Warp film production company.

I researched four warp films and found out the cost of the film, the amount they took at the box office, investors and the distributor.

This is england
Distributor; Optimum (united kingdom)
IFC films (united states of america)
Investor; Film four, warp films
Cost; £1,500,000
Revenue; $8,069,240

Dead mans shoes
Distributor:Optimum releasing
Investor;
Cost;£723,000
Revenue;$198,081 (america;$6,408) (other;$191,673)

Bunny and the bull
Distributor;Optimum releasing
Investor;warp x productions,wild bunch,film 4, screen yorkshire,UK film council.
Cost; less than £1million
Revenue;

My Wrongs 8245–8249 & 117
Distributor;warp films
Investor;
Cost;
Revenue;

UK film council
Was created in 2000 and employes around 90 people, it has funded most of the big cultural films in britain,they have backed around 900 films; shorts and features,they haev entertained over 200 million people and helped to generate around £700 million in box office takings. Co-founder of working title film; tim bevan is the chairman and john woodward is the chief executive. They predominatly fund work with different partners across the UK, which includes regional and national screen agencies. Overall the uk film council have an aim to help make the UK a global centre for film in the digital age. The support that the film ouncil provide, helps to develop new filmmakers, funds new british films and brings a wider choice of films to the british audience. The lottery money that they distribute, plays a key role in keeping the british film creativity running well. The film council has a board of 15 directors, it has been established as a private company limited by guarantee.

New cinema fund
The new cinema fund, part of the the uk film council, was set up in order to encourage unquie and innovative ideas, they aim to produce films with passion that connects to the audience. The objectives of the new cinema fund are; support creative excellence, discover and develop new film talent, attract established film talent working outside mainstream industury, encourage use of technology, develop infrastructure in the regions and nations of the uk, ensure there is equality of oppurtunity, promote social inclusion and cultural differences within britain, challenge auidiences, widen the range of films that are on offer for the uk audience.

Warp X
Warp X, is based in sheffield and london, it specialises in cutting egde digital technology and producing low budget films, that reach audiences around the world. Warp X, was given a government grant of £150,000 that helped them to start their production company. They were backed by film 4, the uk film council and the new cinema fund, which all specialise in low budget and short films.

How do `The third man`, director Carol Reed and `Insomnia`, director Erik Skjoldbjaerg use the conventions of a thriller.

Stills from the third man.

This is an image of anna on stage, anna is the femme fatile in the third man.
This image is from the chase in the sewers, it show the stylized mise-en-scene, that the third man has, because of film noir and the shadows and the vanishing point that appear in the image.
This is Holly martins, in the sewer chase scene, when he escapes onto the street from the sewer, this is an extreme close up of his face, the black background makes his face more dominant of the mise-en-scene.
This shot is featured within the opening of the third man and shows the ruins, which have been created by the war in vienna.
This is a shot of the graveyard, which has connotations of death and danger, it also creates an eerie feeling to the audience. This also represents the theme of death.
This is a shot of the holly martins walking down the street, this shot is very well composed because of the lighting, the shadows, tilt shot and the reflections off the road.

This is a close up shot of holly martins, the black back ground makes his face more prominent within the mise-en-scene.

Extreme long shot.

Big wheel ride. ^Harry lime and anna, after her show.

Stills from Insomnia.

The theme of death; use of an investigation room, investigating the murder of Tanya, bleak, limited colour palette.
Tanya being strangles leading to her death, the black background connotes evil, the image of her face is very grainy, suggesting insomnia is an independent film because of the colour palette, not being a stylized as the third man.
Tanya, being filmed by her lover before her death, this is shown within the opening sequence, dominates two thirds of the mise-en-scene, she is smiling and looks happy and content.
Chase scene, underground, silhouette of jonas.
Where jonas shoots his colleague by accident, set in norway, overlooking the lake.
Jonas attempts to keep out the light by putting cardboard at his window, this represents that he is trying to keep people out and stop them from knowing the truth, it represents that he is hiding his true identity from people.
Murder investigation being carried out on Tanya, very bleak, limited colour palette, representing the effect death can have on people feeling cold and upset, which the blue represents.
Cable car scene.
Investigation map

Jonas has murdered his colleague, as he could not see through the mist, he is faced with a moral dilemma.

Close up of jonas, dominating the mise-en-scene, shot at an angle.
Insomnia title, dark background fades into Tanyas death.

The third man, directed by Carol Reed in 1949 is set in Vienna. It involves a man called Holly Martin, who plan to meet his old school friend, Harry Lime in post-war Vienna, because he has offered him a job, however when he gets there he finds out Harry has died. It also tells the story of how Harry lime, forged Anna Schmidt’s passport, because she is Czechoslovakian and if the Russians found out they would throw her out of this part of Vienna because she is not Austrian.

Insomnia, directed by Erik Skjoldbjaerg in 1997 is set in Norway and is a Norwegian film, with English subtitles. Jonas Engstorm and his police colleague, help another police squad, to investigate the murder of a young girl named Tanya Lorentzen, however whilst they are both out at the crime scene, Jonas engstrom shoots his gun and it accidently is fired at his police colleague, because of the misty setting which makes it hard to see in the distance therefore resulting in his colleagues death at the scene, this creates a second murder to be investigated, Engstrom does not own up to the crime he has committed.

Both, in the third man and insomnia, the main characters are faced with a moral dilemma, in the third man, Holly is faced with a dilemma involving Anna and her passport that his school friend harry lime had previously forged for his lover, Anna Schmidt. In Insomnia, Jonas is faced with the dilemma, of owning up to the crime he has committed even though it was by accident. This represents the vast change in their characters during the film as they change from having connotations of being good, innocent and justice to being bad, guilty and injustice.

In both films, a femme fatile is used, in the Third man, Anna is the femme fatile; she is portrayed as being vulnerable and as having a lost identity, because Harry lime has forged her passport so she can stay in Vienna, because she is Czechoslovakian and otherwise she would be deported out of the country by the Russians. She is deemed on as a femme fatile because of her presence in the film and her attitudes towards Harry lime and Holly martins. In Insomnia, the femme fatile is less obvious as it could be Tanya, the young girl who was murdered, however it could be the young girls friend, Froya selmar who Jonas seduces in the car, whilst driving to the scene where her friend was murdered. Jonas uses Froya, as a way into the investigation of Tanyas death. The femme fatile is very often used in thriller films, in order to portray the victim and portraying connotations of vulnerability and romance.

The use of lighting is a key element in a thriller film, as it creates different moods in order to help produce various atmospheres within the film. Lighting is also used to create a strong key light; showing a light and dark contrast on a scene or on a particular characters face, this creates connotations of good and evil. In the third man, carol reed used lighting to create a strong key light and shadows, which have connotations of stalking. Carol reed also uses back lighting to create silhouettes. Reed particularly uses the lighting effects in the scene, in the underground sewer, because of the back lighting this created silhouettes and shadows, which connoted that the character is being stalked. The use of the strong key light which is used in close up shots of the characters shows dark and light shadows on the characters face; these shots that have been used by Reed in the third man and have connotations of good and evil and represents that there are good and evil sides to everyone, however it also shows a side to the characters that the audience do not necessarily see, because of it only being subtly represented by the director. In Insomnia, the lighting is more subtle because it is in colour, rather than black and white like the third man, however Erik Skjoldbjaerg uses a strong key light, like Reed does in the third man, which shows the two sides to each character; good and evil, which represents the film well, especially Jonas, because of the two very different sides of him that we see.

In both films, a mortuary is used, in the third man we see it in the form of a graveyard and in Insomnia we see the mortuary in the form of the investigation room, where Tanya lays and is being investigated on, to find the person who killed her. The mortuary is used in a thriller film, because of the theme of death that is largely present within all thriller films, although the two types of portray are different, they both represent death, they also represent crime.

Another convention typically used in thriller films is the uses of extreme close ups, extreme long shots, tilt and pan shots. These shots are typically used within the mise-en-scene of thriller films because they represent the characters from different viewpoints and angles. The use of extreme close ups, enables the audience to engage with the character and see exactly who they are, extreme long shots, also enable this aspect of being able to see exactly who the person is, but from a distance, the use of a long shot also creates a mystery of who it is, it also helps to create suspense, because we are wondering who the character is and what they will do within the film. Tilt shots, create different angles as to how we look at the characters, however this has tow meaning as it create a different angles in the way of how we visually look at the person and another angle of how look at someone, is that of how we view them in a sense of their characteristics and what role we think they are going to play in the film. Pan shots are used in order for the audience to establish what is around them; the location, characters, props, it also creates a sense of mystery and suspense. In the third man, Carol Reed uses a variety of all these shots; she uses extreme close ups to show the characters faces, this technique helps the audience to connect with the characters and to understand what is going on in the mind of the character. Reed also uses extreme long shots, she uses these shots, in the underground sewer scene, along with the strong key light this creates mystery and shows the good and evil sides of a character, she also uses tilt shots within this scene, the use of these shot types creates a feeling a being disorientated. Carol Reed uses the pan shots to enable us to view the mise-en-scene. In Insomnia, Erik Skjoldbjaerg also uses a mixture of all these shots types, Skjoldbjaerg uses extreme close ups when Tanya is being killed, this effect makes the audience feel as if they are present at the murder of Tanya, this makes the audience feel more involved with the film. Extreme long shots are used when Jonas accidently shoots his fellow colleague, because of the mist in the field and Jonas mistakes him for someone else. The use of these long shots makes the audience feel as if they are not so involved with the scene; it also creates a mystery for the audience and adds suspense because we are unsure of what exactly has happened in the first instance. The use of long shots, in the scene where Jonas takes Froya, to the scene of Tanyas murder, to try and attempt to find out what happened, for the majority of this scene, long shots are used, which is enabling the audience to see the characters and the scenery, it also differentiates from the previous scene in the car, where extreme close ups are used, which is very suitable for the scene because of the suspense it adds, because we are unsure as to what is going to happen. Skjoldbjaerg, also uses shot reverse shot in the car scene, which also helps to add suspense, because of the constant reversing of characters and their changing expressions, which helps us to understand what is going on within the mise-en-scene.

A theme that is present within both films is isolation and the characters feeling isolated. In the third man, isolation is represented in the way of the big wheel in the fun fair; this represents isolation because you are trapped in a cart, high in the air. In the third man, Holly martins, could be said as being represented as an isolated character, because he is looked at as a being foreign when he goes to Vienna to meet Harry Lime. In Insomnia, Skjoldbjaerg shows isolation in the form of the cabin in the mountains.

Although both films are thrillers, they have a different colour palette. The third man, being a black and white film has a very minimal colour palette, with a stylised environment, on the other hand Insomnia, is a colour film although it is a colour film; Erik Skjoldbjaerg has made the colour palette very dull and bleak. The third man, because of it being a black and white film, it relies heavily on the lighting, to give different moods to the scenes. Insomnia, being a colour film can change its colour palette to fit with the mood and theme of the film, as Erik Skjoldbjaerg has done with Insomnia. He has made the colour palette, to be very dull and bleak; this is fitting to the theme of the film, because of its theme of murder. Although the colour palette is fairly limited in Insomnia, grain and light has been added using editing techniques to show the contrast.

In both films a repetitive soundtrack has been used, both of which are entirely instrumental. Both of which add to the suspense, because of their repetitive nature.

Insomnia and the third man were set and filmed in different periods of time, this is made very evident, by the colour palette and also the technologies that are present within the film. In insomnia, we see forensics being used, to indentify who the young girl’s killer is, we see the killer washing Tanyas hair whilst wearing rubber gloves, so there will be no traces of evidence or her murderer, this is showing new technologies, that are not evident in the third man. The use of new technologies, also shows the progression of technology from the 1940s when the third man was made, to the 1990s when Insomnia was made. The use of the props in Insomnia in particular the locket, has a deep meaning of love, however most importantly it holds forensics that tell us who the murderer is.

In conclusion to the question, how do the directors of The third man and Insomnia, use the codes and conventions of a thriller film, I have discovered that the directors use the conventions of a thriller film, in order to create an interesting storyline, by using various shot types, lighting, locations and themes of isolation.

Working title films.

I researched `curtisland`, a name that has been given to the way that Richard Curtis represents britain, in very similar idealistic ways throughout all of his films. In a report by the guardian, `curtisland` is described as being "A shiny, happy place, relaxed about the filthy rich, insatiable in its optimism, in love with happy endings, and very New Labour." Richard curtis`s first film was four weddings and a funeral, the storyline of a sudden heart attack and love, are both very unrealistic and as the article stated `unlikely`. The article describes thet way that richard curtis represents britain in his films as; It was an apolitical place, full of can-do possibility, obsessed with the educated middle class, perfectly relaxed about the filthy rich, much more in love with sentiment than ideas, and insatiable in its optimism; it was also in thrall to the idea of happy endings. This mixing of realities seemed like a two-way process. The article also states that as richards films became more popular, he started to look at different ways of representing britain for example; Britain became the broken-home and teenage-pregnancy capital of Europe; looked at another, it was the subject of ever more feel-good, confetti-strewn, loved-up films. If they were not always from Curtis's pen, then at least they followed his winning formula. The article also stated that;Curtisland was among the least "cool" products of Cool Britannia, but it was always perfect for export; Britain was suddenly a sunny, witty, self-deprecating, charming kind of place.

Research of five working title films;

Notting hill

Gross revenue; $363,889,678

Domestic gross total; $116,089,678

Foreign gross total;$247,800,000

Cost; $42 million

Bridget jones diary

Box office; $281,929,795

Domestic gross total; $71,543,427

Foreign gross total;$210,386,368
Cost; $25 million

Fargo

Box office; $24,611,975

Domestic gross total; $24,611,975

Foreign gross total; $36,000,000

Cost;$7 million

Atonement

Box office; $50,927,067

Domestic gross total;$50,927,067

Foreign gross total;$78,338,994

Cost;

Love actually

Box office; $59,696,144

Domestic gross total;$59,696,144

Foreign gross total;$187,245,873
Cost;$40 million