Logline:
London a hub of prosperity has undergone unprecedented changes. Famous
landmarks have become dilapidated, with streets cross-roads being heaped with
dead corpses and gory scenes of excoriated human tissues.
The protagonist, a former scientist who previously worked for the
government has become cognizant that he has been doing a disservice to the
people of the country he swore his loyalty to. He realizes that with the
auspice of his intellect, the government contrived a virus that has led to a
far-reaching epidemic, with little odds to be thwarted. His feeling of guilt
has took hold and he regrets the fate that had befell the populace. Having
subconsciously worked on the virus, he committed to memorise the formula he
used to create it, and knows how to rectify the predicament that had been
foisted on the populace. His efforts are directed to optimizing the cure to the
populace but for that, he needs substances that are strictly confined to the
premises of that are under government’s control. He gets acquainted with the
government’s long desired plan to artificially shrink the size of the populace
and begins to be opposed to the government and espouses to take revenge on the
small clique that had conspired the epidemic scheme.
He assembles a paramilitary group whose goal is to depose the
government, proliferate the cure to those for whom there is still a glimmer of
hope. The government in turn, makes concerted effort to not allow the
protagonist’s plan to come to fruition, create hurdles for him every step of
the way.
Character breakdown:
Sebastian Harbour is a scientist stationed at a military barrack in the
UK, where he is co-opted by a government dignitary and delegated to a special
department. His intellect secures him an important role, he micromanages most
aspects of research and development, unbeknownst to him, the virus he and his
colleagues have worked on is being proliferated without his approval, against
the populace which he sought to protect. He undergoes a transformation,
he changes from a stoic individual to a staunch anti-establishmentarian,
seeking to depose the government through military action.
Samantha Rosewood is a scientist that has worked alongside Sebastian and
has exhibited intimate feelings for him, which were in fact reciprocal.
Unbeknownst to him, she also leads a double life, in private, she corresponds
with government channels and updates the government on the progress made within
the research and development circle involving Sebastian. Upon hearing of
Sebastian’s plan to sabotage the project, she is initially reluctant to take
action, is bogged down by the feelings she has gradually developed, the task
she is burdened with. She ultimately becomes the catalyst that causes the
proliferation of the virus, becomes the biggest obstacle in Sebastian’s path.
The fact that she is an agent does not immediately transpire; Sebastian
believes that she is supporting his aim to stop the government and to help the
populace. In fact, her personality contrasts with that of Sebastian who appears
to take a more humanitarian stance and doesn’t wish to see the populace to be
exterminated. Samantha values Sebastian for his intellect, for his help in
designing the virus, thereby deeming him expedient. She starts by subtly
encouraging him to join the government side, but after realizing that this is
not possible, she wishes to eliminate him.
Lucien is a supporting character, helps Sebastian settle his scores with
the people that had given the executive order to contaminate substantial part
of the country. He like Sebastian were in charge manufacturing the virus,
having seen first hand the indelible mark it had left on the once vibrant city,
he wishes to rectify the problem that the helped to compound. He works with
Sebastian and Samantha but questions Samantha’s real motives. Aside from aiding
Sebastian, he tries to keep a track of Samantha’s activity, finding
peculiarities in her comportment. His doubts are justified when he learns of
her encounters with government agents. He is discreet about his discovery, but
does inform Sebastian. Sebastian is very reluctant to come to terms with the
revelations. He makes great strides to influence Sebastian’s opinion, but to no
avail. Sebastian’s deeply rooted feelings for Samantha are an obstruction,
despite his strong resolve, he cannot think rationally, see any reasoning for
Samantha’s supposed defection. Once confrontation occurs, all four characters
face each other off. Being aware of the fact that Sebastian is viable to
succumb to Samantha, Lucien takes things into his own hands, proceeds to kill
her.
Malcolm Gray is an important executive dignitary who is at the helm of
the clique of that has usurped power in the UK. He is the binary of the movie,
the main mastermind behind the proliferation of the virus. Malcolm is aware of
Sebastian’s subversive activities and makes a concerted effort to prevent him
from providing cure to the depraved people of London. He postures as an honest,
virtuous man, with people taking his words at face value. Apart from playing an
important role as the head of the government, he is portrayed as exhibiting a
quasi-bureaucratic role in that he diligently oversees the progress that is
being made within the research and development department. He is revered for
his contributions and has firmly established his cult of personality. This is
also the case with Sebastian who aspires to match Malcolm’s record or model
himself on him. While he maintains his persona, he is ruthless in following his
vested interest, behind the silhouette, which he projects, lies a man with
dormant evil desires. As the epidemic spreads, plot ensues, the characters find
out if Malcolm’s disease-playing on audience’s expectations
Genre-thriller/sci-fi/mystery
We have chosen the genre thriller, as we believe that our storyline corresponds
to the thriller conventions-namely disruption in the equilibrium, suspense,
evil lurking within close midst- the protagonist being at the mercy of the antagonist’s
secretive motives. Also our group immensely admired this genre and we thought
that it contemporarily deemed to be successful, this does not only allow other
producers and directors to emulate their stories around thrillers but allows
the audiences to appear as a mass.
Duration 2-3
minutes
Target Audience:
People aged between 18-45
Apart from being a thriller, the trailer also has sci-fi components
adjunct to it. With scientific content, jargon will subtly transpire, the aim
is not to attract merely people that are interested in this theme. The
demographic we expect this trailer to attract is mainly males, which is
encapsulated by the fact that cinematography is showing mostly males, male
centered scenes, such as fights, squabbles, violence and sexual content. Empirically
speaking, these themes tend to be tailored to the male audience. In light of
that, we decided that we would like to include a female identifiable scenario and
character.
(NOTE: WHILE WE EXPLORE GENRE CONVENTIONS, SUCH AS
SEXUAL CONTENT AND VIOLENCE AS A WAY TO TARGET AN AUDIENCE IF IT WERE A FULL
LENGTH FEATURE. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT THIS IS WHAT OUR TRAILER WILL CONSIST
OF.THIS IS BECAUSE GENRE CONVENTIONS ARE NOT MONOLITHIC AND MOVIES DO NOT
FEATURE EVERYTHING.)
Initially, we pondered on whether to include a female character or not.
We’ve concluded that the trailer should be as inclusive, and conventional as
possible. A thought had sprung whether or not to make the protagonist a heroine.
This would’ve subverted an inculcated paradigm of the protagonist role being
reserved for male. The resident evil franchise inspired us to contemplate such
a possibility. Ultimately, we have recognized that in relation to the genre
that we are trying to emulate, it is extremely hard to materialize, hard to
model on a contemporary movie. However, the thriller does include a female
character that assumes an antagonist role and is meant to be an epitome of what
one would conceive as decadent and despotic. This may not necessarily generate
an appeal, some of the female segments of the audience may find it hard to
identify with the female antagonist
Young people aged between 18-27 are likely to be most receptive to the
thriller. This supposition derives from the fact that the trailer contains a
series of scenes that entail action, fast paced, is set in an urban setting and
presents a metanarrative. These cinematic elements tend to have much bearing on
young audience, seem to hold ground in light of the fact that these features
are continuously perpetuated.
Visual elements: Low key lighting, quick cuts, changes in angle of shots, montage of
shots
High angles shots-to show weakness and build up the suspense
Setting that has
been considered for the filming is exterior areas with a few shots filmed
inside.
Actors:
Protagonist-Sebastian, Lucien, Amelia, Malcolm, footage of those affected by
the virus
Props
Fire arms-the protagonist, agents of the
government are armed
Syringe-optimised version of the cure
Scientific equipment-beakers, microscopes, test tube
DNA samples
Flags
Costumes- Navy
grey costumes, scientist attire, rugged clothes of those affected
mostly urban clothing as it is set in contemporary times, black clothing
worn by agents
Setting
Audio elements
Voice over
Violin music
Diegetic sound of breathing, heart beats
Rationale behind idea
In regards to our film, we have based it around films like resident evil
and 28 days later where the disequilibrium prevails but later on the
protagonist finds a way to restore order. As the name of our movie suggests, it
explores dystopian themes, we were to some extent motivated by Orwell’s 1984.
Primary research-
For our primary research, we have created a storyboard alongside a
questionnaire.
The storyboard was useful as it allowed us to experiment with our structure
and storyline.
We also produced a questionnaire to ask people what movies they would be
most inclined to watch.
Secondary Research-
One source of secondary research that we used is the internet. Apart
from our questionnaire, we have also investigated a variety of media affiliated
websites to find out which specific film genres receive most receptivity.
According to Investopedia, one of the most watched movie genres are adventure,
drama documentaries, horrors/thrillers. Upon seeing this, we narrowed our list
of options and through long considerations of the practicalities; we came to
the understanding that Thriller would the most suitable, feasible genre for us
to focus on. In order for our movie to fit the thriller criteria, we need to
include tense music, equilibrium/disequilibrium, quick cuts, diegetic sound of
breathing and etc.
We have also watched a series of videos pertaining to media coursework,
work done by students. One video that has really enticed us was a video titled
“Scapegoat: horror opening sequence(as media studies coursework)”.We deem the
video to be quite effective, would wish to employ some similar techniques such
as eerie music, quick cuts and low key lighting.
Having researched the codes and conventions of thriller movies, we discussed
as a group about what our film should feature. A consensus was reached that the
film should contain an overtly dystopian component (Thus we even decided to
name our film Dystopia). Initially, we drew our inspiration from Orwell’s 1984
and were keen to emulate a monastic and secluded world as was envisaged in the
book with the militant secret police consolidating a dictatorship and
consigning things like freedom of speech as things of the past.
Aside from the mentioned dystopia, we also wanted our film to possess an
apocalyptic predicament, we have formulated our story plot borrowing
considerable influence from films like Resident evil and 28 days later.
Constraints and Contingency
Our production time is limited to roughly 3 months (approx. until
February 16th ). Both the actual exam and the coursework constitute 50% of our
overall grade, it is important that we manage our time appropriately.
Half term is approaching, so it important for us to start filming as
early as possible so that we can have a portfolio of shots we can use when
composing our trailer. So as a group we must allocate sometime to meet up for
our film production.
The time is pending; we must ensure that by late november we have our
portfolio ready so that we can focus on the editing.
Equipment
Tripod for the camera, toy gun, black capes and hoods, black masks,
apple juice, alcohol bottle, cigarettes, paracetemol pills, toothbrush and
toothpaste, pen and paper, keyboard.
Legal and ethical considerations
We will have to ensure that all of our content is produced solely by us,
that we do not take other people’s content. This means all the music,
shots, editing has to be created, done by us.
We need to ensure that the setting/environment where the film production
is set, is safe, doesn’t pose any risk to any cast members.
Other people must be borne in mind also. We cannot take shots of
strangers without their consent.
We must ensure that none of the equipment is damaged, that everything is
left unscathed.
Proposed schedule for filming: 15h November(Saturday)
Proposed schedule for editing: Mid December, January
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