Presentation of Initial Ideas

On Monday 16th, we each had to present our favourite idea to the class, this was beneficial as we gained feedback towards our chosen idea. I felt I confidently presented my thriller ideas for my story line and my opening sequence with enthusiasm and positive energy throughout and therefore I was also fully prepared for any criticism or improvements to be made.

Overall, I found my class responded well towards my ideas. For example, they all liked and appreciated the clear outline of my thriller and said I had thoroughly thought it through including many specific details. My class said they drew close detail towards the use of sound in my thriller ideas and found both the opening sequence and the location very effective and quoted there is “positive potential” in my ideas. However, my class did not give me any negative feedback as they thought it was all beneficial, although personally I feel I have too much happening in my opening sequence and therefore I will improve upon this in later work and consider options of how I could condense the sequence down, as I learnt simple is as effective, if not most effective.

Story Line:
I intend for my thriller to be about a cereal killer whose identity is unknown to the world and he is isolated from society. The whole plot is about many different people trying to find out who is killing all these young innocent children. Throughout the film we hear many gunshots triggered by the cereal killer, however only the audience know the killer is shooting the gunshots and this is how the film develops as the rest of the characters are trying to find out.

Opening Sequence:
I therefore intend for my opening sequence to firstly introduce sound. I wish for non-diegetic sound to play a big role in my thriller. For example, I will use a loud projecting sound track of a couple arguing to exaggerate a pleonastic voice over echoing in the background. So therefore, the characters seen in the sequence wont have any diegetic dialogue to portray. I wanted to do this so viewers can appreciate the characters movements more easily and allow the audience to not get distracted from the actions happening in the sequence, so this can clearly create steady tension building in the atmosphere. The voiceover will increase when actions become more grande. I want to have two characters to be seen, firstly, a close up shot of an older man, bald, wearing dark colours and making tea, so the audience do not at first suspect anything suspicious. My second character to appear in the sequence will be a young girl who is locked up in the closet. After the man has made tea and he puts on gloves and gets ready to hurt her appearing increasingly closer towards the girl. Camera shots will be taken through the point of view of the girls perspective, so we can just see the mans eye through the slates in the closet rapidly coming closer towards her. We hear pleonastic sounds of the girl’s heartbeat and then we then see his hand reach in to open the closet and the young girl lets out a loud scream. We hear the couple arguing shout “What is happening up there, I’m going to go up there myself, etc.”. A sudden shot is then forced to be angled at the door as we suddenly hear a loud knock followed by the words “Open the bloody door.” Then we cross to a close up of his hands suffocating the young girls mouth and throat, as he is stopping her from screaming and then goes black into the title of the film.

 My sequence is located in council flat, shows long shots of surroundings, everyone in the flats can hear every sound and most movements. I will have many props surrounding the man, including junk food and mess. I will also only have a plain bed, even just a mattress located in the center of the room and many Polaroid photos of young girls scattered around the flat and stuck on the wall. When the cereal killer has killed someone he crosses them off the tally chart using their blood. The wind will also be harshly blowing outside to build tension and suspense within the atmosphere.