Taken..........

TAKEN.

A ex CIA agent struggles to make his way across Europe whilst relying on his old skills to save his kidnapped daughter, who has been taken to Paris to be sold into prostitution.

Researching ‘Taken’ and comparing it to other well known thrillers it seems that there is nothing different or unique about the 2008 film, written and directed by Luc Besson & Pierce Morel. Being categorized as just another typical thriller involving cars, guns and big explosions it didn’t really catch the audience’s attention.

Marketing- Released in 2008, When taken was made there wasn’t any thought to making a trailer, therefore people didn’t know what the expect, when released into the cinema all you knew was a rough storyline and some main actors, in my opinion this built up tension and excitement though because you could only guess what was going to happen.

The ending to the film was ok, although too sweet, from reviews and I agree, the daughters good friend Amanda should have been involved more, maybe the ending involving a funeral or maybe her body not just being forgotten. I didn’t like the fact though that the high intensity and anxiety built up in the film, including, his daughter being drugged, auctioned and witnessed her father shooting a Albanian, then the father slaughtering several other men, turnt drastically to smiles and the whole plot had been forgotten, why do all films end in happy endings, that’s what you expect, and more emotional ending would have been preferred, this also could have led to a high standard of sequel.

Taken is on the television being played on Channel 4, Film, and other channels, there trying to promote this film even more constantly playing it, although I think it’s slightly desperate to be honest.
Film posters......You can buy them online, they where up everywhere when the film as released, and considering they didn’t have a trailer, they had to make the poster stand out and 'wow' people.
For example 'Jurassic park', universal spent $65 million on marketing the film, making deals with over 100 companies to advertise 1,000 products, these included 3 Jurassic park video games by ocean software & sega, a couple of books, they also released a soundtrack which included un-used footage. The trailer that was created didn’t reveal much of the movie, this was to build up suspense and not let the film be ruined too much, and therefore people had to watch it. After being shown at a museum in Washington to support two children’s charities, they released sequels and box sets; it is also now shown on television.
From researching Jurassic park, ive come to realise that making our film known is a key, advertising, posters, movies, premiers and novels are very important, and necessary. I would like our film 'the unknown' to be shown worldwide, and shown in the cinema.

Another way to promote a thriller is for the cast and crew to do personal interviews themselves on television. Maybe going into ‘behind the scenes’, and talking about there personal opinions and views on the thriller, they could also talk about what it means, and how they come up with the storyline. I think it’s a good way to promote a film because you get information from loads of different people, and it gives you insight on what’s going to happen.