PROPOSAL

- By Laurena

‘What if looking for safety becomes the reason you’re unsafe.’

A family tries to run away to find safety, but where they seem to think safety is, ends up being more dangerous

than ever.

Safety

Runaway Freedom

Confusion Feared

Philosophy behind the story

The message that I’m trying to bring across with my movie, is that sometimes people search too far for something that is usually closer than they think it is. JJ and his family are running away to find safety, but where they seem to think safety is, there is more trouble. This supports the message I’m trying to bring across as it suggests that they did not have to go too far to find safety, and by going too far they created more trouble than they had to.

With my story I also want to make people realise that everyone has a story, and that even a villain has a heart and in this situation the kidnappers may be doing something ‘bad’ but they are driven by evil things rather than being evil themselves.

Concept/storyline A recent scandal took place where numerous children have and are still going missing. The English government has no idea and has not made much effort to find out where the children have disappeared to. When one of their own legends, the famous, teenage, British pianist Jayson J. got targeted which then created chaos, the family tried to handle it themselves however this may not end the way they hoped it would. As its not only the

children that are targeted but the whole family has been brought in danger now as well.

My reasonsMy reason for this plot would definitely be that I was watching Taken just before this, and I was inspired by the story line and also fascinated by it taking place abroad rather than locally where everything always seems safe and known.

Characters

Jayson J (JJ): JJ is the main character, he is a male aged 13 and won 2012’s Britain’s got talent which got him to the top 10 youngest pianists in the whole world. He is a young and driven artist that has the dream to go on tour and follow his dad’s (who also used to be a famous pianist) footsteps.

Joyce: Mother of the family, who encourages the secret keeping. We may not see visuals of her but are more likely to hear audios.

Mysterious guy(s): They are the men that have been sent to do the kidnapping, they are mysterious as we wont be seeing enough of them to be able to identify them.

Setting time and place

The setting of my movie started in England, then another part was filmed on the plane and the film was finalized in Ghana. I did this as I believe that it suited my plot, as these countries are known commonly for kidnapping.I filmed at different times of the day depending on which scene or mood I was trying to create. For example filming at night time for a more mysterious setting.

Editing and planning

When deciding on how to layout my trailer, I wanted to convey certain set rules by making it stand out more and making people remember it even if they do not decide to watch the actual movie straight away.

I filmed my footages with an IPhone 5 as I preferred the quality over the one a digital camera (for instance) would give me. I also wanted to be modern and use new technology, which shows that technology is moving forward and that new experiments have led to new and better opportunities.

Ideas

Unsafe- This title relates to the way the characters are feeling and basically sums up the reasons they had to look for safety and run away from where they lived.

Expect the unexpected- The title is put in such a way that the audience is warned due to the use of the imperative form, telling them what to do, It creates an enigma code as it does not give away too much but does engage the audience

Age:My target audience is 16+ as the plot may be too complicated for anyone younger to understand, however there will be no violence therefore it would not be harmful for under 16’s. (the ratings are purely because of the possible dificulties that might arrise when it comes to the understanding of the story).

InspirationAs I previously mentioned Taken by Oliver Megaton was initially my main inspiration when deciding on both plot and scenery. They have a story line that is similar to mine and I agreed with the setting as I believe that by making it take place abroad adds fear to it all, as humanbeings seem to find what is unknown or unfamiliar to them a threat which helps make the viewers feel fear, tension and in some cases excitement.

I was also further inspired by the American TV series ‘Kidnapped’ and just like in my story it is about a son of someone who is quite wealthy. The family agrees to keep it a secret when he gets kidnapped and this is also what happens in my movie, as the mother tries to protect her son. I came up with my story before I found out about the series but discovered that they were quite inspirational, allowing me to improve my initial story adding further background details into my plot.

Presented

I really like the way in which the movie trailer Taken uses different ways of filming, such as horizontal and landscaped, and puts them in one frame to create certain effects.

It for instance allows the viewer to see two things that are happening at the same time but at different locations, without having to use a different frame and therefore creating a direct link between the two sequences

Two shot in screen

Todorov Narrative theoryTodorov’s narrative theory suggests that narratives exist out of an equilibrium, followed by a disequilibrium and then finally it is supposed to end with a resolution.

Applying this theory to my own work, when describing my narrative, made me recognise this structure.

At the start of my trailer, when JJ is getting ready to go on his holiday with his family, nobody suspects that this holiday will be anything BUT normal. They all seem to be happy, this suggests that this part of my narrative would fall under Todorov’s equilibrium sector. In contrast to the joy felt at the start, the story slowly leads to more of a disequilibrium, where the kidnap slowly takes place, and fear quickly arises. I did this to build up a story allowing people to understand the emotions that are involved throughout the movie.

S. Hall –Reception TheoryHall’s theory suggest that the producers of the media texts encode them- they are full of hidden messages and values that the producer may want to share through his e.g. trailer, text etc.The audience then have different ways of interpreting the messages and values, and this is called decoding.

According to his theory the audience adopts one of the following three positions when decoding the text (interpreting):• Dominant, or preferred, reading - Intended way ( producer’s intended message• Oppositional Reading - When the preferred reading is rejected by the audience (own

meaning created)• Negotiated reading - audience accepts intended but also has their own view

Like mentioned earlier I have an intended message (people should expect the unexpected, not underestimate but neither should they judge someone they do not know, as nobody knows the story behind their deeds).

L. Straus - Binary Opposition Straus believes that producers use binary opposites (conflict between two opposing forces) to create conflict to entertain their audience.

In my movie trailer I have two main binary opposites, the ‘bad’ people (kidnappers) and the innocent people

My reason for using these binary opposites, is to emphasise on my main message behind the story. I decided to prove the point of people being misunderstood because of their actions, and that people do not consider their reasons behind them.