Similar Film Research - The Hunger Games/ Catching Fire

Similar Film Research

The Hunger Games / Catching Fire (2014)
$130,000,000
STORYLINE - A year after winning the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and her partner, Peeta Mellark must go on what is known as the Victor's Tour wherein they visit all the districts. But before leaving, Katniss is visited by President Snow who fears that Katniss defied him a year ago during the games when she chose to die with Peta. With both Katniss and Peeta declared the winners, it is fueling a possible uprising. He tells Katniss that while on tour she better try to make sure that she puts out the flames or else everyone she cares about will be in danger. But unfortunately she fails to do that. So Snow decides to enact what is known as the Quarter Quell, the right to make a change to the Hunger Games, which he is allowed to do every 25 years. He decides to hold an edition of the Hunger Games wherein previous winners will compete again. Their mentor Haymitch thinks their best chance to survive is form an alliance with some of the others.
GENRE - Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
COUNTRY - USA
LOCATIONS -Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Choosing an Appropriate Production Company

Choosing an appropriate production company

I did some research into low budget film production companies, and I felt that Rook Films was the most appropriate. Rook films is known for production low budget films, and as my film would be low budget I felt that is was the most appropriate production company for my film.

Similar Films Research - Blood Simple

Similar Films Research

Blood Simple (1984)

-       $1,500,500

-       STORYLINE - A bar-owner in Texas is certain that his wife is cheating on him and hires a private detective to spy on her. This is just the beginning of a complex plot which is full of misunderstandings and deceit. Ethan and Joel Cohen's first feature film.

-       GENRE – Crime, Thriller

-       COUNTRY – USA

-       FILMING LOCATIONS – Pflugerville, Texas, USA

Similar Film Research - The Usual Suspects

Similar Film Research

The Usual Suspects (1995)

-       $6,000,000

-       STORYLINE - Following a truck hijack in New York, five conmen are arrested and brought together for questioning. As none of them is guilty, they plan a revenge operation against the police. The operation goes well, but then the influence of a legendary mastermind criminal called Keyser Söze is felt. It becomes clear that each one of them has wronged Söze at some point and must pay back now. The payback job leaves 27 men dead in a boat explosion, but the real question arises now: Who actually is Keyser Söze?

-       GENRE – Crime, Mystery, Thriller

-       COUNTRY – USA, Germany

-       FILMING LOCATIONS – Los Angeles, California, USA

My Genre - Thriller Films

Thriller Films 

What are the top 5 thriller films of all time?
- The Hunger Games - Catching Fire
- The Dark Knight
- Taken
- Pulp Fiction
- Inception

What is a thriller film?

"Thrillers are a genre of literature, film, video gaming and television programming that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as the main elements. The primary sub genre is psychological thrillers. After the assassination of President Kennedy, political thriller and paranoid thriller films became very popular. The brightest examples of thrillers are the films of Alfred Hitchcock.

Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods such as; a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, suspense, excitement, tension, terror. Literary devices such as red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively. The cover-up of important information from the viewer and fight/chase scenes are common methods in all of the thriller sub genres, although each sub genre has its own characteristics and methods.

Common methods in crime thrillers are mainly ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings. More common in mystery thrillers are investigations and the whodunit technique. Common elements in psychological thrillers are mind games, psychological themes, stalking, confinement/deathtraps, horror-of-personality, and obsession. Elements such as fringe theories, false accusations, paranoia, and sometimes action are common in paranoid thrillers." - www.imbd.com 

Order of the Titles - Analysis and Comparison

Comparing Life of Pi, The Final Destination and Pink Panther 2

Life of Pi has 14 titles, The Final Destination has 21 titles, and Pink Panther 2 has 26 titles. In Life of Pi, only 1 actor is mentioned however for The Final Destination has 8 actors mentioned, and Pink Panther 2 has 10 actors mentioned. In all 3 of the title sequences I analysed, actors, the editor, the musician, the production designer, director of photography, the director, and the casting team all have their own title. 
In addition, Pink Panther 2 also gives the costume designer, and the screenplay team acknowledgement. The majority of the titles for Life of Pi have 4-5 seconds on the screen, whereas for The Final Destination most of the titles have 2 seconds on the screen because there are more titles. Pink Panther 2 gives each title 2 seconds on the screen because there are 26 titles, meaning the whole title sequence lasts 2 minutes 55 seconds, which is quite long in comparison to the other 2 films I analysed.

Order of the Titles - Pink Panther 2

Order of the Titles

Pink Panther 2

·    0-5 seconds – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Columbia Pictures present

·    14-17 seconds – a Robert Simonds Production

·    24-27 seconds – Steve Martin

·    31-36 seconds – The Pink Panther 2

·    40-42 seconds – Jean Reno

·    44-46 seconds – Alfred Molina

·    54-56 seconds – Emily Mortimer

·    57-1:00 seconds – Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

·    1:01-1:03 seconds – and Andy Garcia

·    1:05-1:09 seconds – with Lily Tomlin

·    1:11-1:14 seconds – and John Cleese

·    1:16-1:19 seconds – Yuki Matsuzaki    Geoffrey Palmer

·    1:20-1:23 seconds – casting by Ilene Starger

·    1:26-2:29 seconds – costume designer Joseph G.Aulisi

·    1:31-1:35 seconds – Pink Panther theme written by Henry Mancini

·    1:37-1:40 seconds – music by Christopher Beck

·    1:45-1:48 seconds – editor Julia Wong

·    1:50-1:53 seconds – production designer Rusty Smith

·    2:02-2:05 seconds – director of photography Denis Crossan

·    2:06-2:09 seconds – executive producer Ira Shuman

·    2:11-2:13 seconds – executive producer Shawn Levy

·    2:23-2:25 seconds – produced by Robert Simonds

·    2:27-2:29 seconds – based on the Pink Panther films of

·    2:34-2:37 seconds – story by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber

·    2:40-2:43 seconds – screenplay by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber & Steve Martin

·    2:51-2:55 seconds – directed by Harald Zwart

Order of the Titles - The Final Destination

Order of the Titles

The Final Destination

·    0-3 seconds – The final destination

·    7-8 seconds – Bobby Campo

·    12-13 seconds – Shantel VanSanten

·    16-17 seconds – Krista Allen

·    22-23 seconds – and Mykelti Williamson

·    26-28 seconds- Nick Zano    Haley Webb

·    32-34 seconds- Andrew Fiscella    Justin Welborn

·    35-37 seconds – casting by David H. Rapaport and Lindsey Hayes Kroeger

·    38-40 seconds – costume designer Claire Breux

·    41-43 seconds - associate producer Tawny Ellis-Lehman

·    44-46 seconds – visual effects superviser Erik Henry

·    48-50 seconds – music by Brian Tyler

·    51-52 seconds – music supervisor Dana Sano

·    56-58 seconds – co-producer Art Schaefer

·    59-1:01 seconds – edited by Mark Stevens

·    1:02-1:04 seconds – production designer Jaymes Hinkle

·    1:05-1:07 seconds – director of photography Glen MacPherson

·    1:10-1:13 seconds – executive producers Richard Brener    Walter Hamada        Sheila Hanahan Taylor

·    1:16-1:18 seconds – produced by Craig Perry     Warren Zide

·    1:19-1:21 seconds – written by Eric Bress

·    1:25-1:27 seconds – directed by David R. Ellis

Similar Films Research - Taken

Similar Films Research

Taken (2008)

-       9 minutes opening

-       $25,000,000

-       STORYLINE - Seventeen year-old Kim is the pride and joy of her father Bryan Mills. Bryan is a retired agent who left the Central Intelligence Agency to be near Kim in California. Kim lives with her mother Lenore and her wealthy stepfather Stuart. Kim manages to convince her reluctant father to allow her to travel to Paris with her friend Amanda. When the girls arrive in Paris they share a cab with a stranger named Peter, and Amanda lets it slip that they are alone in Paris. Using this information an Albanian gang of human traffickers kidnaps the girls. Kim barely has time to call her father and give him information. Her father gets to speak briefly to one of the kidnappers and he promises to kill the kidnappers if they do not let his daughter go free. The kidnapper wishes him "good luck," so Bryan Mills travels to Paris to search for his daughter and her friend.

-       GENRE – Action, Crime, Thriller

-       COUNTRY – France, USA, UK

-       FILMING LOCATIONS - Jardins du Louvre, Paris 1, Paris, France
Los Angeles, California, USA
North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA
Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Paris 8, Paris, France
Paris 10, Paris, France
Fremont Mansion - 56 Fremont Place, Los Angeles, California, USA
Place de Clichy, Paris 18, Paris, France
Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, USA
Studios Eclair, Epinay-sur-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, France

Title sequence for my film opening

Title sequence for my film opening

From analysing many other film openings, I have managed to decide what order my title sequence will go in as followed;1.  Presents (6 seconds)
2.  Production (6 seconds)
3.  The Hunt (6 seconds)
4.  Actor (6 seconds)
5.  Actor (6 seconds)
6.  Actor (6 seconds)
7.  Actor (6 seconds)
8.  Actor (6 seconds)
9.  Actor (6 seconds)
10.  Casting (6 seconds)
11.  Costume designer (6 seconds)
12.  Music (6 seconds)
13.  Editor (6 seconds)
14.  Production designer (6 seconds)
15.  Director of photography (6 seconds)
16.  Executive producer  (6 seconds)
17.  Executive producer (6 seconds)
18.  Producer (6 seconds)
19.  Writer (6 seconds)
20.  Screenplay (6 seconds)
21.  Director (6 seconds)