Individual Narrative - Miss Georgiou

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. 

My individual narrative is conventional to a thriller film as the victim is a young child which is typical of a thriller film. Also if the audience members have children they will be able to relate to the film more, and their thrill will therefore be enhanced. My narrative is also set in a house which is a conventional location for a thriller film, and I have incorporated the iconography of a knife, which is a conventional weapon seen in thriller films. Within my narrative I would also use a vast amount of low-key lighting which is conventional to a thriller film as it creates an eerie, frightening atmosphere. This would therefore also enhance the viewers experience while watching the film. Throughout my narrative I will also employ a number of high angle and low angle shots to convey to the audience the state of power of the characters in the particular scene. This is conventional as these shots are incorporated into thriller films to help the audience understand the film in more detail and so they are aware of the role of the characters. At the end of my narrative it will be set in an orphanage which is another conventional location seen in thriller films. It is a location where children are staying and therefore increases the audiences suspense levels and will feel realistic to them. 

My individual narrative will appeal to my target audience of 15 and over because of the conventions I have used throughout. The use of the young boy character is easily relatable for audience members and therefore their thrill will be enhanced, which will in result make them want to watch the film. My narrative will also be appealing for this age group as rather than including a lot of blood, gore and explicit violence I will incorporate more shock, surprise and suspense. Therefore if the viewers are of the younger age of the target audience, what they witness will be suitable and will not harm them in any way.