Scrpit

Script

INT. Desk – daytime

JAMES is at his desk on his computer printing missing posters with his wife on them. Only the back of his head is shown.

He clicks print on his computer.

A shot of the printer, JAMES reaches his hand out to take the printed poster.

INT. Dining room – daytime

A shot of the table, a newspaper is thrown by JAMES, the camera films the newspaper and the hand, not JAMES.

Panning shot of framed photos of JAMES and MEGAN as a couple.

JAMES is stood in the dining room, there’s a knock on the door. It makes him jump and he gasps suddenly

INT. The front door – daytime

JAMES opens the door, ABIGAIL is stood outside.

ABIGAIL

Should we go?

JAMES nods.

JAMES and ABIGAIL walk out the door.

INT. A street – daytime

JAMES and ABIGAIL put a poster up on a tree.

They walk away.

INT. Front door - daytime

JAMES arrives home and opens his front door and walks in

INT. Kitchen - evening

JAMES serves up two plates of dinner

INT. dining room table - evening

JAMES puts food down and sits down at the head of the table

Whilst eating he hears flashbacks of arguments that occurred between him and his wife

His facial expressions are angry and frustrated.

JAMES

You and him in my bed?

Who is he?

How long has this been going on?

MEGAN

I’m sorry

I still love you

Please don’t leave me

(the flash back will be distorted and the lines of dialogue will be repeated)

He takes his last spoonful of dinner

He stands up and picks up the extra plate of food he made

INT. Outside - evening

He goes out the door and walks down the stairs outside and unlocks the door

INT. cellar – evening

He enters the cellar holding a torch and the plate

MEGAN breaths heavy

JAMES walks closer towards MEGAN

JAMES
Did you miss me?

MEGAN struggles to get out of the chair

This is the script for our opening sequence; it is mainly stage directions for the actors as we didn’t want to include much dialogue in our opening sequence to add to the suspense. However as mentioned in past posts this is a factor of our opening that we will try out and decide if it works when we come to edit. I have still included them in the script.

Planned by Freya, Jess, Robbie and Jack but written by Jess

Storyboard

Storyboard

Here is the storyboard, which are the scenes we plan to shoot for our opening sequence. We’ve planned to try out the scenes with dialogue however for a number of reasons we may not include them in our final piece, these reasons include the possible poor acting skills or if they don’t work and make the film less believable. Throughout the opening there will be non-diegetic music playing which only cuts out when the screen goes blank, as written on the storyboard at times the music changes like when James enters the cellar and when the title of the film comes up. I was unable to write the real title of our film when drawing the story board because we are still undecided however obviously where it says ‘TITLE’ that’s when it will come up. Also the amount of scenes may chance if cutting from one to another look unnatural we may have to include an extra scene in the middle, these are things we will only be able to judge when we begin to film the opening sequence and/or when we begin to edit.

Planned by Jess, Freya, Robbie and Jack but written by Jess

Costume and Prop List

Costume and Prop List

Props:

Locations- 

Street: A specific alleyway just for pedestrians which is very effective as people have a higher chance of seeing the missing posters, stopping, reading them and then they have an understanding of the missing girl.

• Missing posters/blue tac
• Lamp post/trees

Kitchen:

• Pan
• Hob
• Food
• Plates
• Cutlery
• Table
• Chairs
• Laptop
• Printer
• Missing posters
• Newspaper

Cellar: A creepy/eerie/mysterious looking cellar which is conventional for our genre (psychological thriller). 

• Chair
• Bucket
• Rope
• Dirty plates
• Torch
• Food

Costumes-

James Potter:

• Black t-shirt
• Black jeans
• Black desert boots

The all black outfit will illustrate; death, evil and mystery. These are all key themes in psychological thrillers and will help the audience to understand the character and maybe even figure out straight away from the outfit, that he is the antagonist.

Megan Potter:

• Red top- to connote love, death, blood and maybe her promiscuous side as red can be quite a sexual colour.
• White skirt- indicating her purity and innocence.
• No shoes- to emphasise how isolated, helpless and hopeless she is as she is stuck alone in a cellar with as it seems, no help.
• Smudged make up- to show how distraught and helpless she is because as much as she cries, there may be no hope for her in the end. Maybe to also show how long she’s been stuck down there.
• Ring- to emphasise that she is married to the man and that even in this horrific time, she is still wearing it.

Abigail Granger:

• Pink top
• Black trousers

Normal everyday clothes but the pink may represent her love and care she has for her missing sister and that she is going out of her way to make sure she finds her.

Planned by Robbie, Freya, Jess and Jack but written by Robbie.

Narrative in our Opening Sequence

Narrative in Our Opening Sequence

Tzvetlan Todorov- We will be challenging his narrative structure theory as we will be starting with a disruption. In our opening sequence we will show the wife locked up in the cellar looking very much helpless which is how we are challenging his theory because by starting with this disruption instead of an equilibrium, it will instantaneously grip the audience and make them feel involved which will inevitably encourage them to carry on watching. However the rest of the movie will follow this narrative structure as it will help to communicate our genre (psychological thriller) and will help the audience to understand the storyline.

Roland Barthes- In our opening sequence we will be incorporating an enigma code by not revealing the identity of the husband in the opening sequence. This will add to the sense of mystery in the plot and get the audience questioning and on the edge of their seats as they’ll want to know the identity of this man. This is a genre signifier for a psychological thriller as in many opening sequences of this genre, it is extremely common for the directors to involve enigma codes as they want to get the audience gripped and encourage the audience to watch on and find out the answers to their questions.

The fact the husband (the antagonist) is wearing all black is a significant semantic code, this may convey to the audience what type of roll he will play in the rest of the movie, as black indicates; evil, mystery and death.

Vladimir Propp- In our opening sequence we will clearly display a villain not only by showing the fact he has his wife locked away, defenceless, in the cellar but also the use of the husband’s costume. This character will be wearing all black which immediately connotes to the audience; death, evil and mystery. This also may indicate to the audience right from the start, that he may be the antagonist. This is very effective and conventional for a psychological thriller as mystery is a key theme in many films of this genre.

Back-story- the history behind the situation right at the start of our film (wife stuck in cellar). This deepens the psychological aspect of the story since the audience is able to more fully understand the husband; more specifically, what the husband’s motivations are and how the current situation has shaped his current cognitive and emotional perceptions. We are showing this through the use of a flashback by presenting his thoughts with him talking in the background but not actually to the camera. This will help the audience to further understand the husband’s mind-sets and why he has his wife locked up away in the cellar.

Claude Levi Strauss- states a good story revolves around conflict between binary opposites. This is being displayed in our opening sequence because the two main characters, one being the husband (the antagonist) and the other being the wife (the victim). These two characters are binary opposites, even though they may be married, one is obviously a woman and one is a man. The wife is somewhat vulnerable and helpless and the husband is stronger, more independent and obviously very controlling.

Communicating the Genre of our Text

Communicating the Genre of Our Text

In our film opening sequence we will communicate the genre of our text through many ways. For example; 

• Editing on the title
• Dull colours/lighting
• Enigma code
• Location 
• Dialogue
• Camera shots

The editing on the title will be somewhat conventional as there will be mainly red, black and white colours which will convey the genre as these are common in psychological thrillers. Red connoting danger, death and love, black connoting death, mystery and evil and white connoting innocence and purity which not only will contrast with the black but will represent the woman in our opening sequence.

Similarly, the colours and lighting will be just as effective. The main colours in the opening sequence will be conventional of a psychological thriller as dull colours are very common in this genre as they can signify a sense of mystery. The dull colours will work in conjunction with the low-key lighting which again is very frequent in a psychological thriller as it can transmit the mystery to our film. There may be some more hopeful colours such as natural daylight colours when the missing posters are being put up as there is still a sense of hope for the sister of the missing wife as she will only know one side to the story. But as soon as the cellar is involved, the main colours will be dark and dull to show the contrast and how locked away the wife is. 

In terms of Roland Barthes Code Theory, we will be incorporating an enigma code by not revealing the identity of the husband in the opening sequence. This will add to the sense of mystery in the plot and get the audience questioning and on the edge of their seats as they’ll want to know the identity of this man. This is a genre signifier for a psychological thriller as in many opening sequences of this genre, it is extremely common for the directors to involve enigma codes as they want to get the audience gripped and encourage the audience to watch on and find out the answers to their questions.

Furthermore, the location of our opening sequence will be conventional for a psychological thriller. Our main location is a cellar which will immediately illustrate mystery to the audience and it is very commonplace for this genre, as the most used locations for psychological thrillers are usually abandoned as they add a sense of uneasiness and mystery within the audience.

The amount of dialogue will be very minimal to add to the mystery. But we are going to have a voiceover when the husband is cooking dinner to illustrate his thoughts about what has happened and maybe hint or even tell the audience what has happened in the past to help the audience understand the storyline better and will help them understand why the wife is in the cellar.

The semantic elements as a part of Rick Altman’s Genre Theory will be incorporated through the use of the location and the wife tied up in the cellar as these are visual iconography for a psychological thriller and will be easy to identify for the audience. Also we will involve syntactic elements as there are emotional themes involved such as love and also the husband getting revenge as he feels humiliated by his wife.

The point of view shots of the wife in the cellar will really help the audience to feel as though they are a part of the action and help them to understand what the wife is going through. Also to make the audience feel attached more emotionally to the character. We will also be using an over the shoulder shot which is extremely conventional for a psychological thriller as it is very effective in building tension within the audience. The use of various establishing shots will help the audience to get to know the location and maybe even establish a relationship between the location and the characters. 

Planned out by Robbie, Freya, Jess and Jack but written by Robbie.

Location Recce

Locations Recce

There will be three main locations within our opening sequence:

1. street/alleyway

2. kitchen/modern house

3. cellar

Firstly, we want to use a street or alleyway to show the sister and husband putting up missing posters of the woman. We want to present them putting them up in a public area as obviously they will want people looking out for the missing woman. This will be our second scene. 

The restrictions for using this area is that it is a public area so we will need to be careful when filming to not get any pedestrians on camera as they may not give us permission to use the footage. Another restriction is the fact that this area is a large open space and is fairly windy. Therefore it will be hard to hear any dialogue from the characters and there will also be the sound of the wind during the footage. As a result we will need to put music and the dialogue over the footage and record it separately and mute the sound on the actual footage. There is also a lack of power points so we will have to work with the natural lighting and make sure the camera is fully charged before we go out to film so we don't run out of battery half way through! As it is starting to get dark early we will film at around 2/3pm so it is still light enough to film and get good results. The health and safety issues is the road that is next to the alleyway. It isn't a very busy road but we will make sure we are on the pathway at all times and stay clear of cars. 

The second location is the kitchen and modern house. This will be where we film the first and third scene of our opening sequence. The husband will be seen printing off missing posters in the first scene and then making dinner for him in the third scene. 

The dangerous hazards will be when cooking the meal. The gas hob will be on and we will need to be careful when filming to remember to stay clear of it and be sensible. There is also a mirror on the wall opposite the kitchen so when we are filming the husband cooking we need to be careful to not get reflections of any of the equipment or people! 

The third and final location is the cellar. This is where we will be filming the final scene of the opening sequence. The wife is being held hostage in here and is tied up to a chair. 

There are numerous difficulties and restrictions with this location. To begin with, there is minimal lighting and there is just one light which fills the whole room so we will need to supply ourselves with extra lighting. There is also minimal power points so for the lighting situation we may need an extension cable to be able to position the light where we want in the room. But on the other hand it is an excellent location as it is conventional of a thriller/horror film. A dirty, eerie, mysterious setting which is stranded from all civilisation. It will be effective at establishing the genre of the film and creating tension and suspense within the audience. 

The colours of the cellar are perfect as they are generally dark colours. This signifies the mind of the husband. As black is a mysterious colour associated with fear and the unknown. The dark colours are used to create fear and suspense and ultimately scare the audience.   

There was another option of a cellar but we had to rule that one out as it was cramped with too many items. The height of the ceiling was also too low so therefore it would not be suitable to film in. The fact that this cellar is very clear and empty will help to make the wife seem isolated from society and an outsider.  





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