The process of making a film

The process of making a film

Development and pre production

• The idea: book, play, original script rights cleared
• Development money obtained from various sources
• script developed with writer
• Producer, Director, Cast and prelimanary budget agreed
• TV & Video rights sold
• Finance, schedule, and budget approved

Production 

• set construction begins
• Costumes made
• Film unit assembles and principal photography begins
• publicity begins with a promotional campaign
• Composer starts work on the music
• Principal photography completed

Post Production and release

• Sound and picture editing computer special effects added
• Fine cut approved
• music composed and recorded
• original negative assembled
• film to censor for certification
• Advertising campaign approved and booked
• test screened
• Film is booked into cinema's
• prints of finished film are duplicated
• Film, stills and information is sent to distributors
•  advertising begins
• Premiere then cinema release of film
• Video distributed, TV screening depending on rights

Sean, Katie, Liam,

Cold Game Opening Scene

This is the opening scene to our new thriller film 'Cold Game'

Location Comparison

Location Comaprison

For our thirller film we wanted to use a similar location to the opening scene credits of "Reservoir Dogs" so we have used a pathway in Steeple Bumptead that has a similar brickwall that is seen in the opening, as you can see from the pictures there is a brick wall present in both settings. We have chosen the location in Steeple Bumpstead as it helps to create a similar setting that is seen in"Resevior Dogs" and we feel that this setting connotes the idea of a criminal lifestyle. It was also an easy location to access as most of the actors and group members could easily travel to this location.

Sean, Katie, Liam

The Cost Of Making A Film

The cost of making a film

Film Title	Cost (millions)
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End	£300
Tangled	£260
Spider-Man 3	£258
John Carter	£250
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	£250
Avatar	£237
The Dark Knight Rises	£230
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian	£225
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest	£225
The Avengers	£220
Men in Black 3	£215
X-men: The Last Stand	£210
Superman Returns	£209
Battleship	£209
King Kong	£207

The modern films are becoming more expensive to make as technology advances and audiences expect more and more from the cinematic experience.



Sean, Katie, Liam

Thriller Timeline

The thriller genre has changed a lot over the years and this is a timeline showing a few Thriller Films that inspired us to make 'Cold Game'. It will also show have thrillers have changed in a few ways.

1960s - Physcho (Alfred Hitchcox)

Physco is a 1960 thriller film created by Alfred Hitchcox. It was the thriller of that paticular decade and had a very dark edge to it. The plot was basically  the story of a young woman who steals $40,000 from her employer's client, and subsequently encounters a young motel proprietor too long under the domination of his mother. This is one of the many films that have supposedly defined the thriller genre and used several simple camera angles. It didnt contain many effects due to the time of when the film was made. however it attracted large audiences and was seen as a hugely successful film.

1970s - Dirty Harry (Don Siegel)

Dirty Harry is a 1971 American crime thriller produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan. This differs greatly to physco ten years earlier as it uses several effects for explosions, gun shots and lots more. A sadistic serial killer calling himself "Scorpio" (Andy Robinson) murders a young woman in a San Francisco swimming pool, using a high-powered rifle from a nearby roof.

1980s - Cruising (William Friedkin)

Cruising is a 1980 psychological thriller film directed by William Friedkin and starring Al Pacino. The film is loosely based on the novel of the same name, by New York Times reporter Gerald Walker, about a serial killer targeting gay men, in particular those associated with the S&M scene. This really does have great differences in the thrillr genre changing it from a scary, tense genre to a more fast paced, exciting genre.

1990s - Die Hard 2 (Renny Harlin)

Die Hard 2  is a 1990 American action film and the second in the Die Hard film series. The film was directed by Renny Harlin, and stars Bruce Willis as John McClane. This franchise really changed the face of thrillers and almost leaned the thriller film to a sort of action genre, and contains several similar conventions from the action genre.

2000s - Sin City (Frank Miller)

Sin City is a noir thiller produced and directed by Frank Miller. This was a very different thriller to those of the years before it as it was a modern take on the film noir classic thrillers in the 50s and 60s. Starring the likes of Bruce Willis and Quentin Tarantino it had some great actors who have worked on thrillers in the past too. It has several thriller conventions throughout and the film and was very popular with critics and audiences alike.

2010s - Safe House (Daniel Espinoza)

This 2012 action thriller starring Denzil Washington and Ryan Reynolds is a great example of the coming together of the action and thriller genre. The conventions of both are easily visible making this excting, fast paced, suspense filled thriller one of the highest grossing of the year in the cinema. This was one of the groups favourite thrillers along with Resevoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction so we used parts of this film as an inspiration also.

Sean, Katie, Liam

Why We Chose Idea 2

When we first had the discussion about what we could do for our film, we came up with two good ideas. However eventually we decided to chose idea 2 as the final idea for our two minute opening scene in 'Cold Game'. We felt that this two minute opening scene idea was much more simple to film but it would look much better and contained better shots which fit the thriller style. Along with this the conventions of the thriller are more obvious in this idea compared to the 1st idea and therefore we felt it would be the better idea to use.

Along with this we had the right actors to create this idea well. Seeing as how we all enjoyed the film resevoir dogs we had used this as our inspiration so you will see several aspects of our opening scence that can relate to resevoir dogs more so than the first idea. Overall the fact that this idea fit the thriller genre and was easier to make was the main reason as to why we chose this idea over the first idea.

Sean, Katie, Liam

How Did Filming Go?

On The 25th of November we gathered in Steeple Bumpstead to film our 2 Minute opening scene from the new thriller 'Cold Game'. The Director Sean Carter, Cinematographers Liam Evans and Katie Meyer all assembled for the filming and were joined by the Actors - Lewis Jones, Ian Foulger, James Price and Sam Johnson for the filming of the Two Minute Scene. We feel that the filming went almost completely to plan and that we have filmed all the scenes we need to create our two minute opener.

We had a few minor problems with the camera running out of battery, and at times had differences of opininon on what type of shot should be used at a certain part, however we overcame this and worked through it to make a great opening scene.

Before the day of filming we had storyboarded the two minute opener shot by shot stating where each part would be filmed, for how long and from what angle etc. It was a very organised day and we knew exactly what we needed to do, therefore i think that this successful day of filming will show in the quality of our opening scene.

We not only successfully filmed the opening scenes but we also filmed several interviews, and behind the scenes footage on the day which we will be blogging very soon. I feel that the ideas of the group together with the hard working actors will mean that 'Cold Game' will make a great thriller.


Sean, Katie, Liam