Aims and Intentions - First Draft

Learner's Name: Michael Quigley-Smith
Word Count: 405


I have decided to make a psychological thriller that utilises striking visuals and an unstable sense of reality channelled through the protagonist to create an unnerving drama that also contains the suspense and mystery elements of crime shows.

My programme will jump between reality and the protagonist’s dreamscapes, and the latter will be indicated with block-colour lighting and odd camera angles, which will act to disorient the audience, offering them a unique viewing experience. During a scene where the main character is running from an unknown something, the cuts will be rapid and the camerawork shaky, creating tension, and when the protagonist is haunted by visions of one of the killer’s victims taunting him, the camera will move slowly and smoothly in binary opposition to the running scene, which will vary the show’s pace and in turn maintain the interest of the audience. Conversely, reality will be shown in a more standard, yet still cinematic, manner, with less extreme colours, lighting and camerawork. This strong visual contrast between the two worlds will allow for audiences to know which world they’re in, although the separation may not always seem so obvious for the sake of creating a restricted enigmatic narrative, which will appeal to audiences of crime dramas who want to experience the mystery unravelling along with the protagonist.

The main character of the show, haunted by his dreams as he is, is a depiction of a person who is experiencing residual trauma from both his past and his failure to catch the killer on the loose. This is a familiar character archetype for fans of the genre: an efficient cop who is haunted by some event/failure in their past, so will appeal to audiences of crime dramas. The fact that the protagonist has a partner as well will be familiar also, making the show recognisable, but the reality-bending elements of the programme will serve as a unique selling point, appealing to crime drama audiences by looking and being something different, and also bringing fans of the horror and psychological thriller genres in with its visuals and distorted narrative.

ITV is a private broadcasting channel who had huge success with Broadchurch, a show that took the crime genre and made something different out of it. This show aims to do the same: take familiar elements of the crime drama genre and add a twist to them; in this case the twist is the psychological horror elements.
                                

Comments

  1. charlier23 September 2018 at 12:22

    Strong, complex idea: can you put pitch ideas on to clarify?

    ReplyDelete

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