Symbolism in our Title

The title of our film ‘Alter Ego’ is shown in the end of the opening it is shown in different font colours ‘Alter’ being black adds to secrecy of the villain’s identity being alternate. ‘Ego’ as white just to make a contrast with the other colour. The title also splits into two to show that the film is more in the villain’s perspective than any of the other characters. Having two words as a title is fairly common in thriller films this form was used by other successful film in the same genre such as Inside Man, Pulp Fiction only to name a couple. The style that we used to show our credit such as the director, writers and characters was a fade out which relates to the villain and his way of ritual courting a girl and overpowering them. The way he would just quickly and suddenly move in to one’s life and take their life away is the exact same way the style of the credits was shown.

Title of Our Thriller

It took as long time to decide what the name of out thriller will be. We have came up with a few name ideas for our film and we have concidered:

• Stalked

• Shadows

• Incision

• Guilty

• Alter EGO

• Deranged

• Demented

Overall we have decided to call our film Alter EGO. Alter EGO means another side of oneself (second self), an intimate friend or a constant companion. A person with an alter ego is said to lead a double life and that's exactly what is happening in our film. One man is obssed with a girl who is his alter ego. He is fascinated about her, he follows her every day and takes several numbers of pictures, what more - he believes that she belongs to him.  He is obssesed as he thinks that she's his second self. Unfortunately for the girl, she doesn't have a clue that she is being followed and observed by a psycho stalker and he will do absolutely everything it takes to own her. The villain has the desire to overpower women and the absolute way to overpower someone is taking their life away.

The title of the film does not really suggest that the villain have a dual personality. But to show a difference between two characters and relate them more together as the story progresses. The idea of both characters having major differences such as: gender, their personality, difference in motives, and more.

Animatic Storyboard

The first shot shown is a montage of pictures this would allow the viewers to understand the villain's motive more. There are two settings in my film one is the victim's house and the other is the villain's room this shows a connection between the two characters and locations.  Two of the setting in the opening credits would be happening in different times. 

One setting shows the preparation of the killer which would highlight his obsession about the girl and the other setting would be set on the victim's house and would show the killer breaking in which would show the connection between the two settings. 

Victim's Costume

The victim can be seen wearing a casula clothing. Since the setting is in the victim's house she does need a elaborate costume and the simpicity of what she is wearing compliments our budget very well. She would be seen in a light blue shirt which shows the innocence of the colour and bodes well with the innocence of the character. The idea that light blue was used shows that it is a weaker colour than black and creates an image of in the clip that black ( which is wore by the villain) is much superior than light blue (which is worn by the victim).

Villain's Costume

We have a very small budget which is one the reason why there are only two characters present in our film. So we decided to use a black coat with a hood. It may be seen as a casual clothing but it would create the same effect as a villain costume. The black colour which would reflect to the villain's identity, desire and act. The hood would help us conceal the villains identity.

Representation of Characters

In our media product we used some thriller codes and conventions to indicate that our film is part of this genre. We used a filter for both characters to symbolise their motives and attitudes in the film. This is commonly used in thriller genre in a form of black and white filter. We used an imposing contrast for the villain with a tint of red. Red connotes blood and relates to violence and aggression which is the villain’s motive. This filter compliments the villain costume which is pure black from his coat to his trousers. The colour black denotes evil which reflects on the villain’s personality.

A black and white filter was used for the victim with a tint of light blue. The black and white symbolizes simplicity. Simplicity is one of the trait that the victim posses that attracted the villain. The used of the tint blue is to make a contrast between her and the villain. The light blue represent being innocence which highlights her innocence on what is happening. Her gender which is a stereotypical classification of a victim in this genre. The use of light blue also refers to her vulnerability through the use of a lighter colour to be easily over powered by other colours. This was achieved not just the use of filter but also with her light blue top as costume which she wore near the end of the opening.

How this challenged Thriller Conventions

We challenged the normal setting for a thriller film. Most thriller film especially a thriller which includes a psychopath. Would have an unfamiliar setting for the victim but in our film the was set in the victim’s house. A home which symbolizes safety and warm has turned out to be the opposite in our film. In our blog there are pictures of the victim’s house. We felt that it is better to use this kind of picture than a screenshot of a map. This creates a more interactive feel for the viewers of our blog. The photos only included the outside of the victim’s house lets the viewers see in the villain’s point of view. The rest of the house including the inside is only revealed through the film which is the same time the villain entered the house this allows the audience to relate themselves to the characters and helps us add suspense and surprise in the film.

Discarded Ideas about location

The first setting we thought about was the school because it would be more convenient for both of us to film in school than go to a house. But the school idea was discarded because the school does not create a sense of personal theme into it and is too environmentally friendly to stage an attack on a character. We also thought we would use a wall in one of the school's classroom to create the villain's lair where a montage of the photos of the victim would be placed. But we found out that it would be more convenient to use a table in a house because this would give us an easier access to the props the villain would conventionally possess such as weapons like a knife. We cannot possibly bring a knife to the school or any type of weapon to be used by the villain. And the idea of filling a whole wall of a montage of photos seemed overwhelming so we changed our idea to small montage of pictures in a little corner of a table. Our ideas on the location of our setting changed as our thriller film ideas develops.

Location Shot

Our film was set in the victim's house. This is the location where most of the action would occur in the opening scene. This is when the victim would be first attacked. It is a typical English house which would allow the audience to relate to the setting. The idea that the villain would attack the victim in her own home would create a tension of intruding to the other character's personal life and the fact that it is a home disrupts the equilibrium of peace and safety in ones' house.

 The villain would be seen next to the window of the house facing the house backdoor. The villain would try and sucessfully break in to the house and then most of the part of the house is included in the film up to the victim's room. The other setting would be the villain's lair which is seen as a confined space and only a table next to the wall would be visible to the clip. In reality the villains lair took place in a  kitchen/dinning room and a table was in fact a dinning table.

Props

We used minimal props in our film because of our limited budget. Some of the props used were made by us such as the preparing for the pictures and taking pictures of Monika and doing some location shots. Preparing the props actually took us longer than actually filming the whole movie opening. The costumes we used are just some casual clothes that we picked from our wardrobes that we think would represent and symbolize  more meaning for our film. For the villain's weapon we just used a typical kitchen knife which could be seen being used by the villain to stab the victim's photo. There was a general idea that the knife would be shown while the villain walk up the stairs but for health and safety reasons we decided not to include it.

Filming Schedule

We had to organise our meetings well. Considering the fact that all out editing had to be done on iMovie in school we have decided to do most of the blogging at home. In order to edit our opening sequence together we had consider each other's lesson times and find time which we could share.

We have divided our work on blog and we have tried to share work equally so each of us had similar amount of blogging to do. Most of our blogging took place at home, in case of any questions we have contacted each other through texting or we simply rang each other.

 At first we have thought that we would be able to do all of our filming on one go, however we have quickly realised that it won't be possible. To do filiming part of our coursework we have met up quite a few times. We have struggled with battery which have died half way through our filming or rainy weatcher (so we could't film outdoor). In final stage of editing we had to extend our rough cut opening sequence and re-film some footage once again. Our meeting were well organised and thanks to that we were getting on smoothly with our editing and blogging.

Film Plot

In our two minute start of the film. The starting plot would be brief there are only two settings present, two characters shown one of which is the villain and the  other one is one of the victims. There is also a minimal use of dialogue and diegetic sounds and the sound would be dominated by non-diegetic music which would create the tense atmosphere which would compliment the the short footage.

The villain's identity would not be revealed in the two minute opening. The main film plot would be about a psychotic villain who follows and takes picture of the girls that he fancies and end up killing them. The villain enjoys being in control and would try to overpower everyone around him. The way he would overpower his victims are by taking away thier lives which is the ultimate form of overpowering someone.


There are no clear plot for the opening because we would just try to keep the audience at the start of the film. We both felt that adding a sophisticated narrative would require some dialogue and this would not create the best tension atmosphere there is so  we both agreed to minimized dialogue and try to maximise the tension in our film.


Our opening links to Todorov,s Narrative theory. Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five stages: A state of equilibrium at the outset. A disruption of the equilibrium by some action. A recognition that there has been a disruption. However the theory only applies to our media product up to the third stage of the narrative theory because we decided to end with a black screen to act as a cliffhanger. 

Moodboard

Director Inspiration - Christoper Nolan

Born in London in 1970, Christopher Nolan began making films at the age of seven. Chris studied English Literature at University College London while starting to make 16mm films at the college film society. His short film 'larceny' was shown at the Cambridge Film Festival in 1996, and his other 16mm shorts include a three- minute surreal film called 'doodlebug'.

He is famous for his works in the Batman remakes such as 'Batman Begins' and 'The Dark Knight' both of which have been give good reviews by critics and rallied many loyal fans who awaits the release of 'The Dark Knight Rises' this summer. He is also famous for the award winning science fiction, action, heist film written by Christoper Nolan personally for eight years. Because of his recent sucess in 'The Dark Knight' he managed to secure $100 million in advertising expenditure alone. He also directed the psychological thriller Memento that is well known for its disruption of time flow and and slowly extendind the story for each flashbacks of the main character most viewers found it as a masterpiece and a genius work and use of time in the thriller genre.

He is known for ending the film where the narrative starts he usually do this by using a flashback or a scene from the end of the movie. The way he constructs his film narrative by using a unique story telling technique is mostly used in his films; he often flips around the three acts of a movie to tell the story in an interesting fashion and engages the audience. And he often ends his film with a sometimes startling jump cut to black screen he did this in Memento, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Prestige, and most significantly in Inception when he created a controversial cliffhanger on whether or not the main character is still dreaming.

He has influenced our storyline by his use of non linear technique which is used in our film by having  2 different settings in the opening credits and the way we ended our opening credits with a black screen to let a different setting and narrative into the story and actually starts the main body of the film.