Main task preparations...

There are many other successful thrillers out there at the moment; some of which I watched before making any decisions about my project. I took inspiration from 'Flightplan' where a child goes missing, 'The day after tomorrow' where the father has to help his child escape and 'Armageddon' where the father is willing to do anything for his child.

 At 50secs and then 2mins, the conventions of quick cuts really are noticeable.

So the basic plot of my WHOLE film would be that a kidnapper is following a mother and child (because her husband owes a loan shark company a lot of money). The child wanders off from the mother in a town centre and the kidnapper uses to opportunity to take the child as hostage for the money. The wife doesn't know the husband owes money to anyone so just thinks her child has wandered off. The child doesn't turn up by the end of the day so she goes to the police and fills in a missing person's report. When her husband finds out, he knows it's down to the loan sharks and goes in search of them. He has to complete various errands for them such as collecting money from other people to clear the debt he owes them. The mother eventually finds out, but as to not make matters worse, tells the police that the child has turned up safely. Husband continues to work for them and once debt is cleared, child returns home. 


However in my opening title sequence, we will only see the child wandering off from the mother and being led away by the kidnapper. I have chosen this as my OTS because I feel it would successfully grab the attention of the audience and because the person being kidnapped is a child, the audience feel more empathy and therefore care more what actually happens to the child. This would result in them watching the film to find out if the child did escape.


Costume
- Mother: plain everyday clothes; nothing special/significant about her. (Not to draw attention to her so it isn't obvious that something will happen to her).
- Child: pale pinks - cute. Very typical clothes of little girls. Makes her seem more innocent and childlike; more sympathy from the audience.
- Kidnapper: all black - nothing prominent (recognisable) about him. BUT not all too black as to be too obvious that he's up to no good in broad day light.


Props
- Lots of shopping bags for mother (emphasise that they've been out shopping all day).
- Possibly something like a little 'girly bag' or toy or something for the child?
- Sweets (for the kidnapper to give the child).


Lighting
- Normal/everyday lighting.
- EXCEPT the last scene where the child is in a dark room on her own; a single beam of light on her face.


Camera angles
- Long - establish location.
- Mid/CU - focus on action.
- CU/X-CU - facial emotion.
- POV - antagonist following them.
- High angle - makes the world seem bigger now that the child is on her own.
- Low angle - make the child look innocent and fragile.
- Over the shoulder - the child is unaware that the antagonist is watching her - sinister/creepy.


Location
Wymondham town centre.


Target audience
The target audience for a generic thriller film tends to be 18-25 year olds. However this is obviously only a guideline and anyone who shows an interest in the films becomes part of the target audience. I think my audience would be a wider category. The film features a mother, child and father - so people who match this description could also be included in the target audience. I think this because if the audience can identify with the characters (and situations) then they are more likely to feel empathy for the characters; which in turn creates more tension and suspense when the characters are in danger.