Liam Woodgate

AS Media Thriller Opening sequence

Proposal
Once we had committed to our idea it was time to write it down in its entirety
with everything from the props, group roles and target audience outlined in a
simple easy to read manner. Mind maps are all well and good, but they can be
difficult to read and get the most of an idea from, so here I will be explaining
each core aspect of the video in its entirety.

Idea summary:
Our idea is simple: a group of teenagers are being stalked by a member of their
own group, the group are out partying and having a lot of fun while drinking and
taking drugs, some members of the group are lightly into drinking and taking
drugs, others are reluctant and only drink they take no drugs and one of the
group is heavy into drinking and drugs and they keep talking about being stalked
and followed each group member passes them off as paranoid and a bit sensitive
because of their drinking and drug habit. However, unbeknownst to the rest of
the group one of them is the stalker and has been with them the entire time.
So thats the idea in a quite a large nutshell, its quite simple and conventional
for the genre but there is a lot that is imaginative and hasnt been done before or
in a long time. People will try to brush this off as a horror thriller but its more,
this is designed to be a suspenseful piece with slow camera movements and long
takes for dramatic effect.

Our target audience and how we will appeal to them:

Our target audience is the late teens from 15-18 year olds and possibly older, we
took a sample in the form of a focus group and asked questions relevant to our
project to see what they liked and how we could improve our idea. They gave us
very useful feedback like how original our idea was and this was all incorporated
into the summary, we believe that we can appeal to the target audience with the
inclusion of things that they can be regularly exposed to on a day to day basis.
Because the idea is set in the aftermath of a party, the group are likely to be or
have been drinking or taking drugs, we included this because it was some of the
comments that our target audience made when we interviewed them as the
focus group. After agreeing with both our own ideas and each other we thought it
was necessary to have these stereotypes included to try and appeal to the target
audience a little more.
Its good not to rely on just the target audience because it is important to try and
appeal to a wider array of people, it may be an effective idea to include things
that could appeal to other ages but keeping the overall target audience as the
main standard but we have subtle references or conventions that can appeal to
many different ages above our suggested range.

Group roles:
As a group we each assigned roles as a loose framework for the production
schedule, I took on the role of producer because I was writing the proposal,

Liam Woodgate
AS Media Thriller Opening sequence
script, character casting and the permissions for filming. Joshua took on the role
of director because he was taking on the costumes, props and equipment, any
technical diagrams for camerawork and the location recce and risk assessment.
Emma took on the role of camera person because she took on roles that would
be useful to use when she is helping us film the video, these pieces of work are:
location ideas, shot list, shooting schedule and test camera shots. Callum took on
the role of editor however we will all be editing the footage he will just take on
the bulk of it, his work details the titles, audio clips and their permissions and the
call sheet.

Characters:
The film will consist of mainly 5 characters that grow increasingly more
concerned over the course of the film, there will be the two stereotypical
teenagers who are wearing the stereotypical hoodie and tracksuits, and they will
be into drugs and alcohol. At the back will be the sort of voice of reason, they will
be wearing clothes that make them sees conscious of their own looks but they
will not look out of place with the other characters, they will be reluctant to drink
and take drugs but they may do it a little bit. The final character will be heavy
into drugs and alcohol, they will dress strangely with bright colours and styles
but they will not look too out of place, they will be the paranoid and scared
person who is constantly talking about being stalked and followed.

Locations:
The desired location for the opening sequence is meant to be secluded and out
of the way to set up a feeling of isolation for the characters and the scenes, one
place that I think is perfect is a set of chalk cliffs not too far out in the country,
we could have the characters sitting on top of the cliffs for the first part of the
sequence when they are talking to each other and drinking/taking drugs, they
will leave and then the group will split triggering the next sequence which will
take place a little closer to town nearby some woods or even in a street to show
the helplessness of them as they get stalked and killed.

Costumes/props:
As mentioned before, the characters will dress differently from each other but
their props will be different from each other, some of the props will be bottles
and cans indicating alcohol has been consumed, maybe a fold up chair, bags for
drugs (obviously they will be fake) and probably phones, watches, bracelets,
rings, random bits of paper in pockets, food, personal items like wallets, purses,
bags and money.
These are all props that are stereotypical for the characters that will be using
them, bottles and cans for alcohol and drugs have already been established by
the setting and the summary of the film, so we dont have to justify our choices
too much, phones and watches are a given because nearly everyone has a
mobile phone these days and IPhones are probably the most popular, we can
also establish the background for each of the characters using these tacky, so
to speak, props. E.g. the more stereotypical teens can have an older or less
expensive phone to show their economic background and the more sensible

Liam Woodgate
AS Media Thriller Opening sequence
teens can have newer more expensive phones like IPhones to show that they
come from a richer background.

Soundtracks:
Soundtracks will likely be more for atmospheric purposes only meaning that we
wont have an overabundance of soundtrack to make it seem too suspenseful,
its good to remember that silence is also a sound and having a lot of effective
silences can really help a production seem far more atmospheric than usual.
The soundtracks that we do include will be short pieces used just for certain
points to give the narrative a push in the right direction to give a higher
suspense and awe for the audience. If our prelims taught us anything its that too
much soundtrack is too much for the audience, we didnt have any sound issues
with the prelim, but we used silence effectively with build-up and suspense which
is why we did so well.

Effects:
Effects will likely be minimal; we have little need for things like pyrotechnics or
gunshot effects because these things will not be in the film because it is
unneeded. This is not an action film it a suspense driven narrative that will
express the human emotions and fears, in fact thinking about it there isnt a
need for any effects like green screen or computer generated effects either
because everything can be filmed on location on our own doorsteps, pretty
much, which means that the need for effects practical or otherwise is a little
bit unnecessary for the video we are creating.