PLANNING: TOP LINE AND BIG QUESTION

Frank Ash is a creative consultant for BBC films, he teaches creative techniques with filming film crews across and beyond the BBC.  I found out that the main factor of identification is through the 'top line' and 'big question'.

TOP LINE DEFINITION:  A young girl can't cope with the death of her older sister. The audience don't realize the older child is dead until near the end of the film opening as it is through the eyes of the younger sister. Once the audience find out that the older sister is actually dead, the younger child also comes to terms with it. However, as she leaves the room that she was imagining being in with her sister her phone rings and the audience gets a big shock.

BIG QUESTION: Will the younger sibling ever find out the truth about their sibling? Is the eldest sibling dead or alive?