Pre Production Proposal

Narrative:

• Pan of London at night then cut to alleyway.
• long shot of women (with headphones on) walking towards the camera (in alleyway).
• Hear footsteps behind.
• close up of protagonist face (listening to music) - still hear footsteps getting louder.
• POV shot of antagonist walking behind with good guy in front of him.
• Protagonist stops and turns around - no one there.
• protagonist carries on walking - loud noise of kettle getting louder.
• switch to kitchen with policemen picking up kettle.
• depth of field shot of policeman with girlfriend/wife behind him as he is pouring cup of tea
• close up of tea mixing together.
• close up of phone ringing and pan of policemen walking over to pick it up.
• sudden switch to policemen at crime scene. 
• montage of knife, protagonist face (dead), blood running into drain.
• policemen follows the blood and looks at drain then looks into the distance.
• Figure standing in distance then disappears. 

Style & Tone:

Atmosphere & Tone - In my opening sequence i would like to create an menacing but thriller style atmosphere that keeps the audience gripped to thier seats. The film is set in the modern day, in urban london, which helps create the dark, gritty atmoshpere that I want to have in my film. I want to show a contrast between the modern day style film with the more old fashioned, soundtrack. The lighting in my film will be very Low Key, almost shadow-like to create suspense and adhere to the thriller genre, except for the opening pan of the London skyline where the lighting will be of a higher key. I want to use a few examples of backlighting to define the characters in the opening sequence and use effects, such as chiarascuro to enhance the scene and link the film into the thriller genre.

The Protagonist in the film (Ellen) will always be framed in the centre of the shot to highlight her importance and I would like to film a few close ups of her face to increase the emotional connection between her and the audience. However, we will never see the Antagonist but be consantly reminded of his presensce via shadows etc to create a suspensful effect as the audience are unaware of who he is. I will also want to use a wide range of camera techniques, such as depth of field and panning to create different emotions at different times. Parallel sound will be used throughout as well in order for the soundtrack to work in conjunction with the image on screen and I will use motivated editing (montage ) when i am showing the dead body after the kitchen scene. I am hoping that these effects will work well together to create a suspenseful and tension filled atmoshpere in the opening sequence of my film.

Location & Setting:

The alleyway that I would like to use is near my house and is extremely good for creating that dark and suspenseful opening to a thriller. The alleyway is very atmospheric at night and would be a good location for my crime/thriller film. The alleyway is quite long and could be useful to create suspense and adhere to the thriller genre, which is our aim in the opening sequence of a film. My main influence for this opening was the TV programme, Whitechapel, where alleyways are used quite a lot to create suspense. The alleyway is the main location in my opening film and after the scene with the policemen in the kitchen will cut back to the alleyway where there is a crime scene going on.

My other location is a kitchen. The kitchen in my house would be quite a good location as it is fairly old fashioned and would work well for my depth of field shots and panning to the cellphone ringing. This scene is quite short but important as it lets the audience know who the policemen is and gives an incite into his character. I like the idea of cutting from time frames (alleyway at night to kitchen in the morning) and wanted to create an affective way of showing the transition. (sound bridge using the noise of a kettle slowly getting louder).

The other short Location is at the top of my road, whereby you can see the whole of London. It would be perfect for a long, panning shot of London to establish the genre of the film.

Another location I wanted to use was the Salvation Army building in Denmark Hill. My friend lives there and they have many places around thier site, which we could use as an affective setting to adhere to the thriller genre in which we are trying to create.


(this is the view from the top of my road)

Characters:

Policemen - DI Joseph Marshall :

• smart black or grey suit (very slick character)
• very neat hair (not alternative and almost finicky)
• aged 28 (he is young and easily influenced)
• very upright body language (never slumped or out of place)
• well spoken english
• influenced by the main policemen from Whitechapel and the Policemen in L.A confidential.

Ellen (Protagonist):

• modern style clothes (zipped jumper & jeans)
• aged 16 to 18
• walking down the alleyway with headphones on (beats)
• hair down (not in pony tail) 
• framing - whole opening scene she will be placed in the middle of the frame (make her seem more important)
• most of the light in the scene will be based on her (again highlight her importance and make antagonist seem more evil because of shadows etc)

Antagonist:

• never see his face (ghost-like) 
• I want to create this image of a ghost-like figure instead of your ordinary 'hooded man'
• would like him to be wearing a hat (top hat)
• you can hear his breathing and footsteps
• he will mostly be characterised by shadows - apart from last scene of the opening when you see his full shadow (maybe backlight)
• shadows will be hunched over - deformed in some way (southern gothic style)
• influenced by the southern gothic (grotesque style - Boo Radley, Too Kill a Mockingbird) 

Sound and Titles:

Influences - I have had many influences for the music I would like in my film, so much so that it has made my decision extremely hard. I was extremely influenced by the music of Bernard Herrman. He is an excellant composer and has made so many suspenseful pieces of music in his time, such as the music for physco and North by Northwest. Both of these films are by Alfed Hitchock and they have worked together on many films. Hitchcock is another influence as he was the master of thriller films and the soundtracks in his films have always been brilliant. I have also been influenced by soundtracks such as Alien, LA Noire and most soundtracks of the Film Noir genre but will mention these further down.

Jewel Beat - Hitchcock Horror






Titles - I would like to create an ominous, almost horror like soundtrack that definitley adheres to the thriller genre but still causes the audience to sit on the edge of thier seat. I wanted to open my film with Jazz style music that is quite common in Film Noir's. LA Noire also has a large selection of Jazz style music, which has influenced my decision when chosing a soundtrack. This would be playing whilst the opening credits are showing and as the camera is panning across the London. The opening credits to Zodiac (not music) are also extremely good and I was influenced by David Fincher as he often opens films in a brilliant way. (Seven, Alien 3 etc)






Soundtrack - The music from the opening part would then switch into a more ominous sounding track such as that in the film, Alien. The Alien Soundtrack is perfect for the alleyway scene in my film opening and it certainly adheres to the thriller genre. I also wanted to create the sound of the kettle getting louder as the Antagonist draws closer to the Protagonist, which would then be used as a soundbridge into the kitchen scene with the policemen, creating an effective, suspenseful, Climax.