Working Script-Preparation

Working Script
“The Informant”


Shot one:
Ext-Non-diegetic soundtrack used from the film Saw. This is a mid shot of woman holding hands of two little children. Opening shot shows a tracking shot of the three characters walking through a park. The woman is wearing simple clothes (jeans and a jacket); the two little girls are wearing their school uniform. The outfits are mainly of a dull colour to give dreary feel to the opening. Also the dull colours brings out the bring redness of one of the little girl’s ribbons in her hair which are important in the opening sequences of the film.

-Shot shot reverse-

Shot two:
Ext-Shot-shot reverse, camera films the three walking into the playground. These shots show one use of camera editing which I learnt in my preliminary task of shot-shot reverse which is a fluent cut from one side of a setting to another e.g. Someone walking towards a door and opening it then cuts to the person walking into the room and closing the door behind them.

-Cut to-

Shot three:
Ext-Hand held Point of View shot of someone behind a bush looking onto the two girls on the swing. No identity is shown in this shot as the character’s identity is hidden throughout most of the film. I chose the use of hand held to produce the effect that the audience feels like they are the ones behind the bushes.

-Cut to-

Shot four:
Ext-This is a long shot of woman pushing the two girls on the swing. The camera is filming from the side so it includes part of the bushes which makes the audience aware that someone is behind those bushes.

-Tracking-

Shot five and six:
Ext-One of the little girls jumps off the swing and the woman follows leaving the other little child on her own on the swing. The camera tracks them as they go to play on the climbing frame at another part of the playground.

-Cuts to-

Shot seven:
Ext-Hand held POV shot behind the bushes again as the person continues to watch the other girl who is left alone on the swing. The soundtrack at this point has more of a beat to it to symbolise a heartbeat to produce fear in the audience.

-Cuts to-

Shot eight:
Ext-Long shot of woman playing with the little girl on the climbing frame. The use of a long shot gives depth to the picture and makes the audience feel really far away as though the little girl on the swing is far away from safety. This produces tension towards the viewer.

-Cuts to-

Shot nine: Ext-Again the hand-held POV shot. This time the unknown character closes in on the girl on the swing. The soundtrack gets louder at this point and suspension and fear is enticed on the audience who realise this person is going to do something to this little girl.

-Cuts to-

Shot ten:
Ext-The music quietens down a bit as the next shot reveals a red ribbon hanging off the swing and shows the little girl missing.

-Cuts to-

Shot eleven:
Ext-The shot cuts to the woman who looks around and calls out for the little girl. This is the only diegetic sound you hear of the woman calling the girl as the music quietens down. After she has called her name the soundtrack continues to play.

-Tracking-

Shot twelve:
Ext-The camera tracks the woman as she walks towards the swing and notices the red ribbon. As she picks it up with the realisation the little girl is missing the camera zooms in to the woman’s hands and she slides the ribbon through her fingers.

-Cuts to-

Shot thirteen:
Int-This is a mid shot of someone sitting at a computer typing on the keyboard. The soundtrack continues to play. In this shot you can only see the person’s hands and the keyboard and things of no importance on the desk.

-Zoom-

Shot fourteen:
Int-The camera then zooms into the persons hand as they reach for a red ribbon on the desk and scrunch it in their hand. This gives the audience a sudden realisation that this mysterious person has the little girl. The film is called “The Informant” as the plot is the unknown person is keeping the little girl as blackmail towards the woman who had information he needs that the little girls owner has.

"State of Play"-Research

Another film I looked into was "State of Play" which is a thriller. I researched into this film to find out the main points of a thriller and what to incorpriate into my thriller opening. I also looked at Pearl and Dean and the statistics of this thriller.



The viewing age of this film are really low mainly around 15-24 with 68% and no viewers over 45. Also there was a high 63% of male and only 37% of female that went to see this film. For a thriller I was expecting the audience to be much older a have higher percentages around 25-34. However this high rating for ages 15-24 may be due to the maturing generation.

Here is a screen print of further research of "State of Play".

"Gone Baby Gone" audience research-Research

For further research I looked into the target audiences for the film. For "Gone Baby Gone" the target audinence is mainly between 15-24 with a high of 63%. This is expected as the film was given a age restriction of 15. The film is seen as mainly a young persons film as there is only a 4% of over 45's that would be predicted to watch the film. Also the audience was mainly male who are to watch the film with a 53% male and only a 47% female.

Pearl and Dean-Research

For my research I looked at a site called Pearl and Dean which looks at ratings and reviews etc of films. I looked at films relating to thrillers and ones which have the same idea I had for my thriller opening of a little child going missing. One of the films I looked into was "Gone Baby Gone".

Gone Baby Gone film analysis-Research

For my research into my thriller opening I looked at other films which were related to little children going missing. One of these films was "Gone Baby Gone".

Gone Baby Gone

The opening scene of this film begins with a mid shot of a block of flats. Depth of Field is shown in this shot by the angle the camera is positioned, this use of angle gives an effect that the flats just keep continuing down the street. As the film begins non-diegetic music starts to play very softly and quietly. The shot the cuts to a poster of a flag, this shot gives us the film setting. These two shots make up an establishing shot as we can tell that the film is set around the streets and the flats and which state it was filmed in.

As the film continues we are shown a man sitting smoking on the stairs and the camera pans upwards to a un-clean looking woman wearing a top which reveals her stomach. The next shot shows a USA flag again then comes into focus on a scruffy looking man on his balcony. In this shot you can tell a little bit more about the setting. The man is wearing a worn out grey dirty looking cap and his balcony was rotting away and needed some paint. Another shot of a man comes next who is also on his balcony which looked like I needed some paint. These shots make me think of a not so privileged town but a town where the community is always out and about. A man’s voice begins whilst the music still continues. He acts as a sort of introduction to the film and talks about the community. As he talks the shots of people, kids and families are shown and they all looked happy. Another thing I noticed was that there were black and white people together, there were people with disabilities going down the street with people saying hi to them, there were a couple of kids painting graffiti as art on the walls and also we are shown a shot of a church. All these shots make up a montage of what the town is like.

When the title of “Gone Baby Gone” comes up it is placed on a shot of a factory. The next shot is a tracking shot of a man who greets a couple that are standing outside their home. As this shot plays the man speaking says “I’ve lived on this block my whole life” which tells us the man speaking is a main character in the film and that it may be the man that the camera is tracking in the shot. He also says his job is to find people who are missing, this gives us a clue it’s about a child who goes missing. The shots continue to show kids playing on the streets, happy, and then it pans towards a picture of a little girl as the man says the words “yet innocent as doves”. Instantly we know that this is a picture of a missing little girl.

The shot then shows a camera crew and police officers around the front of a house and people with microphones obviously reporters who want to get a story on the missing child. We aren’t told it’s a missing child until the camera pans over flowers and teddies which are tied to a fence and a picture of the little girl with the words “missing girl” at the top and “pray that we find her” written on the bottom. The man’s voice stopped at the voice of a lady comes in and the shot of a woman surrounded by people, clearly going on television to plea for her little girl back. The non-diegetic music is still continuing to play at this time. We then see a woman who is watching the lady’s plea for their girl back on the television. The camera cuts to a wider shot to show a man also in the kitchen who just got a drink out of the fridge whilst the girl is cleaning up. This shot gives importance to the couple who must be a main part of the film.

Preliminary Task-Experimenting

Thriller Opening "The Informant"-Final Product