Casting: The Husband

Casting: The Husband

Overall we have a total of 3 characters throughout the film and all 3 of them do make an appearance in the opening sequence. The different characters are: the husband, the wife and the husband’s girlfriend. Below is an evaluation of each character and the different casting options for each one.

The Husband:

The husband is a middle aged man between the ages of 45- 50, he is average height. He is a professor and runs lectures at a university and because he works with young people they help to keep him young. This means that even though he is graying at the sides he can keep up with the world and knows that converse are the shoes to wear. Apart from that aspect however his dress sense is very basic and all he wears is jeans, a shirt and a jumper that don’t have very bright colours or patterns, he also needs to wear glasses. The husband at this point in his life seems as though he is going through a mid-life crisis. He is tired most of the time which indicates that he has restless nights and so throughout the film he is worn out and appears to be lazy. He doesn’t shave often and so has a lot of stubble, he also walks rather slowly with his head down and so he shows signs of depression as he sighs at regular intervals also. Within the opening sequence the husband appears to be very paranoid and nervous of his wife and so wears stern and worried expressions on his face for the majority of the time. 

Below are some pictures of the people that could be cast for the role as the Husband:

Simon Duncan - 45 years old and so the perfect age for our main character. He is available for the filming times and the days that we would need him to be there. Simon doesn't have grey hair but i think this is good because it shows that he isn't really that old even though the characters actions and body language emphasis it. We will ask Simon not to shave for the days of filming so that he can have stubble when filming. He is already wearing the type of clothes that the Husband would wear also. 

Joseph McDermott - 24 years old, a graduate. He i very young and this may work against him when filming. We can use costume and make up to disguise this fact and make him look older but this is a lot of work when we do have other candidates that would not need this work. A positive however is that he is available on all the filming days we would need him and he has had acting experience. 

Darrell Monk - 60+ age and almost retired. This factor may help with this role because the husband always seems very tired and worn out and he wants to retire soon. Darrell does look the part because he has grey hair and so we would not need to use make up or costume on him. However he has said that he is not available on the second date for filming and therefore cannot take up the role of the Husband. 

I think out of all these casting candidates for the role of The Husband, Simon Duncan is the best. This is because Darrell is unable to film even though he looks best for the part and Joseph is simply too young. Simon Duncan is the right age, has the right dress sense already and is available and willing to act. Simon Duncan is playing the role of The Husband. 

Location research

For our opening sequence we will film in two locations; South Ealing cemetery and one of our group member's house. We have chosen these locations because they are accessible, practical and they will look good for our opening sequence.
We will film the first two shots in the cemetery and the rest will be in different rooms of the house (hallway, stairs, bedroom and study).

South Ealing cemetery entrance

South Ealing cemetery.
We needed a cemetery to film in for the first two shots because there is no way we could make a fake one ourselves. We decided on South Ealing cemetery because it is local so we can get there easily. The entrance has this nice arch which we will have as a background in shot 2 because it looks nice but it could also be quite creepy in a thriller film.
We will be filming on a weekend and it will have to be dark because our sequence is set in the evening. However it will need to be light enough for the characters to be seen. The cemetery is open 9 - 4:30 so if we start filming at  around 4 o'clock it should start getting dark. Although this only leaves us half an hour before the cemetery closes we only need two shots so it shouldn't take long once we are set up.

Grave stones at South Ealing cemetery

We are setting this scene in a cemetery because of the connotations that come from it, especially when it's dark cemeteries are creepy, ominous and eerie. This is ideal for a thriller film as it will build suspense and tension because due to the nature of the genre the audience will have expectations for something scary to happen. This scene will also create an enigma for the film because if we were to carry on producing the whole film we would reveal at the end that the grave where he places flowers at the beginning is in fact his wife's.

One of the problems we were worried about was if we would be able to film in the cemetery, as they usually close when it gets dark but we need to film in the evening. However as I have already mentioned this was not a problem as it closes at 4:30pm so we will start filming when it gets dark at 4pm. After checking on the website it did not say anything about whether we are allowed to film there or not so we will go along and start filming unless we get told to stop. In order to respect the dead we will be careful not to get any shots with people's names on the graves as we do not have the permission of the families of the people buried. If there are people at the cemetery visiting graves or having a funeral we will have to be careful not to interrupt them. As we are filming outside weather conditions could be a problem. Rain wouldn't really matter, it could in fact make the scene even better, but we wouldn't want the equipment to get water damage. Also if there happened to be a storm we would have to stop filming and take cover. Cold weather could be off putting to our actors and crew so we will have to wear warm clothes.The only health and safety issues would be if there are any open graves we will have to watch out because that would be quite a drop.

Our back-up location in case we couldn't film here was the graves by Saint Mary's church on South Ealing road but as there is no problem with accessing our first choice filming here shan't be necessary.

This is the outside of Lydia's house.

Our other location is at one of our group member's (Lydia Duncan's) house. The scenes will be filmed in different areas around the house but it is all under the same roof. These include the hallway with the stairs for shots 3 and 4, the dining room/conservatory for shot 4, the bedroom for shots 5-15 and  shot 17, and the study for shot 16. We have unlimited access to film at Lydia's house so it is ideal because we can take our time and we have permission to rearrange stuff so we can make the setting perfect for our opening sequence. Her house is suitable for our characters because it is quite fancy so it will look like a couple's house. There aren't many photographs around so there won't be any evidence of the real house owners and there is plenty of space to set up the camera on the tripod and get the right angles we want.
Possible problems we could face with filming at Lydia's house are interruptions from family members. We will have to make sure we film the morning scene when it is light and the night scene when it is dark but other than that there is no issues with filming at the house.

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule

Date: 30/11/13

Time: 12:30pm – 3pm

Location: Bedroom in house

Shots: 9 – 15, 17

Actors: Simon and Amanda

Crew: Lydia, Maya and Moises (camera and director)

Costumes and props: PJs for Simon, Dressing gown for Amanda, Jug and breakfast tray with a knife for Amanda, Card with number for Simon, suit for Simon. 

Equipment: Camera and tripod.

Potential Issues: Lighting – it will start to fade in the late afternoon which is when we aim to finish filming and so we have to ensure our timing is on point. Space – we need to make sure that we have enough space to film in for each shot. 

Risk Assessment: Low – there are no vital risks with the shots we are filming. 

Date: 7/12/13

Time: 10am – 12pm

Location: Office in house

Shots: 16

Actors: Christina

Crew: Lydia, Maya and Moises

Costumes and Props: Card with number on for Christina and everyday clothes for Christina.

Equipment: Camera and Tripod

Potential Issues: Spacing – ensure we can achieve the different shots with the environment we have. 

Risk assessment: Low – There are no hazards and the location is safe. 

Date: 7/12/13

Time: 3pm-4pm

Location: South Ealing graveyard

Shots: 1 – 2

Actors: Simon

Crew: Lydia, Maya and Moises

Costumes and props: Jeans, shirt and coat for Simon, bunch of flowers for Simon.

Equipment: Camera and Tripod

Potential issues: Lighting – we need it to be the evening and so we have to ensure it isn’t too dark or too light. Noise – we need it to be a fairly quite environment and so we will have to be aware of background noise. Weather - we are filming outside and so changes to the weather could causes continuity issues. 

Risk assessment: Low – we are outside but in a safe environment. 

Date: 7/12/13

Time: 5pm – 8pm 

Location: House

Shots: 3 – 8

Actors: Simon and Amanda

Crew: Lydia, Maya and Moises

Costumes and props: coat, shirt and jeans for Simon, Dressing gown for Amanda, Pjs for Simon, Knife for Amanda, and Red food colouring for Simon. 

Equipment: Camera and Tripod.

Potential issues: Lighting – it is set during the night and we are filming in the evening and so it will have to be dark enough. Timing – we will need to be efficient when filming and acting these scenes. 

Risk assessment: Low – we are inside a house and so there is nothing dangerous about that. 

The Story Board

The Story Board

As a group we created a story board for the opening sequence of our film. We planned out what shots we wanted to use where and tried to include various different types. We did this in order to display the different skills we have learn't throughout the course so far but also to help enhance our opening sequence. Different camera angles and shots keeps it interesting and so therefore keeps the target audience engaged. We have also ensured that we use certain conventions of thriller cinematography to help identify the tension and suspense, for example a high camera angle can create an inferior/superior relationship between characters and audience. The story board also allowed us to estimate how long our opening sequence will be because we were able to give the shots and scenes timings. We wrote, along the side, the sound we needed to have with each shot also. It is a very basic plan of what the sound is expected to be like at this point but this will be developed during the editing. 

2nd Script Draft

My Group has been going over our drafts for our scrip which will finalise our thriller idea. We have a first draft, which was good but to make it even better we had to make changes leading to a second draft of the scrip. Overall all we have two drafts of our scrip and we are planning on using the second which is better. 

2nd and Final Script Draft

VOICE MAIL RECORDING 

HUSBAND

Hi...look I don't 

know what to do. I have started

seeing her again and I can't stop it.

EXT.GRAVEYARD.EVENING 

HUSBAND,lays flowers on the grave and walks off with dog sorrowfully.

INT.HOME.EVENING

HUSBAND,arrives home, takes lead off dog and takes coat off. He looks over at his wife watching TV. No interaction.

INT.STAIRWAY.EVENING

HUSBAND.walks slowly upstairs

INT.BEDROOM.EVENING

HUSBAND,in bed sighs and turns lights off.
WIFE. standing over husband with a knife. WIFE stabs HUSBAND.

INT.BEDROOM.DAY

HUSBAND, wakes up shaken. WIFE, stands over HUSBAND in the same position, holding a breakfast tray, smiling.

WIFE

Morning honey.

Did you sleep well?

OH, I forgot the coffee!

WIFE EXITS

HUSBAND, leans over into bedside draw and picks up a card with a phone number on it.

INT.OFFICE.DAY

HUSBAND, holding the card, looks up to see a young attractive girl.

GIRLFRIEND

(Wink)

Give me a call.

GIRLFRIEND, walks away.

INT.HALLWAY.DAY

HUSBAND. Looking in the mirror, sorting out his tie whilst looking nervous. He sees his wife in the mirrors reflection.

Our second script creates more tension rather than out first making sure it was clear to the audience whilst still mainting the Psychological thriller convention of confusion, but not so confusing they would not be able to understand the opening sequence whilst making it suspenseful.

Whilst editing the script we decided on making these minor changes to make it flow better. We didn't want to give lots of details away so keep it intersecting so making minor changes helped improve what we incision for this sequence.

1st Draft of script

This is our original script which we then improved by changing a few scenes to make sure it fitted the thriller genre and it had enough tension and suspense in it. As our film is a psychological thriller we want the audience to question what they believe and they are not supposed to understand the wife is dead until the very end. For this reason we didn't want to give too much away in the opening sequence however the audience must be able to follow what it happening and it needs to make sense.
 This first draft was just to get a clearer picture of what we will do in our opening sequence because before this all we had was an idea. By drafting a script it was easier to plan the scenes more specifically and we can see how to improve the sequence.


EXT. GRAVEYARD. EVENING.

HUSBAND lays flowers on grave and walks off with dog sorrowfully.



INT. HOME (HALLWAY). EVENING.

HUSBAND closes the front door, taking his coat off. He takes the dog off its lead and gives it a pat.



INT. HOME (DINING ROOM). EVENING.

WIFE AND HUSBAND eating dinner at the table. No dialogue is exchanged and they don't even look at each other, creating a tense and awkward atmosphere.



INT. HOME (BEDROOM). NIGHT.

HUSBAND and WIFE  reading in bed. They lean over and turn their bedside lamps off without exchanging dialogue or kissing goodnight. The HUSBAND turns away from the WIFE to sleep.


WIFE is standing over the HUSBAND menacingly holding a knife. She stabs him repetitively in the chest and stomach, laughing sinisterly.



INT. BEDROOM. MORNING.

WIFE enters with a tray of breakfast in bed. HUSBAND wakes up.

WIFE

Morning honey, sleep well?

Oh, I forgot the coffee!

WIFE exits

HUSBAND leans over into the drawer and picks up a card with a phone number on it.

(Graphic match of card)


INT. OFFICE. DAY
GIRLFRIEND hands HUSBAND the card

GIRLFRIEND

Give me a call sir

(winks seductively)

GIRLFRIEND exits.

INT. HOME (BEDROOM). MORNING.

HUSBAND corrects tie in the mirror, he looks worried.

The beginning scenes, up until the wife stabbing the husband, would all have been part of a montage linked with a sound bridge of an eerie score which would create a tense mood. We decided this was a waste of time as it is a bit boring and there are more effective ways of showing that there is something odd about their relationship. Although we thought including normal everyday activities such as eating dinner would show that something is not right in the household we don't think this is clear enough for the audience as we have to remember they don't know the rest of the story. 

The scene of the husband getting killed by the wife is just his dream, and the reality is when he wakes up and sees her with breakfast in bed for him.

From the graphic match it would be a flashback of the husband receiving the phone number of one of his students (he is a university professor), before returning back to the present time.

Our synopsis and opening sequence

Before we planned our opening sequence we thought of ideas for a synopsis, so our opening sequence can be part of a bigger storyline. We knew it had to follow the conventions of a thriller film and create tension, suspense, excitement and anticipation and we wanted it to be a psychological/horror thriller. It was also important we had a synopsis so our opening sequence can create enigmas that would lead on to the rest of the film. We knew we had to be realistic when planning our opening sequence because we have to film it ourselves so we can't include ideas such as falling off a cliff because we wouldn't be able to film that. Also locations such as a remote Mexican village or on a ship would not be possible for us so we tried to make our ideas as practical as we could.

Our main idea for the synopsis is as follows:

A university professor is having disturbing nightmares and visions of his estranged wife plotting to killing him. He begins to become suspicious that she knows about his affair with one of his students but is unsure what to do as she hasn't mentioned it to him. Meanwhile as he becomes more and more paranoid the nightmares become more common and increasingly disturbing until he fears his life and the life of his secret lover are in danger. The line between reality and his imagination becomes distorted and in a desperate attempt to escape his raging wife he runs out of the house, where he eventually ends up in a graveyard.  He sees a tombstone with his wife's name on it and looks back to see his wife is no longer chasing him. He then  realises his wife is actually a projection of the guilt he feels for moving on as he was widowed several months ago after his wife died from a terminal illness.

I think this idea is suitable because it uses the technique of having many scenes as hallucinations of the protagonist, which is used in many psychological thrillers such as Black Swan and Shutter Island. It is effective in creating suspense and tension because it confuses the audience and leaves them unsure what to believe. Our idea also includes the theme of a mentally unstable character which is typical of psychological thrillers. There are many opportunities to build tension, suspense and anticipation during the film in the man's visions and through his paranoia. The plot twist at the end will shock the audience as it is very unexpected, this is also the typical ending to a thriller because the audience thinks they have an idea of what is going on and then it is revealed they are wrong and it was something else the whole time. This idea includes the theme of being trapped or confined, which is a common theme in thrillers. Although he is not physically trapped his marriage is restricting him because morally he should not be having a relationship with his student. Also the loss of his wife traps him in a psychological state where he cannot move on or forget his wife.

The opening sequence to this film would go like this:

It would begin with a man walking his dog through a graveyard at night. He places some flowers down on a relatively new headstone and goes home to his wife. There is a classical score playing which acts as a sound bridge connecting the scenes and forming a montage. When he returns home there are a few shots of him having dinner and going to bed as part of the montage. During these scenes it is clear that there is something wrong with the marriage. The couple are not very affectionate to one another and they don't even speak much. It seems the wife is making more effort than the husband, he doesn't look her in the eye. After the montage showing the daily routine of going to bed the score changes, becoming slower and more high pitched. The wife leaps on her husband and draws a knife. She tries to stab him but he gets the knife off her so she puts her hands around his neck and strangles him. The scores becomes more upbeat, building tension and making the scene more dramatic. Just as he takes his last breaths he wakes up and realises it was just a dream and his wife is in bed asleep beside him. He reaches into his drawers and gets out a piece of paper with a phone number on it. Cross cutting is used to show he is careful not to wake her. The piece of paper acts as a graphic match and leads to a flashback of one of his students, an attractive, young blonde, giving him the piece of paper. She winks at him seductively and says "Call me". It ends with a shot of the sleeping wife next to the man who looks rather shifty. Low key lighting is used to make the husband appear more shadowy, making the mood more tense.

This opening sequence would only require three actors, so it will be easy to film. Also we know someone who has a dog we could borrow for our beginning scene. The grave stone creates an enigma because the film would end with a shot of the grave stone, revealing it belongs to the dead wife. We have a local graveyard we could use to film in and we also have house we can use to film the home scenes in. The opening sequence will have lots of suspense and tension during the montage because the audience will be anticipating something bad to happen. Also when the wife tries to kill him it will be very unexpected so the audience will be shocked and disturbed. The sequence ends with a lot of tension because the audience are still in shock and worrying in case the wife wakes up.

The other ideas we had were as follows:

• A woman suffers from a miscarriage and is left devastated. Years later she falls pregnant again and gives birth to a perfect baby boy. He is her world and she adores him. When he is a few weeks old she meets a young girl who doesn't have any family. She welcomes her into her life and just when the woman becomes quite fond of the girl she realises the baby son has bruises and signs of violence. The woman becomes paranoid it is the little girl abusing her baby and she believes her baby is in danger. Later it is revealed the little girl is not real, just a hallucination of how the woman imagines her baby would have grown up to be if it had no been miscarried. She thinks the little girl would be jealous that she didn't get to be born and the boy did so she wants to kill him. This idea is similar to our final idea of revealing at the end the antagonist isn't real just a projection of guilt from the protagonist. This is because during our planning process we merged together some ideas as we wanted to keep the same themes. Also it took a while to develop and refine our ideas because originally they weren't very clear or specific. We thought this idea had flaws because it would be difficult to find a young girl to play the antagonist and we don't know anyone who would be willing to let us film their baby. Also miscarriage is quite a touchy subject and we didn't want to mess around with it as some people can get quite upset.
• Another idea we had was a university drop out who turns to drugs and alcohol to drown his sorrows. As his life spirals out of control he starts having graphic visions and hallucinations of a boy similar to his age haunting him. As these visions become more common the boy realises they are memories and towards the end of the film he finds out the dead boy he is seeing is actually his brother who he killed. His brother was a good role model and he couldn't live up to his standards so one night jealousy overtook him and he killed him. Then as an act of denial he pretended it didn't happen but eventually the guilt got too much for him. This idea wasn't very practical because it would be difficult to film the graphic hallucinations of the dead boy. Also we thought compared to our other ideas there aren't as many opportunities to build tension and suspense.
• A young man goes off to university, leaving his mother missing him like crazy. She feels like she has lost her purpose as a mother and finds herself struggling to fill the gap in her life without her son. In her spare time she begins babysitting a young boy and this helps her cope with the loss of her son. Soon she becomes overly attached to the boy and she wants to babysit him more and more. She encourages his parents to go out so she can look after him and eventually she believes he is her son. She refuses to part with him and ends up being removed by the police and put in a mental asylum. This idea would also be impractical as we would have to find a young boy to play the part of the boy getting babysat. Also this idea is a bit slow to develop and a thriller should grip  the audience from the beginning.

Synopsis Ideas

Synopsis Ideas

As a group we got together and discussed ideas for a synopsis of our film and the opening sequence. We each took it in turns to bring an idea to a table and then we all evaluated it to see if it could be a possible contender. We had many ideas as a group and brainstormed them by creating a mind-map.  Our ideas were disorganized and it took a lot of refining to narrow down the most realistic ones. You can see those below:

We decided to pick the blue synopsis. We thought that this idea would be the most realistic to film as we only need to cast for 3 characters, whereas with the other ideas, they needed a lot more. We also thought this followed on from the themes we had researched when we were looking at existing psychological thrillers. I have previously mentioned that I would like to incorporate the theme of rivalry as this seemed popular in films such as the Black Swan and Saw. In this synopsis the husband is the main victim but he is battling the dilemma of a moral decision, his wife or his girlfriend. There is rivalry between the two women in his life now but also between his reality and desires. Another theme that I thought I might include in my own film was this idea of being trapped or stuck. The films The shining and, once again, Saw both seemed to have this as a running plot to the story line and I think it is a good way of enhancing tension and suspense. The husband is stuck with what to do with his life and is in a situation that seems hard to escape; he is surrounded by his own paranoia and trapped in his own mind. 

The Opening Sequence

The opening sequence begins with a montage. There is a close up of a gravestone with a name on it and the husband can be seen laying down flowers next to it. The husband then walks back through the graveyard with his dog, on his way home. The scene fades to when he arrives home and hangs up his wet coat as it was raining outside; his wife is standing there with crossed arms not looking happy. This then fades into the evening meal they both eat together at the dining table. Throughout all of this some classical music is playing which connects the scenes and increases the effect of time passing and the evening progressing. There is no dialogue throughout the montage either. The scene then fades to the wife and husband in bed reading their books; they then turn off the lights and go to sleep, there is no kiss goodnight. 

The music fades away and so does the picture, it fades to black, this emphasises the fact that it is night time. It is very quiet and the audience can’t see anything, they can only hear a low breathing noise. There is a Point of view shot next of the wife standing over the husband whilst he has been asleep and she is holding a weapon ready to strike. The Audience witness the wife murdering the husband and this immediately hikes up the already tense atmosphere, especially with the now dramatic music. It also creates an enigma for the audience. Soon the audience hear a loud, sharp knocking sound and the husband then wakes with a start. The murder scene was a nightmare he was having; he is very tense and shocked when he wakes up and all you see is the wife entering the bedroom with breakfast in bed. She says “morning honey, did you sleep well” in a pleasant but slightly creepy voice and the audience can see that the husband is on edge as the camera then focuses on the sharp knife that is present on the tray.

The wife leaves having said she has forgotten the coffee and the husband gives a sigh of relief. He then leans over to his bedside table, opens the draw and picks up a piece of paper with a number on and a kiss next to it. A graphic match shot then takes place and a new scene begins. A female’s hand can be seen writing the number on the card and the camera follows the card until it is passed into the husband’s hand; he takes it and looks up, the camera tilts up at this point to reveal an attractive young woman. She winks at him and says “give me a call” whilst turning around and leaving the husband’s office, the husband is now seen looking at the number is disbelief and confusion from a distance.

Analysis of Psychological Thriller Synopses

Synopsis, What are they and what do they do?

A synopsis is a brief summary or general survey of something. For films they are used to give brief detail on what the narrative is about giving the audience information on what happens.

Example of Psychological Thriller Synopses 

Seven - 'A film about two homicide detectives' desperate hunt for a serial killer who justifies his crimes as absolution for the world's ignorance of the Seven Deadly Sins. The movie takes us from the tortured remains of one victim to the next as the sociopathic "John Doe" sermonizes to Detectives Sommerset and Mills -- one sin at a time. The sin of Gluttony comes first and the murderer's terrible capacity is graphically demonstrated in the dark and subdued tones characteristic of film noir. The seasoned and cultured but jaded Sommerset researches the Seven Deadly Sins in an effort to understand the killer's modus operandi while the bright but green and impulsive Detective Mills scoffs at his efforts to get inside the mind of a killer'. 

                                                                                                                                             

  

This synopsis gives us a brief of what the narrative but sets up various enigmas because we wonder how can a man commit so much murders. Tension is created through the use of vocabulary such as 'terrible capacity is graphically demonstrated in the dark and subdued tone'. 

The Black Swan - “Nina (Portman) is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her obsessive former ballerina mother Erica (Hershey) who exerts a suffocating control over her. When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth Macintyre (Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side - a recklessness that threatens to destroy her.”

                                                                                                                                             

Natalie Portman plays a dark and depressed ballerina who struggles to maintain a top spot as a ballerina. From just this synopsis we can tell that it is a very tense and dark film. It takes a simple theme of dance and turns it into a very competitive film which makes the main dancers work hard yet breaks them psychological. For Portman he hallucinates and has visions that lead to insanity. 

What  would my synopsis contain?

When doing this project and thinking about a synopsis it is better to restrict a lot of the key information but also make it appealing so others will want to watch this. The key feature for a synopsis is to give details of a film but also to create tense and set a mood for the film.  

Analysis of Synopses of Existing Psychological Thrillers

Analysis of Synopses of Existing Psychological Thrillers

The Black Swan

“Nina (Portman) is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her obsessive former ballerina mother Erica (Hershey) who exerts a suffocating control over her. When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth Macintyre (Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side - a recklessness that threatens to destroy her.”  Written by Fox Searchlight Pictures. 

From this synopsis I can already feel the tension and apprehension in the air. The film is all about rivalry and competition and I like the idea of that being a key theme. Dancing is often viewed by the public as relaxing and beautiful, however this film reveals another side to it. The pressures of the artistic world become apparent and I think I would like to incorporate this concept into my opening sequence. A constant, Ongoing battle with pressure can build intense amounts of tension and that is one of my goals with my film. 

Saw



“Two men wake up at opposite sides of a dirty, disused bathroom, chained by their ankles to pipes. Between them lies a dead man loosely clutching a hand-held tape player and a handgun. Each finds a tape the perfect fit for the player in their back pocket. They play the tapes. One is threatened, the other isn't. But they have a task: One must kill the other by 6:00, or his wife and daughter will die. They find hacksaws in a toilet, and try to cut the chains, but it doesn't work. They are the two newest victims of the Jigsaw Killer. In a flashback, we learn of Amanda, a girl who falls victim to the Jigsaw Killer. On her head is a mask, which is hooked into her lower jaw. There is a timer on it. Only one key will unlock it, and that key is in the digestive tract of her cell mate who lies paralyzed on the opposite side of the room. If she doesn't unlock the mask in time, her lower jaw will be ripped wide open. She survives, but her cell mate doesn't.” Written by Aurabesh corrected by Paul P.


This synopsis of Saw immediately indicates the goriness of the thriller and I don’t like that concept. In order to keep my film rating at 15 I cannot use excessive violent scenes in my opening sequence or too much gruesomeness. Therefore I will not be taking inspiration from that element. What I have noticed however, is that once again rivalry has become apparent in this film, just like in the Black Swan. This is obviously a popular theme being used by film producers but also being seen by audiences because these films are very well known and award winning. I think I will use rivalry as a key theme in my opening sequence. 

The Shining

"A man, his son and wife become the winter caretakers of an isolated hotel where Danny, the son, sees disturbing visions of the hotel's past using a telepathic gift known as "The Shining". The father, Jack Torrance, is underway in a writing project when he slowly slips into insanity as a result of cabin fever and former guests of the hotel's ghosts. After being convinced by a waiter's ghost to "correct" the family, Jack goes completely insane. The only thing that can save Danny and his mother is "The Shining"." Written by ipreach4ever

What has become apparent from this synopsis it that the main character was trapped and became mentally ill because of cabin fever. Being trapped and stuck was also a key feature in Saw. They were both handcuffed and stuck with no where to go. So it seems that as well as rivalry and high amounts of pressure being stuck or trapped is also a big aspect to psychological thrillers. I like this element and it makes things easier in terms of practicality with filming. Having one main location where the majority of scenes are filmed rather than having multiple ones is a lot more straightforward. I think i will take on board this aspect along with the rivalry theme and incorporate them into my psychological thriller opening sequence. 

Film Ideas and Plans for an Opening Sequence

Psychological Thriller Film Ideas

To come up with a concept for our opening sequence we had to decide what the rest of our film will be about in order to make an accurate opening sequence which makes sense and is clear to what might happen in the rest of the narrative. We can up with various ideas using a mind map. The mind map helps because all our ideas were organised and we could then either chose any idea, or merge different aspects together.

Collectively we came up with five different ideas, to which we could film our opening sequence on. With all our concepts we plan to make a suspenseful yet dramatic at the same time.

1) One our first ideas was based on a university dropout with depression who kills someone but it unaware he had killed someone, until he starts to have flash backs of a murder, after he had killed a family member.

A synopsis for this idea would have been as follows:

Taking place at the prestigious Ealing University  a student is found dead with no leading suspects the police continue their investigation to find out who took the like of an innocent and hard working student. The story also follows a university drop out whose life has been turned upside down after leaving school as he could not keep up with the work load. Later another body is found and a link is established between the previous murder, as they were killed in the same way. The second body is the brother of the the university student who dropped out. A further link is made between the drop out the first body. Is he the killer or is he being framed?

2) Our second idea was a bit dark which would be perfect for a psychological thriller.

A loving mother sends her son off to university and the thought of not seeing her boy everyday. Each day goes by and enjoying university would be consider an amazing time, but with a mother constantly. The mother slowly stars to mentally break down, she starts babysitting a boy from across the road caring for him ad her own. During the Christmas break her son returns to see his mother lose her mind not knowing what to do she is instituted because he is babysitting a boy, a boy who isn't there.

3) A poor woman has a miscarriage of her daughter and years go by unable to have a child when she does her little boy is her whole life. W young her enters this woman's life and she takes her in. Unaware of this girls shady past she treats her like a daughter. The daughter plans to kill the son. Why? The mother does not know. One morning after escaping her life she wakes to see herself lying in hospital. She had gone through a traumatic labour and has been sleeping for two days in a coma.

4) A male widower does not want to move on after the death of his wife, he suppresses his memories. Continuing to lead a normal life he creates a perfect image that his wife is still alive. He meets a girl and an affair springs, his wife becomes suspicious and angry and attacks her husband. He is later found in the mental ward leaving the investigators to investigate what truly happened. They are lead into mind boggling situations. A dark and mind boggling thriller. 

5) A perfect husband, perfect wife and home. What could go wrong? The husbands wife dies and he loses himself in drink and despair until he meets a new girl and tries to move on. His wife returns and threatens to kill him and his new girlfriend. He tries to assuming revenge on his wife which leads to drama and tension between the two. She tries to also kill him, but is interrupted when he wakes up to see it was a dream and his wife and him were happy. Or can looks be deceiving?

Chosen Thriller and Plans for the Opening Sequence

As a group we decided to go with idea number 5. We chose this film idea overall because we think we can make a really dramatic opening sequence with tension making it engaging. 

For the opening sequence we plan on starting with a photo montage and it leads to a woman killing her husband, but as he screams and dies he immediately wakes up to notice it was a dream and his wife is alive and happy.

Ideas for our film - what we will include

From my research into the thriller genre I think we will aim to make a psychological or horror thriller which will be rated a 15 certificate. This is because we will need to create tension and suspense which may be too scary for children under the age of 15 to watch. A psychological thriller will not need as many props as an espionage or action film would require, so it is more practical for us to make. Also I personally prefer psychological thrillers and I think it will be interesting to film the opening sequence of one as we can create enigmas and a dark, ominous mood which will make the audience feel tense, like they should in a thriller film. We should try to include dramatic irony and a red herring in the plot as these are typical of thriller films. Psychological thrillers do not usually include a femme fatale and I think it would be difficult to create one anyway so we won't have one in our film. As it is the opening sequence that we need to make we should use a score that will create suspense and tension, either through being contrapuntal so the audience feel on edge or by increasing the pace so tension builds during the sequence.

The butterfly effect (2004) is a psychological thriller which is based upon the idea that a man can travel back in time to spaces of his past and so things differently in an attempt to improve his situation in the present day. He had a troubled childhood with traumatic experiences such as being forced to make child pornography, accidentally killing a woman and her baby, his father trying to kill him and then being killed in
front of him, and then watching his dog be burnt alive. Each time he revisits these traumatic experiences and changes something it has a knock-on affect on someone close to him and so it seems he can never fix everything. This includes the thriller convention of the protagonist in a situation where escape seems impossible, although he is not physically trapped he will never be at peace until everyone is happening, but every choice he makes leaves someone suffering. It is rated a certificate 15 because of the themes included in the film.

Black swan (2010) is a psychological thriller which follows the story of a ballerina who's greatest desire is to play the swan in the ballet swan lake. However when she is not good enough to play both sides she is forced to explore her dark side and eventually loses herself in a battle between good and bad. She has an unhealthy relationship with her mother who has anger issues and resents her daughter as she had to give up her career when she became pregnant with her so she lives her dreams through her daughters life. Many of the scenes in the film are hallucinations and all just from the protagonists twisted mind but the audience does not know this until later in the film. It makes the audience wonder what is real and the film ends leaving many questions unanswered. This is also rated a certificate 15 as it contains disturbing images and themes as well as use of drugs, sexual activity and violence.

Both these films make the audience consider the deeper meaning of the themes and there is more than one way to interpret them. Both end in the death of the protagonist which is controversial as most films have a happy ending. By killing the protagonist at the end it is unexpected as the audience think the film is over so nothing dramatic can happen. Also it goes against the usual conventions of film plots so the audience are surprised and shocked, which is what the thriller genre aims to do.
From these examples I think our film should have an unexpected ending so it leaves the audience feeling tense and shocked. It should make the audience feel tense by exploring deeper meanings to the themes and we should withhold information until later on in the film to make it more complex and to surprise the audience.

Opening sequences

The opening sequence of a film introduces main themes as well as the basic storyline. It is the foundation of knowledge for the audience, so they can have an understanding of what is happening. The opening sequence can introduce characters and establish the mood on the scene, and where indeed the film is set. In mystery thrillers especially it can include flashbacks or scenes from the future, it doesn't necessarily have to be chronological to the rest of the film. These can often create enigmas which the audience will try to solve for the duration of the film. Opening sequences usually include titles and idents, this is just to give recognition to the main production team, director, editor and the main actors. Thrillers sometimes use stand alone opening sequences and title sequences which are separated from the rest of the film. This means later in the film characters can link back to the opening sequence, or it can just be a little background information before the film starts.

The opening sequence for the thriller Se7en (1995) does not introduce any characters, and consists of white titles on a black background, in a sharp font that flashes and looks like scribbly, sketchy handwriting. This indicates the genre of the film and sets the mood. The titles appear in between a montage of shots which use a fading, flashing transition to disorientate the audience. The production team and cast are presented in the same font, and no idents are used because that would dilute the sequence and take away the tense mood created by the titles and sound. As it is the beginning of the film and the audience do not know what happens the images presented appear random and the audience struggles to make sense of what is happening. The score that is playing during the opening sequence develops and gets louder through the sequence, creating suspense as the tension builds. It includes sound effects, some diegetic and some non-diegetic, which make the audience wonder what is happening during this sequence. Some of the sound effects sound like machinery being operated and the score is screechy and sharp. This creates a mood of eeriness and is very edgy, making the audience feel uncomfortable.

Skyfall (2012), the latest 007 James Bond film, has its own song as a score, written by the British singer Adele. The opening sequence incorporates some of the James Bond traditions as well as including images relevant to the film. It begins with a shot of the protagonist sinking in water, so immediately the audience thinks he is in danger. He is wearing his signature suit so he is easily identified as Bond and the shot fades to black, which could symbolise that he is dead. The score is a calm, peaceful piano which contrasts to the severity of the situation. The contrapuntal score makes the audience tense because it creates a mood of hopelessness, as though the protagonist's death is inevitable so it has been accepted and the slow, mellow score is reflecting his fate. The audience do not know how or why he drowned so it is an enigma and possibly foreshadowing for later on in the film. The titles are presented in a neat white font, over the moving images and the first title to appear is the production company followed by the leading actor's name. This gives them recognition as the most important titles in the sequence. There are many images associated with death that appear in the opening sequence such as a cut out of the protagonist as a target which is bleeding, guns, daggers, blood and tomb stones which are all foreshadowing and setting the mood as sorrowful and tragic. The audience will be expecting danger and death in the film later on as it is clearly a key theme. Another character is introduced in the opening sequence, an attractive young woman  who appears quite seductive so she is probably the femme fatale. The flames and fire also suggest destruction as another theme in the film, but the sequence doesn't give away much about the actual storyline.

Psychological thriller Black Swan (2010) uses a piano score of the ballet swan lake during the opening sequence which is a main part of the storyline as it is all based around the protagonist's desire to be in the swan lake. Therefore it is an introduction to the storyline as it suggests to the audience what is the foundation of the plot. It begins with white titles on a black background, giving credit to the production company. This is the only title on a black background and then a fade transition is used to show a close up of a black pastel on plain paper which slowly begins to draw lines. The rest of the titles are in black and they all appear on the shots of the pastel. This makes the first title different and therefore it stands out as more important than the others. The shots continue to fade into each other, showing the same pastel drawing lines on paper which doesn't give anything away from the storyline. As the score gets louder and more fast paced the lines start to be drawn quicker and harder until they appear quite aggressive. This creates tension because it turns from a peaceful, innocent action to a violent, dark activity which accompanied by the harsher score turns the mood quite ominous.

From this research we will probably include a main title that appears first and is slightly different to the other titles which follow. This will be the production company (which we will make up ourselves) and will possibly appear in a different colour to the other titles to emphasise the superiority of it compared to the rest. Also the score we have in our opening sequence should develop during the sequence to become more upbeat and fast paced. This will build tension and suspense as the audience will anticipate the climax. It is unlikely that our opening sequence will include dialogue as that often makes the mood less tense, but if we do include dialogue it will be brief. We will attempt to include foreshadowing or hints of the key themes in the story so the audience will have some sort of expectation of what is likely to happen in the film.

Opeing Sequences.

What are opening sequences?

Opening sequences help to set the rest of the film because at the very start what we see already starts to set up enigmas. these enigmas create tension and mystery because we are drawn in already questioning what will happen and what we see in the opening sequence is linked to the rest of the film.

All opening sequences can vary depending on how they want to portray the film. They all have the film title incorporated one way or another. it its usually followed by a brief credits not like the ones at the end of a film. They do this  to introduce they main cast of the film and the key people who were involved int he production such as the director, producers etc. The opening sequence usually sets the scene for the audience telling them key information as well as what to expect from the film. opening sequences often use colour to set the mood of the film. Two common colours often used are black and white. The use if these two colours contrast against one another. In the film London to Brighton White on Black is used to show the title of the film.

 

Some film franchise often use the same opening sequence to show their main credits. Many people are immediately able to know what kind of film it is. An example of this would be the James Bond films. 

 

 An Opening sequence and credits from the 1962 Bond film Dr, No.

 A 2006 Bond Casino Royale uses the same opening credit sequence to introduce actors as part of their main opening sequence.

Different structures are used across different opening sequences such as a non linear narrative. The us of a non linear narrative which sets up many enigmas and they intrigue the audience making them more engaged.