Title- Mutiny – Mutiny means a conspiracy among member of a group resulting in a conflict or a rebellion. We chose this name for our thriller because there will be a lot of conflict between the main two characters. A connotation of ‘mutiny’ could be fighting for power or the idea of mutants (non human forms). Thrillers which includes conflict between two characters include Sleeping With The Enemy.
Audience- aged 15 to 40. We chose this target audience because a lot of students will enjoy this because young people like to get scared. It is a very wide target audience because there will be some time shifts in the film and the older audiences can work out the plot as it may be quite confusing for younger audiences. This will be a lot like the Shawshank Redemption as there are a lot of flashbacks in this film.
BBFC- 15, due to mild fantasy horror. There may also be some violence and suspense. Films such as Don't Look Now, The Others and The Sixth Sense all influenced our idea for the BBFC rating. This is because they are all rated above 12 and our thriller will have some violence.
Studio - Bueno Vista Pictures. We chose this because some of the films which inspired us were made by Bueno Vista Pictures. Bueno Vista is also Universal Studios which is a very large company. So therefore, we will use Universal Studios because Bueno Vista is well known for children's films. One film in particular which influenced us is The Sixth Sense. The Sixth Sense use a lot of red which signifies blood, anger, power, strength, energy, leadership, danger and aggression.
Mood board
Trees and woods, camera looking out from behind trees. High angle shot (camera up in tree) looking down on character. This will signify that the character being looked down on is weak and helpless and shows that they are being watched unknowingly. Films which are set in the woods includes the Blair Witch Project and The Secret Window. We wanted to set it in the woods because it is a very quiet area where there will be no one else. There are also a lot of different shots that can be used such as high angle shots up in the trees and low angle shots, looking up at the trees. We will also be able to make shadows using the trees and trees are a good place for the characters to hide behind.
Establishing shot which will be a pretty landscape. This could be of come hills or fields. This gives a sense of being alone where no one else has been and there is nowhere to go. An example of a thriller which does this includes The Secret Window.
Old building. This could be used to emphasise how lonely it is where the characters are. The Others has an establishing show of an old building. This shot sets the scene for the rest of the film.
Red objects such as a red balloon or a teddy. The red symbolises blood, anger, power, strength, energy, leadership, danger and aggression. This colour will come up a lot in each shot which shows there is some significance. The colour red is used a lot in The Sixth Sence and Don't Look Now. These films inspired us to use the colour red.
A child with psychological issues. The character in our thriller will have short term memory loss and has to write everything down so that she remembers what she has to do each day. Psychlogical thrillers such as The Sixth Sence inspired us to use a child. The Omen also helped us come up with the idea of the psychological issues. Also children in thrillers seems very sinister because children are seen to be innocent.
A Ghost. The child who has psychological issues is a ghost because she fell off a swing and banged her head when her older sister was pushing her. This is why she has short term memory loss. Don't Look Now is a perfect example of a ghost of a child. This is where we got our inspiration from . This is because in Don't Look Now, a child falls in some water and drowns and her ghost comes back.
Lacock, showing the cloisters. This has a lot of history to it. Also the cloisters could symbolise a barrier between the two conflicting characters. Thrillers which have used old buildings include The Others.
Films that influence the thriller. On our mood board, we will put some film posters of some films that have influenced our ideas for out thriller. Some of these films will include The Village because it is set in a forest and The Sixth Sense because the colour red is used frequently.
Treetops looking up into the sky. This will be from the character’s point of view. This will symbolise how trapped they are because it will look like the trees are closing in on them. This is used a lot in the Blair Witch Project. In the Blair Which Project, nearly all of the filming is hand-held. We will not do this in our thriller, however, we may use it as an element in our film.
Tunnel of trees. This will also symbolise how trapped the characters are because they are such a confined space. This is also used in The Blair Witch Project.
Water such as a lake or a stream. This could be used to show purity of the character who is getting chased. This is used in What Lies Beneath. This is what inspired us to use water in our thriller.
Black and white pictures. We are going to use a black and white effect when there are flashbacks in our thriller. This shows a time lapse. Thrillers which use this effect include The Others when they are looking at the old photos which are in black and white. This shows that the pictures were taken a long time ago.
A swing. This will show the innocence of the child when she falls off. This will make the audience feel sympathy when the little girl falls off the swing. This effect is used in The Omen, The Sixth Sense and Don't Look Now. These do not all include swings, however they all make the children seem innocent by getting the child to carry a teddy or a balloon.
Ideas
Zooming into picture taken on same day as filming. Zooming out onto actual shot. This could be used for a flashback. This is used in Momento.
Bridge, filming from other side of the tunnel. This could symbolise a barrier between two characters. This is used in Sleeping With The Ememy when the man is stalking the women and there are a lot of barriers between them.
Looking round tree as if being watched. The camera will be filming the character walking past the tree as if the audience are being stalked. This is used in The Village.
Opens cupboard door and picks up something red. The camera will be inside the cupboard and there will be a shot of a character opening the cupboard door. This type of effect is used in the Davinci Code. It is to show that character is dominant.
One character will let go of a balloon and it will fall back down to another character. This will show some link between the two characters. The balloon could have a warning note written onto the side of it. The type of effect is used in What Lies Beneath where there is writing on the mirror. This is one character giving a warning to another character through writing. This inspired us to have a warning written on the balloon.
Close ups of a knife being drawn. The camera will not show the character who is drawing the knife which makes it more mysterious. This effect is used in Psycho. This lets the audience know what is about to happen, but they do not know who is drawing the knife.
Camera placed on the ground and there will be a shot of a character’s feet running. This makes it unclear who the characters are. This is a little bit like the Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield because sometimes the audience can see the charcter's feet and that is it. The audience can still hear what is going on, but cannot see the full picture. This may make the film more frightening because the audience will be using thier imagination.
Over view of opening sequence-
John writing note, dissolved into next shot. This will be an over the shoulder shot because it makes this character mysterious. As John is writing the note, there will be a voice over of what he is actually writing. This effect is used in Momento. This is what inspired us to do it.
The first shot will be of Maisy getting a red balloon out of a cupboard and walks out of house. There will then be an establishing shot of some fields as she walks in front of the camera so that we see the back of her head, pulling the balloon behind her.
The camera will then zoom into Maisy’s eye and there will be a flashback of Laura taking the balloon off of Maisy. Laura will then pop the balloon in front of Maisy which will be in slow motion to reveal Maisy’s sad face. The camera will then cut (flashes) back to Maisy standing in field with balloon again.
Masiy will let go of balloon and the balloon will fly off and the camera follows the balloon. Camera looks up into bright sky, and then back down to Laura (main character) in a different place and balloon will fall down at her feet.
Laura will pick up the balloon and there will be writing on the side of it saying, ‘it is here’ The camera will then zoom into Laura’s eye as if it is another flashback, but in Laura’s point of view, The flashback will be a scene of Laura pushing Maisy on a swing in children’s playground. Maisy falls off and the swing is left swinging gently. There will then be a quick shot of a gravestone, letting the audience know that Maisy has died. There will then be a shot of Maisy laying on the floor with the swing swinging behind her and Laura running away.
The next shot will be back to Laura’s eye which will zoom in and then back out to her looking at the balloon.
Laura will drop the balloon and run and whenever Laura looks round, she will look at the camera, as if the camera is a stalker chasing her. There will then be a shot of Laura running underneath trees to show weakness, which will be a high angle shot.
There will be different shots of Laura running in different places. She will run over paths, fields, up hills, down hills, country lanes, past lakes, each end of the cloisters, on different sides of the cloisters and jumping over streams. Laura is in a panic, so she is running fast and breathing quite heavily however Maisy will be walking calmly humming to herself.
At the end of our clip there will be a conversation between Laura and Maisy. Laura will run down the alley of cloisters with the camera on the other side of them. The will be an extreme long shot of Laura and then a quick cut to Maisy’s face at the other end of the cloisters. There will then be a non-diegetic ‘whoosh’.
The camera will then cut to Laura’s facial expression and fade to black as she screams. The camera will then cut to Laura on the floor, looking up at Maisy, This shot will be blurry and all the audience can see is Maisy’s silhouette, with her holding a balloon. Maisy will be looking down on Laura which shows weakness.
Script-
John: (voiceover) Get the balloon out of the cupboard, walk out of the house, and don’t look back.
Laura: You stupid girl (pushes Maisy away and pops balloon in front of her)
Maisy: I remember it as if it were yesterday, it all happened so quickly but I remember it in slow motion. It was March, St David’s Day, I had been out with my sister to the playground as we always did, every Saturday afternoon. There was nothing different about that day. We left the swings til last, because they used to be my favourite. (sound of the sisters laughing on swings, then sinister eerie sound as Laura pushes Maisy and then she falls off) That was the last time I ever played in that playground, all because of my sister.
(Eerie, child’s music-nursery rhyme, just the tune. And some sort of backing music like the sound of a xylophone)
Maisy: (voiceover) She ran, ran away. I couldn’t keep up to start with, but she started to tire. I was determined to get her, after all that she had done to me, I couldn’t let her get away this time. For years she had bullied me, she told me that it was all just a game. That day. That silence, was the first time I realised it wasn’t. Her screaming rang in my ears. I could see it now, picturing her helpless, on the floor face down, her head turning to look into my eyes. The pain, me laughing as she grasps the last strands of life. (On the floor in the cloisters).
Maisy: This is my revenge (looking down at Laura)
End of scene
Propp’s theory
There are two sisters; the younger one is killed by her older sister when being pushed on a swing in the playground. The older sister runs away and leaves her sister to die. The younger sister comes back from the dead, to haunt her sibling. She wants revenge.
The villain/dispatcher – Youngest sister
The victim/hero/princess – Older sister
False Hero – Parents, against the older sister because of what she has done
Donor/helper – providing the villain (young sister) with instructions of how to get revenge, by writing notes to her.
Todorov’s theory
Equilibrium – The two sisters are pushing each other on a swing. This will be a peaceful, calm satisfactory, relatively normal scene.
Disequilibrium – The younger sister is pushed off of the swing and is killed.
Disruption – The younger sister starts to haunt the older sister. This is when Maisy pulls a knife to her sister at the cloisters in Lacock. The audience hear screams but does not know if Laura dies or not.
Restoration of the equilibrium – Older sister goes home and there is no sign of the younger sister. But Laura still hears her and sees flashbacks of her younger sister.
Recognition – Older sister carries on thinking she is alive, but is actually dead. The audience doesn’t think she is dead. She then soon realises she is dead as no one else can hear her other than Maisy.
Equilibrium – Both dead, return to where Maisy died. At the end of the film they are both seen swinging on the swings.
