The narrative of 'Second Glance' - Essay Example

?Second Glance The defining characteristic of ‘Second Glance’ shall be its inspired use of a very distinct brand of amnesia (Gorman 2004). After receiving a severe blow on his head, David Clarke, the central figure in the movie shall contract a rare neuropsychological condition called acquired prosopamnesia. With only limited time to find his kidnapped sister and an inability to form facial memory traces, for Clarke it will be a race against time (MacDougal 2008). The rest of the film would revolve around his relentless struggle to put together the pieces of his memory to uncover the motives and faces of the captors of his sister, and his predators. Like Psycho and The Sixth Sense, this film will use suspense, action to the maximum by playing psychological tricks to produce tension and anxiety amongst the audience. The meticulous direction will be another factor for the audience to be glued to their seats. Similarly, the direction technique used in Memento will be employed by presenting one story line related to the future, while the other story revealing past. This technique will leave the audience guessing, escalating the chances of success. The storyline is immensely influenced by literature on psychological thrillers and other movies of the same genre. Throughout the film, diversified literary techniques derived from other movies and texts shall be employed. The movie will open with a scene of Clarke, lying unconscious in a pool of blood washed up near the river Lea with police and ambulance sirens honking aloud, as rescue workers desperately transport Clarke for medical aid. The next scene will portray a man enveloped in gauze bandages, with a deep voice referring to the man in the bed as ‘I’ (Stasio 2012). This direct participation of the hero through first-person narrative will fully absorb the audience; hence, enabling them to fully comprehend the mechanics of the character’s mental and emotional state. Furthermore, narration will aids in triumphantly manifesting character’s mental psyche by using emotionally laden and evocative words, vivid expositions illustrating his cognitive inability, and connection establishing visuals. This literary method is termed as stream of consciousness (Sang 2010). Literary techniques derived from texts and other movies will play an integral role in direction to engage the audience fully and to retain their attention throughout. As memory is the crux of the plot; hence, it will be accentuated throughout the film by employing another favourite psychological thriller literary technique known as ‘back-story’ (Rendsburg 2000). This involves revealing the history behind the present situation or presenting a series of flashbacks as the main story progresses like Memento. This emphasizes the psychological facet of the plot, as the viewer is better able to apprehend the character, in particular, his motivations and past that paved the way to his present cognitive perceptions. The story features East London, which is an area characterized by worst capital deprivation. Despite the establishment of luxury apartments and accelerating property prices, this area is still to a great degree deemed as the hub of crime. Therefore, this has been a preferred spot of fictional social investigations (Clarke 1997). Crime, drugs, sexual offences, social status conflict, destituteness, and multi-cultural socializing are some of the primary themes attached with this part of the city. The notion of slums in what has been depicted has ‘forbidden East End’ has always fascinated literati and audiences alike (LeUnes 1974). The suspense will be derived from the internal mental conflicts needed to be resolved by Clarke. He will rely on his mental faculties to uncover and deal with his barbaric enemies by fighting for equilibrium within his own mind (Baxendale 2004). It is imperative to bear in mind that a psychological thriller stands out for portraying its characters prone to danger on a mental level, more than physical (McCollom 1971). Fundamentally, the suspense produced in a psychological thriller is a product of two characters, who prey on each other’s minds, through games of deception or mentally devastating their opponents. In addition, the fear of losing a close one makes the movie even more emotionally provoking and heart breaking, fully capturing the audience’s attention as they empathise with Clarke. Despite being a thriller, the storyline and the depiction of characters shall remain realistic on screen, with a constant emphasis of an innocent man fighting a race against time and mental distortions. As opposed to other suspense and thriller films, Clarke will accomplish victory through conquering his mental disability instead of single-handedly slaying an entire Chinese gang. Today’s world is more fascinated with movies involving brain, rather than only blood and unrealistic fights. Tension and sense of disorientation will be sustained, as Clarke will use the threads to weave a dark tale of deceit, conspiracy, and murder (Martin 1997). This encompasses the magnificence of the psychological thriller like Memento, the way it challenges the perception of the narrative and secondary characters by a story primarily told through a series of flashbacks (Costandi 2012). A filmmaker’s job is no longer limited to producing a successful movie project but rather it has become more focused on marketing that means developing an effective ‘Package’. The complete ‘Package’ of a film is crucial in raising finance from potential financiers; thus, attention has been focused on developing a package in line with the research question. The target audience of the film is composed primarily of youth ranging from age 16-25. After identifying this niche, their preferred sources of distribution were identified and targeted. Nowadays, YouTube is the hub of all videos; thus, an intricate network on social media that can make videos viral through You-tuber Partner Full screen will be used. Furthermore, a deal has been struck with another channel, who is also keen on releasing films on YouTube. Moving on, this is a generation of awareness, highly dependent on social networking. Therefore, social media assets such as Face book and Twitter play an imperative role in instantly promoting films; thus, audience will also be targeted through these mediums. Even before the movie is actually released, it will be promoted through face book pages to rouse curiosity amongst users, which will subconsciously motivate them to see when it is actually released. Likewise, a short trailer and promotion teaser will be created focused on the character-driven nature of the story. This will involve a short depiction of the predicament of Clarke that will in turn rouse sympathy, curiosity, and care amongst the viewers. However, the trailer will leave them clueless about the ending, accelerating the probability of them actually watching the whole movie. Today, majority of people hear about a feature film on the internet instead of a festival film so developing a profile or fan page will serve as an asset to leverage as part of the film package. However, followers, friends, or fans itself stands for nothing unless they are not targeted the proper way. Since the movie has to be completed within only 1 million, which is relatively little capital in Hollywood, so a very marketable genre and concept have, been chosen. Psychological thrillers have a long history of doing well on box office due to their element of suspense and action that appeals youth. Thereby, the story line of Second Glance has been developed by taking into account the successful features of other films such as Memento, China Town, M, and The Usual Suspects etc. Identifying a niche and making a film that relates to a subject or issue of great interest to that fan base is a brilliant marketing technique. In addition, the direction and artwork shall be of supreme quality by using a relatively cheap yet marvellous camera, well suited to guerrilla style filmmaking. Nevertheless, cast and direction remain of utmost importance; therefore, Richard Madden has been selected to play the lead, as he is a rising star and popular figure amongst youth. In today’s contemporary world, if a movie does not contain recognizable names, it will prove hard to sell. In addition, as his career is in its initial stages so he fits well within the low budget parameters. However, lack of capital will curtail the success of the feature film. A channel on YouTube has been specifically designed to raise more finance. Still, the low budget will limit opportunities for more sophisticated direction, starring A list stars, which otherwise make even a normal story successful. Additionally, the printing and advertising possibilities will be focused on leaving an emotional impact on the target audience. However, collaboration with more marketing and advertising agents is needed to maximize the sociological effects of the story while achieving the promotional goal. The audience will be appalled by the kidnapping, scared from creating a danger to Clarkes’s life, and should be horrified from the thought of an extremely sophisticated mysterious opponent. The printing and advertising should present glimpses of this content to prey on audiences. Thus, more marketing commitment through TV channels, billboards, and internet advertisments is required to tap a greater audience (Kasof 1995). Hence, it is crucial to lock in more partners, sponsors, financiers through perfecting the film package even more. Moreover, although the story line is of the unique selling points yet innumerable psychological thriller movies have been made over the decades. Thus, minority of target audience might be dissuaded from seeing another amnesia branded movie. Similarly, the Black Digital camera fits well in the overall budget; however, the movie will not be able to compete against international films made in accordance with Hollywood standards. Killer artwork makes even the most tedious storylines triumphant. The post process is also imperative in evaluating the various aspects of a feature film, a little help from film and art community will shed light on if the film is up to the standards of a psychological thriller. A demo can be shown to a bunch of film or art students, encouraging them to analyze any aspects of the movie that failed to meet viewer’s expectation. Similarly, they can also be shown a short pitch deck, which will be subsequently shown to investors to generate funds (Elsbach & Kramer 2003). This will have the added advantage of identifying any problematic questions, appropriate length that sheds adequate light on the storyline. It is important to anticipate their reactions as investors often have an exit strategy in place, so they should be proven why Second Glance should be preferred over other competing films. Creating feature films is a byzantine task with several moving parts. It consists of blending the right talent, investment, creativity, technology, and a dash of luck. Despite these ingredients and evaluations, the success is still hardly guaranteed. References Baxendale, S 2004, 'Memories aren't made of this: amnesia at the movies', BMJ, vol 329, no. 7480, p. 1480–1483. Clarke, D 1997, The Cinematic City, Taylor & Francis, London. Costandi, M 2012, 'Memory and amnesia in the movies', The Guardian, 13 Feburary 2012. Elsbach, KD & Kramer, RM 2003, 'Assessing Creativity in Hollywood Pitch Meetings: Evidence for a Dual-Process Model of Creativity Judgements', The Academy of Management Journal, vol 46, no. 3, pp. 283-301. Gorman, J 2004, 'Only in the Movies: Living a Life Unencumbered by Memory', New York Times, 4 April 2004. Kasof, J 1995, 'Social determinants of creativity: Status expectations and the evaluation of original products', Advances in group processes, vol 12, no. 3, pp. 167-220. 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