Individual Idea for Opening Sequence

Individual Idea for Opening Sequence

Name: The Fear

Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Horror

Plot:

The sequence begins with a scene of the life of a child at school being taught and doing various typical school activities. A montage of clips showing how he is doing at school and presents the life of an average child who lives a normal school life. Simple instrumental music is played to present a cheery, uplifting mood within the audience. As the sequence continues with the music playing within the background, the child returns home who lives with a loving family who care about him and look after him dearly. When the parents greet the child, they use affectionate language such as ‘dear’ and ‘love’. A short conversation takes place where the mother of the child tells him that they are going out for a special meal for achieving such great results at school. The scene cuts away to show a late night from the perspective of the camera looking into the window. The shot is displayed through obscured views from leaves and branches covering the screen from a bush that a man seems to be hidden within and staring at the family with the sound of heavy breathing within the background. This indicates to the audience that they are being watching by a mysterious figure. Various shots show the family enjoying a family meal at a typical Italian restaurant. Here, the audience are aware that the child is enjoying treasured experiences with his family, but there are soon to be a turn of events. As the family leave the restaurant and being walking home, they are faced with the decision of walking down a dark alley to a shortcut to their home the once cheery music is changed to low base notes and slow piano and string instruments playing. They decide to take the short cut. As they walk further into the alley, the sound of music increases more and more until a heightened sense of climax is set. However, the music is suddenly stopped and the sound of the panting breath of the child is left. The family seem to have safely reached the other side of the alley and they all let out a sigh of relief, but suddenly a man with a hidden identity springs from behind and attacks them. The man uses a suppressed weapon and brutally murders both the parents of the child with several bullets. The man faces the child who felt as if death was imminent and quickly closes his eyes, however, as the killer goes to shoot the child, the gun had run out of bullets. The sound of a contracting bullet trigger is played to emphasise this. He then suddenly scrambles to quickly reload the weapon, dropping various bullets on the floor as he creates a sense of urgency with his killing. The child peeks with one eye and sees the man quickly reaching for more ammunition and trying to place it into his gun, but quickly decides to take the risk of running and hiding from the killer. A low camera shot showing the dead bodies, the killer’s feet scattered with empty bullet shells are shown with the child running off into the distance and hiding. A close up of the child sitting in a dark secluded area within a shadow is displayed with the focus on his character. Within the background a view of the killer walks across the screen, the focus then shifts to him as the child at the foreground is blurred. The killer then pauses and faces the child’s direction, then turns back and walks in the direction he was once walking in. Foley used for the sound of a heartbeat of the child is used as well as the sound of footsteps from the killer moving across the screen, the sound of footsteps slowly fading away. The camera pans into a view of the child with his eyes clenched shut with the only sound of his heartbeat played. Suddenly, a hand wearing black gloves covered in blood taps him on the shoulder. The boy’s eyes beam open in shock and takes in a sudden intake of breath with fear ridden over his expression. The screen then cuts out into darkness where the title of the film, ‘The Fear’, slowly fades on and then off into darkness.

Setting:

The setting for the film would initially start within a state school environment where the child is being taught lessons and his ordinary life is being conveyed. The sequence progresses to a scene with when the child comes home from school and is greeted by their parents who are making tea and watching television. The area where the family lives is a standard town area, their house being semi-detached with a medium sized kitchen and living room. The conversation then commences about going to a restaurant with the child within the living room. A cut shot takes the next scene to the Italian restaurant where the family are sitting around a table and eating their dinner. The place is authentic and has chequered tablecloths, vines and plants decorated inside on the walls and a wine rack displayed above the bar. The view from outside the window is unclear due to plants and branches covering the camera. Then the view from the alley way is shown on a dark unlit road. The alley looks dark and mysterious, with several other paths leading from within it. The floor path is broken and uneven, with smashed bottles littering the area. The other side of the alley way is also dark, however, streetlights give a brighter picture and makes the family more visible. The last scene where the child hides is behind a dark shadow on an off road with the streetlight glow in the background dimly lighting the main road behind the boy.

(Semi-Detached Family House)

Character Profile and Costume:

Father: Black suit and red tie and smart black shoes showing he works and has an occupation of an office job. He has dark brown hair, 5ft 10in height, and brown eyes.

 

(Suit worn by Father)

Mother: Simple attire, often wears somewhat casual clothes, has a job as a teacher. When at the restaurant she wears a plain black dress with a simple necklace and flat shoes. 5ft 6in in height, hazel brown eyes and light brown hair.

(Dress worn by Mother)

Child: Simple grey t-shirt with black hooded jumper with zip, black and white trainers and blue jeans. He has light brown hair, 4ft 11in in height and dark brown eyes.

(Clothes worn by Child)

Killer: Black leather jacket, black jeans, black worn out boots, leather gloves and a black mask over his face with no features showing and is 5ft 11in in height.

(Killer's Leather Jacket and Gloves)

Props:

School bags, house keys, kettle, tea, mugs, television and remote, plates of food (pasta), wine glasses and bottles, menus, purse, wallet, guns and bullets.

Sound:

Throughout the scene soft, gentle instrumental music is played to show a cheerful setting of the child within his school, at home and at the restaurant. The music slows down and tones begin to clash giving an eerie and mysterious tone. Foley is used within various scenes such as the sound of the kettle being switched on, footsteps, cutlery clashing on plates, heartbeats, heavy breathing, suppressed gunshots, running footsteps, bullets falling on floor, silenced screams, flickering of streetlamps and sharp gasps.