DETAILED PLAN OF OUR THRILLER OPENING SCENE

Rift

Subgenre: pyschological thriller

Overall Idea: A normal business man is walking to work, and in his mind has a horrifying vision of a fatal crash. Thinking it was his imagination playing tricks on him, he forgets about it, yet a few weeks later he reads an article on the exact crash he saw in his mind.

Characters:  the man is the only character in the opening

Locations: the man's kitchen, street

Costumes: man: black business suit (representing his lifestyle)

Lighting: (in the house): bright, sharp, muted colours from lamps
(in the street): natural light, representing normality of the day

Plot

The start of the opening shows the date, and sees a man, formally dressed, walking down a busy street, as if on the way to work. From here we will have a mixture of camera angles to give an artistic view of the character, some of these shots will include, a camera following the man jerkily in a handheld form, shots looking over his shoulder and looking on at him as he walks past. We will also include some shots from the man's perspective as he looks around at the environment. From this perspective we will also include some shots of close up objects. The shots will also establish the scene, such as the street name. Whilst the scene is unfolding, we will have a soundtrack gradually picking up in volume and intensity in a cresendo style. The climax of the scene will see the camera do a fast 360 degree spin around the man, whilst moving closer to his eye and we may use photo stills for this, as it will be easier. We will need to do test shots of both these ideas. Once the camera reaches the character's eye, we will insert a rapid selection of close-up images of an accident - things such as a limp arm in the road, shattered glass, a dented car. The scene will culminate in a fully shock white screen where the black word: "Rift" will fade in slowly, to the peak volume of the music; which will fully stop and go silent.

The opening of the second scene will start with a date, a few weeks after the man sees the crash and will only use diegetic sounds (such as the spoon clinking in the man's mug, the sound of butter spreading on toast, newspaper rustling etc). The visuals of the scene involve the audience seeing a man reading his newspaper in his kitchen in the morning. We have a variety of shots and sounds emphasising his morning routine, such as the sound of his spoon against his cup. All these sounds will build the suspense. The camera shots will show the article of the crash - the same one the man sees, which is shown with the name of the street etc.


- Another idea is that a voiceover could be used as the photos start to show the protagonist's confusion. This is using the psychological thriller convention of a stream of consciousness - and maybe an unreliable narrative.