Ideas for Kidnapping Note

These are some ideas for Mr Pratts Kidnapping Letter
Missing Someone?
Now YOU know how i feel?
i will be in touch.

By now your Precious daughter has been taking by me. You see im going to do to her what you put my daughter through Doctor.
Do not do anything until you hear from me again.

Wednesday 18th More Filming

Finally we shot the last car scenes! Which were an over the shoulder shot of the Mr Pratt sitting in the front of the car tapping the steering wheel. This is to symbolised he is waiting for Heidi to leave from school. Through the front window the audience can see where Heidi is going to leave school and Mr Pratt glances in that direction. The way he is tapping his hand creates a tense atmosphere as it represents him being impatience and re-enforces the idea that he is waiting for someone.

Wednesday 18th Editing

We then spend a period editing what we had done so far and realised that the last shots of the mobile phone screen were not very good. This was because the camera was shaking as we did not use a tripod and also because of the direction of the sun, the light of the camera and the camera itself was reflected in the screen.

Wednesday 18th

Today we began filming our thriller openings. Due to the good weather and timing we began by shooting all of the shots that include the car and Mr Pratt. The first shot was difficult as it required Mr Pratt driving on the main road and parking near by school. This meant not only did we have to make sure we achieved the correct shot with our actors but also had to look out for oncoming traffic. Within this scene we originally was going to have Mr Pratt drag Heidi into the car using a series of fast rapid cut shots to represent unexpected event to create tension for the viewer. However this was a difficult to achieve and as we had limited time and the location of the shot meant we changed to having a cut to a close up of Heidi’s feet being dragged into the car. This was a very effective shot as it portrayed the conventions of a thriller by creating dramatic tension. We then shot a close up to show Heidi’s facial expression to demonstrate her reaction as the kidnapper approaches her.
We then shot a close up of her mobile (which she dropped when she was been kidnapped) the screen showing her dad ringing. This would be are final shot.

Monday 16th

We experimented and explored the best ways to shoot the scenes in the bungalow. We set up the camera at the end of the hallway facing the door and when the character comes out of the kitchen you get a clear long shot of him walking and picking up the letter from the mat. A problem that occurred was how to go from a long shot to a close up of him holding the letter. We tested out different methods such as cuts and also zoom from the long shot to the close up. Also we questioned the position of the character should he walk away from the door and continue to open the letter in the hallway or kitchen or should he remain by the front door?

Storyboards

Extra Shots

We passed a deserted boarded up house. If we were to add any extra shots of the location of where Mr Pratt brings Heidi after he kidnaps her. This would be a possible choice as it has many conventions of the Thriller genre. It is intimidating, alone and empty, the audience will relate to this place as dangerous. Possible Shots could be longs shots at night as darkness creates a sinister and tense atmosphere.

( Pictures by Anam, Natalie and Christine)

Possible Location

We were going to use gate as where Heidi exits from school as the mise-en-scene is more appropriate as you can see the school buildings better. However the cars parked in the front are unnecessary and not needed in the shot. The previous location was a better choice as it is isolated but the viewer might not realise it is school grounds. We solved this problem as there was a school sign on the side of the gate which we included in the mid shots of Heidi waiting so the audience recognises it is school.

Locations

This Location is where Heidi exits from school. At this location we had a long shot of Heidi coming out of the gate and waiting to be picked up from school. Here is where Mr Pratt forces Heidi into his car. Problems with this locations are that it is by the main road and there is oncoming traffic which we had to be aware of.
It is a good location as it is isolated and quite deserted as there is not many people around. This further enhance the suspense as it present Heidi as being completely alone and Vulnerable.

Character Representation

Mr Pratt
Sartorial Codes:
Dark clothing to reflect his shady and sinister persona. Quite casually dressed and normal. His appearance is quite average, it makes his actions seem more horrific to the audience as it appeals to their primal fears as the murder does not stand out and could be anyone.
Personality:
On the outside he presents himself as regular which will be demonstrated in the car scenes when he is waiting for Heidi. The audience doesn’t know he is waiting to kidnap her so we will use non diegetic sound to create suspense. On the inside his rage is all contained and his angry is building up. It comes a climax when he is violently drags Heidi into the car.

Dr Tamworth
Sartorial Codes:
Suit or formal wear to suggest he is getting ready for work and represents he is professional.
Personality:
He is kind loving father and always felt the need to help others so became a surgeon

Heidi
Sartorial Codes:
Either school Uniform to visually suggest she has just finished school or casual wear.
Personality:
Ordinary teenager. However she is going to be portrayed as valuable and scared as the audience only sees her as she is being kidnapped.

Treatment-Final

This is our final Treatment

Dr Tamworth is a highly qualified Surgeon, responsible for saving hundreds of lives throughout his career. Three years ago he was not able to save a girl’s life during a complicated operation. Emily, fifteen years old, dies on the operating table. Emily is the only daughter of Mr. Pratt, who had already lost his wife in a tragic car accident. As a result of the two deaths, Mr. Pratt has a mental breakdown, which leads him to become a patient at Springfield Hospital. Mr. Pratt, grieving the loss of his wife and child he loved, believes Dr Tamworth was the cause of his daughter Emily’s death. Overcome with anger and hatred Mr. Pratt spent his time in Springfield hospital plotting to avenge the death of his daughter. Mr. Pratt knew that Dr Tamworth also had a daughter the same age as his own that went to the local secondary school.

One morning, as Dr Tamworth is at home preparing for his shift at the Hospital, he receives an unmarked threatening letter, through the letter box.

Dr Tamworth’s daughter Heidi is finishing school, waiting by the school gates when a car quickly pulls towards her and she is dragged into the car.

Mr. Pratt has formulated a plan to kidnap Heidi and using a recreated operating theatre in an abandoned house, torments Dr Tamworth’s daughter to satisfy his revenge. Dr Tamworth worried if he gets the police involved then Mr. Pratt would kill his daughter so tried to find out the location of his daughter on his own. Receiving more letters unknowably from Mr. Pratt suggesting the location of his daughter. He finds Heidi and calls the police, but when they reach the abandoned house Mr. Pratt is know where to be found. Dr Tamworth returns home with Heidi safe. However later that evening they receive another letter, “This isn’t over” it reads.

By Natalie

Treatment-Draft

This is the draft I made for our treatment

Mr Tamworth is a highly qualified doctor who a few years ago incidentally wasn’t able to save a young girls life during an operation, Emily, who is the only daughter of Mr Pratt who had already lost his wife in tragic car accident. Mr Pratt went through traumatic incidents which lead him to become a mental patient at Springfield Hospital.
One day Mr Pratt escapes from the hospital, he had spent his entire time at Springfield’s coming up with ideas to get his revenge on Mr Tamworth as he believes was to blame for Emily’s death. Later that day Mr Pratt goes to Mr Tamworth’s house posting a threatening letter. Knowing that Mr Tamworth has a daughter of his own he had had the perfect plan to kidnap his daughter Heidi.
Heidi is a bright young girl who attends Burntwood School. After school that day, not realising, Mr Pratt is waiting outside for Heidi. As he pulls up near the gates and pulls Heidi in the car whilst she picks up her phone call from her dad, but doesn’t get a chance to listen to what he has to say.
Mr Pratt takes Heidi to a deserted building where he threatens to kill her. He makes Heidi call her dad and tell him to come to the deserted building but if the police come he would kill Heidi. However Mr Pratt still wants to kill Heidi in front of Mr Tamworth like he had to watch his daughter die.
Mr Tamworth turns up with the police and medical nurses that take Mr Pratt back to Springfield Hospital.

By Anam Nasir

Audience Research

To help us expand the perceptive of our target audience, we designed and handed out a questionnaire to 20 people asking them psychographic and demographic questions based on the Thriller genre.
Below are the results of the questionnaires we produced to help us gain an understanding of what appeals to our target audience. Our production piece is a certificate 15 so we aimed our questioned at 15 to 24 year olds.



From our results the majority of people we asked considered suspense to be the main element to make a really good thriller. This has shown us that we need to focus on creating suspense as a convention of our thriller to keep our audience engaged.


The outcome of this question has come to a conclusion that the majority of our target audience prefer Medical thrillers. This persuaded us to make our production piece a medical thriller.

We also asked our audience “What was the last Thriller film you watched? If you enjoyed it what kept you interested?” the replies were mostly films that had music and suspense as said by one of our partaker “the suspense and use of music kept me interested and tempting to watch all of it”. We also asked them “What do you expect to be in an opening of a Thriller?” we gave them a list of options and most people chose “Establishment of characters”, “Suspense”, “Dramatic scenes” and “The ending” to be shown before and put together on how the ending takes place.

The questionnaire we put together and handed out to our target audience helped us increase an understanding of our target audience and how we can appeal to them. We are now ready to move towards the story plots and treatment ideas for our Medical Thriller.

Research by Natalie, Anam and Christine

Analysing 'Donnie Darko': Sleepwalking Scene

The clip I analysed is from the Psychological thriller Donnie Darko, directed by Richard Kelly. Donnie is a teenage boy who suffers from paranoid schizoprenia, and finds himself sleepwalking and commiting a series of crimes. This character is typical of the thriller genre because like most lead characters suffer from a psychological or physiological flaw.
When we see Donnie walking towards the camera he is in focus, wheras the rest of the shot behind him is out of focus. This shows he is the main focus in the shot until it dissolves.
The editing, after the crash that sends a shock through the house, is done in slow motion, because it is used to create suspense because we the audience want to know what is happening, so the scene is slowed down.
The non-diegetic sound that plays in the background throughout the scene is like an echo that gradually gets louder, which is used to create suspense in the scene.
The small diegetic sounds you hear, like the slight tremble of the crystal chandelier as well as the opening and closing of the door, are used to explain what else is going on in the scene.
The time of day in the clip i've chosen is at night so the scene is naturally dark, with the occasional light you see from windows and light bulbs. The effect the limited lighting has on the scene is that it points out the significant points of the scene, so the audience can focus more on the main object, that being Donnie.
There is the Mise en-scene of the lamps in the background to add a fraction of light, so we know what's going on.

Analalysing 'The Godfather': Opening Scene

I’ve chosen to analyse is the opening scene from ‘The Godfather’. The reason I have chosen this clip is because it is very typical of a thriller genre. The non-diagetic music starts off immediately from a blank black screen. This makes the audience concentrate on only the music and to get into the mood of the movie. The word ‘father’ is held up by strings like a puppet, this maybe suggests that Gods hand is taking control. Also it gives us an idea about the film, that maybe it is about someone who has a lot of power and controls everyone’s movements like a puppet. The music playing is of a trumpet, the sound and flow of the music is slow and very tense like the blues. The calmness is used to make the audience feel comforted when watching the movie but has a twist and the disturbing atmosphere of the music makes it edgy, which makes it typical of a thriller genre. The blank black screen fades into a close-up of the Italian man. He speaks as if in a dramatic monologue and talking to the audience. We see he is wearing a suit, very smart in black and white. As the close-up of the Italian man zooms out to a mid shot we see his clothes and the mise-en-scene. There is silence in the background, no music or any diagetic sound. This is very typical of a thriller genre as the audience is drawn into what the Italian man has to say and listen to him without any distractions. The scene is very tense like a typical thriller. The audience are still unaware of who the Italian man is talking to. The Italian man is now on the right side of the frame making him less important. Us as an audience read from left to right, so now we are mainly concentrating on the Italian mans surroundings. The audience now discovers who the Italian man is talking to, we see a man’s hand out of focus resting on his face, and we assume that he is resting it on the table or an armchair. The Italian man breaks out this is the first time we see him taking his eyes away from the man he is talking to. The shot we are looking at is a view point shot from behind the man on the table. He is still out of focus and we do not recognise him and he is still a stranger to us as he is hidden. This effect makes us feel as if we are there. The Italian man looks up to the man handing over the glass of water, doesn’t thank him but gives him a gesture of thankfulness. This whole scene is shot in one shot, without any cuts. The scene zooms out throughout the whole scene to create an intense atmosphere and real time effect to make the audience feel they are there, like a typical thriller movie.

Analysing Hitchcock The Birds: School scene

Melanie Daniels is the Protagonist portrayed in The Birds. In the clip she is unaware of what is going on and has her back to the birds. By doing this suggests she is exposed and vulnerable and open to attack as she is unaware of the further gathering of the birds but the audience can see.
The camera shots are used to enhance the still surrounding before the gathering of the birds. The long shot of her walking to the bench to show she is alone and the empty climbing frame in the playground. There is a rural peaceful countryside feel to the environment and she looks alone and vulnerable. The playground connotes a place of innocence so the audience consider it to be not a dangerous place. Typically of a thriller the still and ordinary setting is interrupted by something to create suspense for the audience. In this case it is the arrival of the first bird on the climbing frame. The camera cuts from mid shots of Melanie Daniels smoking to the accumulating birds, to increase suspense. This camera technique is frequently used, the camera goes from subject to subject this creates a sense of panic and urgency.
The mise-en-scene In Hitchcock’s films are very significant because he is well known for being very detailed in not just the camera shots but also the set up of the surroundings. The construction of the scene is vital in thrillers to create an atmosphere. The landscape of the school playground with the hills in the background makes her appear alone and vulnerable as she is in a wide open space open to attack.
There is no non diegetic sound in the clip, typically sound and music is used to create a tension and an atmosphere. However in this clip Hitchcock uses diegetic sound of the children singing a nursery rhyme inside of the school to create an atmosphere. The children are singing repeatedly this further increases the sense of innocence’s as they are unaware of the danger that is building up from the birds gathering outside.
Hitchcock is well known for his use of motifs and symbolism to portray meaning and messages to the audience. By using motifs makes the films more visually interesting and more simulating.

Write this before I realised the clip would not let me upload. sorry