Unit 22 21. written synopsis

Section one: Content
The main event that occurs within the story of our final idea is the protagonist in the film sees something he is not supposed to see, such as a mugging or murder for example, and he decides to intervene in an attempt to save the victim, however this results in him receiving a drastic head injury from where he is thrown down on the floor and injures his head on an object of some sort. The events in the story from there on are based around things that the protagonist sees but some of these events are real, and some are not, which is also the main enigma within our story.

The protagonist is most relate-able to that of a false hero, as he attempts to be the hero by intervening in the crime in an attempt to save the day, however this backfires and leaves him injured and the criminal escapes having committed the crime successfully. Something that also reinforces this idea that the protagonist is a false hero is his normal everyday life which is portrayed in the earlier stages of the film. The villain within the movie would most likely be the criminal, as the protagonist sets out on hunting him down in revenge after committing the crime and giving him the injury he received. Because we aim for the film to have a psychological sub-genre to it, the villain of whom is the criminal will be displayed to the audience as psychotic, as that is what the villain looks like from the protagonists point of view.

Section Two: Narrative

1. Our movie is going to have a three act structure. This is the overall structure of the movie. This form of structure usually consists of 3 different acts. The first act being an equilibrium which helps the audience to establish the main characters and the world they live in. The second act being a protagonist finding a problem and trying to solve it, and the third act being the resolution with characters being either happy or sad at the end. For our movie, the first act is going to be understanding  the characters and what their lives are like, the second act will be when someone gets a head injury and then starts seeing things, not knowing whether what they are seeing is a hallucination or the reality. Our third act will then result in the character being in a mental asylum which will be a sad ending.2. We are going to use Todrov's approach when creating our opening sequence. This will  mean that the film will have an equilibrium which means there will be a state of normality, An event that disrupts that equilibrium, The protagonist realizing this and then a sense of normality again but this time, with a slight change. In our film we will have normality with a college student living normal everyday life going to and from school, The student then having a major head injury which will then result in him hallucinating and then the final stage which will have the character ending up in a mental asylum.
3.Our story is going to be told using a linear structure which means the character will start off  with a normal life.  This will be evident in our film . Then there will  be a problem which gradually gets worse and worse and then there will be a solution which will end negatively. This is how a linear structured story is usually told.
4. One of the narrative devices that I will be using is pathetic fallacy. This is because we plan for the weather to be dull and grey which represents the theme of our movie because our movie is negative. However, this will depend on the weather conditions as it can change. Another narrative device that we will be using is foreshadowing. This will be seen in my movie as a character will bump their head which will hint he will have a head injury. Lastly, we will be using restricted narrative because the audience will only be seeing things from one characters point of view. This will be shown throughout the movie because they will be watching the characters story.

Section Three: Genre
One main thriller convention we intend to use in our thriller opening is where the protagonist is at the mercy of the antagonist/villain, as the antagonist is the one who injures the protagonist, and then throughout the rest of the time the protagonist is consistently haunted by the antagonist. Another convention we intend to use is low key lighting, as this is a very typically used within thriller films, and helps to create a tense feeling around the audience due to the sense of unknown that darkness brings. A third convention we intend to use within our thriller is the use of shadows. With the assistance of low key lighting, we can use shadows very effectively to help create a tense atmosphere around specific points of the thriller eg at points where the protagonist is seeing things, a shadow helps create an enigma and a fear upon who is behind the shadow.

The sub-genre we intend for our thriller to follow is psychological, this fits well with the idea we have come up with is based around the idea of psychology and psychological trauma after the protagonist receives the head injury. This will be evident in specific periods of the film where the protagonist begins to see people and images that are not real, they create a sense of comfort and fear upon the protagonist which the audience also shares because of the films narrative being displayed from the protagonists point of view.

One key theme that i aim to use within my thriller opening is the theme of suspense, as this is a highly effective way of keeping an audience engaged in what is happening within the thriller film, and also in engaging them at the very opening of the thriller. A second theme i plan to use in the thriller opening is anticipation, as this will help to keep the audience "on the edge of their seats", and by using this in the opening it will help to grab the audiences attention early on in the thriller film. A third and final theme i plan to use is the theme of mystery, as creating a mystery early on in the film within the opening helps again to grasp the audiences attention early on.

Section Four: Style

One typical thriller camera convention is a close-up. We will use a close-up in my movie to show a character's facial expression. The character we plan to use the close-up on is the protagonist as we want to make them the main focus and we want to show their facial expressions to make the audience see how they feel. Another typical camera convention we may use are shots that hide the identity of the antagonist. We may show the identity of the antagonist but use a silhouette later on to make them seem mysterious.

We plan to use jump-cuts to create tense and fast paced sequences. If done correctly the audience will be on the edge of their seats and will possibly feel what the characters are feeling. Another editing technique we plan to use is cross-cutting as it creates tension and suspense because the audience sees that something is going to happen but the characters don't.

The music in our thriller will fit the mood like in any movie but in some places it may do the opposite. For example, there might be a shot of people laughing and having fun but the music will be dramatic. (It will work best if we do this along with cross-cuts). To increase the amount of intensity to the film, various sound effects can be implemented such as heartbeats and footsteps. 

To create a sense of realism, the film will be based in everyday environments such as parks and towns. The clothing will also be in modern day fashion and the props will be familiar with modern day so the audience will know when our film is based.

Section Five: Brief interpretation

"It should be shot in the UK"
We will only take shots in this country and nowhere abroad.

"Aimed towards 16-24 year olds"
Our characters will be within that age groups to appeal more to this target age group.

"It should include all the conventions of a film opening and many of the techniques used in the thriller genre."
We will start with a smash mouth opening which will also give a lot of information to the audience and there will be dark lighting near the end of the opening with flashing lights after the protagonist receives the injury.