As media coursework Treatment

Group:

Ben H http://phantomraveproductions.blogspot.com/

Connor C http://cjcmedia.blogspot.com/

Conor O http://coloughlin.blogspot.com/

Task:

To create the opening two mins of a feature film, including soundtrack and company identities.

Synopsis:

A cross between Donnie Darko, Vanilla Sky and Inception with a strong focus on the nature of dreams and ideas, questioning the cross between reality and the sub-conscious.

Target Audience:

The general audience for the genre tend to be skewed towards the older age group, mostly twenties to middle ages, this means that there are very few films under the rating of BBFC 15, because most of them do tend to be aimed at the older audience, who wait for the film to reveal its plot with less focus on action than that of a traditional horror film or action film which often feature big showcase sets and lots of different locations, whereas Psychological Thrillers tend to focus less of external physical violence and more on the internal mental struggle, as such the audience is almost always older than average. However with Donnie Darko, it tried to reach out towards a slightly younger audience, however it didn’t do all too well in the box office, however I think that this film opening would focus on mainly on the late teenage audience.

Genre:

The Psychological Thriller genre has been pioneered by directors such as David Lynch (Lost Highway, Mulholland drive) but has been strongly used by directors such as Alfred Hitchcock (Vertigo). David Lynch films often make the viewer question the aspects of the main character such as credibility, more often than not they are proved to be showing a distorted version of events- different from what really happens, this creates the element of the unreliable narrator, This is often part of the twist elements in the genre, like Shutter island, it’s revealed in the end to be all the main characters delusions and really he is in a role play designed to show him just how crazy he is. Also in Mulholland Drive we’re shown a very different sequence of events from the characters perspective, which is key- to understand the plight of the main character we are very rarely taken away for the perspective of the main character- we, as the audience experience everything that the main character experiences throughout the film for the unreliable narrator aspect to work properly. Cinematography wise the films feature strong elements of light and dark mixing together, close-ups of the main character to capture the emotion and use dutch angle to imply the unreal aspects of the film and to create tension- which is what every aspect of the film should strive to create, a consistent and sustained atmosphere- often achieved through sound, jarring notes on piano, a distant scream, the sound of dripping, lighting that creates a strong sense of contrast and dread.

Films such as Vanilla Sky rely strongly upon the dreams of the character as they begin to hinder his reality, Shutter Island is about a man trapped within his delusions and unable to even accept reality. In American Psycho we’re given the twist at the end suggesting that the entire film is a construct of the main characters imagination despite the vivid killings that take place the films begins to get more and more surreal as the film progresses.

Location & Props:

We want to film in a suburban area, a fairly middle class area, in a typical street, we want everything to appear normal and mundane which is why we chose this initial location, because it conveys and shows this aspect of normality. We want to show a fairly average teenage boy so in the initial shots we show him on a computer play some game or listening to music fairly loud- we try to show this so that as the opening continues we are able to contrast this with the mundane and normal shots, showing how fast everything deteriorates. To dress the character we would simply use jeans and a jacket or hoodie- casual wear, nothing to indicate that the character is anywhere else than home, we want to show this home and then turn it into a nightmarish place unlike what it is initially shown to be. Like Donnie Darko we want a teenager who might be troubled in some way but we don’t want the audience to immediately guess as to what is going on. But Like Vanilla Sky’s introduction dream we want a distinct feeling of isolation, which we want to achieve with an entire empty city.

Cast & Crew:

Main Character: Ben H

Camera crew: Conor O & Connor C

Editing: Conor O, Connor C & Ben H

Add-ins: Conor O & Connor C