Mulholland Drive (2001)

The scene I am using from the neo-noir psychological thriller, Mulholland Drive (Written and directed by David Lynch, 2001) that I am using as an influence is the scene at Winkie's, a local diner, a man named Dan (Patrick Fischler) tells his companion Herb (Michael Cooke) about a recurring nightmare involving a shadowy person living behind the restaurant. When Herb encourages Dan to confront his fear by exploring the rear parking lot, he encounters a terrifying figure and collapses from fright.

The reason I have selected this scene is because it is able to blur the lines of reality and dreams from the audience. As Dan is talking to Herb in the diner, everything seems to be reality. Dan is explaining to Herb that in his dream, he sees this evil figure. After Dan describes his dream to Herb and they then confront it, only to discover that it is indeed true, there was a "monster" at the back of the restaurant.  The same is true for Diane (Naomi Watts) ; her extended fantasy gradually segues into horror before reality hits. We see this scary bum again near the film's end as he "unleashes" the elderly couple who preoceed to "attack" Diane.  The couple, representing innocence, are chasing a woman who has committed a vile act.  Her innocence has been lost, violently discharged within the evil dream (represented by the man behind Winkie's) that comprises most of the film.

Shutter Island ending parts 2 & 3

Shutter Island

I am using 'Shutter Island' (Dir. Martin Scorsese) as one of my influences for my film project, and I am especially taking a look at the end scene. The reason for why I am looking at this scene in particular, is because it follows one of the main conventions of the psychological thriller which is the 'twist' for the protagonist. In 'Shutter Island', US Marshall "Teddy" Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) is investigating the case of a missing person, Rachel Solando, on the Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane on Shutter Island, he goes on to discover that he is in fact Andrew Laeddis and that he killed his wife after she drowned her children. Also that Edward Daniels is in fact an anagram of Andrew Laeddis, and that he is the most dangerous patient on the island and that they are trying to 'cure' him and this is the last attempt and doing so before they perform a lobotomy. The film ends were it seems that Laeddis has regressed back to the character of "Teddy" Daniels but before he is taken away for the lobotomy he says it would be worse to 'live as a monster, or die as a good man'.

Se7en (Dir. David Fincher) end scene

This scene from the film 'Se7en' (dir. David Fincher) has influenced my decision to create a psychological film short film. The reason why this scene has influenced me is because it shows that the protagonist may not be successful and that even they can be 'broken'. This scene from 'Se7en' shows Detective Mills (Brad Pitt) finding out that John Doe (Kevin Spacey) wants to embody the sins 'Envy' and 'Wrath'. Doe is envious of the normal life that Mills has and John Doe taunts Detective Mills that he has killed his wife and that she was pregnant, it gets to a point were Mills unloads his gun into Doe and kills him, and Mills has embodied the sin of 'Wrath'. This makes Doe successful in his quest to embody the Seven Deadly Sins and that Mills has 'lost'. 

Screenplay

Ext.  Forest of Brightfalls

RYAN is walking through forest quietly. He is looking nervous and has his notepad and pen to make notes for his new book.

                                                     RYAN

                                               (Internal monologue)

                                  What the hell has gone on in this town? Nothing that has happened makes sense.

 

RYAN is walking through the forest, the sound of sticks snapping and running can be heard relatively close to RYAN, and he suddenly looks up.

                                                RYAN

                                          Huh?

RYAN starts to quicken his walking pace; he’s starting to feel anxious.

RYAN, still has his pen and notepad in hand, starts to slow his pace down, but he hears the running footsteps, until they suddenly stop, Ryan Taylor keeps walking, but stones and sticks start being thrown at him.

RYAN turns around to his left.

                                                 RYAN

                                       What the fu-?

RYAN sees a flowing gown run away, RYAN drops his pen and notepad and begins to run deeper in to the forest.

RYAN keeps running for about 300 metre and comes to a stop.

                                                 RYAN

                                                (Heavy Breathing & Internal Monologue)

                                                What the fuck is going on in this place? What have I just seen? Nothing, nothing, it can’t be real; I’m losing my fucking mind.

RYAN lights up a cigarette to calm his nerves.

                                                 

                                                  RYAN

                                                  (Internal Monologue)

                                         I’ve got to be close to this house by now, how far into this place can it be?

RYAN eventually makes it to the house and walks up to the door and opens it, to reveal that the house is in dis-repair.

                                                  RYAN

                                         What happened here?

RYAN investigates around the house and heads upstairs to look around and enters what seems to be the master bedroom.

RYAN looks around the bedroom and discovers a picture of himself as a baby and someone is holding him, but he does not recognise the person.

                                                  RYAN

                                                  (Panicked)

                                        Who the hell is this? What has gone on?

RYAN hears creaking from downstairs and he runs to find the source of the sound.

                                                  RYAN

                                                  (Panicked)

                                        What is happening? What has happened?

RYAN looks around and he turns to the door, where he sees a shadowy figure standing looking towards him.

'Secret Window' Scene (continued)

00:00-00:10

'Secret Window'

10:10-10:30 (continues into part 2 00:00-00:10)
The reason I have selected this scene from 'Secret Window' (dir. David Koepp) is because in the scene, Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp) is reading the story John Shooter (John Turturro) in an internal monologue and I wanted to use this feature heavily in my selected sequence that I am filming. I will be using this feature in a different way to how it is used in 'Secret Window'. The way I will be using the internal monologue feature in my selected sequence is by my main protagonist will be saying what he is feeling at the time and when he writes on his notepad

Script (Finished)

Script

[Ryan Taylor is walking through the forest after being told that the answer to the questions he’s been asking will be found in the house in the forest]

[As Ryan Taylor is walking through the forest, he has pen and a notepad in hand, thinking that if he takes notes of what happens in the forest, he can piece together the puzzle of what has happened in the years that have gone by]

Ryan: (internal monologue) What the hell has gone on in this town? Nothing that has happened makes sense.

[As Ryan Taylor is walking through the forest, the sound of sticks snapping and running can be heard relatively close to Ryan Taylor, and he suddenly looks up]

Ryan: Huh

[Ryan Taylor starts to quicken his walking pace; he’s starting to feel anxious]

[Ryan Taylor, still has his pen and notepad in hand, starts to slow his pace down, but he hears the running footsteps, until they suddenly stop, Ryan Taylor keeps walking, but stones and sticks start being thrown at him]

[Ryan Taylor turns around to his left]

Ryan: What the fu-

[Ryan Taylor sees a flowing gown run away, Ryan drops his pen and notepad and begins to run deeper in to the forest]

[Ryan keeps running for about 300 metre and comes to a stop]

Ryan: (Heavy breathing) (Internal monologue) What the fuck is going on in this place? What have I just seen? Nothing, nothing, it can’t be real; I’m losing my fucking mind

[Ryan lights up a cigarette to calm his nerves]

Ryan: (internal monologue) I’ve got to be close to this house by now, how far into this place can it be?

[Ryan eventually makes it to the house and walks up to the door and opens it, to reveal that the house is in dis-repair]

Ryan: What happened here?

[Ryan investigates around the house and heads upstairs to look around and enters what seems to be the master bedroom]

[Ryan looks around the bedroom and discovers a picture of himself as a baby and someone is holding him, but he does recognise the person]

Ryan: (panicked) Who the hell is this? What has gone on?

[Ryan hears creaking from downstairs and he runs to find the source of the sound]

Ryan: (panicked) What is happening? What has happened?

[Ryan looks around and he turns to the door, where he sees a shadowy figure standing looking towards him]

The Script (still in progress)

[Ryan Taylor is walking through the forest after being told that the answer to the questions he’s been asking will be found in the house in the forest]

[As Ryan Taylor is walking through the forest, he has pen and a notepad in hand, thinking that if he takes notes of what happens in the forest, he can piece together the puzzle of what has happened in the years that have gone by]

Ryan: (internal monologue) What the hell has gone on in this town? Nothing that has happened makes sense.

[As Ryan Taylor is walking through the forest, the sound of sticks snapping and running can be heard relatively close to Ryan Taylor, and he suddenly looks up]

Ryan: Huh

[Ryan Taylor starts to quicken his walking pace; he’s starting to feel anxious]

[Ryan Taylor, still has his pen and notepad in hand, starts to slow his pace down, but he hears the running footsteps, until they suddenly stop, Ryan Taylor keeps walking, but stones and sticks start being thrown at him]

[Ryan Taylor turns around to his left]

Ryan: What the fu-

[Ryan Taylor sees a flowing gown run away, Ryan drops his pen and notepad and begins to run deeper in to the forest]

[Ryan keeps running for about 300 metre and comes to a stop]

Ryan: (Heavy breathing) (Internal monologue) What the fuck is going on in this place? What have I just seen? Nothing, nothing, it can’t be real; I’m losing my fucking mind

[Ryan lights up a cigarette to calm his nerves]

Ryan: (internal monologue) I’ve got to be close to this house by now, how far into this place can it be?

Prop List

Mise-en-scene in the house: Kitchen sink, family photo, lamp, settee, tv, chairs, pots and pans

Props for characters: pen, paper, torch, cigarettes, lighter

Aims and Context

The short sequence of the film “The Return” is in the genre of psychological thriller. This genre appeals to my target audience of 16-25 year olds, of both genders, middle class and either still in college or in a full-time job.

My aim is to keep the audience guessing throughout the sequence and to constantly increase the tension using the film language skills like cinematography, sounding and editing that I learnt in FM1 last year. I also want to put the audience through the emotions and feelings of the main protagonist, a good example of this which is one of the films I am using inspiration is Martin Scorsese’s ‘Shutter Island’

 In the psychological thriller genre, I have looked at the films “Se7en” (1995) and “Panic Room” (2002) by David Fincher and other films like “Mulholland Drive” (2001) by David Lynch and “Secret Window” (2004) by David Koepp. My work has been influenced by cinematography, particularly the David Fincher films. I also am using similar story features of another David Fincher film, “Fight Club” (1999). I want the audience to think that there is something not quite right with my main protagonist and for them to keep guessing that the world he is living in a cross between real and reality.

The story type I am using is The Quest in which the character is set a task to find someone or something. He accepts the challenge, searches for and finds someone or something. He is then rewarded, or not, for his success in the quest.

Narrative Structure

Act 1- Set Up

The protagonist, Ryan Taylor has been told that he needs to write a new book for his publisher. Ryan Taylor thinks that going back to his home town of Brightfalls may spark inspiration for his book. Ryan Taylor travels to Brightfalls and now sees it how it is now, rundown and basically uninhabited.

Act 2- Confrontation

Ryan Taylor is told that the town started to go downhill when he left as child. Ryan Taylor believes that everything that has gone wrong because of something that has happened in his past. Ryan begins to investigate what happened in his childhood and why this caused his family to leave. Ryan thinks that he could use this opportunity the write his book using his personal experience from investigating the problem. As he tries to find out what had happened he, he thinks he is going nowhere with his investigation but he finds a woman who has lived in the town for her entire life. She begins to tell him that a terrible incident in a home within the forest and she also tells him that no one has been to the forest after the terrible incident.

Act 3- Resolution

Ryan Taylor decides to that the only way to discover what has happened to the town and the secrets of his childhood is to go into the forest and see the scene of the incident that occurred as he was living there as a childhood. Ryan is warned by a number of people that he should not go into the forest as a horrible secret from his childhood. Ryan ignores these warnings and travels into the forest. As Ryan walks through the forest, he begins seeing apparitions running through the forest with him. Ryan eventually arrives at the house that was located in the forest and sees that it has been abandoned. Ryan decides that he should investigate inside the house and when he does, he finds pictures of himself as a child but he is being held by people that he doesn’t believe he knows. However, a man follows him in to the house and begins to tell him the story of what happened those many years ago and he explains to Ryan that the apparitions are Ryan’s real family and that the man murdered them and that Ryan’s return was always going to happen. Ryan starts questioning everything that has happened and the mysterious man slams the house door shut.

How does my story type fit into my film?

The story type for my film is ‘The Quest’. The main goal of ‘The Quest’ is that the main protagonist is set a task to find someone or something. He accepts the challenge, searches for and finds someone or something. He is then rewarded, or not, for his success in the quest. The way this fits into my film is that my main protagonist, Ryan Taylor, goal is to write a new novel however he decides that he wants to return to the town he grew up, but he discovers that the entire town has broken down and is a shadow of its former self and that the reason is because of his leaving and now Ryan Taylor sets out to discover why it happened.

How does my selected sequence fit into my synopsis?

The sequence I have selected to film for my project will be located near the resolution of my film. The scene is when Ryan Taylor has reached the forest where his old family house was situated. I will be filming as Ryan is walking to his old home, where he will start seeing apparitions from is old life as a child and eventually reaches the house and discovers why he left in the first place.

Story Type for my short film

The Quest
The character is set a task to find someone or something. He accepts the challenge, searches for and finds someone or something. He is then rewarded, or not, for his success in the quest

Ideas for locations and actors

I am thinking of filming at either the old train track route between Willerby Square and Haltemprice or Little Carr Lane, the reason for this is because I have decided to film one of the last or last scene of my film and I need to use a heavily wooded area for the forest. I am planning to use George Taylor as the main protagonist, Ryan Taylor and Hanna Moore as one of the apparitions that is in his head. I have also decided to set my film in the present day, which means the choice of costumes should not be difficult to present.

Genre Conventions-The Thriller Genre

One of the key main conventions of the Thriller genre is the use of atmosphere, for my film, I will want to try and create a dark and creepy atmosphere and I want to try and present the world the film is set in as dark and dangerous for the main protagonist. The thriller genre often portrays the protagonist as criminals, assassins, and people with psychotic tendencies or characters with a dark past. Thrillers often take place in suburban cities however recently some have taken place away from normal society such as remote towns or in the middle of nowhere (Shutter Island, 2010, dir. Martin Scorsese) which is completely separate to the rest of society; this is to convey to the audience that my protagonist is all alone in this world. The thriller genre often uses males as the protagonists in films, but recently female protagonists have become more popular, for my film, I will be using a male protagonist like the classic thrillers such as films Alfred Hitchcock has done such as ‘Vertigo’ (1958, dir. Alfred Hitchcock).

The psychological thriller, often has their own conventions such as the quality of reality, the character will be in a world that is based on real life and not made up. The protagonist however will misperceive the world around him and will have his own interpretation of what is happening, also the psychological thriller often uses death as a plot device through or at the end of the film, and this is a technique that I will use in my own film. Thrillers of 21^st century were mainly psychological ones that dealt with obsession, domestic violence, revenge, mentally ill characters and the protagonist's goal of escape. Good examples of the psychological thriller, which I will be using as reference points include; Shutter Island (2010), Secret Window (2004) and Psycho (1960).

The Thriller genre often includes elements of the mystery genre but there are often major plot differences compared to just the genres in themselves. In the thriller genre, the protagonist usually has the goal of stopping the plans of the antagonist, however in the mystery thriller genre the protagonist goal is to discover and solve a crime that has already happened (usually in front of the audience at the beginning of the film, but usually in the mystery genre (probably the murder mystery) the story would be spoiled by a premature disclosure of the murderer's identity, in the thriller genre the identity of the killer is known all along. In the thriller genre, the story is often more elaborated than the films of a different genre; the crimes are often serial killings (Se7en, 1995) terrorism and assassination (often political thrillers such as Vantage Point, 2008). Violence is regularly a standard plot element plot elements in the genre. While the mystery genre concludes when the mystery is solved, the thriller genre concludes when the protagonist defeats the antagonist and in the process either saving his own life or the lives of others (a good example of the combination of the thriller and mystery genre is David Fincher’s ‘Se7en’).  Thriller films are regularly influenced by film noir, and often the protagonist is killed in the process.

The main goal of the thriller genre is to promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension. Thriller and suspense films are virtually synonymous and interchangeable categorizations, with similar characteristics and features. The thriller genre often crosses over with other genres, usually the horror genre. This is to increase suspense in the films that are using this genre, for example the Scream films often use conventions of both genres in the films, another genre that often crosses over with the thriller genre is the crime genre, the protagonist is often a Detective and his goal is try and stop a criminal who seems to be on the loose, often a serial killer. The crossover of these two genres is to try and keep the audience on the edge of their seat and regularly there involves a twist to do with the main protagonist (the end of “Se7en” is a good example of this.)

If the genre is to be defined strictly, a genuine thriller is a film that pursues a single goal - to provide thrills and keep the audience cliff-hanging at the 'edge of their seats' as the plot builds towards a climax. The tension usually arises when the protagonist is placed in a difficult situation or an escape/dangerous mission from which escape seems impossible (Shutter Island, 2010). Life itself is threatened, usually because the protagonist is unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially life threatening situation. Plots of thrillers involve characters which come into conflict with each other or with outside forces.

Synopsis

Ryan Taylor is writer who has decided to return to the town Brightfalls for inspiration for he’s new book. Ryan use to live in Brightfalls with his family but one day they left the town, but he is unable to remember why they left. The main reason he has come back to Brightfalls is to find out why he left in the first place and to see if he can be inspired to write another book. The day Ryan returns to the town, he immediately realises that nothing in the town is the same; the town is almost empty of residents, the buildings and streets are run down. Ryan meets one resident of the town who tells him that the reason his family left was because of a haunting in the house they use to live in. Ryan finds out that his old family house is located in the forest at the edge of town. Ryan soon comes to realise that the forest, which none of the remaining citizens dare talk about or venture into, Ryan realises that the answer to his question about why he left and why the town is not at its former glory is inside this forest.

What and Who is my Story About?

My Story for the creative project is about a man who has returned to a town which he left many years ago, but he can not remember why he left in the first place and the main reason he has come back to the town is to find out why he left in the first place. As the man returns to the town, he immediately realises that nothing in the town is the same; the town is almost empty of residents, the buildings and streets are run down. However, the man soon comes to realise that the forest which leads out of the town, which none of the remaining citizens dare talk about or venture into, the man realises that the answer to his question about why he left and why the town is not at its former glory is inside this forest.

The Brief

The brief is to create a short story or sequence for a film, and it must be between 3-5 minutes. The idea for the film must be completely original and my own work. In my creative project, I must identify my genre and the conventions that go with it, the storytype, the audience that I am aiming at and to do this I must produce a synopsis, a script and a storyboard. All this must be done before I start filming.