We begin with the sound of a door clicking shut, before transitioning
from black to a close up shot of the antagonist’s feet walking onto his gravel
driveway. The weight of his footsteps is emphasised by the diegetic sound of
the crunching gravel and its grey colour palette constructs gloomy
connotations. This close up conceals details of the character, making him
enigmatic so creating a sense of anticipation. We cut to an extreme long shot,
establishing the location of a residential street, which reveals the house
opposite. A shot through an upstairs window, creating a sense of intrusion,
presents the protagonist in her bedroom. Within her bedroom, we cut to a close
up of her face which conveys innocence as she calmly gets ready to go out. A
close up of her table as she picks up her keys presents props which convey
aspects of her character; schoolbooks convey that she is young and possibly
vulnerable, plus photographs of family and friends signify that she is kind and
innocent. A jump cut returns us to the antagonist, a close up of his watch and
the emphasised diegetic sound of ticking presenting him as impatient and creating a sense
of threat as it suggests that time may be limited for our protagonist.
Influenced by ‘The
Disappearance of Alice Creed’, we aim to create an increasing sense of threat
in the opening of our thriller film which is also about a kidnapping. We will
use a similarly bleak colour scheme, containing greys, to create connotations
of misery and we will also use close ups to create a sense of intensity. Also
drawing influence from 'Se7en', our film will have an urban setting, suggestive
of themes of immorality and violence, as is conventional of the thriller genre.
Another influence from this film is that we will use close ups of props in the
home of the protagonist to help establish her character (as was done for the
character of Detective Somerset in 'Se7en').
