Development of ideas

Original Idea

• Starts off with an establishing shot of the houses of parliament and a silhouette staring at it
• Cuts to an extreme close up shot of the mans glasses and in the reflection we can see big ben
• Cuts to a black screen. The credits come up.. *directed by ...* etc.
• The ambient diegetic sound of a whirring of a video tape, and then cuts to a VCR recording of the man speaking into the camera, saying things such as "By the time you have all watched this, I would have killed the prime minister."
• Cuts to the man drinking vodka in his bathroom and a close-up of a box of pills indicates he is on medication, not mentally stable etc.
• Bright lighting juxtaposing with his gloomy, miserable expression.
• Establishing shot of the school and it quickly cuts to the staff room, you hear the diegetic sound of the chatter of the other teachers whilst you see a teacher assemble a gun together and clean it, which foreshadows what is to come.
• Long shot of him walking down the corridor with the sound of his heavy breathing.
• Applause heard in the background, inferring the prime minister has just been welcomed to the stage.
• Over the shoulder shot of the man entering the assembly.
• Quick close up of prime minister and the screen blacks out as the title comes up.

We liked this idea very much, however we realised the difficulty of fitting it all in to a 2 minutes opening and felt it revealed a bit too much for an opening. So we came up with another idea, it's still the same story line but we've improved on it and changed a few things.

Second Idea

• Begins with TV interview with interviewer and the prime minister, the prime minister is saying why he's going to schools to give talks about government.
• Zooms out, slightly. Tv turns off.
• Close up of protagonist, angry facial expression, dark lighting, dressed in a suit or shirt and tie
• Cuts, to over the shoulder shot of him walking down the hallway
• Sound of heavy breathing and sound of shoes.
• Diagetic sound of audience's applause and welcoming prime minister
• Protagonist opens doors of where the speech is being held
• Cuts to black screen, titles come up
• Non diegetic slow music and diegetic sound of a gun being loaded.

I think this development is really good and will look much better for our opening of our political thriller. The heavy breathing and the handling of a gun really creates tension for the viewer and keeps the audience on the edge of their seats which is a typical convention of a thriller.