Scriptwriting - Planning & Deciding Our Final Plot

(This information was taken from The Guardian's leaflet How To Make Films)

When you have an idea for a film, the next step is to write a treatment (also known as a synopsis), which summaries the key events in

the story. A simple story line can be broken down into a 5 step structure.

1. Exposition - opening premise and setting of the scene.

2. Development - the situation is built on and moves forward.

3. Complication - An event changes the situation

4. Climax - A decisive point where everything comes together

5. Resolution - The outcome is reached. However, a resolution is never shown in a trailer

otherwise it defeats the object.

The protagonist is the central character in a narrative whose actions propel the story forward. There are three classic protagonist:

Dramatic - They succeed due to their efforts

Tragic - They fail in spite of their efforts

Comic - They succeed in spite of their efforts.

This information is mainly used for films, the audience wouldn't be able to tell what kind of protagonist our actress is because the whole film isn't shown. However, some aspects of the Dramatic and Tragic character may be shown through some of the script. A comic character would not be appropriate in this film genre.

More than initial ideas...Our synopsis of the trailer

We have decided to go with the idea of the psychotic character taking an interest in a particular girl at school.

The trailer will begin with an establishing shot of the popular girl, Summer, in a classroom laughing with all her friends and boyfriend. This would be aligned with a voiceover of the new girl, Charlotte. A voiceover would consist of one of the characters at any time during the film, providing insight into who they are and what they think. Charlotte then is seen at the office coming in as a new girl at the school, so the audience see the contrast between the confidence in the two characters.

It then cuts to a teacher talking to Summer saying something along the lines of 'There is a new girl coming to the school and she needs someone who knows the school well to show her around' Reluctantly, Summer agrees as she is scared it will ruin her reputation. Surprisingly, Charlotte is actually alright, with slight hints of social unawareness here and there. Charlotte starts impersonating Summer by wearing similar make up and buying a red wig in private. Reverse shots are used here in the mirror. Summer's boyfriend, Chris, is reluctant to welcome Charlotte as she seems odd to him. Summer reassures him that she is a friendly person even if she is a bit weird, so he has to be nice to her. He agrees until, she makes a move on him and he rejects her so she drugs him and takes photos of the two of them when she is impersonating Summer. In the trailer Charlotte goes to kill Chris but there isn't a resolution so not too much is being given away at this point.

We will aim to build suspense while showing this throughout the trailer with effects such as music and slow fades to make it seem more building in tension.

Trailer Single White Female and possible ideas?

This trailer shows a particular idea we got from our teacher in that we could have our film based round a psychotic character who 'would kill to be her', that is her room mate. This would be fairly easy to film and the trailer would conventionally follow the rising tension as it progresses. This would mean we would need to cast 2 young girls to fit the style of this story. This would mean finding a girl the same age as me as we could use myself as an actress in this. film.

The Conventional Psychotic Character

The first recognised psychotic character was Alfred Hitchcock's character Norman bates from his film Psycho. He was originally based on a real character who impersonates his 'dead mother' due to his split personality. This idea has been used greatly in future films from this as he lets this character take over in situations he cannot control. Most psychotic characters have a hint of Norman.

The Shining is another greatly remembered psychotic thriller films and has been claimed to be one of the best films ever made. Due to alcohol and writers block the character 'Jack Torrence' slowly changes from a caretaker in a hotel to become a neurotic character who attempts to kill his son 'Danny' through the dark spirit. The famous picture of Jack Nicholson, the actor of Jack, shows the psychotic side through desperation and anger.

The Uninvited, a newer horror film in comparison also contains the mentally disturbed character, Anna. After her mother died in a fire, Anna was admitted to a mental hospital, and was released 10 months later having no recollection of the incident. She then has dreams once she's been released with 3 children and the strong belief that her mothers killer is the carer and her fathers new girlfriend constantly reoccur. Strange occurrences mount and the ending has a very big twist to the film, she is the killer all along without realising it. This character is different to the typical middle aged man so it make the film even less conventional yet works just as well showing that we don't necessarily need to stick within the conventional boundaries.

From doing this research, I have found that the psychotic character can vary widely, even though most films tend to show them as behaving and acting perfectly normal at the beginning of the film then the audience sees the change usually just before halfway when the character starts doing things that make them seem psychotic ending with them finally doing something irreversible or evidently paying for their behaviour as another character realises what they have become. Within a trailer however, the chronological order is the same however only the smaller more obvious points are shown so not too much is given away therefore making the audience want to see more.

Choosing our character

These photo's are general screen shots of a character that could be considered as psychotic. The woman could be an abused or confused ,for some reason, and evidently has a vacant look in her eyes; this is an effective character as it leaves a lot of room to move around in the psychotic style, she could quietly do things to make her like this or could change at certain points. The other character looks clearly disturbed and has a slight twitch in his eye. We asked Mr Swain to look a lot like Hannibal Lector fro Silence of the Lambs as there is a famous shot of him close up to the camera with a similar facial expression. He fits this conventional middle aged disturbed man, so we could easily use him for our film if we decide to go down that route.

Mood Board

Here is a mood board showing all of the particular films that have inspired and changed our ideas for our own trailer. These show a wide range on psychological thrillers we have personally delved into and learnt about their own conventions. Films such as One Hour Photo, Obsessed and Silence of the Lambs have been included. Either the film poster or an action snapshot has been taken and used here. It is an overall summary of the main ideas we want reflected in our own trailer.

Fatal Attraction Trailer

This particular film is a great inspiration to Carly and myself. This has given us the idea of having, not necessarily a girlfriend, but some sort of 'psychotic' character, possibly a boyfriend, mother or a character who has a close relationship with the main character. I love this film as it starts off like a rom com, however slowly changes into a more sinister thriller and becomes more of a slasher style towards the end which works very effectively