moodboard of our idea - The Mark

This moodboard helps us to visualise our idea as it creates a story. We can visualise that it will be at night, somewhere deserted, and it involves a young woman and a man finding a dead body with a mark on them. The blue-ish tone in the pictures allow us to visualise it being quite ghostly. I think these images work quite well together as they allow us to create a sense of what will happen.

Actors for film and how they fit into our film

Playing the role of Claire:

I have chosen this actress to play the role of Claire as she also looks smart and mature, a suited partner to Detective Seth. As she is in her early 20's, this is helpful as it allows me to pair the two together, her being an almost psychic, helpful role to him. She is similar to Grace Gummer as they look similar as well as having similar characteristics within the roles in which they play, both being authoritative and sensible.

Playing the role of Detective Seth:
I have chosen this actor to play the role of Detective Inspector Seth as he is older, more mature and sophisticated so his physical appearance suits the character of the older, more experienced chief detective inspector who has a high level of authority. He also looks very smart which helps portray his character and his beard gives him a sense of maturity, something that I feel is important for the character to withhold. He is quite similar to Trevore Eve as they are both greying with quite serious, but kind faces. They are also both represented as authority figures and have positions of power within society.

Playing the role of dead girl:

I have chosen this actress to play the role of the dead girl as she is young, innocent looking and has blonde hair, which is a typical element for vulnerable girls who wind up murdered in films. She is quite similar to Hillary Duff as they are both blonde and are portrayed as innocent, normal, teenage girls in films.

Script

Walking up the road; talking about the new victim of the serial killer and how the killer has been tormenting in Mill Hill for months

Detective Seth: We have to think about this…these murders are occurring in the same area and we’re still at square one of our enquiries. It shouldn't be as hard as this?

Claire: Look Seth, there has to be something that gives us a clue… 3 deaths in two months. He must have left something for us to find him with.

Detective Seth: Claire, I don’t know, but we have to check the body first. I’ll get the equipment. (Goes to table and opens box on table. Takes out gloves and cotton swabs)

They get closer to the body, going beyond the yellow line “CRIME SCENE”. 

Camera shows Seth putting on the gloves and they uncover the corpse: the dead body is lying on the floor with a distinctive mark on her arm.

Claire: Wait (she points out at the mark on the girl’s arm). What’s this?  Do you think it means something?

Detective Seth:  Yes. It appears to be some ‘mark of death’. It’s very similar to the one Caron used to stamp on the dead souls in Greek mythology. I have seen this in the books I used to read back at secondary school.

Claire: Hmm…send me anything on it that you think is unusual.

Detective Seth: Ok, I should probably look for information and then send it to the DI.

Claire: Good idea.

As they are inspecting the corpse, the camera shoots from a high angle shot, showing how Seth is by himself and how Claire is not actually there: she is a ghost. They continue to inspect the body, Seth taking swab samples from the body for fingerprints to check if it is the same killer as the others.

Detective Seth: We should check the other bodies to see if they’ve got the mark too.

Claire: Bring your camera…we will have to compare the fatalities…and call the forensics. (Gets up and adjusts her blazer. Camera zooms into her wrist where we see bottom of the mark uncovered by her blazer).

END OF SCENE 

Props and Costumes

The male investigator in my opening sequence will be wearing a smart/formal outfits to represent that he is on duty and displays curiosity, intelligence and observance.

His costume will include: black smart trousers, a white shirt, a black tie, a black hat, a long grey trench coat and smart black shoes.

Final estimated result:

The other female investigator will also be wearing smart clothing as the two detectives are partners to the case and need to represent formality. Her outfit will include: a pale pink shirt, black smart trousers, smart heeled pumps, glasses and a black blazer.

Estimated final result:

The dead girl will be wearing a very casual typical teenage outfit to display vulnerability. Her outfit will include: a simple white t-shirt, blue jeans, Nike shoes and a necklace.

 Estimated final result:

 

Target audience for our thriller

I have decided that this will be the percentages of my target audiences ages. As the thriller is not suitable for those under 12 years of age, my target audience will involve no one of these ages. Around 5% of my target audience will be between the ages 12-15 as some may like the thriller, but we are targeting more of an older audience as our lead actors are older. The ages in which we would target would mainly be from 18-60, mainly being from the ages of 21-50 as these are the ages of the actors and we want our target audience to be able to relate to the actors. Moreover, as our Thriller sub-genre is a Supernatural-Thriller and involves Detectives, we want our audience to be quite mature to be able to deal with these themes.

People may see my film in cinemas such as The Reel in Borehamwood as it is a local cinema in North West London.

Research into who our target audience would be

	Votes	Average
Males	437110	8.1
Females	113099	8.2
Aged under 18	2572	8.4
Males under 18	1908	8.4
Females under 18	640	8.5
Aged 18-29	237046	8.2
Males Aged 18-29	180665	8.2
Females Aged 18-29	54496	8.2
Aged 30-44	243282	8.1
Males Aged 30-44	197349	8.1
Females Aged 30-44	43175	8.2
Aged 45+	54662	8.2
Males Aged 45+	43102	8.2
Females Aged 45+	10751	8.4
IMDb staff	62	8.0
Top 1000 voters	916	8.0
US users	135019	8.2
Non-US users	322550	8.1
IMDb users	673765	8.1

This post of the users who watch The Sixth Sense clearly demonstrates that the most people who are interested in this type of film are between the ages 18-44. This supports our decisions in casting for our film as we have cast a 21 year old and 50 year old and therefore, these characters appeal to the audience of 18-44 year old's. In terms of our target audience, we have analysed the audience for films such as The Sixth Sense and have realised that our film shares many of these qualities, being a thriller.

Feedback on idea

The idea of the characters walking, talking and finding the murderer would be a whole film but this is just an opening scene. Therefore, the whole idea of them just talking doesn't have a main focus, so putting the finding of a dead body in there could be more of a focus. However, I could change the idea by making the boyfriend a detective finding a serial killer and his detective girlfriend could be dead but he does not know she is as he can still see her. However, we wouldn't find out that she is a ghost until we see the dead body. I would show this with a long shot of the dead body in the distance and then a close up of it. As they rush over to the body I will then shoot another angle where it shows him talking to himself. The girlfriend would find a glove a couple of metres away from the dead body which would belong to the murderer  and that is when the opening scene will end. Looking more into the TV series, River has helped me develop this idea.