Planning: Developing ideas in groups - Miss Begum

Initial planning

Idea 1-Emeka

For my initial idea I have conjured up a more than basic idea and draft towards a final idea using all my research from former blogs and from the data I had collected in my questionnaires. Further research may help me in further improving my idea rather than changing the full thing and also help my group to decide on a final idea with some aspects and influence of my initial idea.

Narrative

For the narrative of my opening I went for a character trying to run away from his mistakes and regrets which are portrayed as big men in suits with no face to the audience but to him are still just his mistakes and regrets. Which I found a good idea as most thrillers tend to have the character running from an actual thing whereas I would have made it his own problems based on the things he done portrayed through characters with no identity. The idea was based on an episode in Sci-Fi Drama, Doctor Who of which the characters were aliens in black suits called The Silence.

Title

The title of my film was hard to decide and I had many ideas including taking the name of the characters I named in Doctor Who and calling it the 'Silence' as his thoughts are portrayed differently to the audience which could leave the audience confused yet intrigued as to what the movie will be about. Another name I went for was 'Who’s Who' as if to say both the audience and the character are confused and we have no idea who is who, whether his troubles are caused by him or they are caused by these men in suits is something the audience will want to pay attention to. Another name I may use for my opening thriller is ‘?’ as if to say we as a production company are speechless and don’t know what to say or what to make as the thriller title which helps to aid in confusing and adding a psychological effect to the thriller.

Sub-Genre

Considering the many different sub-genres available for my thriller opening I came to the conclusion that I could make it whatever but to suit the purpose the sub-genres I have chosen from the possible many are first, Psychological as many scenes will give the audience a spice of authenticity in order to gain a psychological response and receive better feedback. The other sub-genre was Drama as it has the sense that is has an intention to be more serious than relaxed and comedic, with the focus of having characters dealing with realistic ordeals and emotional struggles.

Character

For characters, I have gone for the victim of which he is to himself and has to find a way to do everything himself, he has no-one and is his own hero, due to the fact the characters face may not be seen often it will be better to make the character a bit of a subtle character in terms of noise and not action Another character is the men in the suits as his thoughts and regrets but the audience don’t know and won’t understand if they are real or just his imagination. Another character I include in my opening is a psychiatrist in which their part may be to tell him that he is alright but that character too is just in his head and isn’t apparent to the audience but to us a producers and him as it is his worries.

Theory Application

With theory application I would use Todorov’s theory of Equilibrium, Disequilibrium and then New Equilibrium but may switch the last around to leave the audience on a cliff hanger instead of ending it there and then, this would be better as it would leave the audience questioning the motion and what just happened further making them more interested in my opening. Todorov’s theory is by far the most simplest of the four of them as for films like this where there aren’t that many characters it allows someone to make something without too much hassle or problems of what to add to a small scene. Using elements from Aristotle who centered his theories round themes and emotions. I may use his structure which consisted of the film going from an ‘Exposition’ in order to know the character. Then next in his theory was the Rising Action which is when the protagonist is able to finally understand his/her goal allowing them to start working towards it. It reaches the Climax which becomes point of the greatest overall tension; the phase in which everything goes mostly wrong. Then the climax ends and there comes the Falling Action which is the turning point of the story and is where the main character makes the decision that defines the outcome of the story, then lastly comes the Denouement which is the resolution and all mysteries are solved. 

Conclusion

Conclusively putting all my research and ideas together I can come to a final idea using thoughts from my initial idea and my group idea.

Idea 2-Umut

Narrative:

A teenager is being interrogated by an officer and is being told to wear a wire so the charges are dropped. Then the next scene we see a group of masked individuals robbing a store and fleeing from the scene via bikes. The boy wearing the wire drops and the device is visible to his group. He is chased out and caught, also murdered in a disturbing manner with a message sent to the officers in charge using the boy’s blood.

Title:

No Face No Case

Sub-Genre:

Crime, Drama

Characters:

5 Teenagers around the ages of 17-23

All big builds to look intimidating

Masks on face

Theory Application:

“Barthes theory” could be applied to my narrative because most

MES:

Lighting and colour:

Interrogation room could have high key lighting with no filters to show the seriousness and security. However the heist could be carried out in the nigh, therefore low key lighting and maybe a grey colour filter to portray danger and death.

Settings and iconography:

An interrogation room is a typical setting for a thriller film, especially for an opening scene. The store could be a warehouse or factory, which may still be really convenient to a thriller film.

Body language and facial expression:

Body language should portray strength and power so the actors would have to keep their muscles stiff. Facial expression wouldn’t be a problem as the heist is going to carried out with masks, however the other characters such as the police officer, teenager being interrogate and owner and workers of the store may be difficult to get into character.

Advantages of this idea:

·        Bikes are easy to access

·        Teenagers could be found easily as were in a school

Disadvantages of this idea:

·        Murder may be difficult to look realistic

·        Finding a device

·        Finding a store to participate

Idea 3-Abass

Narrative: a man is stalking a young teenage girl that goes to school. He does this by looking at her Facebook looking where she is at times of the day and going outside her school looking where she hangs out after school. One day he sees the girl alone in a park and attacks her until she is unstably damaged. Police and ambulance come and the man runs away and loses the police. The girls is damaged and is near death. The true motives of the man is unknown.

Title: who’s who- this is the title because you don’t know who the actual attack is.

Sub-genre: drama- as the friends and family of the victim are devastated

Psychological-because seeing the way the girl gets attacked affects the audience in a psychological way

Characters: antagonist-the man, victim-Jessica (the girl)

Themes: violence- when the man attacks the girl.

Stalking-when the man finds out everything about the girl.

Narrative structure:

Todorov’s theory: Equilibrium-when everything is fine and the girl is going to school. Disequilibrium-when the guy attacks the girl. New equilibrium- when the attack is over.

Advantages: the Narrative of the story has a good effect on the audience.

The story of the opening scene is good.

Disadvantages: the story is too conventional.

We might not be able to find an empty park for this too take place.

Lighting: low key lighting because it creates more fear to the audience and it affects them psychologically. If I were to use high key lighting it wouldn’t be as effective as the audience would think the guy doesn’t pose a threat.

Cinematography: close-up on girl in order to show facial expression. And establishing shot to show the environment.