Props for our thriller

There are not very many props needed for the opening scene of our thriller. However, two phones are necessary in order for the primary component of the scene to occur and proceed. Sean will have a clearly older and less expensive phone than Sebastian to indicate that he is inferior to him. We think that Sebastian should have a Samsung Galaxy SIII as it is a fashionable phone which suggests his ability to exploit and influence, while we think that Sean should have a Nokia 6600 Slide as it demonstrates his pitifulness. These are also good choices of phones because the Nokia is quite cheap on eBay compared to other phones, while we can get the Samsung from Play.com - CheapestElectrical for a very good price, bearing in mind how new the phone is.

The Samsung will appeal to our target audience (15+) as it will be recognisable to the youth of the 21^st century because the phone is updated and current. Moreover, the use of the Nokia will make the audience feel sorry for Sean due to it being dated.

Additionally we are going to buy a ‘Martial Arts PP Material Karambit Training Knife’ from Amazon as it isn’t very expensive and it is fake so it won’t cause anybody harm. This prop will be found in the pocket of Sean when he wakes up, planted by Sebastian, as a symbol for and an insinuation of all the people he is going to kill. Finally, we will also get ’Stargazer Fake Blood’ from Amazon as it is quite cheap and we will put some on the karambit to imply that it has been used to kill people before and will be used for the same reason again.

The karambit will appeal to our target audience as they may find it interesting that a different weapon is being used rather than just a plain knife or a gun. The fake blood will also appeal as it will make the circumstances seem more convincing and create a realistic sense of the pain that the karambit can inflict.

For opening sequence:

We are going to get syringes from MediSupplies because they are very cheap and we plan to use them in our stylised opening sequence where the credits will come out of the syringes. The syringes will appeal to our target audience as it will subtly give them an idea of what to expect from the film and arouse their attention and excite them.

Location for our thriller

Sean's Location

This location for our media set is based next to a graveyard and in an alleyway where not a lot of people walk. The alley way isn't paved and is muddy, which creates a more eerie atmosphere for our location. The graveyard next to the alley way foreshadows Sean’s possible destiny due to the fact that he has been injected with a poisonous toxin which he has 36 hours left to earn the antidote for. It also foreshadows all the deaths Sean will cause. The graveyard can be shot in our opening stylised title sequence to showcase the location. We will also possibly shoot in the early hours of the morning so it will be moderately dark making the atmosphere more ominous. There are only a few lights around the place so we will need to bring our own lights to make the subject appear on camera and to be the main focus. The location is also desolate and has litter around it, making the place seem neglected. Even though we won't have an unlimited amount of time to film in this location due to the lighting, we have everything prepared so we can make the setting a dominant feature of our thriller.

This location will appeal to our target audience as it is a normal alleyway and not a false setting which has been made. It instead shows the reality of how Sean got there with the road on the other side of the alley way and makes his situation seem more convincing.

Sebastian's Location

 The studio in our school is the location we want to use for our villain Sebastian. This is because there is a black curtain which we want for the background to look suspicious and so his location is unknown, creating an ominous feel to the character. The desk will also include syringes, which we will show to illustrate Sebastian’s psychotic mindset. The studio also has different lights, which we can use to create a mood in the studio connoting danger, For example, using lights with filters such as red to show this. This location is simple and allows us to record easily without being under pressure for time since it is at school.

This location will appeal to our target audience as they will appreciate the mystery and darkness surrounding Sebastian making them become more fascinated and intrigued by his motives and how the events he is causing will unfold.

How Charles Augustus Magnussen from ‘Sherlock’ relates to our character Sebastian Giles

Charles Augustus Magnussen is a rich businessman who has information on everyone which he uses to threaten people into doing his bidding. He is cold, calculating, and conceited with a harsh dismissal of solicitude, while also possessing an extraordinary intellect. Magnussen is very cruel and manipulative, not caring about the feelings of others except for when they serve his purposes for his advantage. Additionally, he has a highly eidetic memory which he utilises to store incriminating data on important people. This is in order to deduce the pressure-points of individuals so he can exploit their weaknesses and blackmail them into submission.

Magnussen from ‘Sherlock’ relates to our character Sebastian Giles because Sebastian is also a sinister rich man who is using blackmail to get what he wants. He, like Magnussen, has great intelligence which allows him to think of and carry out barbaric methods of gaining control.

How Emperor Palpatine from the 'Star Wars' franchise relates to our character Sebastian Giles

Emperor Palpatine (A.K.A. Darth Sidious) is the central antagonist from the Star Wars franchise. He is the Dark Lord of the Sith who is hell bent on ruling the galaxy and throughout the prequel saga he plays two identities, a charismatic Senator and the Emperor of the first Galactic Empire. He is shown to be incredibly manipulative as seen when he tempts Anakin Skywalker with the ways of the Dark Side of the Force and when he does likewise with Luke Skywalker, taunting him with his friends' seemingly futile defeat at the hands of the Empire. This relates to our thriller because Sebastian is also incredibly manipulative as shown when he is taunting Sean with the fact that he will have a difficult time trying to accomplish the task that he was set to do, while Palpatine is taunting Luke by the fact that his friends will most likely be killed when they arrive which is shown in the scene where he says “Oh I’m afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational when your friends arrive”. Moreover, Palpatine in his Darth Sidious persona during the prequel trilogy and his tenure as Emperor in the original trilogy is always shown to be wearing a hood that covers most of his face, giving him a more mysterious aura. This relates to our thriller because Sebastian also rarely shows his face to add to the mysterious nature of his character. However, the reason Palpatine wears a hood is simply to emphasise the fact that he is the enmity of evil and to cover his deformed body, but Sebastian doesn’t show his face simply because he does not want to be recognised for his profession.

How Keyser Söze from 'The Usual Suspects' relates to our character Sebastian Giles

Keyser Söze is the main antagonist from The Usual Suspects. He is a notorious crime lord who’s reputation is so great that it is almost legendary. He is also incredibly ruthless as shown when he responds to an attack on his family by killing his entire family instead of fighting against the attackers like an honourable person. This relates to our thriller because Sebastian also has no regard for the people he kills because he is poisoning Sean Finch with no real concern for his family or anything that he holds dear. Moreover, Söze also blackmails four different convicts into destroying a large shipment of drugs being shipped by his Argentinian rivals due to the fact that his notorious status is a large danger to their lives. This relates to our thriller because Sebastian is also using his power and skills to blackmail Sean into carrying out a crime, just like Keyser Söze was doing with the four criminals he was using. Furthermore, Keyser Söze is shown to be highly intelligent as seen when it is revealed that the supposed hero of the story Verbal Kint was him all along and the entire story that he was telling to the police inspector was completely made up from various details found on a bulletin board. This relates to our thriller because Sebastian is also incredibly intelligent and manipulating as shown when he manages to get Sean to obey him without question or objection since he is almost taunting him when Sean is asking how he is supposed to carry out the crime. 

How Walter White from 'Breaking Bad' is an inspiration for an anti-hero

Who is Walter White?

Walter White was a fictional character created for the TV Drama 'Breaking Bad', a show about a man who was once a promising chemist, and the founder of multi-billion dollar company: Grey Matter. However, he sold his share in the company and settled down to become a high school chemistry teacher. After being diagnosed with lung cancer on the day of his 50th birthday, Walter White realised that he didn’t have the money to pay for his chemotherapy or the surgery to remove the cancer. Upon seeing his brother-in-law DEA officer Hank in action in a drug raid and seeing the large amounts of money taken from the methamphetamine dealers, Walter reunites with ex-student and drug addict Jesse Pinkman to build up their own drug business to help Walter pay for his treatment.

How is he an inspiration for Sean Finch?

Walter is an ideal comparison to our character of Sean Finch in terms of being an anti-hero as they both do dark deeds for good intentions. In Walter’s case, it is cooking methamphetamine and building a drug empire, and in Sean’s case it is making a decision of whether or not to carry out a list of assassinations in fewer than 36 hours to save his own life. Looking forward in terms of the potential entirety of our thriller, we could also play Sean even more against the character of Walter White by putting him in similar dilemmas, for instance how Walter "earns" enough money to be able to support his family after his death, yet decides to carry on the cooking as he enjoys the thrill and wishes to make as much money as possible, eventually ending up with more money than he or his family know what to do with; similarly Sean may end up enjoying the thrill of killing and violence so much that, upon completing the 36 hour contract and being given the antidote to the toxin, he may even go on to kill Sebastian for injecting him in the first place, or we could swap the scenario entirely and Sean could disregard the contract, accept death and focus on simply killing Sebastian instead. Either way, the opening sequence to our thriller will only show enough of Sean’s character to make the audience ask themselves the question of whether or not he will indeed fulfil the 36 hour contract, or if he will let himself die.

Basing our actor for Sean Finch on Jason Statham

Jason Statham is as an ideal actor to play Sean Finch and so we will have someone who resembles him as Sean Finch in our thriller. We could use this kind of look with the bald head and beard because it works well for our character as it can demonstrate that he is an average, middle-aged man, but he also looks mysterious at the same time. Jason Statham has played characters like this a lot and has featured in 'Crank' which has a similar concept to our thriller and therefore illustrates the similar aspect of our idea of him waking up in the middle of nowhere to a strange phone call.

Originally our idea was that Sean Finch was going to be a teenager, played by a teenager. But we felt that it would be more exciting if someone as regular as a middle-aged man, who is typically less violent than a teenage boy, ended up in a situation like this.