CONCEPT (by Grace Watson)
TITLE
Sweetness
{a kidnapping thriller}
The title of our film will be ‘Sweetness’ because throughout, there is the symbolism of the word ‘sweet’. This is evident in both the actual physical sweet (lolly) handed to the little girl (Amberly), and the man’s calling her a little “Sweetie-Pie”.
Secondly, the word ‘sweetness’ is often associated with joy and deliciousness, whereas in our film, it represents/symbolises an evil and terrible man and his ‘gestures’.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Sixteen years and older
This is because those aged under sixteen may not cope with the content of the film (abduction/little girl being separated from her mother/scary).
INSTITUTIONAL/GENRE CONVENTIONS TO BE INCLUDED
· Symbolism/iconography – the little girl’s clothing will be bright and
warm – relating to her innocence and joy.
· The man’s clothing will be dark, dirty, dingy and old – relating to
his evilness and the disgusting act he is about to carry out.
· Irony – filming in a park (setting) where there should be many children,
running around in pure joy and excitement. However in this park there are hardly any children, it is gloomy and eerie. This irony causes the viewer to feel uncomfortable, and to worry for the child.
· Having a dangerous and questionable man near such small children will evoke fear in the viewer.
· Sound – the scene will begin with a slow tempo and soft, hollow-sounding, non-diegetic music. This will emphasise the eeriness. The soft music will slowly build up as the tension rises, and it will then drop into complete, deafening silence as the car drives away. The sudden silence will put an end to the building suspense with a loud (yet silent) ‘bang’!
· Lighting - quite eerie, cold and drained - this will spark irony as a park should be child-friendly - bright, happy and safe. It's as if it is being miss-used.
· Shadows – when filming the man, three-point lighting will be used to
create shadows over certain parts of his face. Just as parts of his face
will be concealed, he is trying to conceal his character and actions of abducting children by seeming sweet to luir the child toward his car, grabbing the child and driving away before any other problems arose.
· Narrative – the narrative itself builds excitement and suspense as the viewer follows
the man along his journey to abducting the little girl, captivating them.
· the camera’s perspective will jump between subjective
and objective which also increases suspense and evokes tension, as said by Spielberg.
· When filming from the man’s perspective, a canted,
disorientated angle will highlight his untrustworthy character.
· The door creaking (sound effect added in editing) as the mother opens the
door – the creaking evokes worry within the viewer.
· Perhaps the man will have a knife evident in his pocket. The knife resembling danger and death.
PLOT SYNOPSIS
The opening shot will be an establishing shot, revealing a white van parked in a parking lot, facing a children’s park. The second shot will be a POV shot from the man sitting in the van, looking towards the park at the children, scanning (pan). This large, tall man will step out of his van and walk toward a young, small girl who he then offers a 'sweet'. He invites her to walk with him to his car where the sweet is. She happily goes along with him. Soon after handing her the sweet (which is the object that is 'given'), he then invites her to get into his car. She has a 'discovery' or 'revelation' moment, and remembers how one should never take a sweet from or get into a car with a stranger, and so therefore she realises that perhaps this man is a danger to be around. This will be symbolised by her looking up at him worriedly, politely saying, "Um, no... thank, ... you... no.. thanks," and dropping the sweet on the ground as she turns around and begins running away at a high speed (a bit of a stutter - sound revealing her nervousness) [we may use a close-up shot of her face revealing her worry, and a low-angle shot looking up at the man revealing his superiority and her vulnerability when she says no thank you]. This will then progress into a chase scene in which he will dash after her, trying to grab her. This chase-sequence will be followed by him managing to catch up to her and pick her up, with her hitting her head against his on accident, hurting herself which will cause her to stop resisting and start holding that spot and crying in pain. He will carry her, at pace, to his car, shove her inside, hand her a dirty teddy-bear from behind the car seat, and then drive off, the little girl screaming. [Extreme close-up of his face as he carries her to reveal his determination and awful character - pale face, blue rings under his eyes, really strange man].
Once they have driven away, a wide-shot will reveal the mother leaving the bathroom and gently calling "Amberlyyy, where are you hiding?” in a warm, kind voice; a relief from the strangeness of and discomfort caused by the man.
ACTION AND PACE
· Begins slowly, suspenseful and mysterious.
· Suddenly speeds up when the little girl begins running away.
· The pace then remains quick and tight until the car begins driving away, when all goes slow and eerie once again.
EXTRAS
· There will be hardly anyone else in site – vacant, quiet, eerie atmosphere.
· The music will be non-diegetic.
TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF HOW TO BALANCE THE CLIMAX AND RESOLUTION
· Very obvious and drastic hand-held camera movements during the chase-scene, flicking between the POV of both characters.
· Eerie and slow handheld camera movements most of the time – highlighting that eeriness.
These shots, although hand-held, won’t be too drastic and will remain relatively still.
CHARACTERS AND NAMES
- The little girl's name will be 'Amberly'.
- The meaning of her name is a “Jewel-quality Fossilized Resin; As a Color the Name Refers to a Warm Honey Shade", according to Google.
- This little girl will resemble warmth and safety - the meaning of her name refers to the 'warm' honey shade, and she will be wearing warm colours - a beautiful, warm and fuzzy, red or orange cardigan, blue jeans and white sneakers. Her hair-ties will also be bright and vibrant.
- Her eyes will be bright and she will carry a freedom and joy, and will be neat and clean, bright and smiling (supports stereotype of children being care-free).
- Her hairstyle will be two pigtails - a typical childhood hairstyle, emphasising her still being a young child, innocent and trusting. [My mom is really talented in this department and so will do her hair before we start filming].
- She will almost look mis-placed in this dark and gloomy park.
In contrast,
- the man will be wearing clothing of cold colouring - greens, blues, and perhaps even faded magenta. - more specifically, he will be wearing an old, dirty (to resemble his dirty, dangerous background) jumper, and faded blue jeans that have lost their colour. His shoes will be sandals. His dirtiness will match the gloomy eeriness of the park and the action he is about to carry out.
All of the above will cause Amberly to stick out, highlighting right from the beginning her vulnerability in the dark place.
PRACTICALITIES OF FILMING/CONTENT
· This idea is justifiably realistic – it is a reality that MANY children are abducted and separated from their parents all around the world, and for many the possibility of their child being abducted is an actual worry – this will relate to the viewer and cause them to really engage with the clip.
· A safety issue may arise with regards to driving the car – we must ensure that the driver of the car concentrates on driving properly when he drives away, and that he doesn’t only focus solely on his acting role. Road safety is most important.
· Filming at J.F. Kennedy Park in Castor Bay. No permission is required.
· Filming will take place during the week after school between 5 and 7 pm to ensure that the park is as empty as possible. At this time, the sun will be beginning to set and so the lighting will already be slightly darker, which is ideal. Alternatively, we may film from 2-4 pm on a Thursday afternoon as school will still be in progress so there will therefore be less people around.
· Equipment required is: two cameras (one is extra for in case the first camera’s battery dies), memory card, tripod, shoulder mount rig or the camera, the fleccie, the lights, the audio equipment (the microphone, boom pole, audio (XLR) cables, headphones).
· We would ideally like the park to be empty. This is for two reasons. Firstly, because it will create
that eerie and lonely atmosphere, emphasising the child’s vulnerability, and secondly,
more practically, because we do not want to catch the faces of other locals and their
children on camera. One possible problem is the park not being empty. We will have to be somewhat flexible with our camera angles on the day to eliminate filming others not involved as far as possible. One way in which we are counteracting this problem is by filming form 5-7 pm, hopefully a time that is not too busy. Alternatively, we may film from 2-4 pm on a Thursday afternoon as school will still be in progress so there will therefore be less people around.
