Our Final Cover

Blurb (My Final Version)


The fifth film from cult director Joel Lanza (‘Bulldog’, ‘Night of the Reaper’), ‘Rupture’ is one of this year’s most thrilling and poignant films.

Focusing on one sister’s revenge, ‘Rupture’ tells the story of two sisters trying to make a fresh start in Central London. Everything seems to be going fine, until a tragic act of brutality by a gang of thugs results in the death of the younger of the two. The eldest, Jasmine (Nicola Forelli – ‘The Puppeteer’, ‘Away from L.A.’), seeks vengeance on a journey that will take her deep into the seedy underbelly of London.

Lanza’s finest film to date, ‘Rupture’ has shocked and wowed audiences, even picking up the 2008 Palm d’Or.



How is this like a Thriller Cover:


1) Use of red connotates blood and violence

2) The grey wall on the background has a real industrial feel about it and is reference to the location we used for the opening

3) The title 'Rupture' suggests violence and acts as an enigma

4) The 18 certificate suggests that it is an explicit film and should therefore appeal more to the part of the audience wanting to be 'shocked' and jaded thriller watchers

5) The Palm D'Or acts as a seal of quality for the film, making it seem like a well made film

6) The recommendation by Empire also acts as a seal of quality as Empire is one of the bestselling film magazines

7) The screenshots on the back give a sense of violence and of hostage taking, which are two of the central themes

8) Region 2 suggests that it is a UK DVD



Influence with our final DVD cover

With our final DVD cover we took influence from the posters for Eli Roth's Hostel, as they were simple yet effective. This was because the choice if colour as well as 'texture' of the background made it look like the film was set in some kind of torture chamber. As well as this the actual image of the beheaded man is startling as you do not see it at first, its only as you look in the bottom right hand corner that you realise.

What Friends thought of Rupture?

This is a selection of quotes and things mentioned by Friends and Family who watched 'Rupture':

'The Cinematography is excellent, but the acting really lets it down'

'The music's really powerful, like a heart beat and really build's tension'

'The black and white makes it look like a thriller like Sin City'

'The blood looks really convincing, but the male actor doesn't look scared enough'

Thriller DVD cover inspiration

Here’s the cover for ‘Scarface’. The reason I’ve picked it out for inspiration is because it is very simple, yet iconic. Similarly this DVD Cover for the DVD special edition of ‘A Better Tomorrow’ follows a similar style. I would quite like to use something ‘pop arty’ like this for our final DVD cover.

Directing Inspiration - tarantino

Tarantino
Tarantino I felt has been a huge influence upon our project. For instance the opening to kill bill was the original inspiration for the opening of Rupture. Here we see woman lying on the floor, battered and bruised. This is followed by the entrance of a male character. But we do not see him. As the audience we are only allowed to see his boots, gun and hear his voice. This builds up suspense for the rest of the film, where we are left wondering who he is.


Reservoir Dogs was also a huge influence when thinking about hostage situations. In the hostage scene the hostage's chair was used as a pivot for the camera. This means that the victim seemed stationary and thus vulnerable, while the torturer walks around him. As well as this the playful style adopted by the torturer, also inspired us as in the film the torturer seems alot more dangerous

Asian Female Orientated Revenge Films

Lady Vengeance

This is a very powerful story of revenge from a female perspective and is directed by Park Chan wook (a very dark if extreme thriller director. The main 'heroine' dresses in black, but with bright red eyeliner and this has inspired me when thinking about the dress code for the herione in our film. This juxtaposition of bright make up and dark clothing, makes the heroine look feminine, but deadly.
Similarly the film is interesting with it's non-linear plot, with plenty of flashbacks playing out in the main heroine's mind. This might be something we could look into to make the beginning more interesting, by jumping straight into the plot.

Lady Snowblood



Like Lady Vengeance, in Lady Snowblood the narrative is told through various flashbacks, letting the film slowly unravel. Therefore in the beginning it jumps straight into the action, as we see her dismember a group of supposedly 'bad' samurai. I think this film could be a big inspiration, and know for a fact that Quentin Tarantino was inspired by it when making 'Kill Bill'.
Audition


This is a very dark thriller/horror, where the main female character is not the heroine, but in fact the villain.
Here's a plot summary from imdb.com:
'A lonely Japanese widower whose son is planning to move out of the house soon expresses his sadness to a friend and fellow film producer, who becomes inspired to hold an audition for a non-existent film so that the widower can select a new potential bride from the resulting audition pool. The widower ultimately becomes enamored with and fascinated by one particular young woman...but first impressions can often be horribly wrong....'

The play really plays on the power struggle between men and women, and although the widower is being 'played' by the 'actress' he in fact has had a brief affair with a co-worker, who he has now forgotten about, much to her dismay.

Vigilante Movies

Because my film idea is in essence a vigilante movie, I have researched into some past vigilante revenge thrillers that I could find some inspiration in.

Taxi Driver

Directed by Martin Scorsese, the film looks at one man's disenheartenment with his country after returning from Vietnam. The film is a character study and is driven by Robert Deniro's acting of the role of Travis Bickle as we see him first try to fit in with society and then set out to destroy it. Notable scenes includethe shootout at the end which is extremely realistic. Not only are no effects such as slow motion used to heighten the drama, but unlike most American films, when someone is shot they do not die instantly. This makes the shootout unglorified and gritty. Slow motion is used earlier on in the film when we see Betsy for the first time, and when we see a group of Pimps in the cafe. Both of these reflect Travis's contemplation.

Dead Man's Shoes

This is a really good English revenge thriller by Shane Meadows ( Director of This is England ). It focuses on Richard, a paratrooper returning from the army in order to get revenge on the small time drug dealers who tormented his brother. The fim is played out with a number of black and white flashbacks (like homevideo), while the main plot plays out. The opening is also very arresting. as the credits go up we see 'homevideo's' of the brothers growing up backed by gentle country music. This straight away sides us with Richard and his brother. As well asd this the opening line sets up the mood for the film. This line is:

'God will forgive them. He'll forgive them and allow them into Heaven. I can't live with that.'

This line not only reflects Richard's unstable state of mind, but also the guilt that he allowed his brother to be tormented and was not there for him.

The film is also interesting in the fact we are put in the place of the small time drug dealers. As a result Richard appears as an unstoppable force as he kills his way through the gang, and so appears like a slasher film villain.

The film is really worth seeing and is one of my favourite films.


Deathwish

Deathwish was one of the original vigilante films, and although not very well directed , the film is still inspirational film. This is because it was the original vigilante revenge thriller.

The film focuses on Paul Kersey as we see him struggle after the murder of his wife and rape of his daughter. After the police fail to arrest anyone, Kersey goes out to seek revenge on the gang who wronged him, while taking down numerous street urchins in the process.

Analysing 'Wanted'

I think this was one of the more interesting thrillers from last year as it uses many generic signifiers of the gangster genre. For instance the central protagonist is dressed in a black suit so automatically we assume he is a gangster. The use of greysacle also makes the opening few shots appear darker, like film noir. The setting as well in a bar is a generic haunt of criminals.

The next sequence round the table I think is well shot although I think they got the location and actors wrong. I think the actors look way too young to be accomplished mobsters and so doesn't quite work. If I was directing I would have chosen older actors, between 25-50. I also think they could have got a much better location. The room they are in looks neither seedy nor grand enough to ba a gangsters hangout. As well as this I think this would have been a key opportunity to use shadow. I would have had the light solely on the table, so only the actor's faces are highlighted and so it appears as if they have something to hide.

The next sequence I think is really interesting with the variety of coloured lights, but I still think the opening moves too slow. The soundtrack aswell I do not think reflects the genre of the action taking plce. If I had done it I would have had MUCH more aggressive music, like the opening to Dead or Alive (a very good action thriller)

Overall the opening was extremely well shot and I can learnt alot from it.

Early Ideas For A Thriller Opening And Inspiration For Them

Female Vigilante Revenge Film

Basically the film would be about a 20ish year old female student who is studying to be a surgeon. She is also taking care of her younger sister (because their parents died in the 7/7 bombing s or something along that line) who is starting to hang about in the 'wrong crowd'. With this wrong crowd, she is peer pressured into experiment in drugs and commit minor crimes and it become clear that this relationship will not end well at all. The reason why the younger sister is so susceptable to all this is because she feels disillusioned by her parent's deaths. All the while her elder sister is too busy in her own life to realise the downward spiral she is plummeting into. Then a third of the way into the film she goes to a 'party' with this crowd, but she is drugged and then raped and beaten by the main male leaders of the 'gang'. As a result she goes into a coma and her sister is left looking for answers and consumed by guilt that she was not there for her sister. After the police fail to follow up the incident, the central female protagonist goes out in search of revenge.

This plot and idea is influenced by the 'Deathwish' series of film's where in each film the central protagonist was wronged and then took the law into his own hands to put things right. This idea is part influenced by 'Dead man's shoes', a film about a paratrooper returning to his hometown to kill the small time drug dealers who tormented his brother.

The Film would open with the Directors name and the film Title both coming up on a blank screen with just the sound of dripping water in the background. The film would then flash to a scene that would be happening later on in the narrative.

The film would then open with a young man tied to a chair, blood dripping down the side of his forehead, just coming to. To show this I would have the camera start at a distorted angle and be out of focus. The camera would then turn to be at a straight angle and come into focus. The camera would then move to be the POV of the man and we would see around the dark room he is in and then focus on the door as we hear it unlock. We then go to a ECU of his frightened face as we hear the door handle turn, so that we can see how afraid he is at this point. The camera would then be at ground level as we see the door open and we see the main protagonist walk to the man, but we only see her feet at this point. I imagined at this point she'd be wearing boots and tha would be the only sound. I also wondered whether she should have an Axe dragging along the floor behind her as well, but I don't know whether the fact she is a surgeon could be used in that she could have a medicine bag full of scalpels etc in order to torture and extract information out of her victims.

From here i'm not to sure which route I want to take with this idea, but i'm going to develop it over the next week

Eastern Promises

Just saw this on Sunday, and thought it was a really good thriller as it was unusual in style. For one, this is a gangster film where a mobster isn't actually the central protagonist, a midwife is. This I think is interesting as we are kind of seeing the criminal organisation from an outside perspective.

I also think the beginning was very effective and I can learn a lot from it, when I begin to plan my own opening. The Film opened with the title and the directeor credit come up in white block font on a black screen. We then see a location shot of a busy street in London and the camera moves to focus on a adolescent running into a barber shop and pulling the blinds down. Immediately as the audience we are asking many questions. For instance why is he running inside? Is he being followed? Or is it just because of the bad weather?. Also why does he pull the blind down and put the closed sign up when there is still a customer being served inside?

We now see the Barber (the father of the adolescent) and the customer in the chair as they talk quite cheerfully about life in general. Therefore it is a shock when all of a sudden the Barber gives his son a cut throat razor and tells him to kill the person in the chair. All of a sudden we are plunged into violence and the audience is gripped due to the immediacy of this act.

Maybe for the opening of my thriller I could use similar shock tactics in order to get the interest of my audience. I also think how the audience are left asking so many questions is also really interesting. In my opening I might try to replicate the same effect of sudden acts of violence or emotion to shock the audience.

The titles I also think were really effective as they were short and so did not bore the audience. As well as this the fact they were stuck on a blank canvas, rather than actually onto any moving image also made them more prominent, and so you were more likely to remember the title and director of the film.

Studying the opening of 'Point Blank'

I'm looking at the opening of Point Blank because I believe it is a classic thriller and has had a huge influence on all gangster revenge thrillers since, with it's fractured narrative and the whole urban jungle feel of the film.

Film opens with white block text over a bright red backdrop, giving a sense of impending violence. This then fades into a MCU shot of Walker (Lee Marvin), and the camera slowly zooms out. All of a sudden we hear two shots as the title of the film comes up and we see Walker falling to the ground in what we can only presume is some kind of cell. The lighting at this point is kept to a minimum with only a small amount of nayural light. the camera then goes to a close up of Walker lays on the ground, presumably dying, and hear his dying murmurs. the camera then turns to face the corner of the cell which Walker is staring into and then reverses to look back at him, as if he is thinking. We then hear the sounds of a party and quickly cut to a drunk looking Walker. From here on in we are shown everything that that has happened up to this point in the film, from Mal and Walkers first meeting, to the robbery in the jail, and to Walker's betrayal by his wife and Mal. All through this we keep cutting back to the suppossedly dying Walker, giving the impression he is contemplating his life before his death. Once the story has gone full circle, we hear Walker narrate a line and all of a sudden the camera tilts up with Walker from the floor and the titles begin to come up on the screen, while wind instrments play in the background.

I believe this opening is extremly effective as within 5 minutes the audience is hooked and want to know how Walker will get his revenge. As well as this we have been told about half an hours worth of film time in a sixth of the time, meaning there is more time in the film for the actual revenge part of the thriller as we have witnessed the build up. When it comes to making the opening of my thriller, doing a kind of montage like this would be a really interesting thing to do. Maybe I could even make the montage a group of random images, that then have relevance later on in the film.

I would really recommend that anyone who hasn't seen this film should seek it out.