Preliminary Task Two

Action Thriller Opening Scene Planning 

Preliminary Task 2 checklist & roles

Pre-Production 

Brainstorm 

Shotlist 

 (1) Character names with detailed explanations about their purpose in the film and their background/relationship with other characters and their motivations/representation in the film:

the main character- the ‘hero’ – Declan Hunt

motivation: justice. searching for the person who murdered his loved one. He is an acquaintance of Simon Owens. He represents a dominating emotion in the movie and shows the fruit of nurturing this feeling.

the ‘doner’- Simon Owens

motivation: money. He wanted to help out an acquaintance. He failed to realise the impact of his actions in aiding Declan Hunt in his destructive path of vengeance, nor did he care as much. He got the job done and got out of Declan’s situation. To be blunt, he only thought of what he would achieve out of the bargain.

the antagonist- the sidekick of the ‘villain’- George Wayne

motivation: fear 

(2) Ideology (incl. message of the film, relevant representations and any commentary on supporting or challenging representations as well as representation theorists)

 The message of the film is inspired by the movie ‘Prisoners’ (2013) which is about the consequences of violence. This movie shows the length a person would go to for revenge.

Supporting or challenging representations:

The characters Declan Hunt and Simon Owens are strong and intelligent and support the representation of the male gender.

The character convention is challenged because the antagonist had a selfless motive- to protect his family after being blackmailed. The purpose of this character is to show that a person is complex and cannot be labelled into one category. George doesn’t know Declan; he only knew that he was sent to kill him.  He let his terrible mistake become a permanent consequence in his life. He let fear dominant him.

Props 

The message written on paper. It is folded four times and the handwriting is small and it makes the audience wonder what the message is.  There are numerous sets of words and numbers which the audience can’t understand only the main character. This is a secret important message.  Right at the beginning of the opening scene, a sense of mystery is created to keep the audience interested in the movie.

Gun.  It is a common thriller convention used during shooting scenes. The sound effect is loud and booming. It is associated with death which makes it terrifying. It disrupts the peace of a place. It has contrasting ideas as it can save and take people’s life. When it protects the main character's life a positive connotation becomes attached to the weapon.

Costume

l.  The main character wears black rugged clothing including a jacket. Black represents strength. For example, in the movie ‘prisoners’ the character Keller Dover wears dark coloured clothes. He also wears a watch to give the impression that he is in control and intelligent similar to James Bourne’s character.

James Bourne's watch 

2. The ‘doner’ is the person who gives the note to the main character which helps him on his journey. He wears a plain t-shirt, sweater jacket and glasses which gives the impression that he is a smart ( stereotypical characteristic). He is the owner of the house

Oliver Hampton from How to Get Away with Murder (TV show)

3.  The antagonist wears an oversized hoodie which hides their figure.  This parallels to him being afraid to be caught because of his illegal activities. The antagonist is actually sidekick of the true antagonist who knows about his illegal activities and uses it to blackmail him into doing his ‘dirty’ work. For example, in the movie ‘In the Shadow of The Moon,’ there is a mysterious figure who wears a blue hoodie the face is not seen. 

Production

Lighting 

Setting of movie opening scene: daytime (afternoon)

Ambient lighting is the natural light available at the shooting location these can include sunlight, moonlight, street lamps. A secondary source of light is used with it. The filming location, the house, would be surrounded by drapped curtains light would enter through these windows.

Key lighting is used to highlight the subject. It is the main light.  It will be used on the main character and the ‘doner’.

Low Key lighting is a combination of using both black lighting and key lighting where they create contrasting areas of light and darkness on screen. The dark tones would be used on the antagonist to help build a menacing tone.

Practical lighting is the use of regular light sources such as lamps, candles and TV. It would be used to help brighten the scene if the daylight wasn’t enough.