Cut ! - Film Age Rating

It has been decided in accordance to the film age rating system and through research of the Psychological Horror/Thriller genre that our project is made into a rate 15 movie.

This is due to the heavy psychological implications which could be disturbing for a younger audience. However these instances are not so extreme as to entitle the film an 18 rating since while there is very little genuine violence and the only death in the film has almost no blood or gore related props. However the psychological and horror elements create some disturbing imagery which while not vulgar are still graphic. Also due to this film having a particular message for people, ages between 15 – 30, it’s only natural for it to be suited to them whereas the message may not be understood by a younger audience.

The violence and profanity is done mildly and in such a degree as to refrain from insulting any specific peoples in terms of their; ethnicity, religion and social standing. There are no incidents where the characters are forced to do anything or subjected to any inhumane treatments throughout the stories development that are not within the boundaries of an age rating of 15 years.

Official Film Age Ratings

A motion picture rating is designated to classify films with regard to suitability for audiences in terms of issues such as sex, violence, substance abuse, profanity, impudence or other types of mature content.

A particular issued rating is called a certification and can range from a U (suitable for all ages) to an 18+ (suitable for audiences over the age of 18 years)This is designed to help individuals and parents to decide whether a movie is suitable or not for viewing. However, the effectiveness of these systems is widely disputed. Also, in some jurisdictions a rating may impose on movie theatres the legal obligation of refusing the entrance of children or minors to a movie that is rated above the customer’s actual age.Depending of the state or country the decisions made on behalf of media censorship are usually done by elected bodies of a type.

In countries such as Australia, an official government body decides on ratings; in other countries, such as the United States, it is done by industry committees with no official government status. In most countries, however, films that are considered morally offensive have been censored, restricted, or banned. Even if the film rating system has no legal consequences, and a film has not explicitly been restricted or banned, there are usually laws forbidding certain films, or forbidding minors to view them.

Cut! script first draft, Names have been altered slightly

Final Review
INT. Edward’s home--DAY

Montage when Ed is putting DVDs in to a player and is writing down a review in a notebook in scrappy handwriting and taking out the DVD and replacing a new one, throwing down a full notebook, picking up another and flicking through the pages to find a space for a new review, rummaging through a pile of old pens to find one that works, testing the pen on the note book cover before beginning to write his review. The montage uses jump cuts and other editing techniques to demonstrate to mental condition of the character.

INT. OFFICE--DAY

Ed is in the corner of the office looking at a video camera he had picked up and his way to work. When he gets there he checks that he has been given everything he order as a colleague called John walks up to him.

JOHN
Heyup Ed, what you up to.

ED
Oh hi John, I just got here and I’m just looking at this camera I bought.

JOHN
Fair enough, just came over her because you dropped one of your DVDs.
John pulls the DVD from out of his pocket and shows it to Ed who has a look of slight confusion in his face as he inspects the disc.

ED
Are you sure, I can’t remember taking any discs with me

JOHN
Well it fell out of your bag I just presumed that it might be yours

ED
Hmm, I must have bought it a while ago and forgot about it

JOHN
Must have

ED
Well thanks for letting me know about that

JOHN
No problem pal, see you later

ED
(Whilst inspecting the disc)
Yeah see you later John

Ed drops the DVD on to the table. (Scene cuts away to the next scene)


INT. Ed’s flat--evening

Ed drops the DVD on the table and wanders in to the kitchen to make himself a drink when he hears something fall down behind him. He turns round to see that there is nothing there and shrugs his shoulders and continues with what he was doing and says nothing. He hears a different noise that is of someone running behind him, he turns quickly to look again.

Ed
What the fuck?

He rushes out of the kitchen thinking that someone had broken in to his flat. He begins to walk around his flat to find the intruder.

Ed
(With some fear in his voice)
Who the fuck’s in my house?

He twists and turns sharply as he starts to hear noises coming from all directions till a pile of notebooks fall and he turns quickly to see the source of the noise

Ed
(Letting out a sigh of relieve)
Might have just been me

Suddenly his door slams shut and Ed sprints towards the door. When he gets out of his apartment he catches a glance of the elevator doors closing and rushes down the stairs in pursuit. He catches up in the basement car park and sees a hooded figure standing in front of him, all of a sudden when Ed blinks the figure disappears and Ed sprints to where he was stood to see where he went and upon arriving he discovers no trace of him. He walks back in to his flat and goes in to the sitting room to calm his nerves. As he leans forwards he sees that the DVD had been written on. In panic he throws the DVD in to a draw and leaves the kitchen. The faded sound of an alarm clock starts to ring the background as the scene cuts out.

Ed shoots up bolt upright in bed. Ed is confused to whether this was a dream or real, as he turns to his alarm clock he realises that he is late for work.

Ed.
Gah! Fucking hell!
He runs downstairs and everything seems normal, he goes into the kitchen the books are upright, he grabs his keys and runs out of the apartment.

EXT. Ed’s office--Day
Ed runs in to the office doors past the reception desk as his boss confronts him

BOSS
Smith! Why the fuck! Are you this late again?

ED
(Nervously)
Well, err you see my alarm didn’t-

BOSS
Oh shut up with your bloody excuses. One more slip up and you’re out.

ED
Yes, thank you
(Under his breath)
Arsehole

EXT. Ed’s flat--evening
Ed parks his car in the car park and begins to walk to his flat and after he passes the camera the audience sees the hooded figure from earlier in the film. Ed turns around think he heard someone behind him but sees no one there. Ed arrives at his flat in a fairly stress out mood and as he goes to unlock the door, he glances upwards and sees that there is an eviction notice pinned to his door.

ED
(Confused)
What the fucking hell’s this

LANDLORD
(From out of frame)
It’s an eviction notice retard
Ed turns round shocked about what was going on

ED
What. How come?

LANDLORD
Well, you haven’t paid your for 3 bloody months, your flat smells like shit and you can smell it on the floor above, you have the TV on till 3 o’clock int morning at full blast, and you never take out your rubbish on time. I’ve numerous complaints from other tenants and I’ve had enough. Either pay the rent you owe me and clean up this crap or you can get the fuck out.

Ed turns to walk in to his apartment as the landlord grabs him and pushes him against the wall outside and continues his rant,

LANDLORD
Don’t you fucking walk off from me like that. I’ve fucking had it with shit like that from you. You’ve got 2 weeks to pay up what owe me or you’re out.

ED
I heard you the first time
With no delay the landlord punches Ed in the ribs and leaves him doubled over in pain trying to catch his breath as he staggers in to his flat.

INT. Ed’s flat—-evening
Ed staggers in to the frame and collapses on the sofa stilled doubled over in pain and tries to catch his breath back.

INT. Ed’s flat—- late night
Ed wakes up in a daze as he looks at his phone to check the time and decides that he isn’t tired and picks up a notebook and looks through it to find any available space. He flicks through the book and stops suddenly and notices a review for a film that he has give zero out of ten.

ED
(Confused)
This can’t be right it must have deserved something

He notices after looking at the review that there is no actual writing or film title. After thinking for a second he remembers the DVD that he received the previous day and goes to retrieve it out of the draw. He opens the draw and inspects the DVD and when he turns it round and notices has been sealed with tape saying “do not open”. He takes the DVD and walks to his TV and sits in front of it and slowly peels off the tape and opens the box. After putting the DVD in the player he places himself in his usual place ready the review the film and nervously presses play.

THE ACTUAL SNUFF FILM: (black and white film) the film starts off in a corridor and turns in a same Multi-purpose hall. The camera pans up to the top of some stairs and pans back to see the hooded figure who walks in to the camera which cuts to black and fades back in to the hooded figure walking away from the camera down a different hall way. The film then jump cuts the figure walk in to a room with a pre-tied noose hang in mid frame. The figure puts the noose round his neck and pulls down his hood revealing that it is Ed the jumps off his perch to hang himself.

The film continues as the camera pulls out to see Ed’s feet hanging lifelessly in front of the TV screen. The Black and white film fills up the whole screen as the film cuts to black and the film ends with the sound of the DVD ejecting.

Health and Safety

Generic Suicide Research

According to lists posted on the internet between 40% - 50% of suicides are done through hanging with the remaining percentage taken up mostly with gun-shot inflicted deaths and wrist slashing, there is also a small number who used either overdose or asphyxiation.




Hanging appears to be one of the most shocking and visually disturbing of all the deaths unlike the other methods that can be done almost instantly and without much difficulty a hanging requires time and effort for it to succeed which shows a grim determination of the individual.

However very few people leave messages or reasons behind to explain their actions and as a result their deaths are relatively mysterious which has caused the law enforcement to assume every suicide without explanation to have been committed by an outside party thus making almost every suicide attempt in some way supernatural since the act of the killing ones self is unnatural in itself.

Scientific Suicide Research

Durkheim stated that there are four types of suicide:

•
Egoistic suicides are the result of a weakening of the bonds that normally integrate individuals into the collectively: in other words a breakdown or decrease of social integration. Durkheim refers to this type of suicide as the result of "excessive individuation", meaning that the individual becomes increasingly detached from other members of his community. Those individuals who were not sufficiently bound to social groups (and therefore well-defined values, traditions, norms, and goals) were left with little social support or guidance, and therefore tended to commit suicide on an increased basis. An example Durkheim discovered was that of unmarried people, particularly males, who, with less to bind and connect them to stable social norms and goals, committed suicide at higher rates than married people.

•
Altruistic suicides occur in societies with high integration, where individual needs are seen as less important than the society's needs as a whole. They thus occur on the opposite integration scale as egoistic suicide. As individual interest would not be considered important, Durkheim stated that in an altruistic society there would be little reason for people to commit suicide. He stated one exception, namely when the individual is expected to kill him or herself on behalf of society – a primary example being the soldier in military service.

•
Anomic suicides are the product of moral deregulation and a lack of definition of legitimate aspirations through a restraining social ethic, which could impose meaning and order on the individual conscience. This is symptomatic of a failure of economic development and division of labour to produce Durkheim's organic solidarity. People do not know where they fit in within their societies. Durkheim explains that this is a state of moral disorder where man's desires are limitless and, thus, his disappointments are infinite.

•
Fatalistic suicides occur in overly oppressive societies, causing people to prefer to die than to carry on living within their society. This is an extremely rare reason for people to take their own lives, but a good example would be within a prison; people prefer to die than live in a prison with constant abuse and excessive regulation that prohibits them from pursuing their desires.

These four types of suicide are based on the degrees of imbalance of two social forces: social integration and moral regulation. Durkheim noted the effects of various crises on social aggregates – war, for example, leading to an increase in altruism, economic boom or disaster contributing to anomie.

Short Film Distribution

Distribution of a film can take a number of different forms depending on the company that developed the film and the crew’s contacts within the industry. However in the case of short films the marketing and distribution can be more complex due to the lack of interest generated by the general public towards them, in most cases only the more dedicated fans of the film medium will be able to appreciate them or even know where to find them. As a result appealing to a wider audience is difficult but not impossible especially now that certain station, namely BBC and Channel 4 have begun showing short films/documentaries in their normal advertisement slots and even some in the breaks of their main feature films. These usually tend to be educational or depict a life from a different perspective which means there is a slight limitation of the type of films they show since they aren’t allowed to be too negative or be above a certain age rating. Never the less it is still an example of how short films have progressed and continues to do so. And thanks to that support “Short Subjects” as they were once known have begun to make a powerful comeback, and for indie moviemakers the trend is getting harder to ignore. Not only are shorts gaining acceptance as a unique art form, commercial possibilities for shorts are better than they've been in decades. Cable television networks are increasingly receptive to the short form, new film festivals devoted entirely to shorts are springing up. What's more, DVD is a potentially large market and various internet sites are fast emerging as viable short film outlets. More exposure means more potential for profit, and just this year several distributors have surfaced who specialize in the promotion of short films. It's literally been generations since makers of shorts have had this much support. And many filmmakers who would previously have waited until their budgets were "feature fat" are now considering the short format, as well. Shorts still serve their traditional purposes, of course. They're great calling cards, learning tools, and testing grounds for ideas and techniques. But for movie¬makers who have just made, or are thinking of making a short, aspirations are usually higher. They want their work to get seen, but these days they also want them to generate a bit of cash. Because shorts are so comparatively cheap to make. As more moviemakers, including some who have Academy Awards to their credit, turn to shorts, the competition promises to get increasingly fierce. Making the film takes courage but, as always, that's only half the battle. The glory comes in being able to crack the market. If you're working with a distributor of short films, like AtomFilms, Apollo Cinema, Forefront Films or Big Film Shorts, you can expect them to devise a marketing strategy aimed at the usual suspects-cable and network television, airlines, colleges, broadband, etc. What you may not know is that they'll also work to get you exposure over the internet, put together a promotional package including synopsis, bios, and pro¬duction stills, and will often help with a festival strategy.

A typical path for a high-quality short might go like this: First, major national and international cable channels (Sundance, Bravo, Encore, IFM, Canal Plus, Channel 4, The Independent Film Channel, Bravo, the newly launched Short TV, BBC, etc.), which will expect an exclusive license on the film for a period of one to three years. Simultaneously, short films can be broadcast on the internet and, in some cases, the cable channel will allow licensing the film to a venue such as an airline. Companies also license short films for video and DVD compilations (Short Cinema Journal by Polygram is a leader), or sell them to various other secondary exhibition venues. Essentially, you can expect these distributors to work to sell your short and have it shown anywhere possible, worldwide. After the first license expires, the distributor can then take your film to regional programmers, where the contracts are typically not exclusive. Beginning the hunt for a distributor for short homework. Familiarize yourself with the outlets each typ¬ically sells to. Can you name some of the films they've acquired? Does yours fit the bill? Be sure you have a clear idea of the aes¬thetics you need to achieve to succeed in the marketplace. Short film distributors and the buyers are very selective, so the more infor¬mation the better prepared you'll be. Watching the Sundance Channel, IFC and ShortTV which broadcasts short film and can let a producer know if it will be suitable for a particular outlet and will also help in understanding the marketing strategy a distributor develops, and will help make an intelligent assessment of sources of royalties.

The four major short distributors mentioned above are beginning to carve out niches for themselves. Forefront Films has been licensing shorts since 1992, and as such was the first American company to spe¬cialize in licensing shorts around the world. Forefront generally acquires 15 shorts a year and currently has close to 120 in its library. Its "goal in representing short films is twofold-to promote and license shorts for sales around the world, and to develop relationships with talented film makers to produce feature films, and to manage their careers," says Harold Warren, president of Forefront.

Ian Curtis Hanging Scene In The Film Closer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSQuOZug7TU
This link is to a video which shows the hanging of the Joy Division singer in the film Closer. The hanging is from 3:49 onwards.

Psychological Thrillers And The Directors

Taxi Driver - Martin Scorsese



The story of a street nobody who dreams of becoming a somebody heavily refelects on the subjects of isolationism and how lonliness can drastically affect a persons character and sometimes even drive them to make extreme life changing decisions for better or for worse.

This is a subject that we'd like to portray but in a more modern background in a media and digital age. Hopefully displaying how little human society has advnaced in terms of social issues inbstead of trying to solve them they have only exassibated the problem by bombarding an individual with media advetisements and productions that can sometimes make a person believe thats all there is in life causing their own social interactions to dwindle. Usually this can go on for years but they always eventually realise what they have done which can lead them to make a drastic decision which is something I want to portray in this project by taking the idea of extreme lonliness and isolation and placing it in the modern world and show how a character can react to such a situation. This can also be seen as an educational (shock treatment) film bring to lihgt a problem that people seem happy to ignoresince with the issue being shown as real and still a problem to this day.

Se7en - David Fincher

In terms of atmosphere and effect Se7en seems to show how important these can be in a psychological film, they can set the mood for the audience, create tension and tell an otherwise complex story in a simple way the audience can understand and even be entertained by.

What I want to take from thsi is how the director set up certain situations and how the characters react to them through; lighting, movements, sound effects and dialogue. Beinf a film lacking in much action that means it must be drtiven along on its atmosphere since the dialogue is short and often quite normal since the characters talk about regular things that could happen to anyone (this is outside of the actual murder investigation oiffcourse). Kevin Spacey's protrayel of a disturbed but somewhat polite serial killer will also help in creating the main protagonists personality since we want him to appear mentally unusual but on the outside appear normal if alittle reserved.

Fight Club - David Fincher

Fight Club is another film tht realise heavily on atmosphere and dialogue in order to sell it since (depsite the films title) there aren't many thriller or action based scenes featured which means it had to rely on other methods to sell the film.

This film introduced the idea of "voice-overs" since this is a sure way to represent a character as being slightly unusual since he chooses to speak in his head instead of with his voice which mean that he says something but the people around him don't know what he's saying (or rather what he's thinking). Also the idea of a plot twist which has been happoening since the beginning also inspired me to try and intergrate something similiar in thsi project, to have the story run from start to finish with a plot twist occuring throughout but only becoming visiable to the audience at the end.

Not only that but this film introduces the idea of two realities crossing together to effect the characters i.e. Tyler is an imagination created by the main character but dispite this he still drives the plot and effects both the protagonist and the viewer which at first isn't clear until the end when it appears as though Tyler was acting through the protagonist and that it was really him all along affecting everyone. While this can be complicated I'd still like to put something similiar into the film of something fictional or supernatural coming across and affecting the characters and plot in a way that can confuse and disorientate but ultimatley becomes clear at the end.

Questionnaire

The following is our questionnaire we created to find out the public's opinions and ideas about films in general, and about our specific genre for our film.

1. Are you male or female?

Male
Female

2. What age group are you?

Under 12's
13-16
17-21
22-35
36-50
Over 50

3. Do you watch films regularly?

Yes
Sometimes
Not a lot
Never

4. What genre is most appealing to you?

Comedy
Action
Thriller
Psychological
Horror
Sport
Drama
If other, please state:




5. What makes you want to go watch a certain movies ?

Big-name actors
Trailer and storyline
Director
Company producing it
Other
If other please state:




6. Do you like watching small budget films?

Yes
No
If no please state why:

7. Do you like watching Short Films ?

Yes
No
Maybe

8. Where would you expect to find Short Films ?




9. What would entice you to watch a Short Film




10. Have you seen any of the following films ?

Shutter Island
Pi
The Ring
Control
The Village

11. If you’ve seen any of the above ?

What did you like about it




What did you hate about it




What would you do differently




12. Would you ever go see a Psychological Horror movie?

Yes
Maybe
No
If no, why?

12. What kind of music would you expect to see in this sort of movie ?




13. What would you expect to see in that kind of movie ?




14. Would the title sequence of a film effect you opinion of it ?




15. How would you expect that type of film to be marketed and presented ?



.

Film Set Ideas

Ideas For Car Park:
1. We are wanting something like an inside car park as it adds more atmosphere to the scene and adds to the film. We are going to film this at Alexander Martin's car park outside his flat.







Ideas For Office space/Cubicle:
1. Using a real office to give the effect that it is a real office and we are wanting to add a few extras to give the idea that the main character is at work, and to use the added sound of people away at working, tapping keyboards and having a chat between each other.
2. Using a room at college as if each office worker has a separate room, this will be easier to film and edit as the sound will just come from the main character and it will not have anybody else to add sound to the scene/background noise.








Ideas For Flat:
1. Our idea is to have the flat being a dark place/ ideal for what the main character would like the room to be for his viewing pleasure. It would be relevant to have a little lamp in the scene as he writes his review so he would need some light to see what he is doing. The place we want to film the flat at is, Alexander Martin's flat.
2. If failing that another idea is to use a room in someones house and move things into that room that we would like in the scene for instance a chair/sofa, a lamp, a TV set and various different items that are key to the scene.

Character Bios

Name: Derek Smith

Age: 25

Derek Smith is a 25 year old office monkey with few prospects and even less ambition as to the future and has become quite content with spending his free time from work reviewing films in his one bedroom apartment and writing his opinions / rating in his note book. Virtually the only time he leaves his apartment is to go to work, human essentials and to buy more DVD’s.

A relatively normal if slightly shy character who would to most people appear shy but it isn’t due to discomfort that he ostracises himself but is more that he finds others to be boring and shallow company and finds 3D interactive media more stimulating than an actual person.

The character itself will be very quiet, will radiate some confidence but will be forgettable if he were real i.e. if he disappeared it’d take a long time to notice and he’ll be remembered vaguely. It’s not that he’s scared of people but less interested but will also display pleasure and happiness at talking about media related topics with other people but will immediately lose interest if they talk about it in a “shallow” way or go off topic.

Appearance will come in two forms; casual wear and formal wear. However both of these will be minimal as in appear as though someone put them on without giving much thought as to their appearance. The suit will be a cheap off the rack deal which gets the job done but doesn’t attract attention and the casual wear will consist of a shirt and joggers, both will be very minimal and unflattering. His expressions will be more in black and white’s skipping between happiness, boredom and confusion but with no bridges between them i.e. he won’t pretend to be happy when bored.

Overall Derek within reason is an honest man who can be seen in many different lights; admired for knowing what he wants and feeling he has nothing to prove, sympathised with for using a media to escape reality, pitied for the sad lonely existence he leads and the end result of the film he could be a warning of what can, and is, happening.

Similar Characters:

Richard Masur as Clark in the 1982 cult classic The Thing displays this well as a character who has more in common with animals than actual people which causes him to appear different from the norm. Also his quiet nature but willingness to talk when talked to also sum up the personality Derek will achieve. However Clark was almost too distant which did lead to him almost being forgot several times which will be altered in the film since this person is the protagonist and his hobby is more visual than taking care of husky dogs

Actor : Alexander Martin

Name: Benedict “Ben” Arnold

Age: 26

Ben Arnold works in the same place as Derek as an office worker but will immediately be identified as the opposite of Derek i.e. ambitious, social, happy-go-lucky and popular, in that he forces his personality onto people. However he does have a similar interest in films as Derek, though not nearly as fanatical, but these will be a very shallow interpretation of a film goer who doesn’t really look at all aspects of a film but rather just what is put in front of him i.e. will like action films because of the action but won’t comment on the acting’s, director’s or music’s contributions.

A regular if annoying character who will be seen as unthreatening, a person who means well but is unable to put it across well and will be remembered more for his negative aspects rather than his positives. Appearance-wise he will be more happy and energetic than Derek and wear finer cut clothes; he will also have the more trendy appearance of someone who takes better care of himself in looks adding a sign of vanity to the character.
In the end this will all help serve the twist that involves this character and the main protagonist as the film progresses.

Similar Character

Ricky Gervais’s character in the hit TV mockumentary the Office where he plays the middle-management boss of all the workers in the series with much of the comedy and pathos of the series centering on Brent's many idiosyncrasies, hypocrisies, self-delusions and self-promotion (including playing up to the 'documentary' cameras present in his workplace).
Though similar to the character Ben will harbor a darker side to his character which will not be revealed until the right moment.

Actor : Ben Parr

Movie genre : Psychological Horror/Thriller

Psychological horror is a subgenre of horror fiction that relies on character fears, guilt, beliefs, eerie sound effects, relevant music and emotional instability to build tension and further the plot.

Psychological horror is different from the type of horror found in "splatter films," which derive their effects from gore and violence, and from the sub-genre of horror-of-personality, in which the object of horror does not look like a monstrous other, but rather a normal human being, whose horrific identity is often not revealed until well into the work, or even at the very end.

Psychological horror tends to be subtle compared to traditional horror and typically contains less physical harm, as it works mainly on the factors of mentally affecting the audience rather than the display of graphic imagery seen in the slasher and splatter sub-genres. It typically plays on archetypal shadow characteristics embodied by the threat. It creates discomfort in the viewer by exposing common or universal psychological vulnerabilities and fears, most notably the shadowy parts of the human psyche which most people repress or deny.

The menace in horror comes from within. It exposes the evil that hides behind normality, while splatter fiction focuses on bizarre, alien evil to which the average viewer cannot easily relate. Carl Jung has argued that attraction to the uneasiness caused by the Other is an attempt to integrate the "otherness" of the shadow while others believe horror serves only to repress it. One could ultimately argue that psychological horror isn't in fact of the horror genre, with it having a greater resemblance to the thriller genre. However, in psychological horror the essential element is to frighten the audience mentally, whereas this is not the case in thrillers. There is also a sub-genre known as the psychological thriller, which can be similar to this, but relies on leaving a different impact on the viewer than that of psychological horror.

Another aspect of psychological horror is its use of body horror. The purpose is to develop a feeling of unease by exploiting human fears of the abnormal, human experimentation, disease, suffering, among others.

Hanging Scene In Shawshank Redemption

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkSjw9h_FTs

Brooks hanging scene from Shawshank Redemption. Sequence starts from 3:20

Treatment 2

Title:

Snuff

Plot:

A relatively average mid-20’s man who works in an office and sees very little merit in communicating with the outside world other than when he has to. He spends his free time reviewing movies on DVD and writing down his thoughts, opinions and his ratings in a notebook he always keeps on his person. One day after reaching his 100th review Derek treats himself by buying a HD digital camera with the delusion that he “may” want to create his own film one day. A work colleague (Ben Arnold) notices and starts conversation with Derek at work where they go into a discussion about Derek and his list to which the man makes a comment about what he’ll do when he’s seen all the films out there. Derek is left pondering this all day and when leaving for work Ben notices Derek dropped his DVD and after the words “hey boyo you dropped you film!” hands it back, Derek can’t remember dropping a DVD but takes it anyway assuming it’s all the excitement of the new camera. On returning home Derek continues to ponder Ben’s words and after setting up the camera decides to look through his book to reminisce of all the films he’s seen to see if he feels any different about his decisions. However upon reading through his notebook Derek comes upon an entry marked 0 / 10, this is unusual since Derek only even went to 1 / 10 once before and that was a particular bad film, but never 0. Curiosity piqued Derek searches for the film which was titled Chinese Blank which means little to Derek but actually finds a blank case for a DVD with a Chinese symbol inserted between the front sleeves. Derek remembers it as the film Ben returned at work and decides to watch it again. After watching it for a few minutes it’s clearly a poorly made home movie, shot in black in white in a dark room with what appears to be a chair and a noose in the centre, a hooded man enters the scene and goes through the process of hanging himself making it a snuff movie, but what scared Derek more was the fact Derek recognises this man, infact it looks almost like him and when the man stands to take his last breath on the chair he takes off the hood to reveal it to be him and as he jumps Derek’s screams are cut off as his own neck is snapped by the noose wrapped tightly around his neck with his newly purchased digital camera on a tripod in the corner, the record button flashing. After a few seconds of the camera recording Derek’s final breath a hand reaches over and clicks the camera off and a man walks over the retrieve the DVD from Derek’s player and after fading to black we (the audience) here a thud and a familiar voice saying “hey boyo you dropped you film”. Cut !

Characters: 3

Derek Smith

Benjamin “Ben” Arnold

Various extras (add to the shot)

Rating: 15

Scenes of a disturbing nature with an emphasis on the subject of acute psychological unhealth and suicide, as a result it is unsuitable for ages under 15 years of age due to the disturbing imagery present throughout the film, mostly catered towards teenagers and parents so they can view it, be entertained or shocked and hopefully learn something from it they can take away.

Target Audience: Mystery / Horror / Psychological

Someone into intrigue and mystery with a tint of a twist. Someone who likes to try and work things out for themselves but sometimes never quite gets there. a person who never gives up trying and will always give it a shot on working out what in happening, yet still loves the element of surprise.

Psycho thrillers are generally particularly popular with the under 25's and have a slight female skew. With moviegoers in an attentive and focused mindset, they provide a highly effective, distraction free advertising environment. However it can also be viewed by a parent of a child so that they can take the message the movie tries to bring and prevent it from happeing to someone in their family or to someone they know and vice cersa for any teenagers watching it.

Style:

Quick cuts, fast pace and camera angle changes, music that gives tension and is passy when appropriate. It can be to do with lighting, especially the use of shadow. Mirrors and stairs are also conventions of thriller movies.

The codes and conventions are mainly what the audiences expect to see within a thriller this includes all types of thrillers, such as cross genres in action, adventure, sci- fi etc.

What audiences expect to see is what producers need to include in attracting their audience. The codes and conventions of a psychological thriller that are genres which play with audiences minds by manipulating a character and the film will show this from a very subconcious angle by using voice overs and never allowing the audience to know much outside what the main characters know so as to build tension and shock.

Treatment 1 for final film

Treatment

Title: Final Review

Genre: Psychological Horror

Duration: 5 minute short drama

Audience: Certificate 15, would be preferred by people with more complex film tastes who can appreciate a horror film that involves deep social issues with some horror thrown in.

Distribution: this film would be distributed to Independent cinemas such as the “Showroom” in Sheffield and shown on TV after the watershed. This film would also be distributed on the Internet on websites like “YouTube” and Facebook.

Synopsis: the film is about a recluse man who tends to shy away from contact with other people and rarely goes outside for anything other than work and supplies. The film starts off with an opening of which quickly shows his everyday life. He then goes out for something to eat from the shop and he then gets a DVD almost forced upon him by a shifty stranger in the street who almost seems scared of what the DVD contains. The man then retreats back to his flat and immediately abandons his groceries at the front door as he comes in and rushes to his TV and DVD player. Before inserting the disc he gets out a notebook and pen and inspects the disc before putting the DVD in and pushing play. He watches the DVD with a blank stare as he observes the mysterious figure on the screen slit his wrist bleed to deaf. With no control over his own actions he stumbles toward his messy kitchen and grabs a large knife and whilst glancing at the TV screen proceeds to cut his own wrist. Snapping out of his trance he realizes quickly what he has done collapses to he knees in front of the TV cradling his arms and looking down to the floor as he lets out a weep. He looks up slowing to the TV and sees that it is he on the television copying his exact movements and he rolls over on to the floor and dies. As the TV continues to run, you see a dark figure enter the room, step over the body and walk towards the TV and you see it is the man who gave him the DVD and he smiles and switches off the television. The movie ends to the sound off a DVD be ejected.

I want to reference these opening credits from the movie "se7en" however i will change images and most of the cuts to make it our own interpretation what is relevant to our own film

this is an example of the sort of cuts that we want to use in our own film. it is called the "handless Pianist" and was short at the Cannes film festival in 2008

25 Word Pitch

Reclusive film reviewer discovers a mysterious film which inadvertently leads to him having a series of supernatural experiences ending in a horrific twist.

Film Suggestion

Title :

Cut !

Plot :

A relatively average mid-20’s man who works in an office and sees very little merit in communicating with the outside world other than when he has to. He spends his free time reviewing movies on DVD and writing down his thoughts, opinions and his ratings in a notebook he always keeps on his person.

One day after reaching his 100th review Derek treats himself by buying a HD digital camera with the delusion that he “may” want to create his own film one day. A work colleague (Ben Arnold) notices and starts conversation with Derek at work where they go into a discussion about Derek and his list to which the man makes a comment about what he’ll do when he’s seen all the films out there.

Derek is left pondering this all day and when leaving for work Ben notices Derek dropped his DVD and after the words “hey boyo you dropped you film!” hands it back, Derek can’t remember dropping a DVD but takes it anyway assuming it’s all the excitement of the new camera.

On returning home Derek continues to ponder Ben’s words and after setting up the camera decides to look through his book to reminisce of all the films he’s seen to see if he feels any different about his decisions.

However upon reading through his notebook Derek comes upon an entry marked 0 / 10, this is unusual since Derek only even went to 1 / 10 once before and that was a particular bad film, but never 0. Curiosity piqued Derek searches for the film which was titled Chinese Blank which means little to Derek but actually finds a blank case for a DVD with a Chinese symbol inserted between the front sleeves. Derek remembers it as the film Ben returned at work and decides to watch it again.

After watching it for a few minutes it’s clearly a poorly made home movie, shot in black in white in a dark room with what appears to be a chair and a noose in the centre, a hooded man enters the scene and goes through the process of hanging himself making it a snuff movie, but what scared Derek more was the fact Derek recognises this man, infact it looks almost like him and when the man stands to take his last breath on the chair he takes off the hood to reveal it to be him and as he jumps Derek’s screams are cut off as his own neck is snapped by the noose wrapped tightly around his neck with his newly purchased digital camera on a tripod in the corner, the record button flashing.

After a few seconds of the camera recording Derek’s final breath a hand reaches over and clicks the camera off and a man walks over the retrieve the DVD from Derek’s player and after fading to black we (the audience) here a thud and a familiar voice saying “hey boyo you dropped you film”. Cut !

Film suggestions

Title: A Good Friend
Plot: A Teen Victim of bullying who has treated like dirt all his life, at home and at school. He starts seeing a ghostly figure appear in his room and talks to him. The morning after the entity appears he would wake up covered in blood. In a panic he would cover up the blood on their bed and wash the blood on their face and hands, change their clothes and run down stairs. Over breakfast, a report would come on the television that a body of one of the main character’s class mates, who was often abusive toward them, had been found nearby. On their way to school, they would walk past the place where the body had been found, and they would catch a glimpse of the ghostly figure they saw the night before. Throughout the day the main character would appear through windows and on corridors, but they only get mocked for trying to get other people to see them. When they get home, the characters mother shouts at them ending their argument a mug being thrown at the character. During the night, the characters bedroom door flies open with the entity dragging the corpse of their mother in to the room, as the character panics with monster explaining that its real and not in the characters imagination, the character asks “what are you” and the creature replies “ a good friend” and the scene cuts to back as it begins to swing a weapon.