Brief

Our task is to produce the opening two minutes of a film within the thriller genre, as well as to keep a blog of our planning, research, production and post production.

We have chosen to produce a piece within the psychological thriller sub genre, as it allows us to make a good quality film through the use of effective cinematography, scripting and enigmas within our story.

The target audience is predominantly male, with an age of 15-25 years of age, as is typical with this type of film. We have chosen our protagonist to be within this age range, which will allow the audience to relate to him as well as including an older character that will make any potential viewers outside of our target age range feel more comfortable with the characters. This will allow our film to attract a wider range of people outside of our main target audience.

The cast is all male, as we felt that the characters would not be best represented if played by women. The costumes vary depending on the character: our protagonist is dressed in a scruffy and unkempt manner, relating to his state of mind, with his psychiatrist wearing more formal attire to show his authority as a doctor. The antagonists are dressed in dark clothing with their faces obscured by masks, creating a sense of enigma and menace. The protagonist's accent is lower middle class, with the psychiatrist having an upper middle class accent. This highlights the difference between the two characters, and their roles within the story.

Our storyline follows the codes and conventions of a thriller by creating several enigmas that keep the audience and interested and would make them want to watch further. The antagonists are dark characters, and give a sense of danger to the film, which will keep the audience on their toes.

If this film were to be a major Hollywood production, then we would have it directed and produced by M. Night Shyamalan, who was behind the thrillers The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. These thrillers are good examples of how a thriller should be made, with a twisting plot and dark cinematography.

We have two main locations: an abandoned house in the countryside and an office in a town. These two locations create a contrast, making the audience wonder what the connection between the two is. The abandoned house fits with the grim and dark imagery of our antagonists. The inclusion of our scruffy and unkempt protagonist in the smart and tidy office setting creates an interesting conflict of themes. We will use a variety of different shots in order to keep the film well paced and the audience interested. Shots we have used include tilt shots, tracking shots, pan shots, reverse zoom shots, close ups, extreme close ups, mid shots and long shots. We used a tripod for several shots, but also made frequent use of handheld footage to create a feeling of chaos and motion.


-Joseph Lawrence