Group narrative. Miss Georgiou

The purpose of a narrative is to enhance the audiences viewing pleasure.  A story is a number of events that take place in an order we deem understandable. Narrative is the ideas that go into a story that make it more understandable for the audience and incorporate how and why is that being portrayed to us in this way. Narrative includes cinematography, sound, location, camera angles, iconography etc.

Our group came together and discussed the ideas we each had in our own head. After discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each point and we finally came to a decision on what narrative we actually want for our thriller.

My idea

i have created a small plot. A couple go to a closed hotel. They didn't know this and they start to argue. The woman leaves the man stranded there over the winter and begins to lose his mind in the cold attic of the hotel. He then murders new guests in the summer with blunt objects while wearing a phantom of the opera mask that he had found. I got the location from the shining, the suspense of him killing from pet semetary, the mysteriousness from v for vendetta, the isolation plot from misery and the iconography from Texas chainsaw. Hopefully these ideas create an element of shock, suspense and surprise amongst the audience.

Advantages: . Easy to acquire iconography

                     . small group

                     . Detailed story line

Disadvantages: . Hard to find location

                          . Hard to portray weather

                          . It is not simple

Alex's idea

Their are a group of people who are dared to spend the night in and old abandoned house, however there is actually a maniac who lives in the house who lock the group in and slowly hunts them down one by one. Using all the techniques that I have mentioned, about the group of people who are trapped in an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere at night. This all creates the conventions typical in a thriller genre, in my film I would also like to attempt to break the 180 rule which has been done in "Psycho" which I would like to replicate, this would give a 360 view of the setting which will draw the audience in and help them empathise with the characters.

Advantages: . It is very conventional

                     . Taken ideas from classic thriller films

                     . Very simple

Disadvantages: . Hard to find location

                          . Might be slightly repetitive

                          . You would need a large group of people

Lucy's idea

When trying to imagine my own thriller, I had to think of films that made me feel the suspense and tension. Therefore I chose to look at what would become my 'Inspirations'The 'Saw' films were just one inspiration of mine. So was human centipede, insidious and harpers island.These are just a few inspirations of mine, this is as they all use conventions of a thriller. Such as low key lighting, realisticness and mysteriousness, these together build a strong thriller, which grip the audience from the outset.

To reach a first idea and plot for my opening sequence, I took my inspirations and thought about the main features, Characters and Location. Therefore these are my first ideas...

• Characters - 3 girls,Amy, Stacy, Hannah - 3 Boys Sam, Jack, Mark - 2 killers
• Location - Woods
• Time - Halloween night

Target Audience - Certificate 15 aimed at teenagers

A group of girls go camping on Halloween night. They start to hear strange sounds from outside, coming out of their tent the sounds start getting louder. The girls are scared and have no idea what to do. A group of boys jump out on them.Once the boys go home, the girls plan to go to bed, however the sounds start again, they think its the boys, although this time it isn't...

Advantages: . Easy location
                     . Can be filmed at any time
                     . Simple plot

Disadvantages: . Large group
                          . Too much dialogue

Our groups final idea is a mix between a forest and an abandoned building. We will be focusing on the element of surprise and will work on building a tension to hopefully keep the audience on the edge of their seats.       

Our group can consider 3 different narritive theories. 

The first is Vladimir Propp, a Russian critic in the 1920s. He liked folk tales and came up with the theory that every narrative comes with a group of stock characters in which it will always follow. Some of these characters include a hero, villains, helper, princess, father , dispatcher and donor. The film shrek is based on this theory as it is like a fairy tale.

The second theory is from Tzveten Todorov. He simplified narrative into different parts. A equilibrium at the start which means everything happy as it should be. Then there is an disequilibrium which means this peace is disrupted however at the end a new equilibrium is created.

The third is from Aristotle. His theory involves many key words such as exciting incident, Dramatic questions, character goal, antagonist/protagonist, stakes, sympathy/empathy and resolution. I personally feel that we should use this last theory as it creates many emotions amongst the audience such as sympathy and enticing story lines.