Developed synopsis - locations and character profiles

Christian

Age: mid-40's

Actor: Martin Lambert

Christian is weary of his daughters lover, Joules, and does not like his daughter being with him. Christian has a controlling and obbessive relationship with his daughter.

 Isabella
Role: Sleek, street-smart, deviant, sophisticated, daughter of Christian, Joule's lover.
Age: early 20's
Actress: Isobel Bailey

Isabella murders he lover joules, stabbing him in the heart. Isabella has an obbessive relationship with her father and kills Joules to please him, as well has getting a twisted pleasure out it herself.

Joules
Role: Isabella's lover
Age: Mid 20's
Actor: Harry Ewing

Joules, Isabella's lover is unware of the obbesive, controlling relationship of his lover Isabella and her father, he is murdered by his lover.

The interception by Isabella in the taking-back of the money, and murder of Joules. Isabella deceives her father and attempts to take off with the money Christian has just handed over to Joules. Isabella's intentions are to get away from her Father and the criminal world she lives in, without him finding out.
- Joules gets off train carrying briefcase A


- H
e walks through the station to station entrance and looks at watch


- Camera cuts to Christian in stationary car, who also looks at watch


- Isabella walks into shot in Christians car headlights (POV shot through windscreen) - close-up of Christian's eyes shows his confusion to her whereabouts (why is she there?) establishing her character as having some kind of relation with Christian


- Christian's phone rings, hearing 'i'm on my way etc.' and hangs up


- Christian gets out of his car


- Cuts back to Joules also hanging up,
who continues walking out of station and through street


- Mid shot Joules framed in door way - framed in fate!


- Camera cuts to Joules arriving at meeting destination


- Joules sees Chris' shadow/hears footsteps approaching


- Switch of briefcases is made - handshake


- Chris walks off out of shot


- Joules looking smug, walks off round corner, followed by camera


- Isabella is seen lurking in the shadows


- Close up of boot only handle of knife is seen.


- reveals knife from her boot


- shot of Joules' shadow on wall with Isabella
 approaching behind and attacking with knife, falls to the ground


- Isabella retrieves briefcase B and walks off


- low angle shot of Isabella walking off with Joules' hand in the foreground
- focus changing from Isabella to hand


- Close up of Christians hand hanging out of car window
- watch further establishes link of relationship between Christian and Isabella.


- Outcome- Isabella murders Joules without the knowledge
her father and takes the money with the intention of running away thus deceiving her father.


- Isabella walks away (note the close-ups of hands) a close-up of a hand on her shoulder creating suspense. Who's hand is it? A partner who she is also running away with? Her Dad?

Development



Extreme close up of  Joules'swatch - tilt shot - inter textual reference to 'The Third Man'.
Christian's car
- Cuts to Christian in stationary car, who also looks at watch - links characters and scenes

Extreme close up of watch - tilt shot


Different watch establishes different character and personality.
- Christians hand on steering wheel

Mid shot Joules framed in door way - framed in fate. waiting for Isabella

-Isabella arrives to meet Joules.

Cut back to Christains still waiting in car

Joules and Isabella walk off, headlights can be seen following them, but they do not notice.
Joules and Isabella imbrace, Joules falls/slumps to the ground, Isabella is froze is horror blood can be seen.
Christian grabs/ hand on Isabella's shouldier.

End.

NEW (15/1/10)


Location
Isobel Bailey's house


C.U of reflection in mirror of Isobella putting on lipstick
M.S of Isabella packing last item in suitcase
C.U of Isabella picking up suitcase
M.S of Isabella walking to notice board
C.U of Isabella getting adress
M.S from strairs of Isabella leaving out door
C.U of hand on knob
As Isabella leaves though door, shadow/figure can be seen behind her. Use of glass doors.

We revised are plot because it was too complicated. Instead of the original idea of having a exchange between Christian and Joules, with Isabella intercepting. We felt that we needed to change are idea to make it more controversal, engaging and interesting.

We have cut the shots of Isabella leaving as these are boring and unessery.
We have cut the CU's of the watch/s as these are now not needed.
We have cut down the number of shots in Isabella's house.

Final narrative

CU of Christain in car behind steering wheel
Keeping shots of Isabella getting reaady
CU of isabella's eyes whilst smoking
cuts to CU of Christian's eyes - as if looking at one another
CU's of Joules waiting
CU's of Christain
Isabella and Joules meet, embrace etc
Joules is shot by Christian.

Isabella murders he lover joules, stabbing him in the heart.
Isabella has an obbessive relationship with her father and kills Joules to please him,
as well has getting a twisted pleasure out it herself.

Christian is weary of his daughters lover, Joules,
and does not like his daughter being with him. Christian
has a controlling and obbessive relationship with his daughter.


Shooting Locations

Isabella's house
Christian's car
Castle gardens - meeting place
Allyway

All props and costumes are the same.

Alfred Hitchcock: The Master Of Suspense Thrillers

No list of suspense or thriller films can be complete without mention of English film-maker/director Alfred Hitchcock. He helped to shape the modern-day thriller genre, beginning with his early silent film The Lodger (1926), a suspenseful Jack-the-Ripper story, followed by his next thriller Blackmail (1929), his first sound film (but also released in a silent version). Hitchcock would make a signature cameo appearance in his feature films, beginning with his third film The Lodger (1926), although his record was spotty at first. After 1940, he appeared in every one (in Rope he gets of a bus in the opening) except for The Wrong Man (1956). Alfred Hitchcock is considered the acknowledged auteur master of the thriller or suspense genre, manipulating his audience's fears and desires, and taking viewers into a state of association with the representation of reality facing the character - In Rope Phillips constant guilt and remorse over strangling an innocent friend to death, David. Hitchcock's films often placed an innocent victim (an average, responsible person) into a strange, life-threatening or terrorizing situation, in a case of mistaken identity, misidentification or wrongful accusation (i.e., in Rope, the brutal murder of an innocent victim - David).

The famed director often capitalized on a 'red herring' or gimmicky plot element to catch the viewer's attention - dubbed a McGuffin (or MacGuffin), that would propel the plot along its course.

Hitchcock usually cast leading actors against type (Gregory Peck, James Stewart, Cary Grant) opposite cool blondes (Madeleine Carroll, Joan Fontaine, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Kim Novak, Janet Leigh, Tippi Hedren, Lila Crane - Psycho) who were often subject to misogynistic abuse, threatening humiliation, or murder - femme fatale. Hitchcock would then explore the darker sides of human nature through the situation, including sexuality and voyeurism, guilt and punishment, or paranoia and obsession, an example of this in Rope Brenden becomes obsessed by the intellectual concepts of Nietzsche's Übermensch and the art of murder, a means of showing one's superiority over others, a dark obbession which leads to a brutal murder of one of his college friends. Hitchcock  usually let the viewer know that some horrible event would happen - creating unbearable suspense while viewers waited for the inevitable - the opening of Rope is a hight angle shot over a bustling street below, calm and ordinary, the camera then pans round to a upper apartment window with the curtains shut, the camera sits still for a couple of minutes - creating suspense and preparing the audience for the horrible event behind the curtains.

An example of HItchcocks' cool blondes- Lila Crane from Psycho, Lila runs away with a vast amount of money she has taken from her boss and ends up being brutally mudered at a motel she stays at by a dark twisted man.

Thriller planning - initical loactions ideas

Thriller planning - location ideas

Norwich train station.
Planning to feature train in thriller film opening.
Shots inside and outside trains station.

Trowse

Trains run though Trowse good place for train montage. Shots of train going under bridge and can be followed as far as Trowse Mill, with good spots for shots which can be done safely.

Once Upon a Time in America- Thriller reseach

Once Upon a Time in America

Director

Sergio Leone
Date of release

1984

Production companies

Embassy international pictures

PSO international

Warner Bro's, pictures

Filming Locations
Chambers Paper Fibres, Plymouth Street, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy
(studio)


Auidence


User ratings
 From using the figures on IMDB this film is show to be most popular amongst males under 18 and males aged 18-29. This is a demographic of the typical auidence for this film, males between the age of 18 and 29.


User comments


IMDB user:
'A sprawling, deliberately paced, and generally a superbly crafted piece of work'


'It's been said that when one watches a "spaghetti" western (one of the "Man with no name" films with Clint Eastwood) filmmaker Sergio Leone's trademark cinema style and flair for clear storytelling is instantly recognizable. This is no truer than in his most ambitious effort, Once Upon a Time in America, in which his usage of close-ups, concise camera movement, sound transitions and syncs, and the sudden change in some scenes from tenderness to violence.'
Author:
JackGattanella from United States, 19th October 2003.


External review (to IMDB)

'Once Upon a Time in America is an outstanding film on several levels. Its length and its impeccable attention to period detail give it the feel of an epic. But at its heart, it is the story of one man's journey through life, and the price he's paid for the choices he made along the way.'

Author:

Dana Knowles, June 1999.

How does Sergio Leone ultilise the generic conventions of a thriller film in 'Once Apon a Time in America?

Extreme close up, utilised to involve the audience in te action. This is the establishing shot of Eve at the beginning of the film. Her face is illuminated by the glamourous tiffiny lamp, and the audience see her face propably for the first time in portrate. Eve is presented as the 'classic' (thriller) femme fatale; pale skin, red lips, perfectly mangered tightly curled hair and a glamourous hat suitably perched on top. The lamp indicates her glamour and asthetic values, she cares and take pleasure in her appearence.  The shots are simple, and dramatised with the use of chiaroscuro lighting and compostion.

Sergio utilses the theme of murder and crime with this high angle shot of the bed with bullets holes in the shape of a person similar to that of a 'murder etch' it and thus introduces the theme of fear and murder. The high angle shot is used to make Eve look weak, powerless and out of her depth. The bullet holes in the bed are a warning to Eve, a threat. This theart indicates to the audience that Eve is in trouble, and most posibly get murdered. The utilisation of chiaroscuro lighting is used to reinforce the sense of nightmare and suspense.

Eve fits the generic thriller archetype of a femme fatale. Her dress is generic of a  femme fatale, dark red lips, tight skirt, long glamourous coat. Her dress exposers her to the violence of males, she is dressed in a way that  is provoctative and alluring, which is at her weakness. She has high asthetic values and takes care in her appearence. Eve is ultimatly murdered for her reluctence to reveal the where abouts of her lover Noodles, who is a gang member. Eve's relationship with Noodles ingages her into this crime world, in which she does not belong.