It Watches - Rough Plan Part 2

After some more consideration and planning about my short film, I am now able to go into much more detail about what will be in my film.

The film will now start with the main character coming home (from school or work) and quickly rushing past his family, who are in the downstairs living room, in order to go upstairs into his room and play games/use laptop. Either way the main character is going to have headphones on full blast so that the camera can hear the music even though the headphones are on. As time passes, there will be multiple shots from outside the house, eventually getting closer to the house, the shots will be mixed with shots from both inside and outside the house, giving off the feeling that someone or something is watches (the title will imply that it is something rather than a person). 

As time has progressed, there is some kind of loud noise downstairs, the main character will go to investigate, but there will be multiple details about the house that have changed since the beginning of the film; I think that it will be a good idea to subtly draw the viewers attention to certain objects in the house as the main character is walking up the stairs, I am going to subtly change things in the environment i.e. slightly tilting paintings. As the character investigates the house, I will use mirrors to build tension. There are multiple areas on the set I have chosen where I am able to angle the camera towards a mirror, but still have the camera out of sight; I think I can use this to play around with tension as I could possibly have objects moving in the mirrors, only to have the camera turn around to show that nothing is there.

Furthermore, the character comes downstairs to find that his family is no longer home and they have left a note to say where they have gone. The note will be similar to this: 

I’ve gone off to work and I won’t be back till late… Here's some money towards dinner, order a takeaway if you like….. remember to turn the lights off if you’re not in the room unless you want to pay the electric bill

This note opens up possibilities for moments in the film where I can have lights on before the character even enters the room, even if he turned them off, this will let the viewer know that there is something in the house with the character. The note also leaves an opportunity to have the 'till late' part scratched out, leaving only the 'I won't be back', implying that something has happened to the family; however the note will be scratched out at a later point in the film. The main character goes back upstairs and carries on as usual. The character can here the door then open, thinking it is his family, the main character goes downstairs only to find that the door wide open with the note taped to it. This is where the note is then scratched out, as the character walks around he finds clues that lead him and the viewer that his family never left the house i.e. the cars will still be in the driveway (I will make sure that the viewer knows what cars I have and how many by having the character interact with the before he enters the house) or having the TV still turned on; although I would like to have the TV be turned full blast (on its own) will the main character is checking the house.

after a lot of tension building, I will have noises and movement coming from a cupboard and have the main character open it to find that one, there is nothing in there, or two, that his family members are tied up inside it, this will shock the viewer which means they will not expect the immediate jump scare as the camera pans back to the main character to show that there is something behind him.

Alternatively, the main character can hear the noise of the garage door opening, so he then goes to investigate, after he then fully opens the door to find that his family is sat at a table in the garage. the character will then be rightly confused as to what they are doing in there. He then might ask a question to his family, but they will not respond and only start to stare at him, then the camera will cut back to the main character to show that there is something behind him, this will be accompanied by a loud audio cue to help scare the viewer.