Group Narrative - Miss Georgiou

Group Narrative

Myself and my two group members each created our own individual narratives. We then analysed what we had wrote and produced advantages and disadvantages for each.

My individual narrative

My idea for a narrative for our thriller follows a theme of revenge and jealousy. A family, consisting of the mother, father, and two sons aged 6 and 15, move into a new suburban house. They lead a happy and normal life until the parents begin to hear talking from the younger sons room at night, because of this they go into the younger sons room to see who he is talking to and are faced with the reality that he is asleep. This shocks them. The talking at night continues but the parents are unaware of what is actually happening behind his bedroom door. The young boy is actually exposed to the on goings of the family who lived there before that were murdered by the estranged father, in their sleep. They enter the little boys bedroom every night and at first he was petrified until they possessed him so that he was on their side because of the fact they want the family out and their house back.The young boys family notice a difference with the boy when he stops eating, interacting with his family members and is always locked up in his room, so they begin to worry.

The story line comes to the climax when the murdered family tell the young boy in his sleep that he must murder his own family so that they can get their house back. The boy then wakes up in the night with the mindset that he has to murder his family and therefore progresses to their rooms. However the older brother is awake and hears the younger boys bedroom door open, and the footsteps of him moving towards the stairs. But he ignores it. The little boy then walks to the kitchen to get a knife then makes his way back upstairs to his parents bedroom. The older son then hears his footsteps again as he walks up the stairs, and peers out his bedroom to see what his brother is doing. Then he is faced with the sight of his little brother holding a knife progressing towards his parents bedroom. His brother reacts fast and tries to stop him but in the process is killed himself, the little boy then carries on into his parents room and kills them in their sleep.

The little boy then walks back into his bedroom and gets back in bed when he is awoken by a policeman who has to break the news that his family have been murdered. The little boy remembers nothing. He is then taken to an orphanage. A police investigation is carried out which lasts 5 years until they realise it was the young boy himself. However by the time they get to the orphanage the little boy had killed himself as he had been depressed and hated being so alone. He also had to live with the fact he no longer had a family, yet he did not know he was the one who killed them.

During the beginning of my thriller film it will be set in a suburban house. I will use low key lighting when the little boy is in bed. I will also use a close up shot of his face to show his expressions which portrays to the audience that he is asleep. As well as when the little boy is in bed I will use low key lighting when he is communicating with the murdered family to evoke the sense of mystery and fright upon the audience, and to also distort their identities. When the little boy begins to change his behaviour I will use dark make up around his eyes to convey the lack of sleep he is having.

During the build up to the climax and the actual climax of the film I will use angled shots to show the state of power the characters have. When the child is being possessed I will use a low angle shot to convey that the family have more power over the little boy. Then when the little boy progresses to kill his family I will use a another low angle shot but to show that he now has a high level of power over his family who will become the victims. I will include iconography into my film as the little boy will carry a knife, the knife I would use would be reasonable big and therefore the audience will feel uncomfortable and will expect the occurrence of death. The little boy will then kill his brother and parents so the viewers would be presented with the sight of blood and in result their experience will be extremely realistic.

Towards the end of the film the setting will change to an orphanage where the little boy has been taken. I will use high angle shots to show that he no longer has any power and that he is now alone and vulnerable. In my film I wont allow the audience to witness the little boy killing himself, instead I will use a high angle zooming in shot of his body once the police reach the orphanage to surprise the audience and shock them with will increase their suspense as to what will happen now.

One advantage of my individual narrative is that the narrative I have chosen is conventional to a thriller film, and I have included generic conventions that I would employ into it. Another advantage is that most aspects of my narrative are realistic to include in our opening, for example, the setting of the house and being able to obtain the different range of characters. One disadvantage of my narrative however is that the setting I have chosen is typical to a thriller film, however I believe it would still create an impact on the audience as from our questionnaire we found that a house was the most popular location for a thriller film to take place.

Danniellas' Individual Narrative

My idea for a narrative for our thriller is about two teenage girls who have lost a friend in a car crash and after a year anniversary of her death and mysterious paranormal activity happening to them they both realize she is haunting them both and maybe blaming them for her death, the girls also see flashbacks of how she was killed even though they weren't there to witness it. Eventually one of the girls is possessed by their late friends spirit. During these scenes there will be shadows and low key lighting to create a suspense atmosphere which is conventional to a Thriller film.

Setting:

There will be three different settings throughout the Thriller, they are an isolated school, a deserted forest and the friends house. When the girls find out they are both witnessing spooky paranormal activity it will be set in an isolated school toilets. Their friend was killed in a deserted forest lane and there was no trace of anything happening which creates mystery and shocks the audience as to why there is no trace of a murder and if there ever was an accident? The girls end up in their friends house where they experience some paranormal activity which leaves the audience tense as to what is going to happen. 

Beginning:

The Thriller will begin with a flashback of the car crash in a spooky, deserted and dark forest lane (low key lighting) which left a teenage girl dead, it will then cut to a split scene with two other teenage girls waking up in fear as they've had a nightmare which is the vision of their friend being killed. During this opening scene there will be low key lighting which will create an effect of a dim, creepy atmosphere, the non-diegetic sound of noises that come from the forest to add a dramatic effect within the audience and also diegetic sound of heavy breathing when the girls are having a nightmare and screams when they wake up in shock and fear this will create a tension within the audience and also are generic conventions towards a thriller.

Middle:

The middle of the Thriller will consist of two different settings, the school toilets and the forest. During the middle of the Thriller there will be a scene in the isolated school toilets where the two girls start talking about their paranormal experiences and tell each other about the occurring nightmare they both keep having which is a flashback of their friends murder even though they weren't there to witness the accident which has made them more scared. There will be close up shots during these scenes to see the fear and shock in the girls faces which will create suspense within the audience. They end up agreeing they should visit the forest lane where their friend got killed which creates a tension within the audience in itself as they're visiting the scene of a murder which is conventional towards a Thriller as something bad would usually happen.

The girls are in the forest trying to find the spot where their friend was killed; they hear noises (non diegetic) and they decide to see where the noise is coming from, this creates a suspension. The sound they hear leads them to the lane where their friend was killed and then their friends ghost appears and says shes been blaming them for her death and that is why shes been haunting them through their dreams and if they don't find her killer she threatens them by showing them she'll hurt their family, (there will be faded shots and split scenes and close ups to show the audience the scene from the characters point of view).

End:

The end of the Thriller the spirit of the girl possesses both of the friends which will make the audience uncomfortable, one of the girls who was possessed then dies which is conventional to a Thriller as there's always a murder. Meanwhile, the other friend was left in the forest on her own and was never seen again, this will be shown in the credits at the end.

An advantage of Danniellas' individual narrative is the use of the female characters. This is typical of a thriller film and therefore portrays how females are seen as the innocent, vulnerable victims. Also the use of three different locations provides a variation for the audience and may frighten them as they will be led to believe paranormal happenings can occur in these normal locations. A disadvantage of her narrative is that it would be hard to locate and film a car crash happening. Therefore this is a very unrealistic aspect of a thriller opening that we would of hoped to create.

Daisys' Individual Narrative

Narrative background

A group of 3 girls who have known each other since they were little meet after not seeing each other for 5 years after leaving school. However, they were not always friends. Kate and Louise sometimes played tricks on Beth which made her want to get revenge on them. Beth was diagnosed with schizophrenia and the voices in her head told her to torture them both then kill them and hide the evidence...

The beginning

We first see flashbacks of Kate and Louise bullying Beth when they were small. Beth was very sensitive and was badly effected by it. Makes us feel sympathetic towards her. They all left school on good terms as they apologised if they had ever upset her. We then see Beth diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 18, after she had lost contact with Kate and Louise. After, (3 years later on her 21st birthday) we see an extreme close-up of Beth's eye after waking up in the middle of the night. We then hear the voices she is hearing in her head, telling her she should never have forgiven the girls for the damage they had caused. The voices say they wouldn't be there if it wasn't for Kate and Louise. Beth decides to organise to see them both... she wants revenge. They meet in a club that night to celebrate her birthday and decide to go on to another after having a good time. But then, whilst waiting for a cab Beth offers Kate and Louise the drug Perteniam which she says would make them feel good. Beth does not take any but pretends she does disguising another tablet for one. Kate and Louise begin to hallucinate and as the audience we can witness how they feel with out-of-focus camera shots (inspiration from Saw) The cab comes and Kate and Louise stumble in, unaware that their next destination is not a club but an abandoned house. 

The middle

They arrive at the house in an eerie forest and Beth pays the concerned driver then drags her sleepy friends out. The cab pulls away and Beth makes sure it is gone before blindfolding them and tying up their arms together whilst they are asleep. She drags the attatched bodies into the house but they wake up and notice that they are restricted. They begin to scream. Beth tells them to be quiet and follow her instructions or she will kill them in the most painful way possible. Beth stabs Kate several times and makes Louise watch. Sadistic method. Beth gets pleasure from seeing Kate in physical pain and Louise mentally distressed.  Louise manages to get the knife off of Beth and stabs her then escapes from the house whilst Beth is slowly dieng next to Kate's dead body.

The end

Louise tries to find her way home but the house is abandoned and in a seclusive and rural location. No phone signal. No way of communicating to anyone for help. She gives up hope but then a cab pulls up beside her and the man acts as if he will help her and take her home. After Louise gets in the cab, the audience find out that the man who claims he will help her is actually the man who took them to the house in the first place and is in with the act with Beth! He locks her in the boot of the cab after tying her hands and feet together so she cannot escape. The cab driver then drives back to the house to find Kate and Beth's corpse on the blood stained floorboards. He panics and calls the police, forgetting that he has Louise in his car boot! The police arrive and find no evidence that he was involved in the murders of the girls... but then they find Louise. It ends on a cliff-hanger with the cab driver and Louise in court. A split-screen of a close-up of their faces. Voiceover of the court judge sentencing speech. The audience decides what happens for themselves.

Advantages about Daisys' individual narrative are that it is typical of the thriller genre and has iconography that is easy to obtain. However, definite disadvantages of her narrative is the locations would be difficult to source, the actors would be challenging to find and particular scenes would be hard to edit. My group have taken all of this into account and it has made us think about how we can take aspects of each of our individual narratives to influence our groups final narrative. 

We than had a group discussion to decide a final narrative for our thriller film opening. We chose different aspects of each others narratives and joined them together to create our final group narrative. From my own narrative we took the base idea of the nightmare and the fact the character was a young child. The use of this character is conventional to a thriller as a young child in danger feels realistic to the audience and therefore increases their experience while watching. Additionally, from Daisys' narrative we have used the idea of a character taking a pill which causes drastic side effects. The use of this idea is not a typical aspect of a thriller film and therefore we are exploring different ideas. Lastly, from Danniellas' narrative we have used the locations of the forest and house. This is because through our research we found that these were the two most popular locations and therefore including them in our opening would also enhance the viewers experience.

Our thriller film opening will start with there being two children, a brother and sister in the location of their home. The brother, who has schizophrenia, gives his sister an unknown pill to take before they go to bed. This portrays the convention of a vulnerable, young girl being the victim and therefore creates suspense upon the audience. A split screen shot of the brother and sister asleep in their separate beds, in separate rooms, from a high angle, is then employed. The two shots will then zoom in, in sync, to their eyes. A dissolving shot will then be used on both characters to show how the audience are being taken into their dreams. The dissolving shot will be of their eyes and the nightmare together, and the audience are presented with the fact both characters are experiencing the same nightmare.

The nightmare will be set in a forest where the young girl is being chased by her brother, but at the start she is unaware it is him as he is wearing a mask. Low key lighting will be employed here and the use of diegetic sound, when the audience hear the crunching of their footsteps as they run through the forest across the leaves, and the screams of the young girl. We also will use fast-paced editing and a number of straight cuts to provide the audience with a chaotic atmosphere. As well as this we will incorporate a handheld shot to convey to the audience the young girls point of view when running through the forest, and therefore the audience will feel frightened as the event feels extremely realistic to them. The brother, who is wearing a mask, manages to catch up with the sister and the audience are provided with a close up shot of the knife he is carrying. He then restrains his sister and repeatedly attempts to stab her but she constantly tries to pull herself away. In result her brother ends up stabbing her in the cheek. At this point of the nightmare we will flash back to a split screen of the children in bed, showing their reaction during the event.

Once the audience are returned to the nightmare they are shown a high angle shot of the young girl lying on the floor covered in blood with her brother standing over her. We will then employ a point of view shot of the girl which will be out of focus as she drops in and out of consciousness. The brother believes she is dead and therefore removes his mask, however she manages to make out his identity and at this point they both awake from their dream. The young girl immediately looks in the mirror and still witnesses the horrific gash on her face, and therefore this causes her to throw up. She then looks back again but this time it is gone. The nightmare impacts on both children as she is scared for her life, and because the brother is schizophrenic, he panics and easily becomes possessed by the nightmare he experienced. Because of this, we will add dark make-up around the boys eyes to portray how he is not himself and therefore the audience will suspect this, which in result will raise their suspense and anticipation levels.

An advantage of our group narrative is the use of different camera shots and generic conventions which are conventional to the thriller genre. Also the use of the female victim and how we incorporated out questionnaire results into choosing our location. A disadvantage of our narrative however, is that we have not explored any new ideas and have not broke any conventions to make our thriller opening unique.