Conversation in Thriller

Coursework - Criticisms of my current plot

After doing further research into the genre I found that my current plot was quite ineffective due to:

-Narrative: The time focussing on the detective's family could be lessened to show that they're minor characters as the plot will revolve around the detective himself like other crime thrillers such as: 
This also emphasizes on their status as the crime victims. In the film Zodiac (2007) , the victims who are alive have a very small amount of screen time (prior to being killed.). 
-The lack of tension:
- This could be created by using restrictive narrative ranges where the audience will know more than the main character 
 -Sound can also be used to create this
-Vague and weak backstory with small links : What petty crime did the suspect commit?, why is he desperate?, why is the detective so unsympathetic with him?, 
 -The audience should be informed of this context in some way!!

Character:-If the antagonist has super powers, will that make the film seem too unrealistic and divert the theme away?
                                 

-SCRIPT: -What will the characters say?
                 -Will the dialogue have significant meanings (foreshadowing, giving information etc...)
                    

"Alone" opening storyboard (1st draft)

 Outlines:

-introduces the detective and his family

-Shows him leaving to work/interrogation

-Shows interrogation progress

-Reveals that his family has been murdered

This draft was unused since it would be significantly time consuming (likely exceeding 3 minutes) and some scenes were unnecessary/could be interpreted in a more convenient way.

For example: Instead of filming his entire family, a photo of them could act as a better representation. 

Putting the death of his family in the opening could also end up leading the film into a completely different from a crime thriller about revenge into a psychological drama about overcoming the 5 stages of grief.

Even though it wasn't the best story board, I decided to to continue some ideas which I will incorporate into my 2nd story board and eventually the final product!

Early Coursework concepts

 After researching the various sub genres of thriller and their conventions, I decided on making a crime/supernatural thriller. I thought it might be interesting to combine crime investigations with paranormal phenomenons. At first, me and my friend brainstormed a lot of ideas such as:
- a street noodle vendor who uses the flesh of her victims as noodle meat but it surprisingly turns out very tasty 
-a haunted "Look Thep" doll (realistic dolls which became a big trend in Thailand last year), 
- a teen comedy-esque house party that turns out with an unrestricted narration-style murder scene. (the characters don't know about the murder!!!)
-A detective who is cursed by his suspect and finds his family dead and has to investigate his own case. 

In the end, we went in separate ways as both the haunted doll and detective concepts would look captivating in practice. The two also have a strong hint of Thai horror, involving the use of black magic and supernatural themes. 

Coursework: Moodboard and key concepts

EXPLAIN: concept, insp, name origin thx

Today in class we started planning for our coursework (An opening credit following the conventions of the Thriller genre). After turning towards the path of making a crime thriller, I immediately thought of the "Hardboiled Detective" Trope (those people  that wear Trench coats). 

One of the fears held by many people in our society is experiencing the loss of a loved one. The film's plot is based on a loving father-cop/detective who loses his family through an incident he had no direct involvements in. This will allow the audience to engage more with the film's concept as it is highly relatable. 

Since the movie takes place in 2000s Thailand, I then wanted to give it's western origins a twist by adding something very prominent in Thai horror and thriller movies:-The Supernatural. The antagonist would curse the protagonist with Black magic after losing the interrogation. This plot might make the movie sound unrealistic and take away the serious essences of a crime thrillers.

TITLE: 

Conventionally, thriller film names are often very minimal consisting of 1-3 words. Although this maybe, the word will bear significance in terms of the film's plot.  For Example: Taken is about an ex-CIA agent who's daughter gets kidnapped (or taken).  I came up with names such as ALONE (as the protagonist loses his family) and HELPLESS (the irony of having being entitled a role to help society, only to be hindered by it). In the end I went with the title "ALONE" because it focuses more on the plot of my film of a loving father losing his family, eventually having to become alone. From the title, the audience can immediately guess the film's plot. Although, both alone and Helpless sound like horror thriller titles such as "Scream" which can be quite misleading to some.