Plot narrative
- 1. By Jemima Wright PLOT NARRATIVE
- 2. BASIC SYNOPSIS Megan experienced a troubled childhood of neglect and abuse, when she finally left her hometown to discover herself and free herself from the burden of her past she found herself alone, broke with no means to survive. As a result of this she turned to hitchhiking for transport and prostitution for her essentials to survive. Life as a prostitute became extremely sinister for Megan, she was constantly beaten and raped and although financially she could be raking in up to £300 a day, her mental state was far from rich. Combined with her bad memories of her brothers and dad from her childhood and her current situation, she had grown a hatred for men, she despised everything about the. Her psychiatric state had eroded, her hatred had built up, her need to survive started to thrive on revenge and her career underwent a few changes. Megan would get picked up from the side of the road by her clients of whom were usually middle aged business men or labourers. They would drive to a quiet place which was in most cases the enclosed woods just 1 mile away from civilisation. When the car stopped and intercourse was due to take place and the male would start to touch her and attempt to engage in sexual activity, Megan would shoot them with her shot gun and murder them in cold blood. In some cases they would go to the male house or private property and the same events would occur. She would then steal their valuable possessions to sell at pawn shops and take their money in order to gain her profit and pay her rent every month. The would take their bodies, sometimes strip them and leave them in hidden places, for example in a ditch at the side of a motor way or deep in the woods buried with leaves. Megan killed 5 men in the space of one year and there bodies were not found until months after the attacks happened, this is where a case started to take place and connections were made between the murders. For example they were all shot by the same shot gun and gun wounds were found around the torso and head. Finally her fingerprints were found in the victims cars and her face was recognised in the pawn shops where the males possessions were found, they had enough evidence to make an arrest. Although Megan denied charges of murder and claimed it was all in self defence of the men raping her and taking advantage. However she was convicted and faced the death penalty.
- 3. HOW IM GOING TO PORTRAY THIS IN MY TRAILER? It is absolutely crucial that I do not give to much of the narrative away in my trailer, however it important to plant clues within so the plot looks full of depth and interest. I have to be clever when recording my trailer to make sure the storyline doesn’t look simple and straight cut so therefore I will have to incorporate misleading footage. This is my basic outline of trailer, I will give you a more detailed on when I come to create my story board; • The establishing shots of my trailer will be of my protagonist, in her day to day life. This could include her walking down an alley, drinking in a bar, sitting at home alone doing drugs, having a bath. This will almost set the seen to the audience can gather as to what kind of person she is. • When the character is established, I am going to show her ‘in action’ standing at the side of a road. As we see the journey from a variety of point of view shots and long shots, it is going to be clear she is on a job. This is where more sinister elements are incorporated I am going to show flash cutting of her being abused, this will link back to her when she was younger, leading the audience to believe that she is the real victim in the film and therefore planting a seed. • I am going to incorporate part of the male driver combined with shots of her being touched, this will insinuate that he is going to abuse her. From a wide shot of the car, the audience will be able to hear a gunshot, the audience will be left ignorant as to who has died. • This is where to action picks up and more thriller conventions are incorporated such as fast paced editing, I will show a variety of shots of which will confuse the audience such as someone washing blood of their hands, stilettos walking down a road, different cutaways shots of a corpse, a shotgun and so on. • The main aim for my trailer is not to tell the story line, I want them to be clear that my film is based on a prostitute who has clearly suffered some abuse, I also want it to be insinuated that she may be involved in killings although this wont be directly told to the audience.
- 4. TODOROVS THEORY • A state of equilibrium • A disruption of the equilibrium • Recognition that the disruption has occurred • An attempt to repair the damage • Restoration of a new equilibrium In my trailer I am intending to show a state of equilibrium at the beginning, this is where we will see the main protagonist living an ordinary life, as a result it will give the audience a sense of reassurance at the beginning of the trailer. I think if my trailer were to go straight into the disruption of the equalibrium, then it would disable me from creating any suspense and therefore my trailer would simply be filled with action and the narrative and thriller elements would get lost within in it. The disruption of the equalibrium will start to occur through the flash cutting of her being tortured and abused and also shots of a gun and the murder scenes, this will leave the audience confused as to who's actually disrupted the equilibrium, is it her or her clients? I hope to portray the recognition of the disruption through a voice over of a news reporter claiming that bodies have been found, this will add a sense of realism to my trailer and is likely to add a chilling touch as the audience may believe it is based on true events. I could also incorporate an attempt to repair the equalibrium by showing a variety of shots of a crime scene, including finger prints and equipment. Finally I definitely will not show a restoration of a new equilibrium, this is because I don’t want to reveal to much and I want the audience to keep wondering as to how the movie concludes. If I were to include it in my trailer then the novelty would be ruined and the suspense would be gone, it is important to leave the audience wondering who committed these crimes and if they got away with it.
- 5. BARTHES THEORY Barthes believed that every media text is like a tangled ball of thread, when you untangle to ball, multiple meanings can then be depicted from it. You can look at a text from one perspective and viewpoint and gain a one meaning, however you can look at it from a different angle and gain completely different meaning from the same text. He broke a text down into 5 codes which can be built into any narrative; 1. The hermeneutic code; avoids revealing the truth by withholding facts and adding subtle clues. 2. The Enigma code; The way tension is created, leaving the audience to make predictions 3. The symbolic code; Any element which suggests an additional or alternative connotation 4. The cultural code; New meanings arising from conflicting or opposing ideas 5. The semantic code; Plays around with the audiences prior cultural knowledge, morality or ideology. I intend to include elements of each of these codes, however there are a few I am definitely going to place more of an emphasis on. The hermeneutic code will be present throughout, this is a vital element of my trailer as I do not what the audience to leave knowing what's going to happen, I want to ensure they are mislead and believe alternative things are going to happen through the subtle clues misleading them to believe different things. The enigma code is also a key aspect as tension is absolutely vital in thriller films as its what unsettles the audience and makes them feel on edge. As I mentioned before about the audience having multiple interpetations, it is important for me that people do make predictions, this is because when they go to actually watch the film they will be surprised. The symbolic code will be present through the disorientating flash cutting I use as they will be of items which they audience believe have no relevance to the plot, however they may change their ideas completely.
- 6. STRAUSS’ THEORY Levi Strauss proposed an idea that the way we understand a word is not due to our understanding of that words meaning, however the big difference between the word and its opposite. He believed all narratives are built around conflict of these oppositions. There are a variety of ways I want to include this idea into my trailer; • The idea of ‘strong vs weak’ between the protagonist and her male abusers • The idea of ‘good vs evil’ as she is painted in a more positive light at the beginning, we almost feel sorry for her, however elements of evil are shown to us. • The idea of ‘Men vs women’ is going to play a key role in my trailer as they are in clear oppositions of each other so it is important I emphasis that. • The idea of ‘Sane vs insane’ this is going to be a tricky aspect to include as what is in fact reality is not going to be betrayed to the audience, by that I mean even though she is insane I need to still portray a sane character profile but slyly hint her insanity through mis-en-scene and facial expressions. • The idea of ‘poor vs rich’ I want to emphasis the wealth of her clients by showing how bad her financial position is, hence why she's doing this as a job in the first place. This can be hinted by meticulous selection of miss-en-scene. • The idea of ‘happiness vs sadness’ I want to show the difference between the sadness and pain she experiences being the victim and the thrill she gets from being the agressor.