The Script

Script

Scene 1: Interior-Kitchen-Day

A new Kitchen, clutterd, filled with labelled boxes from moving in. It's a normal da, doing the school run.

Anna is finishing her breakfast in her school unfiorm.

The voice of her mother can be heard in the distance.

Mother

Don't worry honey, you'll settle in fine.

Anna then walks out the house, shutting the door behind her (carrying school nag etc.) and starts her journey.

Scene 2: Interior-Dark room-Day

A dark room with dim low lighting with only a desk light and desk can be seen. No natural light can be seen as the curtains are drawn.

A photo of Anna lies on the desk, plus a montage of photos on the wall.

The scene continues by cross-cutting between the dark room (where a shadowy figure can be seen) and Anna who is finishing school.

Scene 3: Exterior-Street-Night

The school Bell goes and Anna is walking home alone, she is walking down a dark alley.

We get the sense that Anna is being watched, Anna is startled by something, turns and looks around.

Scene 4: Exterior-Street-Night

A bag lies discarded on the street.

END

This fits in with the psychological thriller, as the 'strange character' adds mystery to sequence as his identity remains unknown. Therefore suspense is created in this sequence. Towards the end  of the sequence a 'cliff hanger' technique is used as the bag is left behind and the girl has disappeared, this therefore would create more suspense and enigma as the audience would want to know what happened to her. 

Synopsis Analyses

Synposis

The purpose of a synopsis is to explain briefly what the film is about. It provides a short input about the film and what the film is about.

Films such as '28 days later' shows this:

'A powerful virus is unleashed. Transmitted in a drop of blood and devastating within seconds, the virus locks those infected into a permanent state of murderous rage.

Within 28 days the country is overwhelmed and a handful of survivors begin their attempts to salvage a future, little realising that the deadly virus is not the only thing that threatens them.'

However the sub-genre that we have chosen to do for our sequence is a psychological thriller, therefore synopsis from psychological thrillers such as 'Psycho', 'Single white female' and 'Silence of the lambs' would also provide good examples.

The synopsis of Psycho reads:

'Alfred Hitchcock's landmark materpiece of the macabre start Anthony Perkins as the troubled Norman Bates, whose old dark house and adjoining motel are not the place to spend a quite evening. No one knows that better than Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) the ill-fated traveller whose journey end the notorious "shower scene". First a private detective, then Marion's sister (Vera Miles) searches for he, the horror and the suspense mount to a terrifying climax where the mysterious killer is finally revealed. It took seven days to shoot the shower scene, seventy camera setups for the forty-five seconds of this now famous footage-and not an actual bare breast or plunging knife is to be found in the final cut, just illusion through montage.'

 

This is our synopsis that we have made:

Anna is a college student, who is use to constantly moving schools to fit her father’s work. Beginning in a new school, she has no expectations a part form the constant reminder of being alone. However this time around, things are far from usual. Anna finds herself not as lonely as she first thought.

Our synopsis meets the conventions of a psychological thriller because we have included alot of enigmas to add lots of mystery of what is going on. The last sentence in particular adds suspense as the audience will be intrigued about what happens to this girl. This fits in well with the conventions of a psychological thriller because not alot is revealed, plus this also infers that something bad is going to happen or perhaps that she is being stalked as it plays on the word 'alone'. 

Subgenres

Action thriller

In which the work often features a race against the clock, contains lots of violence, and an obvious antagonist. These films usually contain large amounts of guns, explosions, and large elaborate set pieces for the action to take place. These films often have elements of mystery films and also crime films but these elements take a backseat to action.

Scene from the Transporter movie starring Jason Statham released in 2002, evidently of the action thriller genre. Other examples include the James Bond Films and also the Jason Bourne films.

Conspiracy Thriller

In which the hero/heroine confronts a large, powerful group of enemies whose true extent only he/she recognizes. The Aquitane Progression(novel) fall into this category, as do films such as Three Days of Condor, 

Capricorn One and JFK.

 

 

Kevin Costner in JFK released in 1991, again typical of this sub genre

 Moreover, with this subgenre we also see the extension to gaming, evident in the Metal Gear Solid series. The Metal Gear Solid series contains a shadowy group known as "The Patriots" who manipulate politics in America. There are also references to numerous conspiracies in the games. Many of the characters betray the main protagonist, as well as one another, creating a very paranoid atmosphere.

Crime thriller

This particular genre is a hybrid type of crime films  and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal(s) rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasize action over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, and double-crosses are central ingredients. Some examples include  Reservoir Dogs and the Inside Man.

 

 

Action scene from Reservoir Dogs released in 1992 and since has become the cult of an independent film and also showed the rise to fame of director Quentin Tarantino.

 Disaster thriller

In which the main conflict is due to some sort of natural or artificial disaster, such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, etc., or nuclear disasters as an artificial disaster. Examples include the 1974 film Earthhquake

 

 

Scene from the film Earthquake released in 1974 directed by Mark Robson

 

Drama thriller

In which the story consists of the elements of a thriller and drama films. These films are usually slower paced and involve a great deal of character

 development along with plot twists. Examples include The Illusionist, The Interpreter and The Prestige

 

Scene from the 2006 film, The Illusionist starring Edward Norton, pictured above.

Erotic thriller

Largely defined as a sexual thriller. It has become popular since the 1980s and the rise of VCR market penetration. The genre includes such films as Basic Instinct, Color of the Night, Eyes Wide Shut, Fatal Attraction and Looking for Mr. Goodbart.

                                                                                  

Scene from the 1999 film ‘eyes wide shut’, produced by Stanley Kubrick also famous for satirical science fiction film drama ‘Clockwork Orange’. The film above can be classified as a neo-noir psychological thriller.

 The sub genre psychological thriller can be defined as  a narrative that makes the characters exposed to danger on a mental level rather than a physical one. Characters are no longer reliant on physical strength to overcome their brutish enemies (which is often the case in typical action-thrillers), but rather are reliant on their mental resources, whether it be by battling wits with a formidable opponent or by battling for equilibrium in the character's own mind. Examples of these genre include the Talented Mr Ripley, Blue Velvet and the classic 'Suspicion' by Alfred Hitchcock.

A scene from the film, 'The Talented Mr Ripley', starring Matt Damon and Jude Law, which was directed by Anthony Minghella.

 

Audience for our sequence

Audience

There are many different subgenres in the thriller genre, therefore when considering what audience is suitable for our particular opening sequence, the subgenre is very important. This is because the different subgenres attract different types of audiences. For example an action thriller would attract more males than another type of genre.

Therefore when we are considering the type of audience we aim to target, it has a particular audience. The sub-genre that we have chosen to do our sequence on is a Psychological thriller.

The audience that we aim to attract is teenagers/young audience from around the age group of 16-25 and for both males and females. We have done this as our story consists of a teenager/youth. This therefore would attract a younger audience as it would star a younger cast. Plus the audience of this age would like pyshcological thrillers that would appeal to their sense of excitement and tension.

History of Thrillers

A history of thrillers

The thriller since the beginning of the genre has always included suspense this is what distinguishes the thriller movies from every other movie from any other genre.

The thriller genre was first used with books and it is noted that Greeks first used it when they made the books about the odyssey. Since then many books have used traditional forms of the thriller genre. There are various forms of thrillers but the first films to be classified, as thrillers were The Bat and The Lodger during the 1920’s. They were Psychological Thrillers, which in a way they are the original types of thrillers along with spy thrillers. These are the original thrillers and have since shaped the way thrillers have been written. The most famous thrillers since are psycho and the James Bond movies.

The first picture is The latest James Bond movie Quantum of solace. The movies are so popular that this was the 22nd James Bond movie. The first came in 1962.

The second picture shows the famous shower scene from the movie Psycho. This movie was probably Sir Alfred Hitchcock's most famous movie made in 1960.

The thriller genre has since been transformed and now has some of the widest ranges of subgenres that all use classic thriller characteristics but use traits of other genres such as horror-thrillers are very common nowadays. The reason why it has changed so much in the past couple of years is the changing face of technology so now thrillers that used to make very realistic situations from mass murders such as psycho can now be unrealistic but using the traditional conventions of the thriller.

The Godfather of all thriller movie directors has to Sir Alfred Hitchcock who has made some extremely famous movies. These include: Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, and The Birds. He actually started doing silent films in Britain before moving on to do thrillers in black and white with sound. He started working in the Islington studios before moving to the gainsborough pictures. He went on to work all over Europe before working in Hollywood. Hitchcock’s first finished movie as a producer was the pleasure garden. His first movie in America was Rebecca. His movies have influenced many moviemakers but we want to use some of his most famous techniques such as the use of the wrong man or the innocent blond woman. We also like the use of low level lighting during the movie to show the dark mysterious places we are fascinated by is what makes the James Bond movies so intriguing. Today’s more famous thriller writers include Tarantino, Spielberg and Mann.

This is another great Hitchcock movie called The Birds this was made in 1963 a couple of years after Psycho.

Purpose of an opening sequences

Purpose of an opening sequence

The purpose of an opening sequence is to establish the mood, visual character of the film and setting the atmosphere, plus introduces:

Ø Characters

Ø Plot/narrative

Ø Location

Ø Theme

Ø Identify the subgenre

During the opening sequence of thriller films it is important to bring about enigmas and tension this will help to reveal what type of subgenre it is. Plus the use of opening sequences means that it can be linear, therefore it does not need to be attached to the rest if the film, and can therefore be shown independently and does not necessary need a direct link. For example, the Bond film ‘From Russia with Love’ (1963) shows the opening sequence independently and not actually part of the film. 

In this clip below an enigma is can be shown as a Bond mask is removed from another persona face therefore this shows that it was not actually Bond, the real reason of what they are doing can be revealed towards the end where this happens. This therefore shows that it exists separately from the main film.

The next shot below shows suspense and tension in the sequence as you can only see the antagonist's feet walking slowly, this here is when the tension raises.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHlc-EX_Jhk 

Despite all of this that is being shown, the titles of the film, production team, director and sometimes the key actors name will also appear on screen. These titles can appear at different stages of the opening sequence and in term of thriller they usually appear on a black screen.

BBFC research

BBFC Guidelines
In order to assess what classification would best suit our production and to know what needs to be done and not done in order to receive the preferred classification; I will give a brief description of each of the British Board of Film Classification’s (BBFC) classifications.
U – Universal
In order for a film to achieve a ‘U’ classification it must “be set within a positive moral Framework” – (BBFC classification guide). This means there is to be no discriminatory language or behavior unless very mild and clearly disapproved off in the world of the film, no glamorisation of illegal intoxicants, unless for educational or anti-drug purposes. Scary sequences should be mild and unlikely to cause anxiety in young children; also there should be no dangerous acts which young children may mimic and no use of easily accessible weapons. In a ‘U’ film, there may be natural nudity scenes, but none that indicate a sexual nature and only very mild sexual behavior such as kissing, or references to ‘making love’.
PG – Parental Guidance
Much the same as a ‘U’ in classification guidelines, a ‘PG’ should be able to be viewed by a person of aged at least 8 by themselves without causing any disturbance. The film does not need to portray such a “positive moral framework” but any topics seen as socially wrong such as domestic violence, may be featured but should not be condoned.
12A/12 - The ‘12A’ category only applies for cinema works, no one under the age of 12 may see a 12A rated media without accompanied by an adult.
The ‘12’ category has the same guideline for classification as ‘12A’ but only applies to video works. No one under the age of 12 can rent or buy a ‘12’ rated video. In order to gain a 12A/12 classification a film must not condone aggressive discriminatory language or behavior, also, Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorised or give instructional detail. Moderate violence is allowed as well as then use of moderate language and the use of strong language (e.g. ‘fuck’) must be infrequent. Any sexual content must be brief and discreet.
15 – No one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ rated film in a cinema
The product must not endorse discriminative language or action and the showing of drug taking should not be glamorised, with no use of easy to obtain substances (aerosols, solvents etc). Strong language can be used frequently, however very strong language may only be accepted if it is justified in the context. Furthermore the use of sexual activity and nudity in sexual context can be portrayed in mild detail. Furthermore, violence can be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury.
18 – No one younger than 18 may see an ‘18’ rated film in a cinema
This is anything that excels the limitations of the 15 genre. This can include intense gore, more obvious sexual acts and nudity in sexual context.

After researching and analysing the BBFC classifications, I can begin to decide which classification our group would most likely achieve, and aim for. We have decided to aim for a classification of 12/12A. We believe the framework of the 12A classification is suitable and achievable for our production. It creates a more serious tone than that of a PG and allows for darker and more serious themes, such as the stalking and obsession within our production. Although we are only creating the opening sequence, our plans for the whole film would not include constant use of strong language and no use of gore. Furthermore, the film would not include scenes of a sexual nature and so the film would not be classified as a 15, nor 18.