Locations and Mise-En-Scene

Locations and Mise En Scene:

Throughout our thriller there will be several possible locations where we'll be filming, such as a bus stop, Ketts Hill and a dark, dead end street or alley.
The opening sequence of our thriller takes place in a location looking over Norwich with an establishing shot. The primary candidate
for where this scene will be filmed is Ketts hill, this is because you can see the whole of Norwich from here and in the winter it looks particularly dark,gloomy and isolated. The atmosphere created in this opening scene would be mysterious and chilling, these are both general conventions of a typical thriller.

The second potential location we have chosen to film in is a bus stop, this is because it gives general conventions of city life and an every day setting. Furthermore, we have a scene in our thriller in which a character is sleeping at a bus stop and the bus stop could be interpreted as the entrapment of his mind. This bus stop could essentially be anywhere, however a preferred location for it would be on a quite desolate road to show he's isolated and alone. When filming in this area we would have to pay careful attention to the lighting as it could be an issue because it is outside and very open. But, to combat this as we are filming in winter and at night there is going to be very little to no diegetic light, except from possibly the moon, allowing us to create our own non diegetic lighting with equipment.

For the chase scene in our thriller we are looking to film down an alleyway. This alley needs to be empty,rough and relatively long. This alley must connote how trapped the character is feeling and how vulnerable he is. As our thriller is a psychological thriller all of our locations, especially for this scene must connote this constant sense of isolation and paranoia. Also, our thriller is about a teenager fighting the concept of reality within his own mind, so the settings are vital in depicting this plot.

Written by Thor Forster

Costumes

In terms of costume, we have placed a great quantity of thought into what is being worn by our characters and the characterisation in which costume allows, and how it influences the piece in its entirety.

Josh Masterson-  Wears a hooded coat along with grey jeans and grey shoes. The thought process behind the hooded coat is to reveal the identity of his character slowly, and present him as a character of mystery and shadiness. Despite the audience feeling sympathy for Joshua, there is also an air of wondering what is happening etc. Masterson's face is always made clear, plus, his colours are blue and grey, which are quite neutral in comparison to dark, bland colours worn by Martinelli. In terms of the meaning behind the denim jeans, Jean designer Yves Saint Laurent spoke in an interview about the meaning behind jeans  “They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity,” sighed the owlish Frenchman. “All I hope for in my clothes.” This was certainly applicable to our thriller, as the use of jeans add simplicity and modesty behind our character, Masterson is a much warmer character in comparison to Martinelli.The intimacy and commonness of Masterson's costume presents ideas of normality and commonness, as a production team, we wanted Masterson to be quite mysterious but also relatable.



This is the coat worn by Josh Masterson.




Xavier Martinelli- Wears a tracksuit supported with a green coat with a large hood as we don't want his face to be seen throughout the opening as faces aren't ever seen in dreams. It is used to make him seem a tough and hardened character. This is represented through his stereotypical characterisation. The hood also connotes ideas of mystery and illusion around Xavier as a character, in many ways, the use of a hood is much like the use of a mask, but more intimate with the audience. Also, in a dream, wearing a coat is to wear the coat of your father, mother, royalty or a beggar is to take on an aspect of that role. All this research concluded our decision to use large coats in different forms, but for these reasons, Martinelli's coat is used with different intentions than Josh's coat is used to create this idea of mystery and distance between the audience, which is also shown through proxsemics as Martinelli is also further away from the screen than Masterson is, which helps creates distance literally between this character and the audience.



This is the coat worn by Xavier Martinelli.



Written by Connor Southwell

What actors we chose and why?

What Actors we Chose and Why? Robert Groom, Thor Forster and Connor Southwell

Connor (Lead male actor):

We featured Connor in our preliminary task and felt that he made the piece more believable. So for this reason we decided it would be wise to cast him again as our main male character. Since he studies A-level drama and achieved a B in drama in his GCSE’s we came to the conclusion that Connor could make our piece more realistic and avoid our acting becoming wooden. The theme of our last task is fairly similar in tone for our coursework so we decided that the use of Connor as our main character would boost the plausibility.

Thor (Second lead actor):

Thor, being a part of our group, volunteered to act in our film and we came to a quick conclusion that this would be successful due to the lack of dialogue. He matched the tone of our film and allowed us to feature a suspicious character who would be wrapped in all sorts of questions.

Character Profiles:

Lead male character – This person in the centre piece of our production. We delve into the confused and mysterious mind of this individual to get an in depth look into what is occurring and with use of certain effects we can produce a confusing experience that shocks the audience. The character himself has many mental and psychological issues that we explore throughout the film. The reason he suffers from these sorts of experiences remain a mystery as we only have two minutes to portray our character. That is why it’s important we emphasise the sort of trauma that he undergoes.

Second lead character - This second character remains a big mystery in our film since we don’t feature him enough for the audience to gain an image or opinion of him. This was purposeful as we wanted the characters identity to remain anonymous. The man’s soul purpose is to bring torment to our main character throughout the first two minutes. The link between the two characters is ambiguous meaning the audience is left confused into how the two know each other. This relationship between the two characters creates a tense atmosphere and boosts the sense of unpredictability.

Written By Robert Groom

Script

Thriller Script- Torpidity

Josh Masterson- Connor Southwell
Javier Martinelli- Thor Forster




JOSH MASTERSON seen overlooking Norwich, hood up. This cuts to JOSH MASTERSON standing under a lamppost, frantically checking his phone.

JOSH MASTERSON seen asleep at a bus stop after a frantic walking sequence, cut in focus’ on JAVIER MARTINELLI, JOSH MASTERSON then receives a text reading ‘I see you Josh but you don’t see me’.

JOSH MASTERSON turns around to where JAVIER MARTINELLI was standing, and nobody is there. JOSH MASTERSON breathes heavy and begins to run.

JAVIER MARTINELLI chases JOSH MASTERSON down an alley, dead end, JAVIER MARTINELLI seen walking towards him. As he reaches him, he swings to punch before a large intake of breath for JOSH MASTERSON before the screen goes black and we cut to JOSH MASTERSON sitting upright in bed before he receives the same text as previously.

Ends.


By Connor Southwell

Plot Synopsis

The plot of our film is aimed to raise a simple question; what in our lives is dream and what is reality. This is the story of Josh Masterson, who is subject of this intensive reality. Josh struggles to differentiate between the two. Stuck in between two worlds, Josh encounters Javier Martinelli, who plays the villain of the film, and as Josh gets in trouble financially, Javier is there to assigned with catching a struggling Josh, is this real? Or is Josh stuck in a dream?

Written by Connor Southwell

The Pitch

Ever felt that your dream is so real it must be true? You're not alone, in our film, Torpidity, we question the difference between dream and reality, and is there one?