Film Proposal

• I want my five minute film opening to show the main character discovering a tragedy that has already happened that the main character then, unintentionally, becomes a part of. My main character is going to be a woman who returns home and discovers her husband killed violently, and seeking revenge, enlists the help of her brother in law, who she knows is part of the business that her ex lover was also a part of, all the time learning about the tragedy; how it happened, who and what were involved and how she must get revenge. After the opening, the film would carry on with action, as they don’t sleep until they find the assailant or party that have committed the crime.

·        The opening will consist of a very short set of cuts at high speed, for about a minute, switching between two stories, one featuring a calm journey of someone, probably a lady, going home in the back of a taxi cab, listening to the radio playing upbeat tunes but muffled, and the camera solely fixed on the face of the person in the back. The other shot is a complete contrast, shown in flashback style, but something that is happening at the moment, to the complete ignorance of the person we have just seen, a shot of violence and fast paced action, much like the beginning of Casino Royale, but at a faster pace. In this shot, there is an attack happening, two masked men beating a man, in about mid-late thirties. The attack gets so violent that they end up killing him. In this shot we see the room in which he is to be very messed up, supposedly because of the struggle. We see him left on the floor, as the two assailants run out of shot.

  These two shots go back and forth for about another 30 seconds and at the end of the sequence of interchanging shots, the shot stays in the car. The person has a visual change of expression and goes from happy to a sense of unease, showing the possibility that these two people are connected. The cab then drops the person at the base of a flight of stairs leading to a front door, its night time, and raining lightly. She slowly walks up the stairs to the front door, as everything is dark inside. She puts her key in the lock and opens the door, calling ‘hello…? [Name]?’ She proceeds to enter the house, walking very slowly. She feels around for a light switch in the dark and flicks it on. She sees the signs of disarray and follows where it apparently leads to, to find the body on the floor. She drops to her knees, still in her outdoor clothing, and kneels by his side. From here the camera zooms out, showing the scene.

For my opening scene in the taxi, I have taken a few ideas from the film Collateral. The shots of the back of the taxi, the lighting of it and the chats of the driver- passenger. I want the lighting to be dim, and have a slight green tinge to it, as can be seen from the effect of orange street lamps on the inside of a car. The blurred buildings and cars that go past are there to give the audience a sense of ignorance and mystery. I want the character to be slightly huddled up in the corner, looking cold, slightly out of their comfort zone, keeping their belongings about them, just wanting to get home, unaware of the tragedy that has happened. Yet there be a visual sense of uneasiness when the end of the other scene is played. The main noise I want to be heard is the sound of reggae or jazz, and the sound of the cab driver talking non stop, but all this diegetic sound to be muffled, and the non diegetic sound to be light classical music. As she finishes her journey I want her to walk up a staircase to her front door like the one in this image, and this scene to have a slightly higher level of lighting, as there would be street lights constantly shining on her. The eeriness of her opening the front door should be amplified by the blackness of the inside of the house. And this can also be seen on the anxiety in the face of the main woman.

My opening scene that includes the fight is going to be set in a bedroom, with a large double bed that has messy sheets on it, and the whole room is messy too. It is going to be a dimly lit room and there is going to be a black and white feel to the image so that it is made even more unclear who the assailants are but the picture will be clear enough to see what’s happening. The sound of the taxi will stop and we hear the cries of the man and the sound of objects crashing to the ground and the sound of punches hitting.

When the lady comes home the inside of the house must be dark. She will then shuffle around in the dark looking for a light switch, and this may have to be reliant on sound. When she flicks on the light I want it to be quite harsh, bright enough to show the surroundings but not too bright to give away the story. She then progresses through the house, following a rough trail of debris and destroyed home till she finds herself in the bedroom. She walks round the bed and sees the body lying there. She drops her bag and falls to her knees shaking him. The camera starts to zoom out from a high angle shot and as she lifts her head, the title credits will appear on screen. The overall feel of my film seems to be the style of the American thriller, not at all the low-budget British thriller.