25 word treatment - film Ideas

Revival

A man is found murdered. An old and disgraced detective is pulled out of retirement and assigned the case. This is his last chance to revive his career and dignity

Film Title Sequence

Audience Expectations of a Thriller

When people sit down to watch a thriller film everybody will  have their own expectations of what the film should consist of. However lots of these expectations will have similar aspects. Directors use camera angles , lighting, sound and mise-en-scene to deliver this.

There are certain things a thriller films needs to create the atmosphere. One of the most important things is the location or setting. many people overlook this but it is vital for the mood of the film as if it was set in a sunny village then the mood would be different to a dark, busy city. It is better of being an area with low key lighting and lots of potential hiding places.

 A thriller wants to create mystery but at the same time letting the audience know something that the characters do not can add lots of tension. This technique is associated with 'open thrillers' and is called dramatic irony. A murder weapon, another key part of thrillers, ties in with this as the police/detectives may not know who it belongs to but the audience will.A thriller will often involve a core of usual characters such as the Police officer or detective, victim(s), suspects, murder(s), protagonists, antagonists, terrorists, assassins, criminals and prison inmates. All these characters are empathetic or believable to make the film more realistic. However the main characters are personified at opposite ends of the spectrum, either being the villain or hero.

At the beginning of lots of films the audience are shown the victims in their every day lives, before the main incident or murder to make the audiences empathise and connect with the person or people so that they feel more strongly about what happens to the victim

Another type of thriller is the 'closed thriller' in which the audience don't know who the villain is and will keep them guessing till the end. This type of thriller consists of clever, intentional camera shots and lighting, never letting the audience to see the face of the murderer until the end.

Thriller films tend to consist of close and extreme close up shots to create intensity and terror. Also the murderer will be shot from underneath so it appears the audience are looking up up at them, giving them a sense of power. Alternatively the victim will be shot from higher up to give a sense of vulnerability.

Film Noir Script

 (non linear) 
Dark room with one light directing on the table where suspect is sitting ( Kieran). Interrogator( Mag) walks in room- match on action and mid shot of Mag as she sits down opposite kieran.
Over the shoulder shot.
Magg: I'm not going to mess about let's get straight to the point did you kill her
Kieran: Well maybe i wana mess about
Magg: did you mess her about?
Shot reserve shot
Kieran: Well lets face it shes in a mess now
Magg: Your sick!
Kieran: I loved her so much ( hands are rubbing face , sense of unaccountability)
Magg: Then why did you do it
Close up
Kieran: He made me
over the shoulder 
Magg: Who's he? James who is he? ( asks anxiously)
Kieran: Isn't it weird that something so beautiful can perish within seconds before your eyes
Magg: STOP FUCKING WITH ME( leaps up and hits the table with frustration), YOU DID IT DIDN'T YOU, YOU KILLED YOUR WIFE. What about your kids?
Two man shot
Kieran: i have no kids 
Magg: What are you talking about, your son Jack and what about your daughter Jessica
Kieran: (Pauses) I dont remember
Magg: Just let me help you
Kieran: I don't need anyone but me and him...now leave us alone( Suspicious)
Over the shoulder shot
Magg: There's no one here ( begins to feel scared)
extreme close up on kieran's eyes 
Kieran: I know I Know, she wont leave ( speaking to himself) 
Magg: Your scaring me James!
Kieran: JUST LEAVE PLEASE GO! ( Shouts with desperation)
Policewomen walks out the room in a hurry
Mid shot
Magg: He's not right in the head, I couldn't get anything

Iconic Directors

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock was born in 1899 and his career began 22 years later in 1921 when he started making silent films and early talkies. His thriller film career blossomed with Rebecca (1940)



From then onwards he made many great films, lots of them classics still enjoyed by people today such as Strangers on a train, Dial M for Murder and Pyscho. Throughout his very long and extensive career he developed his own unique style which included making the audience laugh so as to create a false sense of security, adding to the tension. Blondes were a main part of his films usually turning out to be the femme fatale or being murdered.

Janet Leigh in Psycho

He liked to explore sexuality in his films and forced his audience to engage with voyeurism, watching someone involved in a sexual act or intimate behaviours such as undressing. Hitchcock was famous for being daring and experimental. An example of this is a scene in one of his silent movies, “The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog” in which Hitchcock conveys people hearing a man pacing above them by taking the floor away.

David Fincher

David Fincher is a renowned director born in 1962. His career began in 1984 and he is still directing films today.

He has made many notable films including Seven (1995) and Fight Club (1999).




Fincher is well known for producing dark, twisted films that give the audience a sense of claustrophobia. His direction style is extremely reminiscent of the ‘Film Noir Style’ with sexuality, crime and mystery all being predominant features.

Quentin Tarantino, born in 1963 started his career in 1988 and just 6 years later produced one of the most well known and one of his most distinctive films to date, Reservoir Dogs. 2 years on he bettered himself with the even more famous ‘Pulp Fiction’. Lots of his films are very gory and over the top and appear to be a caricature of gang culture and organised crime. Although his films can be very dark there is lots of humour and black comedy throughout his films. / One of his trademarks is the use of sound as instead of using a specially made film scores he opts to use popular music of the time to give the film a contemporary feel. He is also well know for not sticking to chronological story telling, two main examples being Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. 

Tarantino is continuing to impress critics with his 2009 film ‘Inglorious Basterds’ which was received extremely well by critics and proved to be his highest grossing film to date.

Post Feminism

Until recently there has been a set stereotype of men and women in films. Women were viewed as a sexual object to be looked at and judged by men. Men on the other hand were shown in a way that would not challenge 'traditional masculinity'. Nowadays the media are starting to portray men as sexual objects for women and not just the reverse.