Treatment

Group Roles

Cinematography: Saana, Conor

Mise-en-scene: Rebecca

Sound: Rebecca, George

Editing: Conor, Saana

The title chosen for our film was "The Hypnotist"

Synopsis:

Dr J. Smith specialises in hypnotism and provides treatment for patients who have previously suffered trauma. Rupert Jones is one of his patients who attends a session after suffering from increasingly violent and obsessive visions of an unknown girl. In attempt to unravel his issues the doctor heavily influences his patient to confront the issue by finding this girl. Rupert, who remains disorientated, is offered hypnotism and without consent, a strange injection to follow. Rupert’s visions repeatedly reveal him carrying a torn photograph of his victim which matches the complete photograph on his doctor’s desk. The complete copy shows that Dr. J. Smith is in the previously missing half of the photograph. Is the hypnotist really who he appears to be?

Key Genre Conventions:

“Fast-paced and frequent action”:

There are frequent shots of Rupert’s visions which creates a non-linear narrative that jumps from the visions back to the session taking place in the doctor’s office.

“Resourceful heroes who must thwart the actions of more powerful and better equipped villains”

The remainder of "The Hypnotist" would follow up on more individual cases of the “serial killings” that have been occurring. The audience will also discover that Dr. J Smith is behind each and every murder that will result in his victims (the patients) fighting back for justice. 

“Ordinary citizens accidentally drawn to danger”

All of Dr. J. Smith’s patients are ordinary and helpless. They believe that they are in safe hands, however by chance, by being advised to choose his services, they fall victim and become murderers through mental influence.

“Primary mood: ‘fearful excitement’”

“There is one thing that I get to offer you, and that is hypnotherapy” is the line that will commence the following action. This aims to leave the viewer anticipating what is to follow. It is also meant to create a feeling that leaves the viewers on edge due to the previous shots.

“Characters who switch sides or who cannot be trusted

Dr. j Smith cannot an trusted and at the same time, his patient, Rupert. Although it isn’t made explicit, there are hints that alert the audience that Dr. J. Smith is not genuine and may be the cause of Rupert’s aggressive visions. Equally so, Rupert’s character is split; while he is victimised we cannot trust him entirely because his visions suggest that he is capable of murder.

“The use of a staircase as a motif for impending danger or suspense”

Alfred Hitchcock was one of the best director and producers of film. He has helped progress the thriller genre with the way he makes thrillers and the devises he includes. We included some of these devises in our film.

The Hitchcockian convention of a staircase is used at the beginning to create suspense as the character’s identity is not given away.  

Thriller devices:

Red herrings: misleads or distracts the audience from the central issue. In one or two shots there will be more than one person in the shot, particularly in the early visions. This will be included to distract and confuse the audience from the central character.