This document outlines Adam Wilkowski's pitch for an individual psychological thriller film assignment. The chosen subgenre is psychological madness/paranoia exemplified by films like The Shining, Psycho, and Se7en. Key conventions include ordinary domestic settings turning unsafe, carefully planned violence, and an initially normal antagonist revealed over time to be psychotic. The plot involves a protagonist recording a weekly video seemingly normally but references vague "fun" and "taking a stand" through murder. Visual cues and euphemistic descriptions imply stalking and killing while maintaining a cheerful demeanor. It ends with the smiling protagonist, revealing their psychosis to viewers but not victims. Technical elements like mise-en-scene, music,

1. (PLANNING)ASSIGNMENT
26: INDIVIDUAL PITCH
Adam Wilkowski

2. CHOSEN SUBGENRE:
• Psychological: Madness/Paranoia

3. EXAMPLES FROM THE SUBGENERE
• The Shining (1980)
• Psycho (1960)
• American Psycho (2000)
• Se7en (1996)
• The Silence of The Lambs (1991)

4. CONVENTIONS OF THE SUBGENRE
• Ordinary domestic locations such as the home or workplace
• Carefully planned and executed violence
• An antagonist who is not blatantly insane from the outset, but becomes revealed to
the audience over time; the idea that it could be anyone is what makes this
subgenre effective, as it makes otherwise safe settings and people seem unsafe

5. PLOT SUMMARY
• Protagonist is recording a video entry in which they summarize their week, like a vlog/youtube video
• They seem high spirited and "normal", the audience sympathizes with them, as they mention being
bullied (most)events mentioned are cut to)
• These include the character doing seemingly trivial things, like buying gloves and duct tape
• Turning point: The character mentions vaguely "having fun" and "taking a stand", through cutaways
slowly make it evident that the character has murdered someone(s)
• The main character describes the events gleefully yet euphemistically, the viewer loses sympathy for the
character- whilst this happens they are shown stalking someone, abducting, with connotations of
murder
• Ends with the protagonist pausing, smiling at the camera, and finishing their entry as if nothing as
happened

6. HOW THIS MEETS CONVENTIONS/IS
ORIGINAL
• The real antagonist is not openly psychotic from the outset: this is revealed over
time
• Once this "turning point" has been reached, the audience interpret what they have
said and done much differently eg. Buying duct tape and bleach
• It goes with the subgenre as the antagonist is an everyday person in a regular
setting such as workplace/school
• The start off feeling sympathy for the central character due to the bullying that
happens to them, but view them differently as it progresses: this "shift" can
be communicated through the lighting and editing eg higher key lighting when
their true nature is revealed

7. NARRATIVE ENIGMAS
• The nature of the character and what they have done will be the main enigma of the
opening
• Whereas the character's psychotic nature will be "revealed", they will still talk
euphemistically about the act and the actual act or murder will be very heavily
implied through props such as fake blood and weaponry rather than explicitly
shown
• The opening will also raise further questions eg. Who has the character
killed, will they kill again, will they get caught

8. MAIN TARGETS FOR SUCCESS
• Mise-en-scene VERY important as there needs to be the implication of murder, can
only be done properly with effective props
• The non-diegetic music will have to be unsettling yet not too invasive so it does not
distract from the dialogue/events; it must be atmospheric
• Sound will also be very important to make the opening unsettling: effects such
as duct tape ripping and footsteps will be recorded as foley and be volume
controlled to sound disturbing and discordant
• A range of shots must be used in order to meet the criteria and effectively shown
the "turn" of the character, HOWEVER this also requires a good actor