Character Description

For the role of the two kidnappers , the characters will be in their early 20's , specifically made to look like the average man. As the opening is set outside with the men coming out of B&Q, we decided that it was key to the story line for them to blend in with the setting , acting as if they worked as labourers. They will be dressed in dark dull colours which connotes anger and power , wearing dark jeans , working boots and a painted jumper to give the illusion to passers by that they are the average work men. As they do not speak once throughout the opening , their personality needs to be shown through their actions. We want the audience to feel the determination that these two men have for what they are about to do . The shot where the camera faces the car dead on to show the two men waiting patiently will portray this to the audience, showing sheer concentration.

As for the victim who is being kidnapped , she will be around the age of 18 , portrayed to be a typical student looking forward to going out and meeting friends. We see the girl getting ready through the window putting on her makeup , we want to portray innocence out to the audience so that they feel even more sorry for her when something bad happens to her. The girl will be dressed casual , but nicely as if she were on her way out.

Script and Casting

As a group we decided that we wouldn't include dialogue in our opening sequence as the awkward silence would add to the suspense and tension that we want to create. The only sound we are going to use is a soundtrack during the car journey from B&Q to the girls house . This will enhance the awkward silence which is created in the car by the two men not speaking. Another sound which we will use will be the exaggerated sound of a ticking clock , this will be used as the two men wait for the girl to leave her house , causing the audience to feel anticipation.

The casting for our opening sequence will one girl and two men. . We decided to cast Alan and Tre as the kidnappers as they fit the intended look we wanted. Both of the kidnappers are very tall so that they don't look like an odd match.

As for the girl being kidnapped , we decided cast myself as we wanted a teenager around the age of 18 , which fitted perfectly within our group. We wanted the girl to look innocent so that the audience would feel more sympathetic towards her.

Shooting schedule

23rd January- shooting the first 8 shots for scene 1 and 2 at B&Q.

25th January- shooting 10 shots at the house where the girl is kidnapped.

27th January- shooting 9 shots of the girl being taken to the hostage location

30th January- shooting 10 shots of the girls tied up in the hostage location

Storyboard

Titles

- Very Damaged

- Assassins Dub

- Fluoxetine

- Rough Linen

- Project Y

These different font types are some ideas in which we will use to show our titles in our opening sequence of our thriller. After researching many thrillers and getting a rough idea in which fonts work best and suit the genre best , we decided that large, bold capital letters that are scratchy and distorted convey the thriller genre to that audience best. We have also seen this example many times during the opening credits , so is proven to work well as it has been used in Hollywood movies.

List of Props, Costume and Location

Research soundtracks

http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=32424b - Hypnotic heartbeat
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=108841 - Heartbeat

I would use this soundtrack at the very end of my opening when we see the shot of the girl tied up to the chair. I think this soundtrack would work well as it could represent her heartbeat increasing. As the camera slowly works its way up her body using close ups , the heartbeat would increase giving the audience the illusion that she's becoming more and more frantic.

http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=107356

This soundtrack I would use to show the tension in the car as the two criminals wait for their victim .The ticking of the clock reinforces the fact that they are waiting and causes the audience to feel anticipated.

http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=102722

This sound effect of a car boot shutting I would use as the car boot closes as the shot cuts to a black background with the title of the film appearing. The effect of the exaggerated sound is that its very loud and definate , it causes the audience to be threatened.

Shot Lists

The reason in which we chose for a title to appear on a black screen is that from the perspective of inside the boot , when the boot closes it will cut to a black shot to show the darkness inside the boot. The effect of this is very threatening and definate.
The second shot is the establishing shot which shows the audience the setting and gives them an idea of the location in which the film is taking place. Many thrillers take place in everyday locations , the effect of this is that the audience do not expect anything to happen in such a normal, everyday place.
The third shot shows the audience the costume through a close up , also the shot is just a well framed shot , being interesting rather than just showing the audience a mid shot of his whole costume. Another interesting shot is the shot where the camera pans across all of the tools in which the criminals are planning to use during their kidnap. As the camera pans across the tools in which they are going to use become more menacing , making the audience guessing which is going to come next.

Initial Ideas

These screen grabs from the film 'The disappearance of Alice Creed' show the tools which the criminals are using , as the camera pans from left to right showing the different tools that they are going to use during their kidnap. This clip show the criminals putting each tool into a bag and has inspired us to create a similar shot using this as a starting point.

This shot shows the determination on the criminals face which makes the audience believe that they will not stop at anything to sucseed in this crime. We are going to use a similar shot to portray the same message to our audience.

This shot from Hurtwood House Media entitled 'Blood is the Drug' is a shot which I though was very cleverly done. The camera is acting as the girls eyes , and showing us what she sees as the car boot is opened. Taking on this idea of using the camera as the victims eyes , we though of the idea of when she is in the boot , she move the camera frantically to show her looking side to side wondering where she is.

Film Synopsis