Production title We decided to base the name on the theme of ‘shadows,’ which play

an important part in the film, due to the brother being ‘taken away’ by them. Therefore, here are few of our shortlisted names:

We hope our ideas will raise enigmas for the audience, drawing them in so that they want to watch the rest of the film. We thought a catchy name would appeal to the audience more if it was simple and self-explanatory.

•Chasing shadows•Closure from the shadows•Return from the shadows•Revenge

•Never forgotten

•Irreplaceable

•Holding on•Waiting

The name:

The name that we decided on was ‘Chasing Shadows.’ It is catchy and not long winded. It also suits the story line of the brother being taken away from the “shadows” which Jessica witnessed. ‘Chasing shadows’ doesn’t give too much away so it raises enigmas which will draw the audience in. our aim is that the name will suit the storyline and draw the attention of the audience to watch the film.

Genre The Genre we have chosen for ‘Chasing Shadows’ is a ‘psychological thriller.’

This is a specific sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller and Horror genres. However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre, in addition to the typical traits of the thriller genre. Many psychological thrillers have become popular over the years. Despite these very different forms of representation, general trends have appeared throughout the narratives. Some of these consistent themes include:

• Reality – The quality of being real. Characters often try to determine what is true and what is not within the narrative.

• Perception – A person's own interpretation of the world around him/her through there senses. Often characters misperceive the world around them, or their perceptions are altered by outside factors within the narrative.

• Mind – personality, reason, memory, intelligence and emotion. The mind is often used as a location for narrative conflict, where characters battle their own minds to reach a new level of understanding or perception.

• Existence/Purpose – The object for which something exists; an aim or a goal humans strive towards to understand their reason for existence. Characters often try to discover what their purpose is in their lives and the narrative's conflict often is a way for the characters to discover this purpose.

• Identity – Often are confused about or doubt who they are and try to discover their true identity.

• Death – Characters either fear or have a fascination with death.

Examples of Psychological

thrillers There are many examples of psychological thrillers. Here are a few: The Talented Mr Ripley, Fatal Attraction, The Game, Cape Fear, American Psycho, Memento and Silence of the Lambs. ‘The silence of the lambs’ is number one on the top 15 psychological thrillers list.

What media companies create thrillers?

We aim to imitate production companies such as ‘Warner Brothers’ when making our thriller, as they are a very successful and prestigious company who have made films such as…

INCEPTION. Company Credits:• Production Co: Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures• Budget:• $160,000,000 (estimated)• Money made : $292,568,851

• MEMENTO• Memento is another successful film, however produced by a less

well known company.

Production Co:• Newmarket Capital Group, Team Todd, I Remember Productions • Founded in 1994 by William Tyrer and Chris Ball, Newmarket grew

from a private film finance company to one of the preeminent producers and distributors of independent film in the world.

• Budget – $5,000,000 (estimated) • Gross - $25,530,884

These figures emphasize how successful Warner Brothers’ thrillers are.

Our Aim Overall, we plan our film to imitate large successful production

companies (Universal, Warner Brothers), which therefore would mean that our film would be shown in cinemas all over the country, e. g ‘VUE’, and after that, be released on DVD.

“We aim to excite, intrigue and confuse the audience with an effective and clever story line that will draw them in until the very end” – DYNAMIC PRODUCTIONS

Narrative elements

The story line

Our storyline is based on a 12 year old middle class, white school girl who witnessed her brother being abducted from her family years ago. However, as she was hiding from the abductors, all she saw was their “shadows”. Five years on, she has now ran away from home to confront her nightmares by chasing the “shadows,” on a quest to find her brother.

However, there is a twist. Jessica (main character) doesn’t seem to be in her right mind and it unnerves the audience, as they watch how unstable she has become since her brother was taken.

Characters:• Jessica: Jessica is a white, middle class average school student. She witnessed

her brother being taken away from inside a cupboard and only saw shadows. She is now on the hunt for her brother five years on. It has hit her hard and isn’t completely sane in her mind.

• Brother: a typical teenage boy who doesn’t go to school and has got a job. He has a girlfriend and adores his sister. He was taken away by some shadows. Doesn’t know where he is and it is going to be hard to get back home.

• Mother: is the mother of Jessica and her brother. She has now lost her son and now her daughter. Worried sick she will never see her daughter and son again. She is a housewife while her husband goes to work.

Narrative codes Our group intended to keep our opening simple, yet effective

towards the audience. By doing this we planned to raise many enigma’s to keep them questioning the plot. One of this is the setting. The fact that we have set a young girl in a hotel room by her self with all her belonging would immediately raise questions to the audience, ‘why is she there’, ‘why is she alone?’

Another clue we give is the newspaper cutting about the abduction of her brother. However we do not zoom into the cutting directly, it is just pinned up in the background, meaning that not all will see it the first time round of watching it. When Jessica turns the light on and off, the audience would begin to wonder why she was doing this, and if she was in a stable mind set or not. The fact that Jessica is a young girl represents her vulnerability and raise enigmas as to why she is by herself. The music we intend to use will also represent her naivety, as well as the phone call from her worried mother.

Diegetic sound In our film opening, we will incorporate Digetic sound, in

order to create a sinister atmosphere that will hopefully get the audience in the mood for the rest of the film. It will also help to build up tension where required, and hopefully match the components of a thriller film by making the audience feel gripped from the second they turn on the film. We will use non-diegetic music, with an eerie, high-pitched tune at the beginning of the extract, where the girl is sat on the floor and the camera pans across her belongings on the bedside table. This will give the impression that the girl is a sweet, innocent teenager. However, the eeriness of the non-digetic sound combined with the shots taking place will suggest that there is a twist, and that maybe she is not as sweet as her belongings in the shot make out. The music will stop abruptly, being replaced with the ring of a Diegetic telephone, which we believe is an effective way of contrasting between the eeriness of the girl being alone in her room, and the safety of her phone, giving her a connection to the ‘outside world.’ There will then be a non-diegetic voiceover of the girls’ mum on the phone.

Audience. We have decided that ‘Chasing Shadows’ will be

certified as a as some of the content may not be suitable for younger

audiences. This is due to some of the language, moderate-strong violence and psychological content involved. For example, we will have several scenes involving traumatic events involving our main actress, when she meets the villains responsible for the abduction of her brother. Although the film will be classified as a ‘15’, our main targeted age range is 18-21 year olds, as we believe that this audience will appreciate the content in the film. Also, we will be specifically targeting the female market, as due to the sensitive issues such

as abduction, and the fact that the film is from the point of

view of a teenage girl, it may not be as appealing for males.