





Jimmy Fox – George Pickering
Costume – Wears a suit with a special tie that identifies him as an older person that goes to the particular Sixth Form. The connotation of George’s costume is that Jimmy’s wealth is average in terms of the school he goes to.
Performance – Strong charisma shown, very normal looking, nothing distinctive beside being charismatic.
Actor Appearance – George looks like a 17 year old. As such he fits into the school setting as other characters are also 16 – 18 year olds.
Arthur Foster – Selwyn Booth
Costume – A suit that distinguishes him as someone of importance, clearly different from the students.
Performance – Looks like a man with problems, demoralized.
Actor Appearance – Someone who has a look of authority and power, Middle aged not a granddad but also not a 20 year old.
Hackers – A group of 17 year olds who have a dodgy/ geeky look about them. Dressed in more or less the same manner as Jimmy Fox.
School Crowd – A group of boys and girls who are dressed in school clothes so that Jimmy can be part of the crowd.
SCRIPT TO The Phoenix Affair
INT. HEADMASTER’S OFFICE. DARK
FOSTER lying on the floor dead. Pills lying next to him. Hip flask in his hand. Door closing and footsteps going away.
JIMMY
(Voiceover)
Arthur Foster was a good man. We didn't know it back then. I wish we had. [cut to a view of George talking at camera - dark background](pause) This is the story of the Phoenix affair"
Title of movie appearing
[Chronological beginning of the movie]
INT. HEADMASTER’S OFFICE. DAY
FOSTER opens a letter with a logo of {BIG CORPORATION} on it an on it and the content of the letter is that their displeased with his refusal for the sale of school grounds. Close ups "we're disappointed" cut to "by your rejection". He turns around and picks up betting slips from his desk and rips them up. He takes a hip flask out of a drawer - drinks from it.
EXT. OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL. DAY
Cut to a view of Jimmy Fox going to his school. Jimmy meeting up with friends (who look like hackers) discussing the project and saying that they're ready to put it into motion. Jimmy calling someone (His father) saying that the plan is under way as the hackers walk away.
HACKERS
Matt has access to the mainframe and I got the software ready, Bill is going to hack into the computers and then we upload it to the Finance Computers.
JIMMY
That is good work James. The Plan is a go.
(On mobile)
It’s Started.
EXT. INBETWEEN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. DAY
FOSTER coming out from building looks JIMMY. JIMMY a distance from FOSTER, JIMMY being singled out. Eye-line match with Foster, him looking intensely at Jimmy. Jimmy glances back with a sinister look
Possible opening sequence:
Arthur Foster (we don't know it's him) is lying on the floor dead. (Arranged as if he committed suicide) - pills and hip flask lying next to him. Jimmy Fox narrates over it. "Arthur Foster was a good man. We didn't know it back then. I wish we had. [ cut to a view of Goerge tlking at camera - dark background](pause) This is the story of the Phoenix affair"
Title of movie appearing
[Chronological beginning of the movie]
The head teacher (Arthur Foster) opens a letter with a logo of Goldstein-liebgott on it and the content of the letter is that their displeased with his refusal for the sale of school grounds. Close ups "we're disappointed" cut to "by your rejection". He turns around and picks up betting slips from his desk and rips them up. He takes a hip flask out of a drawer - drinks from it.
Cut to a view of Jimmy Fox going to his school and the atmosphere in the school being very calm and nice. (Possibly a scene of students having fun in the school grounds.) Jimmy meeting up with friends (hackers) discussing the project (put the blame on Foster for stealing money) and saying that they're ready to put it into motion. Jimmy calling someone (His father) saying that "it's started" as the hackers walk away.
Foster coming out from building looks Jimmy. Jimmy a distance from Foster jimmy being singlled out. eye-line match with Foster, him looking intensely at Jimmy. Jimmy looking back evily
Synopsis
Jimmy Fox is a 17 year old that is drawn into the world of corporate espionage. The White Star company invades his and many other people's lives brutally and forever changes their view on the world. Nothing will ever be as it used to be.
This is the story of The Phoenix Affair.
Summary
Mr. Arthur Foster is the Head teacher of Phoenix (Gunnersbury) Catholic High School and he is addicted to gambling and he has run up some debts. Jimmy Fox is a relatively popular student in the school. He and his dad Michael Fox have been bribed/blackmailed into making Arthur Foster sell the school grounds. They are very good grounds in central London and are meant to become grounds for a new shopping centre. Michael Fox is a lowly manager in the White Star company and he has been threatened with being sacked unless he manages to somehow make Foster agree to the sale of the school grounds. Jimmy Fox gets his hacker friends, offers them large amounts of money provided by White Star and gets them to break into the school finance network and make large amounts of money disappear, while leaving a trail of evidence that leads to Foster who has a motive for stealing the money as he is in debt. He is to become the scapegoat for the school finances fraud which would cause him to get sacked. Before the movie started, the corporation has offered money officially for the grounds to be bought, but they were refused. They the decided to bribe the board members but Arthur Foster is the last remaining opposing force. He is the main force behind the keeping of the school grounds and he does it for the students. Over the course of the movie he becomes a good person as he gives up gambling and gets a loan and tries to pay of his debts,which means that he emerges as a good person at the end of the movie. He is killed at the end of the movie by Michael as the hacking scheme fails. The movie finishes with a shot of the machines driving onto the school grounds, signifying the success of the company. Michael is promoted. He comes home and is happy but he finds a letter from Jimmy that says he is disgusted with his father and he is leaving him. Michael will probably never hear from Jimmy again. There is a huge sense of hopelessness as there is no chance of ever getting evidence against White Star, the grounds being destroyed, and Michael’s involvement not suspected by anyone, which means he gets away with killing Foster. But there is some sense of a balance as Michael loses his son – probably forever.
Thunderball:
James Bond's forth mission, this time being he must recover two warheads which have been stolen by the SPECTRE organization, this is because they want the diamonds which are worth 100 million. A vulcan British bomber who is armed with two bombs is hijacked (by thew organization). During his mission, he meets an attrative young woman called Domino. Later in the film we find out that that she is the mistress of Emilio Largo who is a high-ranking agent from SPECTRE, Bond uses Domino to get to Emilio. Afterwards, SPECTRE announce that they have the plane and they will detonate the bombs unless they recieve the diamonds. James Bond finds the plane in the Bahamas. Then he has to battle with Emilio Largo. You Only Live Twice:
This is the fifth film in the series. An American space- craft is hijacked by a unindefied spaceship while it was in orbit. Different countries think each other has taken it. The British government suspect it has something to do with Japan With the help from a beautiful Japanease agent called Kissy Suzuki, James Bond must find the spacecraft and prevent a war between Russia and Amercia. They find out that SPECTRE is behind it.
Conclusion
The films conventions are
The Phoenix (Gunnersbury) affair
The Head Teacher of the Phoenix (Gunnersbury) Catholic High School is addicted to gambling and he has run up some debts. Jimmy Fox gets his hacker friends, offers them large amounts of money and gets them to break into the school finance network and make large amounts of money disappear, while trying to put the blame on the Head teacher who has a motive for stealing the money as he is in debt. He is to become the scapegoat for the school finances fraud that is being organised by a Jimmy Fox who tries to blackmail him to agree to the sale of the school park grounds to the White Star Corporation. They are very good grounds in central London and are meant to become grounds for a new shopping centre. Jimmy Fox is a relatively popular student in the school. (School life plays a minor part in the movie.) He and his dad Michael Fox have been bribed/blackmailed into doing this. Michael Fox is a lowly manager in the White Star company and he has been threatened with being sacked unless he manages to somehow make the head teacher agree to the sale. He is relatively old at the age of 48; he brought up his son on his own when his wife died a week after the birth of Jimmy in a car accident. (No other mention of that in the movie.) He is worried about providing a good life for his son and as such he agrees to the blackmail made by White Star. He believes that he does everything for the good of his son. White Star proposes a promotion to a high level position for Michael as well as a managerial job for Jimmy (with good prospects). They provide money for the payment to Jimmy’s hackers. Before the movie started, the corporation has offered money officially for the grounds to be bought were refused and they already managed to bribe the board members but the head teacher is the last remaining opposing force. Over the course of the movie he emerges as a good person as he gives up gambling and gets a loan and tries to pay of his debts, as such he emerges as a good person at the end of the movie. He is also the main force behind the keeping of the Park grounds as he does it for the students who get a lot of use out of them. He is killed at the end of the movie by Michael as the hacking scheme failed and his personal attempt at bribing the head teacher fails. (Details to be worked out – insignificant in the actual coursework movie.)
Possible endings
1. A shot of the machines driving onto the park fields, and as such signifying the success of the company. Michael is sitting in a new office that is clearly for someone of importance. Cut to him coming home and being happy but he notices a certain amount of his son’s stuff missing and he finds a letter that says he is disgusted with his father and he is leaving him. Michael will probably never hear from Jimmy again. Irony as he originally did everything including the murder thinking it would be for his son. There is a huge sense of hopelessness as there is no chance of ever getting evidence against White Star, the grounds being destroyed, and Michael’s involvement not suspected b anyone, he gets away with it. But there is some sense of a balance as Michael loses his son – probably forever.
2. Michael Fox is caught by a detective character that reappears throughout the movie. (Character to be developed and included in the movie, slowly getting the whole picture of the affair but finding very little evidence besides getting the father to be put in prison.) The son organises a demonstration and the final scene of the movie is a huge protest of students in front of the building machines, stopping them from getting through. Board members being initially with the workers move to the students after they’re told that White Star probably caused the Head teachers death. Considering that they were previously bribed they decide to go over to the students side. However there is still a sense of hopelessness as there is no evidence that would allow for White Star to be prosecuted.
Mystery Thriller
A mystery thriller would mostly be for mainstreamers/ conformists. The reason for this is because normally a thriller has mystery as a convention and therefore most of the audience who would watch a thriller would see a mystery thriller. Also because the content would be suitable for younger people and everyone would be able to watch with their families. An example for a mystery thriller is Chinatown (1974) which was produced by Robert Evans and directed by Roman Polanski. This film was rated R (Restricted- in USA) therefore under 17 would need an adult present. According to www.imdb.com it has an average rating of 8.5/10.
Romantic Thriller
It would most like to be for women because stereotypically women like to watch Romantic movies. This is because many romantic films normally have female characters and they are normally emotional films. As women as generally more emotional it would appeal to them and they can relate to and understand the characters more easily. A romantic thriller film is The Illusionist (2006) which according to IMBD has an average rating of 7.7/10. Motion Pictures rating is of is PG-13 for the United States therefore would be a 12A for the United Kingdom.
Erotic Thriller
An erotic thriller would mostly be for adults so would most likely be rated 18 as the content in this subgenre would be inappropriate for young children. For a psychographic profile, it would most likely be for an Individualist because it is not a film everyone would watch and do the individualists who do not like ‘following the crowd’ would probably watch as would not be a ‘big brand’. This would therefore not appeal to younger people because the characters would be of an older age so they would not be able to relate to the characters.
The opening sequence to 28 days later is a very good opening sequence as it provides the viewer with a good sense of curiosity and anticipation of what is going to happen. This is important as it means that the viewer is likely to want to continue watching the movie.
The only titles that appear in the movie is “28 days later…” in the bottom right corner and this clearly sets up a time after an important event that happened 28 days before it. The opening sequence that follows is completely uninterrupted by titles which creates a setting that Is considerably more unnerving than if titles that were clearly out of place, where appearing all over the screen and thus stopping the viewer from fully immersing himself with the thriller movie that was unravelling before his eyes.
In the majority of thriller movies the opening sequences purpose is to create a large amount of enigmas that are meant to entice the audience and encourage it to continue watching the movie. By those standards, the opening sequence to 28 Days Later fulfils those requirements fully as the long opening sequence provides an enormous amount of enigmas that became more and more scary as the character discovers the details of what exactly happened during the 28 days since the beginning of the event.
The following enigmas appear right away; Who is the man in the hospital bed?, Why is he naked?, Why is he in the hospital bed?, Where is all the hospital staff and why is it so quiet? We then move on to enigmas about why certain things happened suchas; Why is the whole hospital empty, Why is there nobody on the streets?, If something that made all the people dissapear happened why is there no damage to the city?, Why is Picaddily circus full of messages left for other people? and finally Why did the city have to evacuate?
Throughout this opening sequence there is no dialogue but neverthless large numbers of wide ranging enigmas appear. The enigmas also don't have to be solved as an opening sequence does not need narrative closure. This opening sequence provides a fully restricted narrative a the audience only finds out information at the same time as the protagonist.
The purpose of an opening sequence is to engage the audience right from the beginning of the movie. Some opening sequences give an introduction to the film showing what the film is about. However other films create a set of enigmas which makes the audience want to carry on watching the rest of the film.
The common techniques and conventions of opening sequences is firstly the productions titles are shown at the beginning with the studio name, then production company, star cast followed by some other important people and finally ending with Director or Directed by. All opening sequences create enigmas in the audiences mind. This keep the audience focused on the film and continues to keep them watching throughout to answer the questions they think about.
Different approaches to opening sequences have different effects as sometime titles are given at the beginning then straight into the film and sometimes after the production titles then there is a short film clip followed by more titles. Depending on production company or studio some titles many appear as the opening seqeunce has already begun.
From Russia With Love
From Russia with Love is about James bonds played by Sean Connery. It is produced by Albert Romolo. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman and is directed by Terence Young. The character of James Bond is a fictional MI6 agent. This film was released in 1963
Firstly the Production titles appear at the beginning as on all/most films would have. The production is Metro Goldwyn Mayer with their logo, trade mark and website. At this moment during this title there is a synchronous sound effect of a lion roaring. Then there is a small introduction sequence with James Bond which is at the beginning of every James Bond movie it is also known as the ‘Gun Barrel Signature’. The reason why this is featured is because it shows links between films and as James Bind is part of a series of films, it links them together and the audience also knows what is expected in the film. There is a score that plays over this sequence which is like a spy, action, thriller type of music.
Then there is an opening sequence which is uninterrupted by titles. The sequence begins with a character following. During this sequence there is not much dialogue, only until the end we hear someone speaking. Until then there are only synchronous sound effects of a gun being shot and footsteps of the two characters. However in between we can also hear a non diegectic, score being played in the background. It is slow and low which makes it thirlling for the audience because hardly any sounds can be heard so the audience would tend to listen very carefully. Therefore this makes the audience focused right fom the beginning until the end. Gradually the score becomes faster which creates tension and anticipation until the character is killed. Suddenly there are floodlights and the person who is dead turns out to be someone else and all of this was just practice.
There are many Enigmas which the scene creates for the audiences. Some examples are:
There is a red herring placed at the end when the audience sees that the person who was just killed was not actually James Bond and it was another person wearing a mask. This is used a lot in mystery and thriller stories, it is a way to distract the audience or confuse them which surprises them at the end when they find out the truth. This helps the story to become more interesting for the audience and makes the film beyond expectation.
Finally, then there is the rest of the titles (full credits) which is shown. A score played is over the titles. The score and titles if of the 60s style. There is a female who is dancing whilst the title come over her making it creative. As women must be beautiful to appear on television, the female is good looking and she is shown in an 'attractive' way as we can see her body moving along with the titles.
The opening sequence is a 'stand alone' sequence which is traditional in James Bond films. This sequence does not directly link to the film but creates a mood of tension suspense because is it quite slow. It makes the audience concentrate on the film of the theme, the sort of characters in this movie and the style. In other opening sequences they are normally link to the rest of the film and are normally important however for this film the opening sequence is not as important and the audience would still understand what is happening in the rest of the film without watching this sequence whereas in other films they may not understand the film without the watching the opening sequence such as London to Brighton.
There are many noticeable techniques used in the thriller genre, which are constantly used within most thriller films despite what kind of subgenre or genre hybrid they are. They include similar characters, plots,themes and camera techniques. By definition the main aim of the Thriller film to create ‘thrills’ if this is not done, no matter what subgenre it is, then the job has not been done.
Ø Suspense
Ø Tension
Ø Anticipation
Ø Plot twists
Ø Enigma
Ø Intense excitement
Ø Uncertainty
Ø Anxiety
Ø Realism
Ø Red herrings
Ø Cliff hangers
Almost all of these factors are taken into consideration when making every thriller film.
These are extremely important as the aim of the thriller film to create a ‘thrilling’ sensation for the audience. Therefore by include factors such as suspense and enigmas create this kind of feeling, which overall would produce a successful thriller film. Thriller also progress with danger and excitement. One of the most important factor to consider is realism, this is because a lot of the factor can also be used in other film genres.
Characters
Main characters in thrillers are usually placed in menacing situations from which escape seems impossible. The protagonist is often an unsuspectingly placed in a dangerous situation. The menace is often abstract, uncertain or shadowy.
Therefore common character types include:
Ø Criminals/ fugitives
Ø Stalkers
Ø Assassins
Ø ‘innocent’ victims caught up in events
Ø Police
Ø ‘femme fatal’
Most protagonists tend to be ‘hard men’ accustomed to danger such as these spies and soldiers shown in the list. However they may also be ordinary citizens drawn into danger by accident.
Common Themes include
Terrorism
Ø Political conspiracy
Ø Espionage
Ø Pursuits
Ø Dangeros romantic liaisons
Ø Psychological crime
Ø Oppressive but unseen supernatural occurrences
These themes create a plot that exerts more tension in them for an overall tense film, as all of these themes already carry a lot of enigma with them, therefore expanding on these can become very useful in creating a thriller film. This would be a good consideration to uphold when making our thriller opening sequence.
Common camera and editing techniques...
The camera techniques used need again, need to create tensions and suspense, therefore techniques such as:
Ø Extreme Zoom shots (forward or reverse)
Ø Prolonged cross cutting : the longing wait would create more tension
Ø Quick cut Montage: this would create confusion and therefore a tenser situation if the audience does not know what is happening, it would create a ‘grip’ feeling.
Ø Quick cutting: again this is similar to the quick cut montage, it would create confusing situation that build tension.
Ø Use of ‘enigma code’ in the narrative: This is good techniques to use as the mystery would create anticipation which would leave the audience wanting answers. This need of ‘wanting answers’ is very good to build tension as the audience will long for the answer.
Sound and lighting
The sound used plays a major role for creating suspense, or the absence of sound can also be effective. Both used in the correct way is perfect for building tension and anticipation of the scene. Such as when sounds is synchronised with an important action movements and when key changes occur. For example in psycho pleonastic sound was used for the shower scene to enhance the action, this would build more tension for the audience. Therefore dramatic, tense or foreboding scores are often used.
Lighting is also essential, especially with the use of shadows and silhouettes. This is used to give a ‘creepy’ feeling for the audience as they cannot uncover what is under the shadow for instance in 'Psycho' shower scene, the killers face remains hidden behind a silhouette.