Initial Idea’s
Idea 1: Slasher Synopsis: A Character who is evidently mentally ill, escapes from a secluded building, likely to be an asylum or hospital ward. He begins to plan a number of murders, targeting those who have not been punished for the crimes they have committed. This will include a sequence of fast paced shots with photographs, maps and cut outs of newspapers, similar to that of the opening scene of se7en. There may be a backstory behind his intentions, perhaps he believes the police are useless and cannot take care of criminals because of a bad past experience with them. With a brutal and slightly disturbed attitude, he ruthlessly films himself murdering victims with a camera phone and then blogs it on social media. However the audience will not see this as our age rating will be 15, so there will be frequent cutaways from such violence. His warped nature, allows him to believe that his actions are just and heroic as he is inducing the punishment in which they, as criminals, rightly deserve. His weapon choice varies but usually consists of a sharp, handheld item that is readily available such as knives or hammers. Mis-en-scene, costume, will consist of black attire, similar to that of criminals themselves which is ironic as he believes he is paying a ‘debt to society’ by killing these people. He appears unkempt, scruffy and deranged as a result of his mental instability whereas his victims will be dressed in pale, innocent colours, perhaps suggesting that these people were never actually criminals and their unlawful actions were just a figment of his imagination.
Location:
A small building that could resemble a hospital or asylum, for example a house in a secluded terrain as such buildings are often situated in the countryside, away from city life. A Shed or garage where he plots his murders. (Millie’s garage)
A range of houses, on normal looking estates to resemble the victim’s houses. (Niamh’s, Matts, Millie’s and Olivia’s houses, just a single room where the murder takes place)
Props:
Weaponry (Knives and hammers), Newspaper cut outs, letters, photographs, maps, string, pins (to pinpoint the murders), pens.
Idea 2: Psychological Synopsis: The main character is a blonde, young looking woman who is moving into a new house. As she begins to unpack the boxes and place her valuables around the house, she finds a photo of a Victorian looking young woman holding a candle in a church like setting within her box containing her own photographs. Confused and slightly scared by the sinister looking photograph, she drops it into the box and quickly forgets about it as she continues hanging her own photographs onto the wall. She later realises the photograph is hanging on the fireplace and has no recollection of placing it there herself. She disposes of the photograph, tossing it into the bin. Soon after strange endeavours begin to take place and eerie noises like footsteps and doors slamming occur frequently. When the photograph reappears on the wall once again, the terrified woman realises the girl within the photograph has changed positions. Rubbing her eyes in shock she once again notices that the girl in the photograph has moved. Everytime the character looks away the girl moves forward, firstly turning her face before actually taking steps towards the woman. From closer observation, its evident that the girl is mentally unstable and is thus wearing a nightie as does a stereotypical patient.
Perhaps within the Victorian age, when the understanding of mental illness was limited, the woman may be in the church because of a religious exorcism or attempt to remove the ‘devil’ from the young woman. The last seen movement of the girl in the photograph is a close up where the whites of her eyes are seen but her iris is not. There is a sudden smash of glass in the house and the audience see a smashed vase on the floor, the camera then pans to a puddle of blood on the floor followed by the shot of a white nightie quickly floating past.
Location: An empty looking house (Matt’s grandparents are away travelling so their house is free and empty)
Props: Boxes which indicate moving house, scissors, vase, flowers, photo frames with photographs in, photo frames for the main photograph, photograph of the scary looking girl, blood, white nightie, candle holder, candles, dark eye make up.
Idea 3: Psychological Synopsis: Firstly we see a montage opening of shots that indicate a crime scene, such as police tape and broken glass. The main character, a young woman wakes up and engages in everyday, routinely ordeals, like getting dressed and making a cup of tea. When she walks past the mirror in the bathroom the audience will realise that there was no reflection of the character within the mirror, however she will cease to notice. As she walks into town, she begins to feel isolated and confused, exemplified by the use of the green screen. We will attempt to film people walking fastly in the town and vehicle’s speeding along the road and use this as the background on the green screen. Whereas we will film the young woman separately, looking lost, confused and walking evidently slower in front of the fast paced background. She walks through a puddle realising that she doesn’t have a reflection or a splash and starts to become frightened. Other unexplainable, eerie events occur as she walks from town back to her house, for example; many people do not notice her and act as though she is invisible. As she appears distressed and emotional, a series of shots from throughout the day flash in reverse, rewinding the day until she is back in bed again that same morning. With a tilt down from the first shot we see in the film, we realise that the characters wrists are slit and the police tape was there because of her suicide. This means the young woman has not actually been alive throughout the whole day and thus the film is non-linear.
Location: Normal house such as Niamh’s, The town (Haverhill) Props: Police tape, fake blood, mirrors, duvet (which is able to be stained with blood, broken glass, body bag, Green screen