Synopsis
The film starts out with an establishing shot of the two characters who are playing the ball game. After this it cuts to the two characters talking about something as they kick the ball back and forth however when the friend kicks the ball too hard it goes into a hedge and he asks the protagonist to get the ball. We then cut to a scene of the protagonist walking up to the hedge in a low angle shot. As he reaches down to get the ball we hear a rustling sound effect which is followed by an ominous sound effect which leads to the protagonist to hesitate. He waits for a bit, trying to get the courage to grab the ball however his friend shouts at him to get the ball, the rush of his friend shouting at him and the rustling in the bush builds more stress on him until his friend grows impatient and leaves, therefore leaving the protagonist alone. As the protagonist looks at the bush he starts talking to himself what it is. However as the rustling starts to grow he finally cracks and gets up to leave, as we see a wide shot of him walking over to his friend to try and leave. However we then cut back to the ball as we see it sit still by the hedge, to then get grabbed into the bush and insinuating that there was something in the bush.
In this, we can see that we follow Todorov's Narrative theory in the fact that there is an equilibrium, a disruption, an attempt to resolve the disruption, and then a new equilibrium. When the the boys are kicking the ball back and forth, here we are able to see the first equilibrium as this is the life we are displayed before the actual disruption happens. Then we are able to see the disruption happen as the ball gets kicked into the bush and we see a "creature" shuffle inside of the hedge. Which is then followed by the recognition as the main protagonist tries to bend down to get the ball back form the hedge. Which is followed by an attempt to fix this disruption where he leans into actually gets the ball and hesitates, leading him to run back to his friend leaving the ball. And finally in the final moments of the film we are able to see the new equilibrium after the disruption has happened as we see the ball that was left there gets popped by the creature therefore insinuating that had he grabbed the ball something bad would've happened, also leaving on a cliff hanger ending as we now no longer no whats to happen with the monster that was left in the hedge.
Propp's Narrative theory states that there are seven character types in each text, we are able to also see this narrative theory applied to my production as in the narrative we have a main character, a villain and a sidekick. The "Hero" is Eric, as he is the one who has to get the ball and Is the one that the focus of the narrative is placed onto and is the one expected to fight the evil force of nature. The sidekick is Jordyn, as we see him in the narrative as a close friend of the Hero and he is the one who supposedly helps Eric fight the villain. As for the villain, that would be the creature that is hidden inside of the bushes, its openly opposing Eric as we see at the very end it randomly destroys the ball that was near it, therefore displaying it had negative intentions had Eric gotten any closer.
Eric and the creature are binary opposites in Levi-Srauss' theory. Eric is seen to represent "good" as he is the hero character who has to go over to the hedges and try and get the ball, meanwhile the creature in the hedge is representing "evil" and therefore opposing the character Eric as we see it is openly attempting to commit harm to anything around it. Not only this, but they are also opposites in the fact that one is human and one is a creature, which could further reinforce the binary opposition of the "good vs evil" as usually we associate monsters and creatures to be evil in the narrative in films.
In a thriller, tension and suspense needs to built in order to drive the movie forward. For this, I'll use enigmas and action codes to make the narrative be pushed forward; by using narrative aspects such as not allowing them to realise whats in the hedge, the suspense of the sounds coming form the hedge and also sound effects we are able to build a sense of questioning and therefore make the audience question what is going to happen next in the narrative. They question the safety of the main character and it makes the movie have much more suspense overall. I'll also build suspense through using things such as fast camera editing and as I had previously mentioned sound effects to drive the tension forward
My movie will be a psychological thriller as it won't directly show any form of action that could build suspense but through other psychological aspects I will use them to build tension. As for themes, the three main themes would be the unknown, fear and creatures as they are all explored in order to build tension for the audience.
In my thriller, I'm going to use a lot of long shots as well as close ups. For the long shots they'll be used to create a sense of ambiguity and also makes the audience be on high alert to look out if they can see anything. And the close up shots will be used to bring focus to what they need to see, this is to directly bring attention to the things that will build tension and therefore allow the audience to have the anchored meaning. Fast pace editing will be used to make a rapid build in tension as the rapid changing of clips allows for a confusing sensation; and also using long drawn out clips on the moments where it is meant to be more calm and therefore use these calm moments as red herrings. Sound effects will be used such as ominous noises to reinforce that there is something wrong and therefore anchor the meaning in the heads of the people watching, and not only this but it makes something that wouldn't be that scary otherwise much scarier as you give it this ominous atmosphere. Ill also add wild tracks to make the atmosphere much more believable. Add sounds that would actually be heard but cannot be picked up by the mic that we use. As for mise-en-scene, the characters would be wearing their school uniforms to reinforce their age; the age of the main characters makes it much more relatable for the target audience and allows them to relate to the movie much more. There would also be props such as the ball they kick back and forth, but actually using a ball it underlines that they are just having a normal day kicking a ball back and forth and therefore allows the meaning to be anchored.
Its going to follow a linear, single-stranded narrative with a three act script. In each act the narrative will be progressed forward and doesn't have any flash backs or flash forwards as well as not going to any other exterior characters.
