Hamidah Duffus

Planning Brief
Production name:
X
Length of production:
Two minutes.
Group Roles:
Cinematographer Alannah Flood
Director Leena Bayoumi
Sound Ragavan Mangaleswaran
Editor Hamidah Duffus
Plot summary:
The opening sequence starts off with Sasha being watched through the window
of her house as she walks towards the front door after coming home from work.
Inside her house, she drops her belongings on the living room floor before
walking upstairs to grab clothes for after her shower. After her shower, she exits
the cubicle to find an x drawn over a heart on the bathroom mirror, which has
turned foggy due to the steam from the shower. She grows scared and opens the
bathroom door to check if anyone is outside but doesnt see anyone. Sasha
quietly moves upstairs to her bedroom to get changed but hears something drop
downstairs before she gets a chance to. Discreetly, Sasha moves down the stairs
again to check what had dropped which is when she notices that the front door
has been left ajar. As she moves to close it, she hears something drop again
distracting her from the open front door as she moves around the corner to
check the source of the noise. Sasha doesnt find anything so she moves back
only to bump into a coat rack; she jumps thinking it is an intruder but dismisses
the thought when she sees it is a coat rack. She moves backwards again,
remembering the open door and turns to close it only to find X standing in front
of the door with it now wide open.
Target audience:
The target audience of our opening sequence will be those aged between 15 and
30 and are aiming to appeal to both genders, as we believe that there isnt a
specific gender targeted when producing thrillers. The reason why fifteen year
olds are the youngest audience targeted is because there may be some scenes
that are not appropriate for those aged below. An example from the sequence is
when Sasha is getting ready for a shower and the camera focuses on her feet as
she changes and drops her discarded clothes, indicating that she is naked. Also
the fast pace shot towards the end of the sequence, editing techniques such as
jump cuts and the sudden appearance of characters may scare viewers younger
than fifteen. In terms of socio-economic groups we are directing our sequence at
those in groups C1 to D.
Inspiration:

Hamidah Duffus
As well as researching about thrillers and typical characteristics of the genre, we
watched clips and trailers from different thrillers. The one movie that stood out
was The Perfect Guy: it helped to craft our own plot for the opening sequence.
Rationale:
A technique we will use is dramatic irony, which is where the audience is aware
of what is happening but the character(s) are not. An example would be when
the main female protagonist is in her house but unaware of her stalkers
presence. We will also enforce Roland Barthes enigma code theory. The mystery
behind the stalkers true motives and identity will make the audience want to
continue watching and see what happens next.
Representation in the text:
The victim is clearly distinguished from the beginning to the end of the sequence
as the camera is focused on her throughout especially in the P.O.V shot where
the camera is looking out of the window.
The discreet movement of X
throughout Sashas house shows that he is a very mysterious character and adds
suspense to the narrative.
Production Success
We will show our opening sequence to twenty of our target market and create a
questionnaire, which will then be handed out to them; I feel that any less than
twenty will not receive accurate results as the target group is wide-ranged. The
feedback we get from the questionnaire will help to determine the success of the
production.
General Codes and Conventions
Thrillers typically begin with an equilibrium a state of calmness between the
characters before showing a disruption in the peaceful atmosphere. In our
sequence, the equilibrium is throughout most of the opening as the female
protagonist, Sasha, is inside her house unaware of the presence of her ex. The
disruption in the equilibrium is when Sasha sees the message left on the mirror
by X after she steps out of the shower; she is now aware of another presence but
still unsure of who.
Overt Messages:
Towards the end of the opening sequence, Sashas door is seen left ajar even
though she had closed it when she walked into her house at the beginning. She
was also careless when she goes to see what caused the noise downstairs and
forgot about the half open front door. A message the audience can infer from this
is to be more aware of their surroundings and that you remain safe in your own
house by locking the front door, for example Sasha didnt do this, which
allowed X (her stalker) to enter her house easily and endangering her.
Hidden Messages
There are no hidden messages in our production.