Locations For Thriller Film.

Initially, I went location scouting around the area on mousehold heath in Norwich, and found Gurney Road. Tamas then went back and found other roads in the surrounding area, and photographed them.

For our thriller opening we need three locations. One of these is a narrow, winding road, preferably with street lights and with a ditch next to it or nearby. The second location that we need is a tall building, with its windows lit-up and preferably with external lighting from the ground, shining up at it. The third and final location is a room with a desk and a big chair.
For the road and ditch, we decided to use the roads around Mousehold Heath, as I found out that they have streetlights. We found that Gurney Rd. would have been perfect, as it was very winding and had streetlights on both sides. However, unfortunately it was so busy that we were unable to take pictures of it let alone be able to film on it. But, we found a very good little narrow road coming off it which had streetlights on one side and had no traffic, and we also found a Gilman Rd. - which is now a footpath and cycle path. Because of this it would have been ideal to film on, however it did not have streetlights, and we wouldn’t have been able to use car lights either so we’d have no lighting.

Here are the pictures we took:

These are photographs of a small road, coming off Gurney Road and linking to Britannia Road that we have decided to use for our thriller. (above)

These are photographs of Gilman Road, which was a road we considered using for our road shots, but decided against because of lack of lighting. (above)

These are photographs of the ditch we decided to use to throw our "dead body" into. (above)

For the building, we looked around at the Norwich Union buildings, and then at the new buildings near the football ground at Riverside. (below)

This Norwich Union Building (above) In the City Centre of Norwich is the building we chose to use.

Here are the riverside buildings we considered (below):

For the room with a desk and chair, we chose to use a classroom at CNS. But the photographs below are the desks we considered at first. The final desk we use for filming will be added at a later date. Obviously though, when we are shooting we’d take much more care concerning the composition and framing.

Here are the desks from a classroom at school (below):

Synopsis Of Our Thriller Film

Synopsis

My group and I discussed the theme, plot and narrative we wanted in our thriller then Tamas wrote out our first draft. We discussed this, and decided it needed more adding to it, so we all highlighted the points that needed to be adapted and this is our final synopsis:

In our thriller, we have decided to adopt a theme inspired by the soundtrack of our opening sequence; Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. Of course, though, our thriller would not be a romance drama; we would rather incorporate it with ideas from classic thriller films such as The Godfather. Our thriller would, therefore, take-on a sub-genre of ‘mafia/ gangster’. We would also use some narrative-related ideas and twists that were inspired by The Godfather, such as the switch of protagonist from an old boss who is replaced by a new, young boss. We have also been influenced by the use of narrative in Chinatown, how the narrative develops slowly and things gradually unfurl, and the twists keep coming right until the very end. This is something that we would have liked to achieve in our thriller. Another narrative feature that we would incorporate into our thriller is the idea of a continuous change of protagonist. First of all, in our opening sequence, the audience meets one important looking character (Patrick Callaghan) and may immediately relate to him as a protagonist. However, in the sequences after the opening, this character isn’t heavily featured, but rather another crime boss (Colin Glover) is introduced and is the centre of attention. He, then, is the first real protagonist. However, he is killed quite early, thus inducing a change of protagonist to his son (David Glover). He, though, is also killed and so there is another change in the protagonist. This time Susie Callaghan becomes the protagonist. However she too is killed, so at the end of the film the audience is left with Patrick Callaghan as the protagonist, as it was at the very beginning. This cycle of protagonists is an important concept in the film as by the end of it all the audience realises that there is really no-one in the film that they can relate too, because the characters are all so corrupt, unlawful, twisted and eventually dead as a result. This concept was partly inspired by narrative features in Sin City, where there is also a constant switch of protagonist, however in a slightly different way. The concept has also been influenced though by the film noir genre, in which the corrupt and unlawful character was really invented. Some of our scenes in our opening have also perhaps been influenced by the film noir genre, as our opening is filmed at night and includes several examples of chiaroscuro lighting.
Our opening sequence reveals what the audience will most likely assume to be a murder and the disposal of the body, and also introduces them to the four characters that they are likely to assume to be behind it. However, in the overall synopsis, these events only take place quite late on in the film, around about two-thirds of the way through. The chronological opening of the film would be something entirely separate, and would have Colin Glover as the protagonist. However, David Glover, who is quite a background character in these early sequences, starts to become more and more influential in various events surrounding the family. As does Susie Callaghan, who is slowly introduced as a femme fatale, and strangely (as they belong to two separate crime families who hate each other) her and David seem to be starting a relationship. However, while these two characters, David in particular, become more dominant, a major twist occurs as Colin Glover is murdered, seemingly by the Callaghan family. At this point, David steps up into his father’s place as boss and also as the main protagonist. Also by this point, David and Susie appear to be in a fairly serious relationship. However, this later turns out to be completely false as David is merely hoping to get closer to Patrick Callaghan and avenge his father, while Susie, being a femme fatale, has trapped David and eventually leads him to his death, and the downfall of his family. This is when the audience realises that the dead body we saw being disposed of in the opening sequence was David. Furthermore, we find out that it wasn’t the Callaghan family that killed Colin Glover but rather another family that had framed the Callaghan family, given recent feuds between these families. However, the Callaghan’s had realised this as a time of weakness for the Glover’s and used Susie as bait to lure him to his death. Another twist that is uncovered is that a further motive behind the murder of Colin Glover for Susie was that she has a lover who is the boss of the family that killed Colin Glover. Also due to this, Susie then attempts to murder Patrick Callaghan, in order to shift power of the city in favour of her lover, and also because she has always blamed him for her father’s death. However, Patrick Callaghan is wise and finds out about this. First, he has her lover killed, and finally he executes Susie. This is another shift of protagonist and a case of moral ambiguity, as Patrick Callaghan ends up as the main protagonist and seemingly the good guy, whereas he was the bad guy at the beginning.

Initial Ideas For Thriller Film

Here are the first ideas my group and I came up with for our Thriller film opening scene after our first discussion and what we think could make a good thriller.

1. Pursuit/ someone followed
2. Trick/ false assumption (e.g. American Psycho)
3. Conversation/ meeting of two people discussing corrupt plans
4. Music (e.g. Raging Bull)
5. Following one person and their point of view => tracking shots
6. Montage of different shots of different things that seem unconnected => lots of close-ups, fading between shots/ no (little) sound

Objective - to be able to identify the features of an effective thriller opening.Initial ideas for what makes a successful thriller:
Narrative - needs to be readable, maybe have a cliff hanger, plot twists.
Needs to be able to 'hook' the audience/engage them - mystery and intrigue.
Origionality/individuality - needs to be different to other films, maybe challenge the conventions of typical thrillers.
Effective editing - good shot transitions, effective framing, good non-diagetic sound.
Filming - a veriety of shot types, steady shots, good 'match on actin' (continuity).
Lighting - needs to be suited to the theme/style of the film.
Mse en scene - needs to establish settings, themes and styles to develop suited props, costumes and scenery.
Characters - need to have background stories that suit the film, need to have traits and flaws.

Sin City And Layer Cake Introduction

Sin City was made in 2005 and directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez, this is a similar time to Layer Cake but they are two very different films. My first thoughts on the film Sin City  and the introduction are; the opening shot is an establishing shot from above a sleazy city landscape with sirens playing in the background and a women standing on a balcony with a red dress on, the only colour in the opening scene is her dress and red lips. I think this is a good opening to a thriller because I like the black and white themed scene but with the small colour, which is a bold red showing danger and the woman as a sex object.

The opening credits to Sin City involve fire, suggesting danger and loud powerful music playing with the names of the actors and a cartoon or animated version of them in character. There was also a city scene to form titles in the opening credits; this is typical of a thriller film because urban settings are often used.

The Mise-en-Scene of the film uses chiaroscuro lighting, which is common in thriller films and is a thriller signifier. When the man walks up behind the woman who is looking off the balcony there is a sense of mystery because at first, she does not know he is walking up behind her. The woman always shows her vulnerability because she is very bare and it is raining, which is also another thriller signifier .After the scene with the man and the woman on the balcony, the camera spirals around the entire city; spirals are a common thriller signifier.  

The editing in Sin City is also the black and white scene except for the woman’s red dress and lips, and at one moment her eyes change from black and white into green when she is looking at the man. As the man and woman kiss, the scene goes into a monochromatic which is an interesting piece of editing.

When the man shoots the woman, there in complete mystery in the scene because you don’t know why he is kissing her, or why he shoots her. You don’t even know his character or name.

The narrative to the beginning of Sin City is an internal monologue, this is where a character says there thoughts or perspectives on things happening in the film. This has been used in thrillers before and can be seen as a thriller signifier. There is also a lot of mystery and intrigue when the man speaks, because you do not know who he is, or who she is so it makes you want to keep watching so you find out exactly what happens.

 

Layer Cake was made in 2004 and was directed by Matthew Vaughn. The opening shot to Layer Cake is in black and white, and then suddenly the back of a car being exploded, I think this is a good introduction shot because it keeps you gripped to the film and makes you want to watch more.

The opening credits to Layer Cake are in black and white writing, and are on the moving scene of the film, with indie/rock guitar music playing in the background as Daniel Craig walks out of his house. I think these are good credits because the music playing makes the film seem fast paced and interesting.

The Mise-en-Scene of Layer Cake is all in colour. It begins with zooming into blind, which is typical of a thriller and is a thriller signifier. This sun shining through the blinds causes chiaroscuro lighting. The film is set in very contemporary and familiar settings, which are very clinical and clean. I think this makes it try to seem like there profession of drug dealing is innocent and clean. You find out that he works in the drug profession but you do not find out Daniel Craig’s character name, which adds an element of mystery.

The editing in Layer Cake is not as interesting as In Sin City but my favourite piece of editing is when Daniel Craig is in a pharmacy and as he is walking past the shelves all the illegal drugs turn in to pharmaceutical drugs.

The narrative in Layer Cake is much the same as Sin City as they both use and Internal Monologue.