10/01/2017 "Alone" Plot ammendments

A detective is tasked with interrogating a young worker who has been responsible for the murder of a rich oligarch. He then argues that he had to do it to save his family-the only thing he has left.  Although it is clear who the suspect is, the oligarch’s cohorts have a desire be on the side where the light of righteousness shines. (they do not want to be proven guilty). The try to bribe the detective but he refuses not wanting to become a corrupt member of society. This time they threaten him using connections (“I know your boss” attitude)  and stating “If you fail to compromise with our terms, bad things will happen to you”. 

2 days later, the interrogation will take place. Even though he has high levels of experience in dealing with similar cases, he feels tense and unconfident.  He looks in the mirror reassuring himself that this is just “another case to solve” . While walking towards the interrogation room he fidgets but forces himself to go on anyway. The suspect awaits in the darkness

From his files, the detective pulls out a photograph related to the incident which is immediately recognized by the suspect. He points to one of the people in the photo asking questions such as “you did that didn't you?” . The suspect holds the photos in his cuffed hands clenching it tightly. (It's a photo of the murder victim). With the truth becoming obvious , the detective moves closer and closer (using physical intimidation) to the suspect in order to force him to confess his crimes. With his personal space collapsing, the suspect smashes his fists on the table as a show of violence and power. The detective moves back in response showing a shift in power between the 2 characters.The suspect then makes a statement that he committed the murder to save his loved ones.   At this point, the detective begins to show some sympathy for him as he too, has a family to tend.  Having flash backs of his wife, he starts to question his own situation and falls into a dilemma. He wants to save the suspect but at the same time fears the oligarchy's coercive nature.   There is then a Bird’s eye view shot of the interrogation table resembling a security camera  (implies they're being watched but who is watching them?)

The suspect is proven guilty and gets harsh punishment. The detective however is left in a distressed state, shoving things back into his folder and calling in the guards. As the detective leaves, he looks back in regret, hunch walking away. The suspect smiles knowing he/she has pierced his achilles spot.

The phone rings when he receives a message from his wife saying that she’s preparing steak. He replies showing enthusiasm. His wife looks at her phone, smiles and starts to prepare the steak as her husband struggles through the end-of-work traffic. 

Motivated by a tasty dinner, he quickly comes home but notices things are getting abnormal. The steak is left unfinished, Fish tank lights not turned off, flower vase spilt and a trial of blood. He messages his wife getting a "read" notification but no reply. Out of desperation, he dials her and can hear her phone from a distance, thus following the sound to it's source. Both the sound and trail of blood can be sourced from the room of his wife. Both the detective's wife and child can be seen lying lifelessly on the bathroom floor as the phone's ringtone repeats in a horrifying manner. There is also a blood stained and torn family portrait drawn by his child. The opening ends blacking out as the ringtone continues playing.

Post opening, the film's plot will focus on the detective seeking revenge on the people who had atken away his family.

Spoiler: he follows the oligarchy’s threats of harshly punishing the young worker, unbeknownst that it was an act of insignificance since either way, the oligarchy was still going to kill his family. 

Opening plot dilemmas

Though my film had a solid plot, the real question was now how to present it in a span of 2 minutes.

I came up with several ideas including:

1. The detective has breakfast/lunch as we pan around seeing his family and house. He then leaves to perform the interrogation. After the interrogation he comes back, tries to call his wife only to be obstructed by a haunting ringtone and her lifeless corpse.

2. The detective leaves the house and the murder takes place (which is shown to the audience). The murderer is kept anonymous in this opening, similar to that of Zodiac's.  His family screams for his help but by the time he arrives, it's too late.

Evaluation: -UNRESTRICTED NARRATION used as the audience can see the crime taking place.
- Creates a sense of empathy to the audience as they can see the struggles of his family and their desperation for him to save them. This can also make the audience either like or loathe the main character. Even as a beacon of justice, he is unable to protect his own loved ones but could add an emotional touch to character development.
-Diverts the plot of the film. Taking this for the opening would mean the plot will revolve around a "cat and mouse" chase between the detective and the suspect as he commits more murders.

3. The opening starts off at the police station in his office right before the interrogation takes place. During it, he acts unsympathetic to the suspect but acts as if he was pressured to do so. The interrogation ends with the suspect's shady expression (Enigma code). After the interrogation, the detective receives a message from his wife saying that she's cooked dinner (steak). He goes home finding the house in a very lifeless and abnormal state. He then messages his wife seeing a "read" notification, devoid of replies and calls her out of panic. Another phone's ringtone can be heard, leading to the discover of his family's demise.

Evaluation: -Context is given without the need to change settings eg: We can know he has a family via pictures on his desk)  
-High amounts of tension can be created with the right shots taken. 
-The Enigma/hermeneutic code used can bring out the audience's curiosity.
-In reference to the movie Psycho (1960), Mr Harrison suggested that death could be revealed in a more subtle way. Instead of a dead body, there could be blood dropping down the drain or a close up of the dead character's hands, face or significant prop.
-The repetitive ringtone can create quite a haunting effect. As a diegetic sound, its volume could increase as the character got closer to the source. 

4. This plot takes place before the interrogation and murder- Other people involved in the crime (oligarchs) are seen talking to the detective telling him that if he allows the other suspect to be proven innocent, "bad things will happen and you will be helpless and alone". 

Evaluation: -The murder could be put later in the film to act as a disruption in Todorov's theory.
-This might confuse the audience on what the film is really about (the detective or the oligarchy?????)

5. Only the interrogation scene is shown so that not too much information is revealed. It ends with a cliff hanger (the suspect smirking in the darkness). 

Evaluation: -RESTRICTED NARRATIVE RANGE (we learn simultaneously with the character). 
-Not much tension can be created in this scene.


It was quite hard to come up with a conclusion but in the end I went with the 3rd idea as it wouldn't take too much time and some pieces of information (the fact that he has a family etc) can be revealed by the use of mise-en-scene. 

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.