TitleThe title of the film is called ’Frame of Mind. We chose this title because it the common phrase may reflect the mind of the killer, who is potentially disturbed. The title is supposed to have a double meaning; ‘Frame of Mind’ could be interpreted as the state of mind of a killer or psychopath. We specifically chose the word ‘Frame’ to suggest foreshadowing of the film, and that a person may’ve been framed to committing a crime. The themes connoted by the movie include; betrayal, mystery, suspense and pursuit.

Narrative

Brief outline Our story follows a killer’s search for a person who accidentally happened to capture the killing as footage on a mobile phone. It begins when a young girl is raped and killed. The killer develops a lust for retaliation of the young boys who have the footage on their mobile phone, and the rest of the story involves their escape as the killer becomes to frantically pursue and watches their every move.Detailed summary Jessica is an average teenage girl who is outgoing; she enjoys all the usual interests as a teenage girl, talking to her friends, make up, music etc. One day she happens to decide to meet up with an online friend she has been speaking to for quite some time. What she doesn’t know is that her “online friend” is not who he says he is. The next day, Jessica gets ready and goes out to meet him, as she is walking, a blacked out car swerves around corners. She then receives a text message saying to meet him in an alleyway, unknowing what might happen and disregarding the potential dangers in doing so, she complies. The next shot is a black gloved hand, wearing a watch, covering the mouth of the girl and fades to black. The next scene opens with the footage of kids messing about in a park. In the background a faint outline of two figures appears, one dragging the other into a car. The camera slowly moves backward, to reveal a person sitting in front of the TV staring at the still image. As his wrist becomes evident, the same watch is again noticeable. The title of the film then fades up.ConventionsIn terms of conventions, we will conform to particular conventions such as creating montage of shots to add suspense, whilst subverting some. I.e. using slow, tense music to create suspense. Instead we will try to create something more frantic and with more pace. We will try to frame close-ups to gather emotion from the characters. We will also be including a red herring to make the audience think they are supposed to be watching the video footage. We will also use cheap surprise when the girl gets kidnapped and we do not see what happens to her.

TechnologyIn our film we plan to use a wide variety of technology including new media technology. This will include a digital video camera to shoot the movie, computers & laptops to create the MSN conversation scenes with aid of the internet and webcams, mobile phones will be an essential part of the film as that is what the kidnap footage will be captured on. The internet will again be used to show the mobile phone footage, and will be where the killer finds out that he is included in the clip. The only limitation will be the quality of the mobile footage; however this could be effective as we need it to look like actual mobile phone footage, otherwise it will not be clear that the footage was recorded on a mobile phone and may confuse the audience. Style and Iconography

We will edit the clip so that there are a mixture of shots and angles which are rapidly put together to create excitement and confusion at the same time. We will use close-ups of ‘Jessica’ so show her reactions/moods, for example when he asks her to meet up tomorrow a close up of her smile will be shown to connote that she is happy about the arrangement. We will also use effects where necessary, and fast paced cuts, will also add as much suspense as potentially possible to the sequence. The highlight of the opening sequence will be shown using a mobile phone camera. There will be objects such as a black watch which will appear throughout the film to connote to the audience that it belongs to the killer. Throughout the movie, the same watch will appear to guide the audience to suspect the killer. Costume will also reflect the characters personalities, for example the short skirt and heels worn by Jessica will connote that she may be a little bit promiscuous. Music will not be used throughout, but at the correct times to create tension. InstitutionI have decided that I would have 20th Century Fox movies producing my film. I say this because it was one of their films that reached IMDB’s top 50 thriller films with Fight Club 1999. They have also produced films like Phone Booth, Taken and 28 days later which were all successful. 20th Century Fox would also be the distributors as they own their own distribution company. The film will come out in mainstream cinemas worldwide. Approximately four months later it will be released on Blu-ray, DVD and online.

Representation

In our opening sequence of our thriller there are 2 key characters; the antagonist and the protagonist. The protagonist is a blonde girl called Jessica who has been murdered. We have specially chosen a blonde girl because they are mostly stereotyped to be quite vulnerable. On the other hand the antagonist is a tall guy who is always wearing black. The black clothing foreshadows his dark and mysterious personality. It also represents him to be quite a negative character. Also we have used a group of young teenage boys who are listening to “Grime” music. We have chosen this representation because we wanted to show the audience what young British boys are like and Grime is listened to by a lot of them. We can apply our characters to Propp’s ideal characters. The antagonist in our thriller is the villain and Jessica reflects the princes/damsel in distress. Our film will not challenge typical representations of groups in society due many of our representations have been stereotypes of society itself for example the group of teenage boys idealise their stereotypes.

Conventions

In our thriller we will use conventions of a thriller. One of the conventions we will use is “Red Herring”. This will be used in a shot of a camera phone footage which emerges into a computer screen leading the audience to be quite confused yet interested. Also we will be using another convention called the “Cheap Surprise”. This will be done in a shot of an alarm clock. By using this convention we are mixing elements of the horror genre into the thriller. This will enable our film to have a hybrid genre of both horror and thriller.

Target audienceOur target audience are young adults, as our film will be classed 18 and over. We decided this because our film suggests themes of murder/violence and/or rape which may not be suitable for people at a younger age. Our film would appeal to those who have particular interest in

technology and/or gadgets, this is because most our film will involve (or be based on) the use of technology, and the audience may take interest in watching how these effects were created. We specifically aim at teenagers because we feel they will be able to relate to the main characters more. Our film would appeal to those who enjoyed ‘The Ring’ or ‘Scream’. There are no ethnic boundaries in terms of appeal, as the casting is multicultural. We decided to aim our film at young adults/teenagers as the story and situations may seem realistic/familiar to them, and they would therefore take more interest.

Primary research

Here is a graph based on 7 questionnaires conducted about. The most used device was the MP3 player. This graph is useful because it gives us ideas about which gadgets we could incorporate.