Film plan: Half term Idea

1. A girl is looking after her cousin, and he goes missing in a shopping centre.  I think the genre is physcological thriller, as the film focuses on her emotional state and contrast her calmness at her aunties, to when se is hysterical, trying to fin her cousin.  Opening: For the opening I want it first to be of the main girl frantically running around the shopping mall, calling her best friends saying ‘I’ve lost him’, and maybe shots of a man holding a child’s hand, and that scene builds, focusing on her face and zooming in.  Then it flashes to her at her aunties, where the girl is collecting the cousin, and saying ‘we'll be fine wont we, were going to go to the toyshop aren’t we’. Then they leave and start walking down the road and it is very innocent, but keeps very quickly flickering to her panicking in the shops (mainly jus her face or point of view shot of the people in front of her walking very fast (could be a time lapse)). And the beginning end with her walking into the shopping center then switching to her looking straight at the camera saying ‘he’s gone’
2.  I think the target audience would be young adults or mainly people aged 17 and over.  When looking at the plot, I thought at first the certificate would be 15 as the idea of a child being taken may be upsetting to younger children.  But after looking on the BBFC website, for a film to be 15 it tends to include strong language, violence and sexual references, which my film does not include.  So for now I think it would be a 12 but as the opening is being made, I may notice parts of the filming that is more suitable for a 15 certificate.  After doing a bit of research it seems like the target audience for most thrillers is 17 -30 year olds.  This is similar to what I thought my target audeicne would be.  But as it doesn’t contain violence and isn’t too aggressive I think it could appeal to an older audience aswell as I don’t think it will be as harsh to watch as some other thrillers.
3. Narrative/Plot: Summary: GIrl (who is the aunties niece) is asked to look after her auntie’s son, for the day.  Girl looses son in shopping mall.  She then has until the aunty wants him back to find him. (The end of the day).  Audience thinks a man has taken child but in the end the girl finds him in a toyshop.
4. In my opening scene I want the flashbacks to create a mysterious tone.  I also want the switches between time zones to create a tense cliffhanger effect.  I think seeing the main girl being calm then frantic will play with the audiences emotions aswell and will make them feel on edge.  I want to use an open frame in the shopping mall when she’s looking for him, as this will make the scene feel more hectic, which mimics her emotions.  When she’s at her aunties I want the lighting to be warm and bright to create a comforting feel.  Also the camera shots will be steady and clean, whereas in the shopping center I think the camera can be more sharp in its movements and a bit shaky/ never still.  Films that inspired the plot are: Alice creed, Prisoner.
5. The characters will be the main girl, the aunty (and maybe uncle), the little boy, and then a man who is suggested to be the man who takes the kid.  I want it to be quiet with few people when she is walking to shopping center, but then it suddenly is very busy in shopping centre to show they’ve entered a different place.  The Aunty and Uncle would be about 35.  The girl will be about 17; blonde wearing leggings and bright jumper (just a normal girl) then the boy is wearing trousers, t-shirt, jacket and hat (to accentuate their vulnerability and youth). 
6. I want the titles to be in capital letter and clean font.  For example ARIAL or BANGLA SANGAM MN.  The opening title music should be tense to tell the audience something bad is going to happen.   I want the ident to quite short and to the point, and I think I want it to be quite plain and simple, with dark colours and bold fonts, as I don’t think happy or comforting indents, such as DreamWorks, as I think this wouldn’t fit with the opening.
7. I want the sound to be contrapuntal when she’s walking to the shopping center as this will cause tension between the music and sound and will warn the audience that something’s going to happen.  There will be dialogue between the aunty and girl, aswell as the girl talking on the phone and to others in the shopping center.  Depending on the quality of sound of the crowd, I will add diegetic sound of crowds of people murmuring to add to the atmospheric sound.  But I want some non-diegetic sound of mood music building.   The sound will be parallel when she’s trying to find the child as this fits with what’s going on in the scene

Preliminary Task

In this task, I had to make a film which kept between the guidelines of including match on action, shot reverse shot, and not breaking the 180 degree rule. I found this task helpful as I didn't know the 180 degree rule even existed and after seeing the rule being broken, found how noticeable it was.

Prezi documentary: Despicable Me

Despicable Me

I chose Desicable Me as i am a fan of the film and also after thinking about it, realised a lot of synergy is used in the film.  Synergetic uses in films means the film gets more attention and allows the audience to grow.

Editing: Collateral

At the beginning the weighting of the shot completely focusses on Tom Cruise.  Then it switches to focussing on Jason.  A shot reverse shot is used to show they are walking towards each other which builds suspense.  Then as they bump into each other there is a low shot which focusses the audience on the case, telling us there is something important inside it.  This also allows the audience tithing of whats in the suitcase and also using just picture to tell the story, this means the audience must 'write' in the details of why they swapped cases.  Then there is a point of view angle of Cruise which shows his eye movements, showing he's very aware and looking around, making him seem suspicious.  Then it cross cuts to a different story where there is a montage.  This shows a man doing a crossword which establishes his character as being smart focusses and this is also shown by the focus of him touching his glasses.  This defines him as different to the men around him and as being intelligent. Also it cuts to him doing his job at night, creating a feel of danger.  There is a shot where he he gets in the cab there is a point of view and the sound stops, showing he is a very self-dependant person and that he's in his own world.  We then see he's professional as he cleans his car very meticulously unlike the men around him and it is contrasting by the cab drivers squabbling.  In the background there is drilling, chatting, cars trying to start up and screwing sounds creating the setting of a car garage.  There is a tense actiony music which has a very repetitive beat that gives a suspenseful feeling as if something is going to happen.  It also makes the scene feel quite unimportant as the music becomes monotonous, so when the music stop this allows the audience to be drawn into the scene.

Silence of the Lambs Analysis

I decided to look at a sequence from silence of lambs, as it is a classic thriller.  Although the beginning sequence, which tends to be one of the high points of the film, but as I felt it was more to introduce the characters and setting but I didn’t feel was dramatic enough to explore.  So I chose the famous scene where the main female detective meet Hannibal Lector, the cannibal murderer.  At the start of the scene, there is gentle low-key lighting on the detective, giving him slight shadows, making him already seem serious.  The main woman has top lighting on her which makes her seem feminine, innocent and vulnerable, so late on seems out of place as a detective.  Only key light is used in the room they’re in, from the lamps giving a comfortable warm feeling, which fits with what’s happening in the scene as he is asking her out.  But his adds contrast to how quickly she is in a room of physcopaths.  In the next scene when they are in the busy office, there is a high key lighting, which shows its nota relaxed mood anymore as its bright lightning.  The lightning and colours change between every scene change, which extends the journey to the cells, making them seems far away and dangerous.  It then move to grey darker lighting and some filler lights are used to create back and low key lighting, adding shadows, that creates a harsh feeling that makes the scene uncomfortable, adding to the thriller genre. In the next scene, red key lighting is used to establish a different location, and creates a dramatic feel.  This fits with the scene as at this point the detective tells the woman about an incident with the murderer they’re going to see.  As red is associated with blood and gore, this fits with the gory scene being described.  Then it quickly switches to bright white key light, which is a contrast and brings you to the present moment.  Now its established they’re in the cell, the guard has low key and under lighting, which adds, large shadows to his face, making him seem daunting and intimidating.  When the woman is alone in the cell she still has top lighting, which makes her seem even more vulnerable now.  Filler lights are used in the cells so that it is mainly dark with jus the shadows of the cell doors, which is very effective and creates a spooky effect.  When the woman walks past all the prisoners they all have under lighting, which creates heavy dark shadows, associated with danger.  This is more obvious in contrast to the woman’s still bright top lighting.  The first time we see Hannibal, the villain, he has low-key lighting from above, which creates shadows, giving a creepy effect.  The lighting creates almost a spotlight, bringing a lot of focus to him.   The when it is close up on his face there is low key lighting creating dramatic shadows, which makes him and his speech creepy.

There is no sound in his office when it is just the female detective and the male detective, who gives a relaxed effect and I don’t think sound is needed for this plain dialogue.  When they move to the busy working office there is digetic sound to add to the feel of a busy office.  The as the scene changes there is more digetic sound of the footsteps and also there are a lot of jail cells slamming, which echoes the fact the characters are now in the cells where murderers are kept.  Foley sound of a buzzer is used when they enter the main cell.  The sound is normally associated with danger so this is already pre-empting us and showing the vast amount of security, again increasing the mood of danger and warning.  There is then parallel sound of spooky moaning music when the male detective is talking about Hannibal eating someone.  This is dramatic as this is the first time we hear actually music added to the scene, so the contrast builds tension.  This carries on when she enters the area in front of the physcopaths cells.  As this is the first time she is alone without security, the music really builds a suspenseful moment and the eeriness builds a lot of tension. The very gently crescendo of it makes the point where she sees Hannibal for the first time very dramatic and terrifying.  This slowly fades and there is no sound when they are talking to each other making it feel very tense. 

Camerawork is really effective in this scene as the different shots used really build the tension.  Also camerawork is used o establish the different scenes and issued o establish long and short periods of time.  At the stat of the scene, it begins with a close up of the detective with a point of view angle, but creates a serious effect, which woks as he is a detective and also as they’re having an intimate conversation.  The close up also creates an intense awkward feel, which fits with his speech, as this is an awkward moment in the scene, when he is asking the female detector out.  This is echoed when there is a close up of her, which captures her awkwardness.  When they start walking through the office there is a long shot which is panning and moving with them, which establishes the scene and also creates the fly on the wall effect, as the camera is shooting the scene from behind the window.  Also when the camera follows the detectives, at some points it pans vey close to them, again making you feel part of the scene, and you get a feeling of busyness.  The axis movements then switch to dolly, then to tilts, which shows the quick scene changes more obviously and creates the feel that it is a long journey to the cells, creating the idea that they are kept far away, suggesting the danger factor.  In the cell, depth of field is used which first focuses on he prisoner being handcuffed, then to the inspectors.  This establishes their surroundings and those they’ve reached the cells, but also creates the feel of hastiness. Again there is use of fast pans when the walk past, which creates the feel that you’re there and mimics how the female inspector would be feeling as when the male detective is instructing her, you feel as if you also need to listen and ‘keep up’.  Wen the male detective is warning the female what Hannibal is capable of, it zooms to an extreme close up of the male detective, living him the main focus and making his speech more dramatic.  There is a slow a zoom on he face that stops when he starts talking about the incident, which tells the audience to focus and listen at this point.  There is a low angle close up of the females face, when she’s looking at the picture of victims face, we only see the back of the image so don’t know the extent to the incident, allowing her facial expression to be the only hint.  As it is a low angle, this gives her a serious hellish look, which echoes how the picture must look. When Hannibal is face to face, with the female detective, cleverly extreme close ups are used, which like before create a tense feel but also makes you feel on edge, as it switches between the two faces each time they speak, so also suspense is built.

A common theme of changing (between lighting, camera shot and sound) to establish scene change and haste is also seen in the Mise en Scene of the sequence.  At the start the brass lamps and brown coloured furniture sets a warm intimate tone.  There are also paintings and flower, which gives a relaxed welcoming feel.  This quickly changes to an office scene, dominated by male workers, making her stand out as more feminine.  The idea of her standing out is also shown in the way she dresses.  In the sequence there are only men and they’re all wearing suits or the prison mates, wearing jumpsuits, whereas the female detective is wearing a skirt, blouse and jewelry which differs her from the smart working gear of the other characters and again makes her seem out of place.  In the office, there is constant movement, aligning with the male and female inspector constant moving in the office.  Busyness is echoed in the piles of papers and filing cabinets as well as voices and phone rings.  In the cell there are minimal props, but a lot of prison gates and the bricks on the wall align with these lines made, making everything feel very structure and uniform, informing the audience that the scene is starting to get serious and that they characters are now in the cell of prisoners.  Throughout the scene the female detector has a slightly awkward facial expression and her body language shows a sense of her being in experienced, echoing how she seems vulnerable throughout the scene.  When they enter the security part of the cell where Hannibal is there are papers on the wall, red flashing lights, and weapons being hung up on the wall, which shows the security needed, telling the audience the extent to how dangerous Hannibal is.  Also the facial expression of all the security men looks quite patronizing and they are all looking at her, making the female detective seem out of place.