Group Film Idea

Group Film Idea

Film Title: The Vault 

The vault is another word for cellar and as the majority of the film is based in the cellar our group thought it would be effective if the title connected to the main theme of the film. 

Genre: Psychological thriller

Psychological thriller is a thriller story, which emphasises the psychology of its characters and their unstable emotional states. In terms of classification, the category is a subgenera of the broader ranging thriller category, with similarities to detective fiction in the sense of sometimes having a "dissolving sense of reality", moral ambiguity, and complex and tortured relationships between obsessive and pathological characters. Psychological thrillers often incorporate elements of and overlap with mystery, drama, action, and horror, particularly psychological thriller. Our group narrowed down the genre to a psychological thriller due to the fact that it is a mystery film as throughout the film the audience are trying to work out how and why the woman is down in the cellar. Our film also presents the unstable mentality of characters, through the use of editing, dialogue, mise en scene, body language and camera angles. 

Age Rating: 15

Our group classified our film as an age 15 rating. Within the film there will be frequent strong language and strong violence. This is not suitable for anyone under the age of 15 as it is inappropriate. Although, on the other hand, there will be minimal sexual activity due to the fact that our film is based on a bad relationship between a husband and wife and therefore neither will be encouraged to do so. An age 15 rating includes any of the following:

·         strong violence

·        frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***')

·         portrayals of sexual activity

·         strong verbal references to sex

·         sexual nudity

·         brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence

·         discriminatory language or behaviour

·         drug taking

Characters:

In our film there will be a relatively small number of characters so it gives the audience a chance to connect and engage with them. This will help to build a strong perception of what they are like. 

Megan Potter - (played by Freya Money) Megan is a sensitive, quiet, young woman (25 years old) who has a secretive, mysterious side to her personality that the audience is striving to see. Megan is very submissive and bows down to any man as she is too afraid of getting hurt. Megan was happily married but in the film is seen as the victim and being held hostage in a cellar by her own husband, this is because she cheated but the audience are yet to find that out until further on in the film. Our group chose the name 'Megan' as it is the most promiscuous name and we want their names to reflect who they are. Her job is a personal assistant; she met her husband through her job, again this reflects how she is submissive to men as her job is being told what to do by a man. She also met the man she cheated on through her job as well. 

James Potter - (played by Robbie Butt) James is a dominant, stereotypical male character who always has to be in control, especially of women. He is a middle aged man (36 years old). He has a strong personality, he is confident and very proud to be who he has become. This makes him turn to a psycho when he finds out that he wife has cheated on him. He feels emasculated and he believes by punishing his wife  he is gaining is masculinity back. James is the manager of a forensic investigation company and therefore is very knowledgeable in covering up crimes! He is the antagonist in the film - the main character as the film follows his unstable mindset and the consequences of it. 

Abigail Taylor - (played by Jess Granger) Abigail is a concerned older sister of Megan who is always thinking of others before herself. She is very naive and involved in journalism so is very interested into discovering new things and investigating. Throughout the film she tries to discover what has happened to her sister. She is the protagonist in the film as she is eventually the one to find and save her sister from the psycho, mental husband. It is a battle between the two of them. 

Location/Setting - 

The main location is the cellar and in the house where James and Megan live. Our group has chosen to use my house (Freya Money), as it is modern and fairly new, as that is what we want the representation to be of the couple. There are two options for the cellar, but are both very dark and mysterious to create the perfect atmosphere for the film. In which case we will carry out a locations recce to see which cellar is most suitable to work and film in. 

Storyline - 

The film will firstly be subjective filming throughout the opening sequence and the majority of the film as the story will be told through the husbands eyes. Used to enhance a sense of realism and audience involvement in the action. It is also being used to hide the identity of the husband to create tension and suspense within the audience.
A woman has recently gone missing who is in her late twenties. She has a husband and a very loving family who are all devastated about her death. The husband is first seen printing off missing posters and is then met by his sister in law to put them around the neighbourhood. The husband makes his way home. The atmosphere is quiet and empty. Extreme long shots of him to connote how alone and lonely he is. Husband makes dinner for himself but makes two plates of food. Is it just routine?... Habit? Is he just missing his wife dearly and accidently made her a plate a food thinking she is still there? Husband walks downstairs with the plates of food. Over the shoulder shot and POV shot of wife looking at a door. Everywhere looks dark. Door opens, the husband walks in. Harsh light pours through the door. Husband chucks plate of food and non-diegetic, mysterious, eerie music begins to play. Credits appear… Throughout the rest of the film, the sister of the missing woman tries to discover how her sister has gone missing. Digging down into unintentional clues left behind by the husband, she gets closer and closing to her goal of finding her. But as the tension rises so does the psychotic mentality of the husband. The sister finally gets into the cellar where her sister has been held hostage but the husband, James, catches her and locks them both up. But the sisters think of a plan to kill the husband the next time he comes in and they get away and are able to put the horrific experience behind them and move on with their lives without him.

Planned out by Freya, Jess, Robbie and Jack but written by Freya (me)