Thriller Opening - Planning

Storyline:

The idea for our film follows the psychological journey of a woman driven to kill her daughter. The film will explore the murder in hindsight, beginning with the events prior to the murder, using flashbacks to tell the story. However, we want to instil a sense of what the story is about straight away in the opening sequence, so we have set it in the present day, years after the murder when the story is being told. The sequence will initially not make sense, the flashbacks she experiences will be in a random order, indicating confusion and fear, but eventually will assemble into a more coherent order, revealing what has happened.

It should make the audience aware of the crime, and make them wonder why.

Location:

House: bedroom, bathroom, landing, hallway and stairs, garden.

Possibly theatre for lights.

We will use my house because it has lots of space and a large garden, which will give our opening a more thrilling feel, creating a sense of isolation.

The theatre will be good for creating the lights sequences because we can control which lights are on and what colours these are.

Prop list:

Bed

Doll

Kitchen Knife

(Sink/Bath)

Fake blood

(Lighting Rig)

Order of Shots:

1) Woman lying in bed. (close up)
2) Flashback of birds pecking at the ground. (medium shot)
3) Woman getting out of bed. ( medium/ long shot)
4) Flashback of bright, blurred lights. 
5) Flashback of woman digging with hands in some soil.
6) The woman then walks onto the landing, and pauses. She is afraid.
7) Flashback of young girl laughing. (extreme close-up)
8) Pans 360 degrees around the panicking woman.
9) Flashback of more bright, blurred lights. 
10) Flashback of young girl picking up a doll, then dropping a doll.
11) Flashback of blood splattering onto a wall, or dripping on the floor. (gradually the camera fades out)
12) Fades up to the woman running down the stairs, you can hear her daughter saying "I love you mummy" in the background. 
13) Flashback of the girl holding the doll in her hands. 

14) Girl playing in the garden.
15) Quick flashback of the womans hands digging in the soil. 
16) Flashback of the girl holding the doll, and dropping it, however, this time the doll hits the floor. Sound of daughter screaming "I HATE YOU!" in the background.
17) Woman is standing in the hall. (close-up of her face)
18) Flashback of knife/shadow of knife in action.
19) Flashback of blood running down a plughole. Sound of child's laughter.
20) Bird pulling up a worm in the garden.
21) Woman turning, scared - looking for something behind her. Snippets of laughter can be heard. 

(The following will be quick cuts)

22) Child holding doll

23) Bright lights

24) Digging hands

25) Child dropping doll

26) Birds pecking at ground

27) Doll smashes on floor

28) Hands digging

29) Knife Slashing

30) Blood spatter

31) Woman stood still in garden staring straight ahead. (fade out)

Shoot Schedule:

We will film the shots of the woman walking through the house at the same time, repositioning the camera but ultimately filming in sequence, for continuity of appearance, for example, position of hair. We will also film the shots of the knife and plughole because they require artificial light.

We will film the shots of the woman's hands at a different time because it has to be daylight for that shot.

We will film all the scenes of the girl at the same time to minimise the time she has to spend on set. We will also record voice samples at the same time.

As the early bird catches the first worm, we will have to film the birds in the garden very early in the morning.

The bright lights will be filmed in the theatre at another time.