My 3 ideas for Thrillers

IDEA ONE:     Corpses

            The story deals with a new era in which the world has been cursed by hellish demons who curse the dead into rising up and trying to dominate the world. God doesn’t want to help humanity because he is fed up with the way that humans have been treating the world. The storyline follows a religious family that consists of the parents, the grandmother and two teenage kids, along with their struggle for survivability against the dead.

            The opening sequence for this movie starts off with an establishing shot of a lonely graveyard at night. In this establishing shot we spot a man doing something in a grave. We then get close-ups of this mysterious man dressed in black finishing up burying a corpse. We are unable to get many details of this man’s face since he is wearing a hat, a coat which covers most of his face and sunglasses. When his job is done, we get a long shot of him through his back and we see him drop the shovel. After this we get a low angle which enables us to see the pile of dirt from the grave and the man walking away from it. When the man reaches a good distance from it he turns around and takes a look at the grave. After this we get a point of view shot of his vision looking at the grave. Then the camera returns to the low angle before and we see the man turning back around and walking away again. And a few seconds after he is off scene a hand suddenly comes out of the ground. There is only a very soft muffled non-diegetic soundtrack playing along this entire sequence. And also the diegetic sound of rain. As soon as the hand comes off the ground there is a strong thunder sound meant to jump scare the audience.

 Feedback:

 It has a good opening sequence, but the movie idea falls more towards the horror side than to the Thriller side, therefore it wouldn't work for my thriller opening sequence coursework.

IDEA TWO:      The Black Masks

            This story deals with a bank robbery from extremely experienced robbers who are greatly wanted in the United States, they are known as the Black Masks. The story is in the state of  Los Angeles in a fairly popular bank. The robbers quickly put some people in hostage while the others go get the money from the safe. When the police arrive they fear to get in because the robbers threaten them and planted explosives by the doors. The whole movie is about the police planning new strategies and getting killed by ambushes made by the robbers. The police end up having to call extra forces to try and rescue the fewer and fewer hostages.

            The story opens with all the robbers in a van making their way to the bank. They are all in complete silence and all we can hear is the vehicle’s motor running. We start with a close-up of one of the robbers sitting down at the end of that back of the van. The camera slowly pans to the right introducing the other robbers. We then get a close-up of the driver who is the leader of the Black Masks. Followed by a point of view of him to the street. This is when the title of the movie shows up. We then get a low angle long shot from the street of the van just passing by. Then an over the shoulder shot of the driver as he pulls up the van. We then get a close-up of the leader as he says: Ready? .  After this we get a Mid long shot of the entire group putting on their masks and loading their guns. 

Feedback:

Once again, this does not completely follow the concept of Thrillers. This would be more of a crime movie with a slight touch of the suspenseful thriller genre. 

IDEA THREE: Pinkie

            An African American who comes from a poor family is the hero of this story and the main character. The storyline follows the concept of murder, which a murderer is on the loose and he is wreaking havoc in the city of London. Every time he kills someone he cuts off the victim’s pinkie finger and keeps it as a trophy in his basement. The killer is named pinkie by the police since nobody knows his real identity.

            The opening sequence basically starts off with an over the shoulder shot of a yet to be discovered person wearing a hoodie. This person has an African skin colour  is following a woman down the streets of London. The woman then recognizes that this individual is following her and suddenly gets attacked by another man who shows up out of nowhere. The black person who was walking behind her jumps in and saves her. The killer then walks away.

 

IDEA FOUR: Hotel Manager (working title)

            The idea for this thriller opening sequence basically consists of this hotel manager who runs a very successful company. He has gotten a psychological trauma after his wife was murdered and he feels the need that people need to feel what he felt. So he becomes a killer himself. He starts murdering his customers making it look like suicides. The police investigate the cases  but don’t ever find out it was him.

            The opening sequence to this film would start off by The hotel manager getting rid of all the evidence of the murder. Using close-ups of him cleaning up the blood from knifes. Removing his gloves with blood stains. Or even closing up on a sink and show the blood mixed with the water when he is washing his hands. The opening sequence ends with him putting on his suit, and walking out his house to make his way to the hotel.

Feedback:
Pinkie was more likable than the other ideas, mainly for the fact that it does follow the thriller vibe. The group said that they really liked the whole story but disliked the opening sequence. So we modified it to where it would mix Hotel Manager and Pinkie, starting off with this man just cleaning a hotel room, making the bed, etc. and then we would suddenly see him picking up a bloody knife and cleaning it in the bathroom and , and grabbing a pinkie finger from his last victim and then putting on his suit and walking away from the room. This way, the opening sequence was able to build a lot more tension, due to the fact that we start off by seeing him just normally cleaning up a room and then tension rises as he starts picking up the knife, etc.