Narrative Structure

Narrative Structure by danielleconneely on Scribd

Planning Brief

Planning Brief

Project Name:

Pursue

Length:

2 minutes

Group Members and their roles:

Soraya Arghandawi-Director

Danielle Conneely-Camerawoman

Soraya Arghandawi and Danielle Conneely-Editor & Sound

Outline:  The opening sequence starts with close up shot of Sarah putting a bottle of vodka into her bag and checking up on her little sister Lilly who is asleep in her bed.

Sarah then gets a call and walks out the house leaving Lilly home alone on a summer’s evening. A kidnapper sneaks into the house searching for Lilly, leaving the 8 year old to face her worst nightmare; taken from the comfort of her home.

Target Audience:

The target audience for our production is age 12-35, we aimed for our film to appeal to both genders because we believed that thriller is a genre that is enjoyed and watched by both males and females equally. The reason the lowest age is 12 for the target audience is because there are some scenes that younger viewers may find upsetting; an example of this is when Lilly is scared hiding from the kidnapper, there is no violence in the sequence and so the certification can’t be any older than this. We also decided it would be better to target to a young adult audience because they tend to watch more thriller films and most of the characters are young adults too so it would be more relatable for that target audience.

Comparable Products:

Whilst we were arranging our production I explored the codes and conventions in thriller films and the target audience they tend to aim towards.  I researched different thriller films that had done well and considered into different plots for thrillers.  I analysed the opening sequence for The Call to see the technical aspects that were used and researched into different credits used and took inspiration from this when designing the credits for our production.

Rationale:

The rationale behind our production is to educate audience’s on child abduction as this is becoming a major situation worldwide and yearly thousands of children go missing from their homes and family faced with horrible circumstances. We wanted to educate audiences on keeping their children safe and never leaving them home alone or unattended.

Representation in the text:

From the beginning of the sequence it is clear to the audience who the victim is, this is because Lilly is shown asleep in her bed when her sister goes to check up on her connoting her as being innocent and vulnerable to the audience and that making it evident something bad is going to happen to her. This is a stereotype as usually children are frail and defenceless in thriller films and accustomed to threat, however it could also be seen as a counter-type as in more recent modern thriller's children are shown as more independent and bolder.

Success/Intended effect:

To see whether our production would appeal to an audience we will show it to members of our target audience and ask for their feedback on whether they though it was successful or not and record the results through a post questionnaire. Also, as we will be uploading the final production on YouTube people can comment feedback and also like or dislike the video.

Generic codes and conventions:

In our sequence there is a clear narrative of equilibrium at the beginning as Lilly is shown comfortable in her bed and a disruption to the equilibrium which is a convention of a thriller film plot, the disequilibrium in the sequence is when the kidnapper gets into the house. Often in thriller films a convention is kids are accustomed to threat while men are depicted as protagonists this is shown in our sequence as the target is a child who is abducted. Likewise the identity of the antagonist is not exposed in the whole sequence to produce an enigma for the audience.

Overt Messages:

The overt message in our production is that we cannot trust everyone in our lives.

Hidden Messages:

The subtle message represented in our film is to always be cautious because things may seem joyful but you never know what could happen in the future, as in our sequence it starts of as a typical scene which then turns into a distressing storyline on a child getting kidnapped.

Budget:

The overall budget for the production came up to £27.80 as this included props, travel fees, food and drinks.

Pitch

Meeting Notes: Week 2

Meeting Notes: Week 2 by soraya on Scribd

Genre Research

Genre Research by danielleconneely on Scribd

Production Brief

Production Brief

Preliminary Task: Continuity exercise.

Main Task: Opening Sequence of a thriller/drama film.

Theoretical Understanding: the language of film, creating meaning through moving images, narrative and representation, action and enigma, establishing realism and verisimilitude, mise en scene, genre and layers of interpretation. 

Brainstorm

Treatment

Treatment by danielleconneely on Scribd

Meeting Notes: Week 1

Meeting Notes: Week 1 by soraya on Scribd

Production Schedule

Production Schedule by danielleconneely on Scribd

Preliminary Task