A

PROPOSAL

FOR

Thriller Film Opening Title Sequence

PRODUCTION

PRODUCED BY

Mizla Manandhar

Vithujan Arumugam

Paris Williams

Brief

As a part of our OCR course, we- the AS Media students, have been assigned to produce a 2-minute-long opening (title) sequence of a Thriller movie. We are to use a variety of camera shots and editing style for the video which would later be uploaded on YouTube.

For this media piece, we will be showing our research and planning as well as its construction throughout the project so as show how we were able to create it and the gradual process of its making. We are to think about the group of people who the product would be aimed towards and the storyline depending on the subgenre of Thriller we choose based on our research. After it has been made, we are also to evaluate our performance in aspect of what we learnt and whether we succeeded.

Initial thinking

Research findingsAfter carrying out a questionnaire survey (primary research) and reading online about the genre (secondary research), we decided to target our production towards both males and females aged 15-26. This target audience seemed much likely to go to the cinema to watch thriller movies.

We found they usually tend to watch those movies that have been given the age certificate of 15 to 18. They all enjoy twists and cliffhangers in the story and they said they expect ‘suspense/enigma, excitement, fast paced action, shifting and dramatic plots, and nerve wracking experience’ from thriller movies. According to them, it is necessary for thrillers to have ‘a good story, surprises, intense scenes, complexity, quick pace and quality acting’.

From the interviews that we carried out (transcripts included in the blog), we found people are looking for something different and that they’d rather have the mystery solved than have a cliffhanger as the ending. After researching on forms and conventions of the genre and the various subgenres (research presentation in the blog), we found we had a wide range to choose from and that our story could be anything! To know more about titles ( the order names are shown and the duration they are on the screen for), we looked at movie openings like Se7en, Ginger Snap, Catch me if you can etc.

From our research, we have considered to use some fast-paced editing in our production and base it on some enigmatic storyline which would leave the viewers wanting to watch and know more. We’ve also thought about creating a montage-like sequence and perhaps add a few voiceovers so as to give a mysterious, delusional start to the thriller.

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Initial ideas

Mizla

Focusing on the answers the group got from our questionnaires and interviews, I thought of creating a psychological thriller opening sequence. According to the respondents, the working of mind itself is very enigmatic and a thriller about a psychological disorder would be thrilling. Because I do psychology myself, it was a bit easy to think of something and like the interviewees, I’ve also always been intrigued by mental disorders and their causes.

I made up this storyline for the project:A ‘schizophrenic’ has been struggling with her hallucinations. But is it really her disease that makes her see things or is something there-beyond our understanding?

Inspiration for this idea came after I finished watching ‘Beautiful Mind’ as I thought what if everything he was seeing was actually happening.

Vithujan

Having thought about the answers gained as a group from our questionnaires, interviews and other research, I have come with an idea being that our film should involve the theme psychopathic personality. We asked males and females of all ethnicities of the age 15 to 25.

I wanted the film to be about a boy teenage boy who has multiple personality disorder. This is a mental disorder that people have. It’s when they have more than one personality in their body that changes from time to time. They may behave differently each time. Because our research showed positive results for psychological thrillers I wanted to use this idea. I was inspired to this kind of thriller after a film I had watched. The film is called Anniyan; it’s about a Brahmin boy who has multiple personality disorder. The film is from the Kollywood industry in South India of Tamil naadu. This film is about the life of a person with that type of mental disorder.

I made up this storyline for my project:A male teenager can’t cope with his life as he goes through a serious mental condition. He has multiple personality disorder which causes him to be more than one person. He has split personality.

Paris

Inspired by the fact that our audience liked XYZ, my idea involved _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

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Final ideaWe decided to use Mizla’s idea because it sounded much more mysterious and well-formed than the other two. We thought we could include some voiceovers for this and make them seem like auditory hallucinations. Also we could use juxtaposition footages and make it seem like a little montage sequence.

After further discussion, we made up a storyline for the entire movie. We thought by knowing what was going to happen later, it would be easier to start the film. Also, the actor/actress would get a feel of what is happening in the scene. Here is the plot:

‘The character (Grace) starts to think she’s been diagnosed incorrectly when she meets Myles who sees and hears the same things. Things/destructions that can’t be explained occur and it’s only her and Myles who saw what had happened- supernatural creatures causing trouble. Later they meet others (some are labelled schizophrenic as well) and together they discover reality: humans are meant to be ‘evolving’- they are now gaining powers to understand supernatural – see beyond science. These people are however in trouble because Zucharians (human like aliens) want to take them to their own planet because they don’t want all of the Earthlings (humans) to develop.

Grace and her friends try to tell their family and others what is really happening: they aren’t the ones hallucinating; instead they are seeing the actual world. They also mention how Zucharians are coming for them. The film ends with this ‘developed’ group disappearing and others wondering whether it is possible that those ‘schizophrenics’ were telling the truth’.

After forming the storyline, we asked some of our friends who lie in the target audience category and they really liked the concept and thought it was an interesting story.

Production Team RolesAfter doing a bit of research on the production roles, we’ve agreed on this plan:Paris: ProducerMizla: Director & EditorVithujan: Cameraperson

Planning:

Mizla

After thinking about possible locations for the fliming, as the director, I am supposed to prepare a recce before the actual filming. Recce is basically a document consisting of pictures of the locations and their description. It also consists of what we plan to film at the scence. After doing the recce, I also plan to write up a risk assessment because I’ve been told that while filming, a member has to get back from the shoot in the same physical and mental health (if not better). After making the risk assessment form, I believe the team will be more confident and careful about health and safety issue.

I also have to make the script and the storyboard before we start filming. For the post-production stage, as the editor, I’d have to start thinking about the soundtrack to use and how to edit what we’ve filmed.

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VithujanAs a cameraman and director of photography it’s important for me to work out different shots and work out what cinematography I will be using. I’ll make sure that I discuss my ideas with the director before I start any work. We would do what we’ve agreed.

Paris

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Construction:

Mizla

While filming for the thriller, I plan to stick to everything I’ve planned beforehand e.g. storyboards, scripts, health and safety guidelines etc. However, I do plan to get more footages than necessary which would be helpful during editing. I plan to keep a production diary during the actual filming. Also, I’ve planned to make a title timeline for our opening once I finish editing. I am aware of how important it is to prepare the tapelog as it saves a lot of time while capturing and logging so this is one other thing I’m going to prepare. Throughout the project, I plan to upload these documents on to the blog to keep up with the task.

Vithujan___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

Paris

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