2. Brief overview of the story
Our film is going to be a Psychological Thriller.
It will be about a journalist waking up in a unfamiliar room with a strange man next to her. Once she wakes up, the
man puts on a timer and watches her while she has to try and escape in her confusion. The film focuses on how the
woman will escape and what will happen to her if she doesn't do so in time.
An existing film that is similar to our
concept is "Split", where the
antagonist is unstable and a group of
women try to escape him.
Mindaugas
3. Key Characters
Our story focuses around two characters, the protagonist (victim) and antagonist.
Mindaugas
4. Idea for the promotional
campaign
• We're going to brand our film in a way that entices the
audience in by asking them questions e.g. Why our character
keeps this journalist locked in, What motivates him to do such
a thing and what's his obsession with time? This will create
mystery and enigma which entices the audience.
• Overall we are aiming to create an interesting campaign that
creates mystery for the audience and pushes them to find out
more, an example of this is inception.
As most of their promotional products create mystery and
wonder e.g. Why is the city bending around the films
protagonist, and what could this film possible be about?
This will hopefully draw audiences in to find out more about the
film and potentially see it.
Ross
5. Idea for the teaser trailer
For the teaser trailer of our film we plan on including:
• Key events: the key events that will be taking place in the teaser trailer is the use of a timer to time the woman who is trying to escape the
house. By the use of close ups and abstract shots with a diegetic sound of a timer it will create an intense atmosphere prompting the audience
to question why he is timing her. The teaser trailer will consists of back and forth shots of the woman trying to escape the house whilst the
timer runs out. In between these shots flashbacks and abstract shots explaining the psychotic antagonist's dark background and reasoning for
his sinister ways.
• Characters: Within the teaser trailer we plan on showing only two main characters. One will be a woman who is a reporter writing a story
about a number of people who have gone missing in the neighborhood (foreshadowing as the male character she talks to is the one who is to
blame for their disappearances). She is naive and gullible and finds herself trapped in the mans house. She must escape the house before the
timer runs out or else. Secondly we will be including a male antagonist character who is psychotic and obsessive who traps the reporter in his
house and plays mind games with her making her think she has a chance of escaping before the timer runs out. Both characters are in their
early twenties, roughly 23-25 years old.
• Text graphics: There will be text graphics at the end of the trailer saying the film title and the release date. However, we are undecided
whether we will have more text throughout the teaser trailer to describe what is happening in a subtle and brief way to entice the audience,
for example "will she escape before her time runs out?".
• Camera shots: Extreme close ups and abstract shots which will avoid revealing the identity of the antagonist main character. These camera
shots will make the scenes appear more tense as the audience question his true identity which creates a sense of mystery. Over the shoulder
shots and point of view shots which will keep his identity a mastery but also create a sense of perspective for the audience.
• We plan on using short duration shots to create a sense of action and to build suspense and tension for the audience as the narrative will be
fast pace which makes the audience feel on edge and anxious as to what is about to happen (a feature often used in psychological thrillers).
Katie
6. • Editing: Flash backs within the montage sequence will be used to display the characters damaged past which adds a background story to the
character which allows the audience to understand him in more depth. By using bright lights to transition from present time to the past during
the flash back scenes a disorientated feel will be created which leaves the audience on edge which is a feeling often created by psychological
thrillers. By using a montage editing the short duration, abstract shots will appear more dramatic and intense as a montage sequence
compresses the film and presents the most interesting and enticing shots.
• Filters: When editing the footage we have considered applying (most probably red) coloured filters over some flash back shots to create a
sense of danger which is a typical convention included in psychological thriller films.
• Transitions: Straight cut transitions will be used throughout most of the montage sequence. This ensures the teaser trailer appears more fast
pace and intense which will entice the audience and catch their attention.
• Sound: For the use of sound we plan on adding the diegetic sound of a timer ticking away, this sound will gradually get louder and become
more overpowering and merge into a non-diegetic background music. At the beginning of the teaser trailer we have considered the use of
diegetic sound/dialogue when the male antagonist turns the timer on and says "Go!" Then the timer starts. We also plan on including the
diegetic background sound such as heavy breathing and footsteps to add a sense of realism to the scenes. We also discussed including an old
fashioned kettle boiling as the high pitched squeaking noise is eerie and creates an intense and dramatic atmospheric feel to the scene.
• Props: We plan on using a timer as a main prop along with everyday objects such as a kettle and a cup as he calmly continues with his
everyday routine (making cup of tea) whilst she panics trying to escape the psychotic mans house.
• Setting: When considering locations to film in we plan on staying within Castle field house as our narrative is based within a house as the
woman ins trapped in the mans house so would only be logical to stay within one location. However, within the house we will shot different
scenes in different rooms to make it appear more action-like and typical; of a teaser trailer. By staying within one location the feeling of being
trapped and claustrophobic will set in and impact the audience and keep them intrigued.
8. Ideas for our poster Because our film concept is
surrounded by the usage of
timers/stopwatches, we thought that
we'd use them in the poster.
We liked the idea of the
stopwatch in the hand, and
we want to capture the
genre within the image.
We'd use a dark colour
scheme like red and black
to emphasis the danger.
Shania
9. Idea for magazine cover
Ross
• We're hoping to create a magazine cover that brings across some of
the key elements of our film e.g. Time and our characters.
• Looking at other examples we can see that the main protagonist
feature as large and doing something that captures the viewers
attention, while bringing across the films theme.
• We can see in the Empire cover for X-MEN that one of the main
characters is brought close and upfront, while a big bright background
catches the eye of the audience and in big bright white text reads "The
End Is Nigh!" This is exciting for the audience as they may be interested
as to why the world might end and sets up the films plot.
• We would like to do something similar but have it fit our genre more,
so a dark background with very lowkey lighting and our Time
obsessed character standing over the other character holding a pocket
watch with a sinister expression on his face, and our journalist in the
foreground looking scared and frightened. Something more like the
hobbits magazine cover where we see gollum creeping in the
background.
10. Target Audience profile
• We plan on having a target audience aged between 16-30 roughly as the content of the teaser
trailer is psychologically challenging which requires intellectual skill to understand and solve the
mysteries within the teaser trailer. Also we would want to ensure younger viewers (under 16) will
not be scared by the intense and dramatic storyline, camera shots, character and music etc.
• The two main characters are both male and female which makes the gender of out target
audience both males and females as they could relate to the characters involved in the teaser
trailer.
• When considering how we would reach our younger target audience the promotion of the film
will be easily accessed by social media and online sources etc. This would mean the promotion of
the film would be very accessible and appeal to our main target audience demographic.
• We would appeal to a more youthful target audience as the tow main characters in the teaser
trailer are early twenties (23-25 years old) which would appeal to a younger audience and allow
them to relate to the character and their lifestyle/situation.
• Our target audience would also have to be interested in psychologically challenging stories as our
genre of film is psychological thriller which consists of mental manipulation and problem solving
etc. This would also be effected by their lifestyle and interest within this style/genre of film.
Katie
