Planning: Final Idea - Mrs. Quinlan

Final Idea

Introduction:

My group's final idea has come together after we all pitched our initial ideas and we then based our final idea off one, with contributions from the other ideas, evidently creating a new narrative but with the same general tone and idea. We gathered the most effective and relevant parts of our initial ideas to thrillers and adapted them to our final idea, this ensured that everyone was involved and our final idea was the most effective for a thriller opening.

Title: 

P.S. Your Stalker, One of Us

Sub-genre:

Supernatural (the idea of ghosts and the dead being seen) and Crime (murder that is suggested)

Narrative:

A man is seen walking from a graveyard, he is wearing a suit. The scene then cuts to inside of a house and the same man is seen walking through the door of this house. As he walks through the door a girl is visible behind him who is very pale and bruised. He then picks up a chair which is revealed to be bloody, walks towards his stairs and some dead bodies are seen around the house. He is walking in a very casual manner and he then walks up the stairs. As he walks up the stairs there is another body visible, once he gets to the top he walks into the bedroom, he goes to the wardrobe to get his jacket, as he closes the door to his wardrobe a male victim is visible behind the door, this victim is tied up and barely conscious. He then walks outside and turns off the light behind him, there is a figure visible behind him, he quickly turns around forgetting something and turns on the light, but there is nothing behind him. He walks over to his bed and grabs his phone, then turns off the light again and the figure is visible again. The man then walks downstairs and there is a cut to outside of the house, we see the man exit the house and there is then a tilt movement to a window upstairs, the girl who has been following him is visible with one hand at the window, staring at the direction of the man who is out of frame. There is then a panning shot to the man, whom we see now is walking in a public place.

Narrative structure (theory):

Our final idea will use the narrative structure of Aristotle as his theory states that tragedy is used to evoke emotion. Tragedy is suggested with the dead bodies all around the house and the victim following the antagonist, this will all evoke emotion amongst the audience.

It could also follow the narrative structure of Todorov's theory as the narrative could follow the equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium order. The antagonist would appear stable at the beginning, and then something disruptive would happen to him as it is evident in the opening there is a ghost or demon following him, although this would only show if the narrative continues further than the opening. It could then end with a new equilibrium as the supernatural being either stops following and tormenting the antagonist or has it's revenge.

Characters (theory):

Antagonist - The antagonist is the man walking around the house and the main character in the narrative. We are following the antagonist who is an apparent murderer due to my question in my primary research "What kind of character would you want a thriller film to be centered around?". The results came back with even responses to Hero and Murderer, therefore due to the narrative I will be going with murderer (antagonist), this would be the most appropriate due to my primary research.

Main Victim/Anti-Hero - The main victim will be the girl following the antagonist, she will be very pale and look very ghostly, therefore she will be presumed dead and is still following the antagonist, her character is the one that brings the supernatural sub genre to my opening as she will make sudden unexpected appearances.

Other Victims - The will be other victims scattered around the house which will suggest that they are victims of the antagonist who is casually walking around his house.

Mise en scene:

Lighting: Low lighting will be used when the antagonist is outside and high key lighting is when he is inside the house, this is to show that the house is an innocent place but this is controversial in my opening as there are dead bodies scattered around, ultimately confusing and chilling the audience.

Setting: The start of the scene will take place in a graveyard, it will then move onto the house as the scene develops and then end with a public place such as a street.

Iconography: A phone will be used when the antagonist is in the bedroom, he will go to pick it up and this will serve as a distraction for the sudden appearance of the main victim, as well as a chair for one of the victims and other furniture which will be in the house, but these will not be directly used in the opening as the characters will not interact with them.

Costume and makeup: The antagonist will be wearing a dark coloured jacket and trousers, to not draw attention to themselves. The victims will wear light coloured clothing to show the innocence.

Body language and facial expression: The antagonist will have have a very upright posture as he is confident in what he does and should not display any amount of fear as he is possibly psychotic. In terms of facial expression he will not show any emotion at all, this will further portray his madness as he lacks emotion which is a normal trait for sane human beings. The main victim/anti hero will also not show any emotion whatsoever as they have a goal which is to possibly seek revenge.

Film influences:

I was influenced by The Stepfather (1978) due to the unexpectedness of the bodies around the house in the opening and the fact he walks off like a normal person in a very casual manner, this opening heavily influenced my final idea.

I was also inspired by Halloween (1978) as this opening also had a twist or something the audience did not expect at the end of the opening. That is the main thing I am going for, to make the audience feel uncomfortable as the killer could be anyone.

I was influenced by The Grudge (2009) for the design of my main victim, this is because of the supernatural look the pale makeup that is used. The character in the grudge is difficult to look at and makes the audience uncomfortable.

Advantages:

The advantages of our final idea is that it is mysterious and will confuse the audience. It is also relatively easy to film, with minimal props and not too much editing. Our opening will also make the audience uncomfortable due to the characters attitude to having dead bodies around the house he is walking around, my opening should end with leaving the audience not knowing much but wanting to know more about the film.

Problems that may occur:

The problems that may occur are that the actors may not be convincing enough and this won't persuade the audience to feel tense or uncomfortable the way they should be. As well as this, there may be location problems such as asking for permission to film in a graveyard and being refused to do so. There also may not be enough actors to be extra bodies around the house. I may also experience editing problems as I do not have experience using the software we have been told to use, as well as editing the jump cuts properly to scare the audience effectively therefore I will have to shoot some scenes multiple times to ensure when editing I can put together the scene appropriately, this may also help any errors while filming.

Why is this opening conventional to a thriller?

This opening is conventional to a thriller due to the mise en scene we use, the lighting will be low key, and the setting will be a convention as a house and a graveyard is used a lot in thrillers. In addition to this the costumes my characters will also be conventional to a thriller, the antagonist will wear dark colours and the victims will wear lighter colours.

What themes does your thriller represent?

My thriller uses the theme of death which is evident with the bodies scattered around the house. As well as possible revenge due to the girl following the antagonist, it can be assumed that she is a victim and she is stalking the antagonist, the person who possibly killed her.

What response will you get from your audience?

My audience will be confused at the start as there is no explanation as to why the man is walking from the graveyard, once the man is in the house during the middle of the opening, the audience will have a frightened response as it is very tense due to the bodies scattered around the rooms, also the man's reaction will contribute to this. At the end of the opening, the audience will feel scared as there is a tilt movement to reveal the girl inside the house watching as the antagonist walks way, this will be a suspenseful shot used to set up the rest of the movie but also close the opening.