R+P Post 7: Our film's title and plot summary

The Taken films' titles reflect the plot

We have chosen the title of the film to be Pay off. We originally wanted to go with Payback, however there was already an existing film with this name. The reason we were looking at these sorts of titles was because the plot of the film revolves around a kidnapping, and the usual reason for kidnapping in films is for ransoms, so the title connotes paying the ransom for the kidnapped person.

Scene from the film '21'.

Initially the film was going to be centred around the theme of gambling in casinos, similar to the film '21', however we decided this would be a bit too limiting on our range of audiences.

The protagonist of our film is a man named Blake. He is an ex-police officer turned private investigator. He is a very secluded character, generally preferring to work alone, if not he usually is the guy in charge. His partner Rachael has been kidnapped by a criminal gang, and the film follows his journey to find the perpetrators and get Rachael back. In the opening sequence he has gone to an underground criminal poker game to get back in touch with Jennifer, another ex-police officer he used to work with. He asks for her help in finding Rachael, and with some persuasion, she agrees.

If we look at Todorov's narrative theory, the opening sequence begins after the event that breaks the equilibrium of Blake's life, (Rachel's kidnapping). We need to be careful in doing this as so to no confuse the audience by moving back and forth in time too much.

We also are taking into account the theory of binary opposites. In our sequence Blake will be a representation of law and morality, whilst the criminals being binary opposites to him, representing villainy and immorality. This will mainly be portrayed through costume and mise-en-scene.