Media Filming Project Treatment

We have decided to shoot the opening in the sub-genre crime/thriller, much like other thrillers of its kind. For example, like in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Leon etc. We aim to create a tense atmosphere which lends itself well to the genre. The way in which we will immediately establish the equilibrium is through the setting and by using music to build a tense atmosphere but without giving away the plot. The place we have haven chosen to shoot this opening is at Salhouse Train Station, mainly because of its deserted location, a convention used in many other thrillers.



Our film will begin with the first few shot of the station and the surrounding area to establish the location and enable us to use different camera shots, such as long shots and worms eye view. Within these, running titles will be added discreetly so the viewers attention is not distracted from the opening shots. Throughout, we plan to use a soundtrack which fades in, as the picture does, and which, by the low volume, sounds like it is being played out of shot from a distance. Within these shots, a dark and derelict house is shown. This is the frame that we end the title sequence with. The camera then cuts inside the house to a man sitting by a window which faces the platform. We plan to make these opening shots to set the scene last approximately 10 seconds long.

The character appears to be very socially isolated and lives alone in this dark, rundown house. He has recently broken away from a gang of organised criminals, and his involvement in a scene of organised crime and corruption. Throughout the opening, we are going to have subtle clues as to his past (for example; the letter, the character stepping off the train and his intent). His house is next to the platform at the quiet station, its location is secluded, overgrown and the interior of the house is damp and dirty. The walls are bare and empty and the floorboards creak as you step on them.

He is writing a letter and the camera focuses in to an over the shoulder shot of the letter and a CU of the page, although the words are unclear on the page. When we cut to this shot, initially the music increases in volume; as if it is coming from inside the man’s room. From this, we cut to a shot outside the house of the train approaching the platform, this is the point at which the music stops. This silence serves to make the atmosphere even more eerie than before. Another way we show the contrast between the inside of the house and the outside, as well as the soundtrack, is the lighting. Outside; we are only going to use natural light, which will contrast with the house, where there will be darker, more noir lighting.

From here, the camera then cuts to a mid-shot view of the train tracks outside. The soundtrack remains silent until you begin to here the sound of the train along the tracks. This noise builds to a crescendo as you watch the train approaching from the same camera view. This is the point at which the equilibrium is disrupted. It isn’t dramatic, but it is enough to change the atmosphere. The sound of the train approaching increases as it comes towards the camera. We then cutto a shot of the concrete floor of the platform. Onto this arrives the 2nd man in our opening. He is wearing distinctive boots, which is the first thing we see of him. We then go to a medium shot of the train pulling away from the station, with the man following it as he walks down the platform. The camera then cuts to a side-on shot looking across at the platform following his footsteps as he walks (like in the film ‘The Third Man’). The camera then stops, as does he from here, the camera then goes to a close up shot of his side where he reveals a weapon concealed under his jacket. The soundtrack remains silent. Also, when the camera focuses in, the background is slightly blurred- this is so the audience’s attention is drawn to the object.

After these shots in which the weapon is identified, this 2nd man continues to walk towards the house where the 1st man is located. The camera shows the 2nd man walking towards the house, focusing on his feet using a low angle shot. The camera cuts back a medium shot from inside the house, looking out to the 2nd man walking towards the house. the 1st man in the house writing the letter, with the use of over the shoulder, high angle, medium and long shots of the man from behind, with the edition of a high angle close up shot of the 1st man’s hands and the letter as he writes.

Once the man reaches the house, the camera will then cut to a close-up shot through the window of the man waiting at the door. We will then cut back to the high angle close up shot as he is writing the letter, within this shot we hear the knock at the door. Hearing this, Man 1 stops writing and puts his pen down to get up and answer the door. We then go to an over the shoulder shot of Man 1 opening the door and then quickly closing it when he sees whose there. To clarify, we cut to a CU shot of Man 2's foot in the door. We then go to a medium shot from the other side of the room in which Man 2 pushing the knife forward, into his side and walk through into the house. The lighting it going to be remain dark and we are going to have very low contrast to show the connotations of the events taking place in this scene. The camera then goes to a medium shot of the window placing the platform in which Man 2 walks across, momentarily blocking out the view of an outside streetlight. The camera then focuses on a shot of the letter with the ink running out of the pen, signifying Man 1's death.on this as ink begins to leak onto the page from the pen (like in the opening of ‘Don’t Look Now’ with the photo slide). We then cut to the 2nd man grabbing the letter and in a close up shot we watch him set fire to it - suggesting to the audience the connotations and possible consequences of the letter, also making the audience wonder exactly what it could say.

Aims and Objective
In our opening 2 minute film, we aim to include; some kind of narrative structure, suspense, opening titles and credits and, most importantly, identifiable codes and conventions of the thriller genre.