SO
Now might be a better time than ever to look back at the many drafts of ideas we’ve gone through to come to this one.
We’ve been through a lot of drafts of ideas as it is. Honestly, there were a lot of detours to even get to the idea that we reached for the rough cut.
Actually, the first solid plan that we planned to make our opening about was centered on a girl. She was planned to wake in her bed and traverse her dark house, unknowingly being stalked by a killer. She would be eventually killed and someone else would wake up; not the girl, but another character, who had dreamed this murder. The next morning would come around and the character would see that the murder actually happened on a news report on television, bringing into question what kind of ability this character possessed to be able to see people deaths first hand in their dreams.
This plot especially sticks in my mind because of the excitement it caused in our group. We had been struggling to form a solid plot idea for weeks before coming upon that one. Unfortunately, that plan fell to pieces once concerns about the location, timing and 2 minute limit came into question. The time limit was the main concern, with group members worried that we couldn’t properly portray the sequence of events properly in two minutes and the idea was eventually dropped.
But, it was the start of the idea of having the opening occur completely within a dream.
We continued to research thriller conventions and inspiration until I was given the responsibility of writing a script. I began messing with ideas that had been thrown out in our group discussion, specifically the idea of water, drowning, and a red dress. This gave way to the idea that became our first rough cut.
It’s interesting to think that our opening is now on an entirely different path. I did not be make another extensive script, like the one for the first rough cut, but I was not going to be left without a concrete plan of what the film should look like.
After the experience of the motel, I knew that even with a script, without a solid plan of what shots we needed to take, we would probably be floundering about until it was too late. I took it upon myself as the director to create an extensive shot list to plan out what shots we would need for our opening.
I ran these by the cinematographer, confirming and altering some, and ultimately came to this list. It’s a bit hectic and does not cover the shots near the end of the opening since it was done quickly, but I believe it will be more than enough to keep the group on track.
Since it may be hard to follow the shot list story wise, I’ll give a brief description of the new plan for the opening:
Lionel wakes up in the hospital, awakened by a dripping sound. He turns to see a leaking faucet to his left, and he leans to turn it off. Lionel sits up in his hospital bed, noticing a silhouette of a lady lying in a bed in the adjacent room.
Confused, but not disturbed, Lionel walks to the front of the room, where he can exit the curtain without going into the silhouette’s room. When he opens the curtain, he finds a dummy in a wheelchair on the other side and is slightly startled, but steps around it.
As he walks past the room with the silhouette inside, he comes across another room, which is empty. A crash sounds behind Lionel and he turns around. The dummy in the wheelchair is gone. A dark figure flashes in front of him and he turns back to the room, which is now filled with flowers, candles and a picture of him and a girl.
Lionel walks to the picture, which is on the side of the room farthest from the silhouette’s room, and holds it up his back to the silhouette in the other room. Lionel does not see the silhouette sit up behind him.
Lionel sets the picture down and looks back at the silhouette’s room, freezing once he realizes that she is gone. He looks around frantically, but is not able to see that the silhouette is now behind the curtain directly behind Lionel. He is grabbed and pulled backwards and the title card shows.
Sources:
Lucid Elucidation's Explanations 