CONCEPT “Hollow Oak”

Title

• THE TITLE OF MY FILM (what is it called and why – justify your choice?):

• Hidden Oak. We chose this because it relates to the plot and the setting of the film. It represents how the main character is hidden away, and how he is hiding a girl in his house, as he has been doing for a long time now. Oak comes into play because he is isolated, out in the woods.

MY TARGET AUDIENCE

(check brief for details):• The target audience will be for

teenagers aged 15-18, but that is not to say we want to make something that only people aged between 15-18 will enjoy. There would need to be a level of maturity to understand what is happening, and should be appealing for this age group. The film itself would have an R16 rating.

 INSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS I WILL INCLUDE IN

MY FILM ARE (with detailed

explanations): 

Logo: This would include things such as logos for our film company,

Sound track: For the soundtrack, we are hoping to use an orchestral song. We

would like to use a song that is simple, but dramatic. I think this would be effective, as it would contrast with the scenes that are shown, as they are all disturbing. In a

lot of films peaceful music is played in suspenseful scenes, which actually cause the scene to be even more unsettling, and

this is the sort of idea/feeling that we would like to replicate. An alternative to this is to have a song playing, but create one that is more based around different

sound effects.

THE GENRE CONVENTIONS I WILL INCLUDE IN MY FILM

ARE • Enigma: An Enigma is a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or

situation, and this is what we are trying to represent in our thriller opening. We will do this by not revealing what is happening in the scene until the last possible moment, and even then a sense of mystery and confusion will be created, as what is happening is not fully explained. We are aiming to film lots of different fragments and edit them together to show different scenes, and create a feeling of distortion.

• Iconography: Iconography symbolic representation, especially the conventional meanings attached to an image or images. Some examples of iconography we would like to include would be things like shadows, photographs, Low key lighting, Trees etc.

• Sub-genres: One main sub-genre that we would like to focus on is the Crime genre. Overall, if we were to make this film as a whole, it would be a crime investigation thriller, similar to something like ‘Silence of the lambs’ or ‘Se7en’. We would like to do this because it is an interesting genre that is not limiting, and gives us a lot of room to explore different possibilities. It also means that we can create an original plot and idea that hopefully not many other people will be doing.

Genre conventions cont.

Themes• Themes we would like to explore,

would be themes such as isolation and obsession. We will show this in aspects such as the plot, the setting and the shots/scenes we will film. The theme of isolation is represented because the main character is isolated from society, and it helps create suspense and drama. Obsession will also be explored, because the main character is displayed as psychotic and possessive, which is evident as he has a girl, Sarah, trapped in his house.

Character types• We do not know the

name of the antagonist, as it helps add to the mystery and enigma that is represented. However the antagonist is clearly psychotic, neurotic and paranoid. The Protagonist’s, Sarah, character type is not revealed in the opening scene.

A PLOT SYNOPSIS

• The plot revolves around the antagonist, who is a captor/murderer, and how he has captured a new victim, Sarah. The scene will start with an establishing shot of the forest/, and then different fragments will be shown. These will be things like pictures scattered on the ground, shots of journals, pictures of Sarah (Bianca Escobar-Flaunty) on walls, newspapers strewn around the room and shots of the antagonist(William Owen) doing things such as scratching his hands, picking off scabs etc.

• We will see him doing these things, being hunched over desks, checking windows, drawing curtains, as it shows his insanity and paranoia. These fragments will be shown as well as the opening credits. As one or two shots/scenes are shown, they will be followed up with a brief moment of credits. Our aim is to not have a big scripted opening scene, but to do something that complements the opening credit sequence, while also dropping clues and creating the mood for the rest of the film.

CHARACTERS AND NAMES

The main antagonist does not have a name, but he is a man who is highly psychotic and paranoid. His purpose in the film is a large

one because he is playing the main character, and throughout the film he is

being searched for, by investigators/police force. This character helps to make the film a thriller because of the enigma, suspense and action that he causes. His relationship

with the other character, Sarah, is not deeply explored, he does not know her

personally, but for some reason he has been abducting girls that fit her description,

brown hair, pretty etc. and was drawn to her. In this film their relationship is one of a

kidnapper and victim, and there are no romantic feelings between the two.

 PRACTICALI

TIES OF FILMING/CO

NTENT While I think our idea is very original and at times may be

difficult to pull of, I believe that it is attainable and realistic. As far as health and safety issues go, there

should be none, we won’t be filming in dangerous locations, the

main health issues would be scenarios such as a member of our media group becoming sick and not being able to help with the filming and if this was the case, we would

have to reschedule. It is easy for us to find actors/actresses as we only really need two people, and since

we never see their faces, it is possible for other people to fill in if

need be, but only if this did not affect the continuity of the

opening. Luckily a member of our group, Bianca, owns a property

that has lots of trees, which looks like a forest, and is perfect for the setting of our thriller opening as it looks very isolated and isolation plays a big role in our opening.