The document outlines a student film project that explores the idea of a teenage boy playing a violent video game where the player takes on the role of a police officer chasing and killing criminals. The sequence would show the game being played from a first-person perspective and then reveal that the events actually occurred in real life. The document discusses the narrative, themes, target audience, practical details of filming over three days at different locations, addressing potential problems and incorporating thriller film conventions.

1. Our Final Idea
Ben Land & Ryan Gooderham

2. Narrative Outline
• The first thing we see a POV shot of a cop, who finds a man in a
large complex (an abandoned area, e.g. farm) dealing drugs, he
chases the drug dealer, killing some ‘guards’ on the way. He
catches up with the man, kills him and “completes the level”.
• The camera then pans out and we see that we have been
watching a video game, and we now see the young boy (teenage)
playing the video game.
• After he’s finished, he switches over to the
BBC news, and sees that everything that has
just happened in the game has happened in
real life – how did it really happen? What has
he done?
• Titles – appear on the bottom of the screen
during the news section: see next slide

3. BBC NEWS BACKDROP
Title OF FILM
Pic of crime scene
CREDITS CREDITS CREDITS CREDITS CREDITS CREDITS CREDITS CREDITS CREDITS
TV
Newsreader

4. Location

5. Ideas, Messages & Themes
• One message is that playing violent games could be bad for
you as they might have a negative impact on your behaviour.
We show this through suggesting that what the character
does in the game has an impact in real life.
• Suggestive violence and murder is used through the film, (i.e.
in the game and so in real life). We show this because fits with
the conventions of thriller films and creates mystery.
• We will also use cliff hangers and plot twists to
help with the mystery of the film. We will use a
cliff hanger at the end of our sequence, as the
audience is left wondering: has the character
killed someone? We will use a plot twist when
the character switches to the news.

6. Target Audience
• The usual target audience for Thriller films is young adults
• This will also be the target audience for our film, as our film has a
major gaming theme, and is centered around a character of a
similar age to our target audience.
• The gaming element of the film will appeal to most young adults,
as most adolescents play a video game of some sort. Therefore,
they will be able to connect to the character through this method.
• Also, because the
character will be of a
similar age to them, they
will be able to relate to
the character and so will
connect at points with
how the character feels.

7. Target Audience
• Also, people who enjoy being thrilled and like the
crime and violent side of thriller films will enjoy the
film, as it fuses together the more suggestive
violent elements, and the mysterious, winding
plots of thriller
films.

8. Practical Details
• Time: We should be able to film over a maximum of three days. This
includes: 1 day filming on location at the farm for the ‘video game’
footage; 1 day filming at a house for the footage of the boy on the
game; and 1 day filming (in school) the newsreader in front of the
green-screen.
• Research: We already have a location: Farm at Bradfield St George,
for our video game footage. We will film the footage of the boy at
Ben’s house, and the greenscreen work will be done at school. We
have also looked into first shooting, which we will talk about in a
minute.
• Personnel: For our opening we would need at least four actors.
(These would be the boy playing the game, the character in the
game, the ‘drug dealer’ in the game and the newsreader). We could
have addition characters if we had guard-like characters in the
‘game’.

9. Practical Details
• Locations: 3 locations:
– The Farm, used for video game footage
– Ben’s house, for the footage of the boy playing the game
– Beyton– in front of green screen
• Equipment: Steadicam needed for POV work, we will
use one of Miss’s cameras on this. We will use a GoPro
for the running scene in the POV section and use Ben’s
DSLR for the footage of the boy.
• Graphics & Special Effects: We will use a green-screen
for the news section of the opening, and layer onto it
the backdrop for BBC news, along with the intro
sequence to start it. (as shown on slide earlier)

10. Practical Details - Problems
• We did some research into POV filming, and
found a contraption like this:

11. Practical Details - Problems
• We felt that it would be too difficult to create our own version
of this, so instead we will use the steadicam like this:

12. Practical Details - Problems
• We may be faced with weather problems on our filming day. To
overcome this, we will schedule our video game filming day first, so
that if we need to call it off due to bad weather, we can still shoot
some footage at Ben’s house (nearby).
• We will try and be as safe around the equipment as possible, so
that there are as little injuries as possible.
• There are dogs on the farm, so we
will have to be careful not to get
attacked by them while filming
there.
• We will also have to ensure that we
properly know how to work the
steadicam by the time we start to
film.

13. Thriller Conventions
• Plot twist – there is an enormous plot twist at the end of our
opening as the boy changes the channel and we find out that
what happens in the game has happened in reality
• Suspenseful scene – in the run-up to the video game
character killing the drug dealer, there is very suspenseful
stalking around the farm area before the character shoots the
drug dealer
• Tracking camera shot – used in the
video game footage to create the
feeling of movement and action
• Jump cut – used in the video game
scene to add to the mood

14. Thriller Conventions
• Non-diegetic music – used throughout the opening
to add to the mysterious mood and to heighten the
action
• Characters: cop and criminal – in the video game
(the stereotypical characters) so that the audience
can easily make assumptions about the characters in
the first scene
• Cliff hanger – at the end of the opening, the ‘cliff
hanger’ element is that the audience is left
wondering if what has happened (on the news) was
really the fault of the boy

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