The Run Aways Report

The Run Aways is a teenage thriller set in 21^st century Miami USA. For my coursework my task was to create a DVD cover and a poster advertising my own thriller movie called the Runaways.  I also had to create a script and research of previous thriller films to accomplish this task.

I began by researching relevant films with the specific sub-genre of thriller films, analysing different film posters, DVD covers and adverts to see which ones I thought looked the best and fitted the criteria I needed for my own film.  Examples that I used as a basis for my research included 2 Guns (2013) directed by Baltasar Kormákur, Lila & Eve (2015) directed by Charles Stone III and Pain & Gain (2013) directed by Michael Bay. I watched each film and studied the aesthetics of all three covers.  These examples helped me develop my own DVD cover and film poster by taking note on the aspects needed to make it look just as good.

Each of these three films have many generic conventions, for example the use of destruction throughout the scenes. This includes explosions, chases; fight scenes, modern technology and gun battles. These conventions can generally be applied to all movies in the thriller genre, which gave me an insight on which features to apply to The Run Aways. Secondly, I found that each film contains a protagonist and an antagonist, which is related to Propp’s theory (1969), as there is always a villain targeting a damsel in distress. They also all contain a traditional trend of Tordov’s theory (1970), as each film starts in equilibrium and counteracted by disequilibrium, then finishes in equilibrium at the end.

All of this research helped me plan my story line to recreate the standards of the thriller genre, as I found each protagonist must go to great struggle to outrun the villain to return to a state of equilibrium.  This forms the basis for the structure of the Run Aways.

The Run Aways is about an innocent civilian who gets twisted up in a brutal journey trying to out run the most wanted police exempt gang in Miami called the Kabal.  Thalia Kennedy witnessed a car ‘accident’, which was actually an assassination by Storm AKA Katrina Mustov, the Head of the Kabal and her psychotic sister, Rocky AKA Valentina Mustov. Thalia didn’t know it, but she was in for a hell of a ride, as throughout the film she is entangled in a horrific goose chase with multiple dramas along the way.  Thalia repeatedly tries to escape the fierce force of the Kabal, working up quite a storm as she goes. When Thalia realises she cannot outrun the Kabal alone, she turns to her undercover trained assassin fiancé, who had been studying the gang for years without her knowing.  Thalia then had an advantage as she knew how the family orientated gang worked and the levels she was going to have to rise to, to be able to defeat them.  The film contains many chases, explosions and violence throughout the chase, which is conventional within a traditional thriller movie and fits the task set.

My production mainly targeted a female dominated audience as the main protagonist role was performed by a female, in addition to many other crucial roles. This was demonstrated through my DVD cover and poster by the prominent focus on the female roles opposed to male ones. The theory behind my film being female based is that most thriller films are targeted towards males and I wanted to change the focus so that the idea of women being in power was brought forward. I hoped to create personal relationships so that females are aware that it is not always males who are boss and come out on top, but women too creating idolization towards the characters.  However, I maintained aspects of a thriller in order to attract both female and male viewers.

My script was also designed to attract a teenage and young adult audience, as the main dialogue is between characters of around the same age group in a comfortable state of equilibrium.  This also allows the audience to create a relationship with the characters, which is designed to keep them more intrigued with the events evolving within the film.

The demographics for my production will generally be people who are in higher education or starting work, as my target audience is teen based from the age of 18 to around 25.  The classification is an 18, due to the amount of violence involved in the production. The Run Aways should attract viewers who like traditional action filled thriller movies as the production contains mystery and dangerous scenes, which typically relates to big mainstream thriller movies.

The DVD cover and poster that I produced are designed to attract the audience by showcasing the action shots and highlight the dark themes to depict the contents and background of the story.  This also provides insight into the genre of the film prior to the viewer watching it.  If I had used light colours and non-action shots it would be harder for the viewer to identify the genre and would not fit the visual conventions of a thriller.

I used a brief overview of what to expect to draw in viewers and tried to create a sense of mystery to attract mainstream viewers.  I also included British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) information, special features, credits and copyright information to make the production more realistic.

The film poster I designed to advertise The Run Aways contains the two main characters from the film, Thalia on the right and Storm on the left.  I used visual codes such as clothing and lighting to define the differences between the character’s personalities and roles in the film.  The balaclava on Storms face symbolises gang culture, as well as the slightly less obvious gun in her hand.  In contrast, Thalia is dressed in white and has a startled expression on her face, symbolising innocence.   It underlines the characters personalities and importance without having to physically view the film.

Lila & Eve (2015) shares similar traits to The Run Aways poster as it contains two of the main characters on the front; however, it simply focuses on the two women apposed to the setting. This is where The Run Aways differs, as it contains a clear image of the setting with a view out of a plane window onto the runway, which sets a scene and also relates to the title of the production.

The DVD cover of 2Guns (2013) aspired me to display an explosion on the back of my DVD cover, as I really liked the colour contrast and the mystery it creates. It is similar to my DVD cover, as it features the protagonists emerging from an explosion.  This scene is set in a dark backdrop and a diagonally orientated combination of screenshots from the film outlined in red to make them stand out. 

I decided I wanted to capture the visual content of the film more clearly by using fewer, larger images.  Other aspects of my production designs are also different from other thriller films; for example, on my poster, the title of the film follows the wing of the plane, conveying the thought of being on the plane for the journey of the film.   To create an effect that suited the storyline, I edited on Photoshop to fade out the images of the antagonist and protagonist on the front of my DVD cover and poster.  This effect is not often used on other films production media.

Overall, my final production pieces were produced to a similar quality of other action films, as they contain many features and complexions of traditional high quality films. I believe that the back of my DVD cover was well designed as it contained a contrast of colours, it clearly showed the genre of the film, special features, credits and copy right information, all of which are needed for a successful and traditional DVD cover. However, on reflection, my poster could have benefitted from a bit more light to highlight the wing of the plane to attract the audience and outline the idea of the plot more.  Adding additional special features and quotes may also have improved the overall appearance and strengthened the production further.  These are valuable lessons that will strengthen my productions in the future.