The group will create a crime/mystery thriller opening sequence titled "The Ultimatum". It will take place in a suburban home and involve two friends, with one receiving threats to kill the other. The sequence will start with the friends arriving home and end before revealing if the threat was carried out. It will explore themes of power, identity, justice, death, violence and crime. Cinematography, lighting, costumes and a dramatic cliffhanger ending will be used to build suspense and mystery. Feedback suggested providing more character details and explaining the character relationships and antagonist.
2. Overview
The sub-genre of our opening sequence is crime/mystery thriller.
The sequence will include themes of power, identity, justice,
death, violence and crime.
Plot sequence: the general premise of the opening sequence
involves two good friends at home and one of them (the
protagonist) is receiving threats to kill the friend or the
antagonist will kill them. The opening starts right in the action of
the two friends walking home and finishes before the audience
find out if they killed the friend or not.
Representation: the villain is stereotypically male and the victim
is normally female. We will follow these conventions.
3. Locations
Interior – Castlefield House
Conventionally, thrillers are usually set in urban locations but
can also be suburban. Our location is suburban and will add
to the mystery the audience feel as the location seems
normal but the characters don’t fit in with their secrets.
We will need permission to have a hammer on-site.
4. Structure
• Act 1
It will begin with two characters at the victim’s home as the main
character insists on going back. Here we can see shots of someone
eerily watching in the background.
• Act 2
The protagonist begins receiving threatening text messages prompting
them to kill their friend before they hurt him.
• Act 3
The protagonist grabs a weapon (a hammer) and is about to kill their
friend before it cuts to black and all the audience hears is the diegetic
thud of the hammer leaving them wondering whether the victim is alive
or not. This is the key dramatic moment because of the intense silence
and creepy focus on the sound of the hammer.
5. Representation: Characters
Character 1: the protagonist
The protagonist will be male and wearing casual clothes to emphasise
the normality of the character and to humanise them so that the
audience will sympathise better with the character and enjoy it more.
There will be multiple shots of his hands and facial expressions to
convey his reluctance to kill his friend.
Character 2: the victim
The victim will stereotypically be female but we will reflect modern
values of women through the outfit of more casual baggy clothes.
Character 3: the antagonist
The antagonist will be dressed in head-to-toe black and there will never
be any shot of his/her face so the mystery of who this person is will be
exacerbated.
6. How?
Genre conventions:
We have a crime at the center of the narrative, a narrative
establishing enigmas, themes of identity, a protagonist with a
flaw, set in a suburban location and feature iconography of
weaponry, shadows and blood.
Mood/Atmosphere created:
The mood created will be tense, suspenseful and creepy.
7. Mise en scene
Setting – In castlefield house during the day time. However, lighting and
editing will be used to make it appear later in the day and more eerie.
Props –Props are used to establish a character (knife= murderer). Props
can be used to represent additional meanings over their material
presence. The props my group will be using are the following: Hammer,
Phone, Mirror, Make up and Chairs/ Seats.
Lighting will be low key to create suspense, mystery and to direct the
audience’s focus to a certain point like the weapon or hooded character in
the background.
Costume/Make-up: The victim will have minimal, natural make-up to
make them seem more like an everyday character and because they
don’t have a signature style they are more relatable to the audience. The
protagonist will have make-up under the eye to show stress.
Performance/Proxemics: The friendship between the two characters will
be shown through physical contact like hand holding with close-ups of
this. The main character will show their nervousness through shaking
hands and extreme close-ups of certain facial features like the eyes.
8. Camerawork
We must achieve continuity editing by following these shots
such as a match on action shot, the 180 degree rule, eye line
match and shot reverse shot. The specific camera shots we
want to use are:
Over the shoulder shot
Close up shot
Extreme close up
Long shot
Medium shot
9. Sound
Diegetic sound:
We will have some dialogue, phones ringing
Non-diegetic sound:
In the tense, most dramatic moment we will have climactic
orchestral music.
10. Post-production
Editing: Saturation will be toned down significantly and the
blue colours will be turned up to create a washed out
effect to reflect the main character’s psyche and how they
are being cold hearted. It also will evoke a reflective, dark
mood.
Titles will be in a bold font as to show the extreme stress
and pressure the main character is under. It is a
convention to have the titles reflect the psychological well
being of the protagonist. So, the font should be in a colour
like black, white or red to connote the raw emotion he is
feeling.
11. Influences on Research
We have researched film opening sequences like Silence
of the Lambs as it starts straight in on the action and has
a lot of metaphorical shots of what will happen in the
future to the character.
The Call was another film we researched and liked the
idea of the threatening, dramatic phone call which we plan
to incorporate in our sequence.
12. Feedback
Pros:
Character costumes and representation
Detailed plotline
Good, thought out camerawork
Genre conventions fulfilled
Cons:
Need more detail on characters
Think about camera movement
Explain relationship between characters and antagonist
