Thursday, 7 January 2016

Thriller Treatment

Title

'Catch'

Logline

'A young girl aged Sixteen meets suppose ably a teenage boy of eighteen on a social media website. They arrange to meet up on the following weekend as the girl’s parents are away. When the two unite at a local train station, the girl soon realizes that the expected becomes the unexpected.'

Synopsis
The film opens with a young girl with her arms crossed lying on her desk whilst in class and glancing up at the clock. She is tapping her hands on the desk and shaking her knee irritably on the floor. Then there is a (close-up) shot of the clock, which reaches 4:00, and she quickly gathers all her belongings on the desk and shoves them in her bag. 

-In between there could be a slow-motion shot of the girl walking out of the school gates but we could have her speaking over of what she wishes to do when she gets home or possibly her emotions/feelings of excitement of getting home speaking to the boy which could set up the plot? The notification sound can go off and on the screen could come up some of the pleasing messages the boy has sent her...

The next scene will follow on with the teenage girl rushing through the front door to her home. She rapidly takes off her school shoes, throws her bag on the floor and pulls her jacket off her and hangs it up on the staircase. We could have her mum shouting "Are you home" and "How was your day" and she screams down "Yeah good" not really knowing what her mum is asking, she just wants to go upstairs as quickly as possible. The girl goes into her bedroom and logs straight onto her computer and goes straight onto social messenger (Skype/Facebook) realizing the boy isn't online yet she then decides she is uncomfortable in her school clothes she goes into her closet and changes into a jumper/vest and leggings. Then she hears a loud sound on her computer, and it was a notification from the boy asking her how her day was. So again she rushes back to the computer screen and starts typing away and on the screen will come up their messages. (So whoever is watching knows what they are taking about) There could be a zoom shot or a shot from behind the girl or her typing and then he asks her if she wants to meet up and then there is a close-up of her face where she is thinking of what to reply. So she shrugs her shoulders and agrees to meet up on the following weekend at a local train station. 

The next scene can start on the day of the day she meets the boy. She gets up and brushes her teeth, applies her makeup and gets changed. Possible try to make a silhouette of her getting changed by the window, so we have the light from the window and then we darken the body of the girl so it makes a sort of silhouette so nothing is revealed. This would also look quite spooky if the weather is raining? Next it can follow up from her getting on the train and the date comes up on the screen so we know it’s the day they meet (Maybe) (Not sure on the weather as it depends on the day) The girl can plug her music in and close her eyes, then next we can do a close-up shot of the girl opening her eyes and taking out her headphones then she is looking up at the tube map above her on the train. She realises she has a few more stops to go and checks the watch on her wrist. She has 5 minutes till 1:30, which is the time they wished to meet, currently making it 1:25. She gets off the tube walks to the exit of the tube. Currently there the tube isn’t busy so she takes a relaxed walk outside of the station. She looks around and cant seem to see anyone in the photo and description the boy had sent. So she walks outside and sees if she can find the boy. She walks back into the station and takes a seat (if there is one) or waits by the entrance. A few minutes later she appears up from staring at her phone for a while, trying to pick a song to fulfil her mood. A man around the age of 23 walks in and stares at her and then stares back to his phone, giving the girl a slight worry she puts her head back down. The man dressed in dark clothing walks out of the station and then walks back into the station, walking towards the young girl. As soon as she looks up he is standing in front of her. He asks her if her name is ‘Sarah Leslie’ and she confirms with a confused look upon her face, she asks if he was the supposed 18 year old she had been speaking too. He agrees awkwardly saying that he didn’t want to be honest with his age because he knew she wouldn’t agree to meeting, then confessing his real age as 25. She doesn’t seem too concerned and agrees to go for a drink with him.

Next they go to a bar/restaurant located about 10 minutes away from the station. They sit down, the girl still feels awkward and unsure. The guy constantly seems to be staring at her in interest, making her feel uncomfortable and starts a conversation. They both order drinks and thinks start to flow. They start talking about school, family and friends, as you do when you first meet someone. He constantly keeps complimenting her on her appearance/looks. After a while he walks her back to the train station and asks her if they can hopefully meet again. She gives him a reassuring answer that they can meet again and heads back onto the train and he gets into his car and drives home. She lives about 20 minutes away but it is easier for her to get the train home. So she gets off the train and starts walking home, she plugs her headphones into her phone and puts on a song. She decides she is hungry and walks into the nearest cafĂ© she can find and buys herself a sandwich, she pays for it and waits at the end of the counter. She is standing staring outside the window and realises she notices a silhouette of a man sitting a black medium sized car staring at her. She grabs the sandwich, which is being shoved in front of her face and walks back outside. She unplugs her headphones from her ears and as she looks back at the car again it starts to move away and drives off quickly. Ignoring the fact a random man was staring at her outside she starts to unfold her sandwich which is baking hot still from the brown packaging and excitingly she bites into it.  She is nearly home and walks through the shortcut home. The girl fears a little that someone is behind her and takes one of the headphones out of her ears, she turns around and no one is there she is just paranoid. So she carries on through the park only leaving one of her ears pounding with music and she hears a swing swinging from behind her. Although remembering that no one was there she turns around a guy standing by the swing is just swinging the swing. She pulls the other headphone out of her ear and runs for he life. She hastily runs round the block, exiting the park and running straight across the street home. She rushes the key out of her pocket and uncontrollable try’s to shove the key in the lock. Finally she gets it in and locks her door, she runs upstairs to her bedroom, whilst on the way checking the window which gives a full front view of the outside exterior of the front of her house. Nobody is there and she runs to her bedroom.


Next she decides to check her computer and the guy she met sends her a message asking if she got home okay and confesses to how she feared she was followed by a weird guy in a hoodie. He reply's in concern and asks if she is okay and she admits to being fine and just a little frightened. He asks if she wants him to come round and accompany her but she is adamant she is fine. 

The next day she gets up for school...following her normal routine for a early Monday morning. She has a good day at school and at the end of her day at school, she is waiting to get picked up from school and the boy she was talking to is standing outside her school gates. She gets a shiver up her arm and is actually a bit scared. His tall frame turns around gives her look as if she knew he was coming. There is actually something different about this time though and he is acting slightly different. He asks to go out after school but she is adamant she has to go home, he offers her a ride home and she declines.
Once she gets home she checks her computer and the boy asks her how her day was, the girl was slightly confused and replied saying how she was just having this conversation with him. He then replys in confusion and realises his mentally disturbed brother must have been reading the chat and had been stalking both of them. His brother was actually the one that turned up outside school....

Wednesday, 6 January 2016

Thriller Treatment Introduction

Over the past few weeks, I have been researching and writing up my ideas for my Thriller. I have never wrote a story like this before so it was easy at first when gathering your ideas but then trying to finish the story became quite complicated because sometimes the endings would not work. I came to the conclusion I wanted to write a Psychological Thriller because it incorporates elements of mystery and drama to the film, the suspenses comes from the mind, rather than a physical threat. So when watching the film the person watching will not have much of an idea of whats going on and usually at the end there is a twist. (Examples: Memento, Rear Window, Taxi Driver)
So this is the opening draft for two minutes and this will probably change over the course when making the film. Hope you enjoy

Sunday, 3 January 2016

The Gift: Film Review


The Gift is a 2015 psychological thriller which was written, produced and directed by Joel Edgerton whom was making his directorial debut. The cast includes Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall who meet an intimidated figure from their past who is played by the actor  Joel Edgerton. The film had a minor budget of $5 million dollars and made a whopping $59 million at box office, making it a success. I really enjoyed the film, although I got slightly confused at the end of the movie, not realising 'the gift' is the baby from Edgerton. The film beings with a married couple who relocate from Chicago to Los Angeles due to a new job given to Simon (Bateman). The couple then run into Simon's class mate from high school. At this moment in the movie you gather there is something weird going on, from the look of Gordo's eyes when he realises Simon through a shop window. From then on in the film Edgerton plays a stalker like persona and keeps dropping gifts off to the couples home and turning up at the house while Hall is at home, asking for Simon. I realised the wrong turn Rebecca makes when she lets Gordo into the home, giving him a tour of the house, he then finds where everything is situated. The film than carry's on with Simon telling Edgerton to keep away and form then this knocks the couples relationship as Simon isn't completely honest in telling his wife about his unpleasant behaviour from his school days.
The reason as to why I liked the movie is due to its twist at the end, because you know something wrong is bound to happen but you cant workout what its going to be. This is at the end when Rebecca Hall tells her husband she wants a divorce, once given birth to the baby. He then goes home and a baby gift basked turns up at their home. In the basked there is a CD, Video footage of Gordo preparing to molest Robyn after she fainted months earlier which the footage evidently cuts out. This overall finishes the film with a sort of cliff hanger as you want to know what happens after.

Friday, 4 December 2015

Memento

From watching the opening sequence of 'Momento', I could tell it was a thriller straight away. The music as it starts, indicates some sort of illusion and gives of an Sci-fi effect due to the split screens. The 'gun shot' which got really loud when it occurred made it more effective and the 'body bag' and 'blood' on the floor straight away portrays possible a horror, with the scene ending with a live person in a body bag is quite alienating and stylistically using thriller conventions. It in a way reminds me of the 'Seven' opening with the rush and amount is going on at one throughout, it was really rushed and chaotic. The use of it being chaotic makes us realize what the rest of the film will be like, and prepares us of the eeriness. The color of the trailer and grayness creates a depressing deathly vibe, and the use of no color makes it feel un-joyful. The vicerol made it unpleasant to watch and this contributed with the man in the trailer constantly hanging up on the phone calls.


Wednesday, 2 December 2015

Film Review: Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension

Recently, I went to see Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension at the Vue Cinema. The film was directed by Gregory Plotkin, as the previous Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2015)  was directed by Christopher B. Landon and different directors previously. Surprisingly enough they all look similarly filmed, so the directors must follow an analogous method. The movie was quite good, but not amazing! I must say I really liked how they linked the movie to one of the previous, where the house they stayed in was where the two young girls were brought up. This actually made the film scary, as the moment in time the present family was in the house,  the young girls were responding to their surroundings. The cast included Chris J Murray, Brit Shaw and Ivy Shaw.....not exactly any high profiled actors which i think works for these types of movies and separates them from any other thriller/horror.
According to IMBD, this is how the movie did at Box office!

Box Office:
Budget= $10,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend: $8,070,493 (USA) (23rd October 2015)
Gross: $18,247,445 (USA) (20th November 2015)

Finishing our editing for Napoleon Dynamite

At this stage, we have nearly finished editing our opening sequence. If I'm honest it has been really difficult trying to get all the scenes finished, as we haven't been able to get some of the props to film for the scenes. Excitingly we have got the music for the opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKfD8d3XJok
We have put the music into Final Cut Pro, on top of the opening sequence and it works really well. Surprisingly, makes our shots look really good and much more effective! Hopefully we should be finished filming by the end of the week.
I have realised in this practice of our opening sequence how much work and organisation goes into preparing and filming. Next time i will make sure to have everything ready before we film and have dedicated time slots to film and a deadline to finish. I am very excited about starting my thriller preparation next week and using my thriller ideas to hopefully create an amazing piece.