Synopsis

At the start of my thriller there is a school girl walking home from school for the first time, her house is about a 15 minute walk from her school so it isn't that far, and she is very scared thinking that someone is going to kidnap her because she has had past traumas of her walking home a couple times from school with her mum and people shouting across the road at her and through car windows. She calls her mum as she is walking to let her know that she is on her way and her mum tells her to be safe, and the girl says I will try. She is already starting to stress and is very aware of her surroundings and she will jump at any sudden movement or sound. She then hears footsteps behind her but very quick footsteps like someone is running and she is starting to think that, that someone is coming for her, so she decides to look behind her and she sees a man in a hoodie running towards her, so she is starting to worry, she starts thinking of all the things that could happen, why the man is running towards her. The stress is getting to her and she is overthinking about what could happen next, the person behind her is getting closer and closer, she then braces for impact expecting the guy to pick her up and throw her into the back of a van but the person just runs past her, she looks up and there's a bus about to pull into the bus stop in front of them. The girl realises that she is safe and that she is just stressing herself out for no reason and she decides to calm herself down by listening to music so she puts her Air Pods in and calms down. But in actual fact there is someone that is actually stalking her. The man actually stalking her is behind her and is holding a cloth with chloroform all over it ready to put over the mouth of the girl. This man has been stalking this girl for ages and is ready to kidnap her, he walks up behind her, she doesn't know that he is there because she is in her own world listening to music, and he quickly put the cloth over her mouth and she falls asleep.

She then wakes up in a room a dark room that looks like a basement. She starts screaming for help but can't only a small whimper comes out, she realises that her mouth is taped and that her hands and legs are tied up. 

Suddenly police bang through the doors. The man that the she saw run for the bus was in a police uniform and was untying the ropes from her hands and feet. She stands up and she hugs him and and then a from somewhere in the room the person who kidnapped the girl steps out holding a gun and shoots, then the lights cut out.

Key Characters

The School Girl - the school girl is on her way home by herself for the first time. She is petrified something will happen and will be taken away, for example her being kidnapped, but she has the courage to at least try to walk home and become stronger in facing her fears, and starts of with the small ones, like walking home.

Mum - the mum is the caring mother and hopes for her daughter to be safe while she walks home by herself for the first time. But we don't know much about her as there only a quick phone call.

The False Stalker/Hero - this person was running for the bus and was late but did not know he was scaring the school girl he ran past, but he was actually running for the bus so he wan't late for his first role call as a official police officer, which he apologised as running and ended up saving her as she was actually kidnapped straight after.

The Stalker/Kidnapper - this person was stalking the girl since she walked out of the school but there were always people around that's why he didn't kidnap her after. He then kidnapped her when no one was around and took her to her basement, as we go through the narrative we cannot see that there is a clear motive as to why this person has kidnapped her.

Narrative

Todorov's Theory

1. Equilibrium - This starts at the very beginning of the thriller, the school girl is walking home from school.

2. Disruption - This is when the actual stalker puts a cloth around her mouth and kidnaps the school girl.

3. Recognition - This is when the school girl wakes up in a dark room that looks like a basement and is tied up by her arms and feet and can't scream or open her mouth because it is taped up.

4. Repair - This happens when the police raid the house and the room where she is being kept, the policeman starts to cut the ropes and untie her. The school girl then hugs him.

5. New Equilibrium - The kidnapper opens the trapdoor and shoots someone, that would be the new equilibrium and this would be at the end of the thriller.

3 Act Structure

Act 1 - In this act we have the slow rising, where the school girl gets really scared when someone runs past her but in actual fact he was harmless and only running for the bus, but it's still a rising in the storyline.

Act 2 - In this act there are quite a few things that happen, the biggest one is that the school girl gets kidnapped. This is the climax of the act, as it is the biggest thing that happens in the story, but it slowly gets higher as the kidnapper gets closer and once he puts the girl to sleep, that's when it hits the climax.

Act 3 - In the last act we find out that the girl is now in a basement tied up, but the police have now raided the house and the room she is in, but then once she is free, the kidnapper comes out of nowhere and shoots someone, which is why the resolve ends on a high.

Linear and Non-Linear Structure

My thriller film is a linear structured film. This is because my story goes into chronological order, as it goes from the start to where the girl attempts to walk home by herself, then gets kidnapped by a stalker, and then she gets rescued by the police and then the kidnapper shoots someone. The linear structure of my thriller film, brings the whole story all together.

Narrative Devices

Cliff-hanger - In my thriller film I will use a cliff-hanger. It is used at the end of film. The way it works in my storyline is when the girl that was kidnapped is now being saved by the policeman and the kidnapper comes out of a trapdoor secretly, and then shoots their gun as the light cuts out, as the electricity cuts off. That is the cliff-hanger in my thriller film and that is how I will use it, at the end of my story with a cut to the unknown of what may happen next.

Red Herring - In my thriller I will use a red herring. My red herring is used near the beginning of the thriller when the school girl gets scared that someone is going to kidnap her, but in actual fact, the man ran straight past her and ran towards the bus stop, when she saw this she then realised that she was just scared for nothing and that the person who was running towards her was harmless and not chasing her. That is the red herring in my thriller film.

Genre

In my thriller I will be using thriller conventions, these will be: dark themes such as the ending when someone gets shot with the lights off and it gives off more suspense to the thriller, I will also be instilling a red herring into my opening sequence which will give a little bit of a twist to the thriller and a confusion for the audience. I also use a cliff-hanger, to support the suspense and give a little extra edge to the thriller to then see if my thriller was really interesting that it may need a sequel to it, if that audience was that interested. 

The sub genre of my thriller will be crime, as it prioritises someone being kidnapped and then found as this all ties within crime, but on the other hand there is no investigation to make my thriller more crime like, so you could say it is more of an action thriller but I will choose for it to be a crime thriller as it fits that sub genre more especially that it has a kidnapping.

I will have three thriller themes that will be used in my thriller. Fear, crime and escape.

Fear - In my thriller film I will be using fear throughout the entirety of the film, from the very start were the girl fears that she will get kidnapped from walking home to when she actually does get kidnapped. Also there will be fear when the girl wakes up from being put to sleep. There will be more fear showed as the ending of the thriller comes to an end where the kidnapper comes out from behind somewhere in the room. This is were the most fear will be shown. All of this fear will be shown with emotion throughout the thriller.

Crime - In my thriller film I will be using crime as a theme, even though it is my sub genre to my thriller. It is one of my themes as it has conventions of a crime thriller. It has a kidnapping and a saving from a kidnapping but also a kidnapping at the end. On the other hand it doesn't have an investigation to find the person who was kidnapped but it has everything else that is involved with a crime thriller.

Escape - In my thriller film I will be using the theme of escape. Now in my thriller there isn't really much escape until the end which is the most important part of the thriller and the reason why I am using escape as a theme for my thriller. There some attempt of escape as the girl realises she is tied up and wants to free herself and tries to wriggle through the rope and take the tape off her mouth. Then escape in the thriller that is shown, which explains my use for it is when the police burst through into the room and help untie the girl which shows a form of escape until its stopped by the person who kidnapped the girl as he steps out from behind somewhere in the room with a gun.