeans, a T shirt and a comfy hoodie to keep her warm but that doesn't matter if it gets dirty. 

She wears her old black boots, quite sturdy and worn to the shape of her feet; they are familiar and comfortable, she doesn't think twice about putting them on.

Scene Content

Scene 1: Police station, Daytime 

Emma and her sibling are sat together, Emma is cradling the younger child. They have been brought in to discuss their parents deaths after Emma’s recovery. She is distraught but staying strong for the child. The child is very confused and asking questions such as, “Where’s Mummy?” and “Has Daddy gone to bring Mummy back?” Emma is becoming visibly more and more upset and trying to stay strong for the child. This should be very upsetting for the audience. 

Scene 2: Credits, no filming

Scene 3: Hospital operating theatre

Emma is laid on an operating table having narrowly escaped the attack which left her parents dead. She is unconscious and having her heart restarted. The operating theatre is full of doctors who are trying to say her life. They should be exceptionally stressed as she has died in front of them. They are in a frenzy trying to restart her heart but following procedure professionally, the audience should feel scared for Emma but as though the situation is relatively under control. 

Scene 4: Emma’s house 

Emma is sat with her family talking/smiling/laughing. Very natural and happy, an evening at home before her parents are murdered. 

Scene 5: emma’s house 

Before her family are murdered. Emma walks into the living room where the news is on. She stands just in from the doorway and watches the new report on the murders in the town. She is scared for herself and worried about the safety of her family. She turns away from the TV before the story is finished - trying to distance herself from the threat - and leaves the room. 

Scene 6: News station

A news reporter is reading the story about the serial killer in Dreamtown. Very professional, just like a real news anchorman/woman. 

Scene 7: the woods

Emma is running away from the killer, they are chasing her through the woods. She is terrified and running for her life. 

Scenes to Film

Dreamtown

Scene 1:

- Lucy and child sitting in F hall. One long shot, stationary camera. Big use of focus. Needs child which could add time, allow for this. 

Scene 2:

- Black screen, everything added in after effects. No filming. 

Scene 3:

• Hospital. NEED LOCATION! Somewhere with a white background where lots of people can meet and I can take the defibrillator. Sort on Friday 27th January - possibly Ilkley Coronation Hospital. 
• Need 4 shots starting very low with each one moving up and over the patient until the final shot is a close up of her face. All done in the same period of shooting. Need extras which will elongate the process. Need to put makeup on Lucy too - can’t be too public a place, school could be problematic. Allow plenty of time!!

Scene 4:

• Family laughing together. My house, one shot, very short. Handheld. 

Scene 5:

• Lucy watching news report. My house, one long shot, handheld. Could be difficult to get angles right, will definitely take lots of attempts. Allow plenty of time. 

Scene 6: 

• News reporter. Filmed on a green screen either with Mr VZ at school or a parent at home depending on timings. Shouldn't take long, one shot, steady camera. This footage is to be used within scene 5 when Lucy is watching the news. 

Scene 7:

- Lucy running through the woods. Filmed at Hebers Ghyll. Short shot, handheld. Shouldn't take long. 

Dreamtown Treatment

Dreamtown Treatment 

This is a crime thriller about a serial killer seemingly randomly murdering people from Dreamtown. It follows our protagonist,  Emma, an 18 year old resident of Dreamtown who's parents were killed by the murderer orphaning her and her younger sibling. Emma managed to escape the attack but was left injured in hospital. When she wakes she is questioned by the police about her experience and, alone, scared and determined, Emma chooses to help the police in their investigation to find the person that killed her parents.

Think 'Twin Peaks' meets 'Stepford Wives'. 

Box Office Success

Films in this genre have been very successful with ‘Gone Girl’ making $369,330,363, ‘Se7en’ making $327,311,859, ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ making $232,617,430 and ‘Pulp Fiction’, with a production budget of only $8 million, making $213,928,762. 

The Full Film

The film begins with Emma, our protagonist’s, heart being restarted as she recovers from an attack which left her parents dead. This scene comes from the first third of the film, after the title we go back to the start to see the events which led up to that moment. Then the film continues into the investigation into the murders. 

At the beginning of the film it is presumed the murders are the work of a serial killer, however, as more and more take place it becomes apparent that the culprit can't be a single person and the police are met with the challenge of stopping a seemingly invisible group of killers with no apparent pattern or motive except from the fact that they only kill the residents of Dreamtown.

The murders are actually being carried out by the townspeople, people in positions of power and authority such as doctors, policemen, teachers and government officials. This leaves the investigators with the most difficult group of people to catch, those hiding in plain sight, whilst trying to solve the biggest killing coverup in a town plagued by phenomenal corruption. 

Emma is aiding the investigators, having been the only person to survive an attack. She tries desperately to remember anything about the attacker that killed her parents but, when memories start to resurface, she doesn't know who it’s safe to tell. Tell the right person and give the investigation it’s desperately important lead to help solve the case; tell the wrong person and be instantly silenced, leaving the investigation empty and her sibling all alone. 

The story explores tragedy, loss, fear, trust, bravery and love as Emma fights to survive in the most dangerous town in the world. 

Budgets 

Budgets for crime thrillers seem to vary quite significantly from budgets of up to $90 million down to just $7 million. 

Gone Girl: $61 million

Girl on the Train: $45 million

Se7en: $33 million

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: $90 million

Pulp Fiction: $8 million

Fargo: $7 million

My film would not need a huge budget as it is set in only one location - Dreamtown. The location itself would be very naturalistic and would not need editing or aftereffects therefore saving a lot of money. It would, however, need a signifiant cast to recreate the atmosphere and feeling of a town and large groups of professionals e.g. the police force, doctors, teachers etc. There is one main protagonist but also several other characters with whom she connects to and work with, one of which would be a female police officer who almost becomes her maternal figure and caregiver after the loss of her parents. These salaries would have to be covered by the budget.

The fact that everything must be naturalistic may actually increase the budget as convincing costumes, props and locations (hospitals and police stations etc) must be sourced and used. 

Therefore I would say that my film would need a budget of around $5 to successfully cover the cost of equipment etc as well as locations, costume, makeup, cast and production team salaries. 

I have been influenced by different films and interpretations of the crime thriller genre for this film. 'Gone Girl's box office success has assured me that theres an audience for the genre and an emergence in female actors playing the protagonists (also demonstrated in the 2016 film 'The Girl on the Train'). I looked at films such as 'The Bourne Identity' for inspiration on camera work and shot types because I love this series of films for it's jerky, handheld style which I think is really effective in building tension and creating a hectic atmosphere. 
I liked the depth of field used in 'Collateral' to identify the lead character but also create an air of mystery and I am going to use this in my film opening when introducing the protagonist. 
I'm taking inspiration from David Lynch's 'Twin Peaks' non-linear plot line and making mine fragmented with slow releases of information to try and replicate the process involved in a real investigation and keep the audience on the edge of their seats. The whole opening scene is going to be a narrative enigma to grip the audience's attention and leave them intrigued and wanting to find out what happened, much like the beginning of Zodiac.  

Warp Film

Tyrannosaur

Synopsis:
This story follows two people who come together to help each other in their unfortunate circumstances. Jospeh is an unemployed drinker who's wife died and has a terrible, violent temper. He meets christian charity shop worker, Hannah, who helps him through the difficult time in his life.  However, what is first unknown to the audience is that Hannah's in a violent relationship and Jospeh actually provides her support and comfort as her life deteriorates.

Tyrannosaur did not have a phenomenal budget for marketing. They released trailers of the film as well as posters to help spread the word about it's release. However, with no major stars to sell the film there were no interviews or hype around the actors. There was also no budget for TV spots or featurettes. They did, however, do a lot of film festival promotion which would have been cheaper and still reached a significant number of people.

Production Budget: £1.2 million
Worldwide Profit: $22,321
Production Companies:
-Film4
-UK Film Council
-EM Media

Other films produced by Film4:
-'Suffragette' (2015)
-'Ex Machina' (2015)
-'Mr Turner' (2014)
-'12 Years a Slave' (2013)

Other films produced by UK Film Council:
-'The Woman in Black' (2012)
-'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen' (2011)
-'Submarine' (2010)
-'We need to talk about Kevin' (2011)

Other films made by EM Media:
-'Entity' (2012)
-'In the Meadow' (2010)
-'Hush' (2008)
-'The Imaginary Girl' (2007)

UK Release Date: 7/10/2011
UK Distributer: Optimum Releasing


Film4 is a subsidiary of Channel 4 television in the UK and so gets some of it's funding for their films from the parent company.
StudioCanal are horizontally integrated with Optimum Releasing (the distributor)

This film isn't likely to be shown at Ilkley Cinema because it was a very small budget film without a well known cast or large amounts of marketing and publicity. It is not in a series so does not have an established fan base and has a very specific, narrow target audience. This means it would not attract many people to the cinema and result in very little profit.

Formats Tyrannosaur is available on:
-Amazon Instant Video
-iTunes
-DVD
-Film 4 (TV channel)

Working Title Film

Bridget Jones's Baby

Synopsis:
Bridget Jones is 43 years old and unexpectedly falls pregnant but doesn't know who the father of her baby is. Is it her ex partner and fan favourite Mark Darcy or rich American new comer Jack? The film focuses on Bridget's new approach to single life, friends and her job before rocketing into comedic drama about her baby's father. It is filled with comedy, both jokes and slapstick often made by our narrator, Bridget, and leads to a heart warming, feel-good conclusion in which the problems of the film are resolved.

This film had lots of marketing including posters on billboards and buses. The film released trailers and teaser trailers before its official release to spark interest and increase footfall in the cinemas when it finally came out. The actual website for the film provided trailers, posters, a film synopsis and 'about the characters' to bring us up to date on where the characters are now. Online advertisements were also used to encourage people to watch the trailers and buy tickets. There were also articles in magazines such as 'The Hollywood Reporter' which included interviews with the actors which helped create momentum for the movie.
The actors also appeared on talkshows and online series' to promote the film as they were well known and had a lot of hype around them. There was also a lot of media attention paid to the plastic surgery Renée Zellweger had had done since the last film in the Bridget Jones series. Although this wasn't intended or fair to the actress it did get people discussing the film and therefore increased it's publicity.

Production Budget: $35 million
Worldwide Profit: $211,952,420

Production Companies: 

-Miramax

-StudioCanal

-Universal pictures 

-Working Title Films 

Other films produced by Miramax:

-'The Brothers Grimm' (2017)

-'Southside with You' (2016)

- 'Mr Holmes' (2015)

-'Beauty and the Beast' (2014)

Other films produced by StudioCanal:

-'Paddington' (2014)

-'The Imitation Game' (2014)

-'Shaun the Sheep Movie' (2015) 

-'Silver Linings Playbook' (2012) 

Other films produced by Universal Pictures:

-'The Girl on the Train' (2016)

-'Jason Bourne' (2016)

-'Jurassic World' (2015) 

-'Les Misérables' (2012) 

Other films produced by Working Title Films:

-'The Danish girl' (2016)

-'The Theory of Everything' (2014) 

-'About Time' (2013)

-'We are your Friends' (2015)

UK Release Date: 16/09/2016
UK Distributer: Universal Pictures International 

Miramax is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.
StudioCanal is a subsidiary of the Canal+ group. 
Working Title is a subsidiary of Universal Studios 
Universal Studios is owned by Comcast 

Universal Studios has it's own distribution company through vertical integration. This means the profits from the film are less spread between companies. 

I would definitely expect this film to be shown in Ilkley cinema because it was a big release in 2016 and had a lot a lot of good marketing and publicity. It is part of a pre-existing series so will have an established fan base so provides a guaranteed audience. It also stars famous actors and actresses in that will attract customers and make them even more likely to see the film. Therefore it makes it a good film to show in a cinema as there's likely to be lots of footfall and therefore large amounts of profit to made. 

Formats Bridget Jones's Baby is available on:
-Amazon instant video
-Now TV
-iTunes 
-Virgin Movies 
-DVD

Theory Key Terms Recap

Production: This is the second step in the process of film making and follows pre-production. It is the actual process which must be completed during the filming or shooting of the movie, including using actors and sets in order to collect the raw footage.

Subsidiary: A company that is owned or controlled by another company which is called the parent company. For example, Pixar was bought by Disney so is a company in itself which works within Disney but is a subsidiary because Disney owns it.

Distribution: The process of making the film available to the people. Distributers not only get the film into the cinema but they also market them to ensure that the film makes a profit. Films often have different distributers for different markets because they have separate needs which need to be specifically understood and catered for.

Marketing: Promoting the film, specifically within the film industry, usually in coordination with the distribution of the film to ensure it makes as bigger profit as possible by making people aware of the film and consequently going to see it.

Exhibition: This relates to the public screening of a film in a site devoted to screenings such as the cinema. However more recently different sites have been used for exhibition such as Netflix which is home exhibition.

Horizontal Integration: When a production company owns several businesses that provide similar services e.g. a production company owning two radio stations. Disney was originally an animation studio aimed at children and families but did a horizontal integration into live action films which enabled the company to reach larger audiences in the film industry.

Vertical integration: When the production company has the means to produce, distribute and exhibit the film itself consequently receiving all the profit. e.g. Disney controls its own production, distribution and exhibition which means it receives all the profits made from the film.

Characters and Casting

For my opening I am only properly introducing my protagonist. This links to the fact that the opening is one big narrative enigma and how Emma is the only person the audience can actually trust in the film.

Emma
Female
18 years old
One sibling
Orphaned during the course of the film
Attacked but survives the murder attempt, goes on to help try and find the killers

I have cast my friend Lucy as this part as we both attend a drama school together and she has auditioned for many major casting directors, been extras in TV programmes and films and has taken GCSE and A-level drama. I trust her to do a very good job as my lead role.

Lucy is in her first year of A-levels so one year younger than Emma but can definitely pull off looking 18. Female characters are very rarely protagonists in crime thrillers and when they are presented they're seen as quite vulnerable stock women and, in the crime thrillers I researched, almost always blonde. This is especially evident in Zodiac, Pulp Fiction and Gone Girl.

I never had a set look in mind for Emma, other than the fact that I wanted her to be a young female with a slightly vulnerable, 'normal' look so that she would be relatable to my target audience and defy the generic structure of having a male crime thriller hero as I think it's important to stop gender stereotyping if we are ever going to achieve equality. This also means that when she appears as the strong, intelligent heroine it is a slight shock for the audience because she isn't sporting any particular signifiers (glasses to show intelligence etc.) However, I like the fact that Lucy defies the physical stereotypes set by these films - she has long dark hair so is less stereotypically innocent and therefore represents a stronger, less recognisable character. Mostly I wanted Emma to be a relatable character to try and reach out to as many of my audience members as I could to show them they didn't have to be anything particularly extraordinary in order to be strong women. Not having her as a stock character means she isn't pigeon-holed and makes her more mouldable to her situation and relatable to more audience members. It also makes her interesting as you can't immediately tell who she is so she is a much less predictable character.

My protagonist is white. This is not a conscious decision and has nothing to do with what the character is required to do for the story, it is simply because Lucy is white. However, in the rest of my film I would like to represent a wide range of representations. For example, Emma will have a particularly close relationship with the chief investigator who comes to be a mother figure to her in the wake of her parent's deaths. I imagine this to be a black woman to show that race has no bearing on your position in society, the workplace or your relationships with others. I like the idea of her becoming a significant maternal figure to the orphaned white children to show racial inclusion and highlight how families don't have to be related through blood, it can simply be a matter of the heart.

There is little to no speech involved in my opening scene so I wasn't worried about the accent of my actress.

The only other character I'm introducing in this scene (that's not an extra) is Emma's sibling. I teach Saturday morning drama class for 3-6 year olds so I am hoping to use one of them in this role. Their gender is insignificant to the story as they are a pretty minor character, what is important is that they're young enough to evoke lots of sympathy in my audience and have a huge sense of vulnerability. Their role in the film is to represent the innocence threatened by the killers and to make the murders seem even more barbaric as they threaten the most naturally vulnerable, innocent character there ever could be - a child.  However, I can't use a child that is too young as I need them to be able to actually act and maintain a persona for one long opening shot. They also need to look as similar to Lucy as possible in order for them to be believable siblings to achieve verisimilitude. To do this I have cast Alannah from my morning drama class after auditioning a few of the children. This is because she can act to a high ability for her age, remember her lines and looks enough like Lucy to make a believable sibling.

Dreamtown

This is a crime thriller about a serial killer seemingly randomly murdering people from Dreamtown. It follows our protagonist,  Emma, an 18 year old resident of Dreamtown who's parents were killed by the murderer orphaning her and her younger sibling. Emma managed to escape the attack but was left injured in hospital. When she wakes up she is questioned by the police about her experience and, alone, scared and determined, Emma chooses to help the police in their investigation to find the person that killed her parents.
However, as more and more murders take place it becomes apparent that the culprit can't be a single person and the police are met with the challenge of stopping a seemingly invisible group of killers with no apparent pattern or motive except from the fact that they only kill the residents of Dreamtown.
Throughout the film, whilst trying to solve the crimes, Emma is faced with corruption, lies and volatility leading her to question who can and can't be trusted. All the while she fights to protect herself and her younger sibling as the population of Dreamtown falls and their position on the kill list moves higher.

The structure of the film is quite fragmented and 'jerky' as different pieces of information about the investigation are withheld and then found. It is riddled with plot holes and subplots that finally fall into place at the end of the film when the murders are solved.
The opening of the film therefore reflects this disjointed structure by being itself a total narrative enigma. The scene comes from the first third of the story, after her parents are killed but before she's interviewed by the police; we see her in hospital being given life saving treatment. However, the very first shot of the opening scene comes from when her and her sibling learn of her parent's death. They are cowered together in a cold stark room instantly beginning the film with the sadness, loss and worry that would have been initially felt by Dreamtown's inhabitants after they learned of the first murder.

We then get the flashbacks whilst Emma's heart is being re-started which foreshadows the disjointed structure of the rest of the film and how it relies on lots of information coming together from different places, just like a real life criminal investigation.

The opening contains a lot of contrasts in lighting, sound and camerawork to make it difficult and uncomfortable to watch. This draws the audience into the story, making them feel and under threat as the residents of Dreamtown.

The opening scene is designed to draw the audience in. They are left not knowing what on earth has happened and slightly shell shocked, again like the people of Dreamtown would actually feel. It also provides them with pieces of information which will slot into place as the film progresses - when it comes round to the opening scene again after her parents have been killed the audience will have a grasp win what's going on and should experience an, "Oh, that's what that was," moment, again creating the feeling that they themselves are solving the crime.

Props

As my film opening doesn't follow a specific structure or story (as it is one big narrative enigma) there aren't really any specific props that have any relevance to the storyline. I just want it all to be very naturalistic as this is the style the crime thrillers I've researched are filmed in.

For my opening shot I would like my protagonist (the teenage girl) to be dressed in jeans and a t shirt. She is very normal but practical and young, definitely not in a skirt or a dress as she is the 'hero' of the story and has a lot of action within the film. My actress will just wear something she has in her wardrobe in order to achieve verisimilitude. I also want to connote to the audience that she is strong and will do all she can to help catch the killer, so I will therefore have her in quite plain clothing, possibly using dark colours as, unfortunately, gender stereotypes mean 'girly' clothes and colours (flowers, pink and trims) connote vanity, weakness and do not suggest a strong and brave character. Therefore, as my audience are attuned to these stereotypes, I will have to work with them so far as to build an image of my protagonist within a very short space of time. To do this she will have to take on a more plain, dark attire usually associated more with masculinity. She will wear these kinds of clothes all the way through the film.
However, I do not want my film to play to stereotypes at all, my lead is a teenage girl who is strong willed, independent, intelligent and brave therefore hopefully promoting the idea of strong women to my female target audience.

There will be no props in the opening scene as I would like the background to be relatively stark to connote loneliness and the fear that accompanies it. It also shows the character's vulnerability and I would like to highlight this in order to increase the threat the audience feels from the murderer.

Hospital
This is the scene I need the most props for. It is all going to be filmed on a white background to give it a clinical, clean feel. It also creates a little ambiguity for the audience as to whether the character has died as the heart monitor line has gone straight.
I will need something for my protagonist to lay on to make it look like she's on a hospital bed. This should be relatively simple as even if the actual thing isn't white we can cover it with a white sheet. Therefore all we need is something straight like a table. I have now found an actual hospital bed for her to lie on which will make the scene more naturalistic.
Ideally I would like to be able to put some wounds on my protagonist's face using makeup (e.g. black eyes) to connote that she's been attacked. However, depending on when this could be filmed this may not be feasible, for example, there is a distinct possibility I may have to film this in school in which case my actress can't go to her next lesson with black eyes.
The doctors need to be dressed in white. This could be more challenging as I do not have lots of complete white costumes however, I have found some white lab coats which I should be able to use to create the effect of doctors whites. 

They also need to be wearing gloves as they would in real life, however, I would like these to be white rather than blue to fit with the colouring of this scene.

To identify the characters as doctors I asked my dentist for some mouth masks. These denote the profession of the characters so the audience instantly knows they are in a hospital.

Finally I need a defibrillator which my Dad has access to. Obviously it will not be turned on but it will be used to show the restarting of the patient's heart.

Flashback One: Home
All I need fro this is a naturalistic home setting for which I can just use my own house

Flashback Two: Home and News Story
I can, again, use my house as a naturalistic setting for this scene but I will need to film the news reporter on a green screen and add the news background in post-production.

Flashback Three: Woods
All I need here are some trees which are conveniently located outside my house on the moor.

Locations

As my film opening contains flashbacks and lots of separate scenes I have quite a few locations to shoot from. However, I think I have most of them covered.

Police station
This is the very first shot of the opening sequence and needs to be a large room with harsh, cold colours to connote sadness and loss. I attend and teach a drama class on Saturday morning and there is a room within the building which I think will be perfect to film in. It would also work really well because the protagonist (who I've cast) also attends the same class so would be there in the morning and I teach a class of 3-6 year olds on the same morning which means one of them will be available to play the young child. I am very happy with this location visually and logistically.

The Flashbacks
Flashback one: My house, very simply handheld shot of a family laughing from over the girl's shoulder.

Flashback two: More complicated. The actual filming could be done in my house, handheld following the girl as she walks into the living room, close up. As she turns to face the TV the camera follows her giving us an over the shoulder shot of the TV. As she hears the news story she turns towards the camera so we can see her face and walks out. I will also need to film on a green screen to create a fake news story that she can be watching.

Flashback three: Handheld shot following the girl running through the woods.

All flashbacks will be done from over the shoulder of the girl (except for the end of he second where she turns to the camera so we can see her reaction). This is to signify that these are her flashbacks.

Operating theatre
This is the one location where I haven't got a set point. I just need a white background to help create a bright location that's almost surreal to make the audience wonder whether it's heaven or a physical place.

Editing my Ident

Once I had the footage of Connie yawning I needed to edit it to transform it into my ident. 

I had to ask my teacher how to use the programmes and he helped me learn how to create the background which we could then layer over Connie in Final Cut. 

Firstly we found a picture of the MGM logo that was a good enough quality for my ident. 

We then saved it and uploaded it into photoshop but not as a Jpeg as we needed to cut out the middle of the circle. We did this by using the magic wand tool to select and delete areas of the picture. We then went around the edge of the more difficult areas like the leaves at the bottom of the circle with the line tool to make sure the cutting out was accurate. 

Next we uploaded the MGM logo into Illustrator to create the text. We needed to find a font that was as close to the MGM text as we could get. After looking on the internet we found Signature Light. First of all we created a text box and typed in the name of my studios then put it into the font we'd found. We then used the colour drop to 'pick up' the colours from the top and bottom of the letters because they fade from orange down to yellow. Once I'd got them I put a gradient on the text so they'd fade from one to the other, just like the original. Finally we warped the text so it sat on the same curve as the MGM company name. Then we saved this text and uploaded it back into photoshop. We positioned the text on top of the original to ensure it was in the correct position and then we turned off it's layer (so my text disappeared). Then we 'coloured' over the original name in black and turned my layer back on leaving, 'Schnauzer Studios' in the right place above the circle.

Then we needed to remove the original latin to add my own. We used the clone tool to 'colour' over the words because, unlike the black background, the circle is made up of a gold gradient so constantly changed. We didn't want to just block colour over this because it wouldn't have looked right. By cloning, We managed to keep the gold gradient looking as natural as possible. We then made my latin follow the shape of the circle in the same font as the company name but capitalised. It reads "Art for Dogs Sake" (rather than the original "Art for Arts Sake"). 

Once we'd finished in photoshop we saved the modified image then uploaded it into final cut along with my original footage of Connie. As I filmed Connie on a green screen we had to block out the colour so the background was black and then we checked the green screen had worked by adding colour bars behind Connie. 

We then layered the photoshopped image over her and adjusted her position so she was in the centre of the circle. We had to reposition her a few times because she lifts her head up before she yawns and we had to make sure she didn't go out of shot without her being positioned right in the bottom left hand corner of the circle. 

Once we had her in the right position we moved on to choosing sound effects that we could add when she yawned. We experimented with dog barks but they were all too short and high. Then we tried growls but they were too aggressive and the timings didn't fit with the way she moved her mouth. Therefore we decided to try putting in the original MGM lion roar. We downloaded the sounds of all the roars the different lions have made in every re-vamp of the ident and ended up going with one of the earlier roars as I preferred the sound and it fit perfectly to the shapes of her mouth. We put this over the video and adjusted the timings to make sure it looked like her making the noise. 

Once she'd roared I was going to leave the rest of the ident silent but after watching it back I thought that it went too long without sound and she actually looked like she was panting, like the roar had tired her out. We decided to try adding a panting sound at the end to fill the silence, add a slight comedic element and bring the ident back round to focus on the fact that she's a dog therefore linking it back to my company 'Schnauzer Studios.' 

I absolutely love the end product, I think it fits my company name and strikes the right balance between being lighthearted enough to carry the name 'Schnauzer Studios' but still serious enough to lead into my film opening which has a much darker tone. 

My Secondary Target Audience

My secondary target audience is ABC1 women aged 26-39. I have decided to target older women for my secondary target audience because of the varied ages shown within my market research. 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' had a general audience of 40-54 year old women which shows that there is a definite interest in the genre amongst both older and younger females. Therefore I'm making my secondary target audience women slightly older than my original target audience because they have an interest in the genre and will still benefit from the younger codes in use throughout the film. I have chosen not to target men simply because of my female protagonist which, judging by my research, is more likely to attract a female audience.

My Primary Target Audience

I have decided that my primary target audience will be ABC1 females aged 18-25. I have decided this because, although there is a very varied target audience for these films, one of the most successful films at the box office was 'Gone Girl' which had a younger, female target audience. I also have a young, teenage protagonist and my market research has shown that the gender and age of the protagonist has a significant impact on the general audience. Also, most crime thrillers have an audience with a socio-economic profile of ABC1 so it makes sense to continue this for my target audience too.

How I would Appeal to my Target Audience

As the audience age for my genre of film is very varied I will need to have specific codes that appeal to my target audience. I will do this by:

- Having a female, teenage protagonist
- Using age appropriate intertextuality
- Having a plot line which 18-25 year old women could relate to or understand (using female characters of that age group in a naturalistic setting
- Involving a love interest for my protagonist to appeal to that area of teenage life
- Referencing aspects of young life e.g. school, friends, relationships, siblings, struggles with parents etc
- Fast paced editing to keep the audience engaged

I will appeal to my secondary target audience by:

- Involving older characters which older women may be able to relate to e.g. later in the film a main character may be a female investigator working with my protagonist
- Involving character which may evoke sympathy in my secondary audience e.g. a vulnerable younger child may evoke maternal instincts in women, especially aged 26-39 if they have children of their own
- Intelligent plotline, lots of narrative enigmas so they don't get bored

Genre Box Office Appeal

A crime thriller which did particularly well at the box office is the US film 'Gone Girl' which made a worldwide profit of $369,330,363. This could be because of the casting of famous actors (Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike and Neil Patrick Harris), interesting storyline or, most likely, that it was an adaption of an exceedingly popular book.

In 2004 a British crime thriller film called 'Layer Cake' was released which made a worldwide profit of $11,850,214 which starred Daniel Craig. This could be a contributor factor in the success of the film. 

'Before I go to Sleep' is a British thriller released in 2014 which made a worldwide profit of $15,447,154. This is slightly more than 'Layer Cake' which could be due to the fact that it was adapted from a novel and stars famous actors Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth. However, it still made considerably less than 'Gone Girl'. This could be because the book was less popular or the target audience or genre was unclear. It may also be due to the lack of advertising or promotion on the films release. 

An early crime thriller was 'Get Carter' which was released in 1971 starring Michael Caine. It was remade in 2000 and made a worldwide profit of $19,412,993. It could have made more at the box office than 'Before I go to Sleep' because it was a remake of an old film which may have already had a significant following. 

Typical Audience

There is quite significant variation in the audience of crime/thriller films concerning both age and gender. For example:

- 'Gone Girl' - 25-39 year old women
- 'Girl on the Train' - young women
- 'Zodiac' - 40-54 year old men
- 'Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' - 40-54 women
- 'Seven' - 40-54 year old men

The only link I can draw from these statistics is between the gender and age of the protagonist and the general audience; for example, the protagonists of both 'Gone Girl' and 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' are female and the overall audience gender for the films was also female. Therefore, as my film has a female protagonist my target audience will also be female.
Although these films tend to have older target audiences, television programmes in the same genre such as the US show 'Pretty Little Liars' has a general audience age of 18-24. They achieve this by including age appropriate intertextuality and teenage protagonists. This is what would be included in my film to appeal to a younger target audience.

The general socio-economic profile of the audiences for 'Gone Girl', 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' and 'Seven' is ABC1 so that will, therefore, be my target audience too as it is a popular film genre for this social status.

BBFC Age Rating for my Film

According to the BFI the majority of cinema goers were aged 15-24, making up 31% of the UK cinema audience. To tap into this I would definitely make my target audience in this age group as I would immediately be pitching to an area of interest.
The majority of the crime/thrillers I looked at for reference had an age rating of 15-18 with a couple of 12s. (Gone Girl 18, The Departed 18, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 18, Pulp Fiction 18, Fargo 18, Zodiac 15, The Snowtown Murders 18, Seven 18, The Bourne Identity 12, Collateral 12) I would aim to have my rating at a 15 because the idea of crime and murder will have more appeal to a slightly more mature audience who have the patience and intelligence to follow the plot line, especially with the disjointed formula. I am also going to have quite a violent, threatening plot which younger viewers may find disturbing so my age rating would have to be at least a 15.

According to the BBFC a film with a 15 certificate (that would apply to my film) may:
- Not involve discriminatory language or behaviour but may have homophobic, racist etc themes.
- Not show in detail dangerous behaviour which could be copied (e.g. hanging or self harm).
- Involve strong language and very strong depending on the circumstance (frequency, who used it etc).
- May involve strong threat or horror.
- Involve violence but may not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. Not allowing strong gory images or sadistic violence.

I believe that my film would fit within these guidelines as it would involve violence and considerable threat but doesn't focus on discrimination, drugs or imitable behaviour as it follows a heroine who is helping solve a crime case having been directly involved with the serial killer. She, however, does not commit any dangerous behaviour herself and is generally a good character and would therefore not set bad examples to younger viewers. I would also not like to limit potential audiences for my film by making it an 18 and preventing younger viewers watching something that is actually appropriate for them.