Planning Individual Narrative - Miss Georgiou

Planning Individual Narrative

The purpose of a narrative is to give the target audience a reason to watch the film and allows them to connect to the events of the film and make out what is going on in an understandable and enjoyable way that the audience want to watch and are interested in. The narrative is also reflected through everything about the film with elements like advertisement used to draw in the target audience but if the narrative of the film is poor it will drag everything down around it. A narrative engages the audience with the quality of the narrative as it directly affects the audience's interest in the film and allowing them to decide whether they want to watch the film or whether they will not based on how compelling the narrative is and if it is appropriate to the genre it is in. In terms of the success of the narrative, successful narrative drawing in a wider range of people whereas a less successful narrative would be less relatable to the audience and not engage them with the film. An engaging narrative in the thriller genre will feature the conventions of the genre that are used to hook the audience in and make them want to keep watching to figure it all out with features like the hidden identity of the killer that serves to leave the audience guessing throughout the film.

My individual narrative that will be used in my opening sequence will feature an ordinary girl that believes she is being stalked by somebody at school, with many shots showing the stalker in the background and never in the central frame to suggest that he is striving to be hidden, with many people disbelieving her as nobody ever sees the stalker while the climax of the sequence features the stalker coming to finally attack the girl but as he comes up on her she turns around and brutally stabs him with a knife before putting it away and walking off as if there is nothing wrong.

In terms of the mise-en-scene used, I will use a knife for the iconography when the killer finally attempts to kill the victim at the end of the sequence to connote elements of danger and that the killer will be able to move silently and escape before anyone hears due to a knife being seen as a silent weapon that can be used to kill without anyone noticing. For the lighting I want use high key lighting during the entire sequence (at school and outside) to create a false sense of security for the character to convince the audience that the victim is safe and that the killer is confident in his ability to kill people in broad daylight, so when the attack comes in daytime it will shock the audience. In terms of colour used, I would like to do a point-of-view shot with a red filter over the lens when he is watching the victim from afar to show the audience that he can only see violence and may be unable to be reasoned with when his rage takes hold at the end of the sequence when he attempts to kill his victim. I would like my setting to take place, in part, in a school as this would be relatable to the audience and allow them to engage more with the story as it will take place in a familiar location that the audience can see themselves in and so understand the main character more. As for the costume used I would like to have the killer wearing an all black tracksuit to show the audience that he is an evil character that will do anything to kill his victim while he will also have the hood up in order to hide his identity to create suspense in the audience as they do not know who the killer is. For the positioning of characters I would like to have the killer always be positioned off-centre to the frame in scene where we see the victim on her own travelling home to show the killer that he is making an effort to hide himself and wait for a better opportunity to arise yet he is still confident enough that he will not get caught spying. For the facial expressions used I would like for the killer to have an emotionless face when he is unmasked towards the end of the sequence in a scuffle with the victim as it will further the idea that he is deranged and feels no remorse when he kills people, making the audience worry for the victim's safety in the sequence. For body language I would like a shot where the killer is seen crouching out of sight when the victim is seen going about her day to further connote the idea that he wants to remain hidden along with his identity being kept a secret to the audience to create an enigma.

In terms of the different characters used, I would like the victim and killer to be polar opposites of each other to further support that one is bad and the other good. I would like the audience to see the victim, who will be a teenage schoolgirl, doing everyday activities and the school to show the audience that she is an innocent character who doesn't deserve what is happening to her as she does not appear to have done anything wrong which will create sympathy for her character in the audience as she does not appear to have been targeted and followed by the stalker against her wishes regardless if she has been good or bad. For the killer, I would like the audience to see him doing sinister and foreboding activities where he is seen with a planning board and many pictures of girls which he crosses out until he circles the victim, showing how he has been targeting the victim and been watching her from afar as he prepares his attack. This will create suspense in the audience as they want to know what is going on with the killer and why he has been targeting the girls he has appeared to kill in order to better understand the narrative and the character.

I would like there to be conventions of a thriller present in the opening sequence to make the film look and feel like more of a thriller film to make the audience enjoy and engage it more. In my thriller sequence I would like for there to be a chase scene in it. The chase scene will take place at the end of the opening sequence when the stalker is chasing the victim with the intention of killing her. This will show the audience that the killer is determined to get his victim while also showing the weakness of the victim as she is getting chased and unable to get away properly. This will create suspense in the audience as they are unsure if she will get away from the killer in time or if she will be killed, while also making the audience get a sense of confidence from the killer as he attempts an outlandish attack on the victim in broad daylight where anyone could see, whereas the audience would usually expect to see the killer wait until darkness to kill his victim so that no one will see and the narrative will not be complicated with witnesses. I would also like for the killer's identity to be hidden in order to be conventional and create intrigue in the audience. I would like for the killer's face to be seen as being covered at all times until he is masked at the end of the sequence. This will tell the audience that the killer wants to remain hidden and that he may know the victim personally as they could expose him. This will create suspense for the audience as they want to know who the killer is yet this will be kept secret from them until the end of the sequence. This is conventional as the audience expect to be presented with a killer who's identity will be kept from them until the end. I also want to feature a plot twist in the narrative of the sequence. This will be shown at the end of the sequence when the victim is revealed to be the killer. This will engage the audience further in the narrative as it is an unexpected turn in what the audience thinks will happen while also creating suspense in the audience as they want to know what she has planned and who else she is going to hurt. This is conventional as the audience expect to see what they thought was the process of events dashed and renewing their engagement to the narrative.

I think the narrative for my thriller opening sequence is conventional as it follows a traditional narrative. The narrative follows the victim who is a everyday person with no blatant reason that she be targeted by the killer, while the killer follows her in the background with the intent to kill her. This is conventional as the audience expect to see a weaker female victim be followed by a stronger male killer who wants to kill her. Although my narrative is more conventional as it has two plot twists at the end of the sequence in that the killer is actually the victim, although a female killer can be seen as unconventional, while the second twist that the killer and the victim know each other is an entertaining convention. This will create suspense in the audience as the want to now why the female has become the killer suddenly and why the killer has been motivated to attack his friend. These sudden plot twists will allow the audience to become more engaged in the narrative as they want to find out more about what is going on.

My sequence will appeal to my target audience as it will feature content and conventions that will engage them with the story and make them want to watch more in order to found out who the killer is and discover the truth of what is going on while also revealing enough to tell the audience what the narrative is about and introducing them to the killer and their style of killing people that should be interesting to the audience. I will also make it relatable by having it in both familiar settings with familiar characters types in order for the audience to feel more connected to the narrative as they can relate to it.