Thriller Planning: Locations

The locations we planned to film at, and the locations that we are planning on filming at with reasons why

The first location we intended to film in for thefirst section of our thriller opening sequence wasthis section of the school field. We originally chose this location due to its enclosed openness. The grass bank and trees on either side of the open field present the theme of entrapment – a conventional thriller theme that would suggest the victim will be captured. However, the openness of the field wouldsuggest that the victim might be able to escape,presenting a red herring within the narrativewhich is also conventional to thrillers. This location idea and reasoning are partly inspired by a scene in “American Psycho,” where Patrick Bateman chases one of his victims down a spiral staircase. The seemingly endless length of the staircase represents an entrapment within the situation, much like the length of the school field and the raised sides do with this location. By making the capture of the victim inevitable, we thought that the audience would be kept waiting for the moment that they would be captured, building suspense within the scene. However, the concept that the victim might be able to escape could make the audience will them to do so. This would consequently keep them in state of suspenseful uncertainty which would make the eventual capture of the victim even more thrilling – a key aspect in making our opening sequence enjoyable for the audience. However, it became apparent to us early on that to be able to film in this location, we would need to find someone to play the victim and murderer who attends the college and is available for filming during school hours. This proved overly difficult due to a lack of available people to ask who matched our character profiles, therefore forcing us to find a new location for this section of the opening sequence.

Location 1: School field

Location 2: Marriotts WayMarriotts Way – more specifically Breck FarmLane Bridge – is the location have we decided upon after realising that the school field was no longer suitable. Much like the school field, Marriotts Way has raised sides to connote the entrapment of the victim as they run alongthe path, but also has the endless feel that represents the hopeless efforts of escape ofthe victim as they run, representing theirimpending doom. Evidently, the technical reasoning fordeciding upon this location is much the same asthe reasoning behind considering the schoolfield. However, as this is a publicly accessiblelocation we were able to film at any time of dayand with who ever we please. This makes the filming schedule easier to construct as we are not limited by timing restrictions, as well as making casting easier as we don’t have to pick someone who attends the college. Furthermore, the bridge at this location lends itself to the construction some more interesting shots, such as exaggerated high angle shots, bettering some shots that we had already planned to do. Additionally, the victim will at some point be required to run underneath this bridge as they will be running along the track, further representing their entrapment and foreshadowing their eventual capture. Also, the victim’s vulnerable representation will be exaggerated as the end of the path isn’t even in sight at this location, therefore indicating that the victim has no escape from the murderer. Another benefit to using this location is that it isn’t place specific due to a lack of distinguishing features. In other words, this could be a track anywhere in the world. Due to this, the audience will be able to easily relate it to somewhere they know of, making the scene more real for them. This makes the scene more thrilling, because they can place themselves in the position of the victim.

Location 3: WarehouseThe first location we considered for the secondsection of our opening sequence was awarehouse (not specifically the one pictured).It would have provided us with the large, darkspace that we required to represent the isolationof the victim as they sat in the middle of the space. As well as this, the darkness that a warehouse provides would allow us to keep the murderer in the darkness, presenting the themeof mystery within the sequence. This sequence was partly inspired by theJoker’s interrogation scene in The Dark Knight, in which the darkness helps to exaggerate theJoker’s isolation as he becomes shrouded in it,much like how we are trying to represent ourvictim, therefore making the warehouse an ideallocation to mirror this representation. We wanted the location following the victim’s capture to be enclosed to represent the shift in their ability to escape – it is now clear to the audience that the victim is trapped. This is effectively achieved from how enclosed the warehouse is, while the darkness doesn’t show any possible signs of escape. When it becomes clear to the audience that the victim is trapped, more suspense is built as they consider what will happen to the victim, making the eventual demise of the victim more thrilling due to the prolonged state of suspense that the audience would experience. The problem with filming in a warehouse, however, is that there aren’t any locally and publicly available for us to film in – they are all hired out by private firms, meaning we had difficulty finding one that was empty enough for us to film in. Instead, we chose to find a different location.

Location 4: GarageAfter searching for some more locations for the second section of our opening based off of our original idea, we eventually decided upon using Ben’s garage. It is smaller than a warehouse of course, but still provides a dark location, and upon changing locations we realised this was a beneficial decision that in fact aids the narrative. Firstly, the garage is limited in terms of space. Whilst we initially thought this would hinder our ability to film, it instead lends itself to close up shots. This not only presents the theme of entrapment which represents the victim’s vulnerability and lack of an escape, it also places the audience close to the victim at all times, therefore allowing them to grasp the panic and fear of the victim from the smaller details that would become visible in close up shots. Secondly, the victim would be much closer to the murderer within this section of the scene due to the limited space. This would allow us to construct some two shots, within which we can show how the two interact and therefore how much power the murderer has over his victim. Besides technical reasons for choosing this location, there are also several practical reasons. As it belongs to one of our group members, we have access to it at all times for filming and potential re-filming. This also means that we can leave props exactly where they are, removing the risk of continuity errors if we were to re-film anything. As well as this, we plan to light the location using candle light, therefore the emanating from the candles will be picked up easily and we will not need to provide additional lighting which would negate the effect of the candle light.

Location 4: GarageAfter searching for some more locations for the second section of our opening based off of our original idea, we eventually decided upon using Ben’s garage. It is smaller than a warehouse of course, but still provides a dark location, and upon changing locations we realised this was a beneficial decision that in fact aids the narrative. Firstly, the garage is limited in terms of space. Whilst we initially thought this would hinder our ability to film, it instead lends itself to close up shots. This not only presents the theme of entrapment which represents the victim’s vulnerability and lack of an escape, it also places the audience close to the victim at all times, therefore allowing them to grasp the panic and fear of the victim from the smaller details that would become visible in close up shots. Secondly, the victim would be much closer to the murderer within this section of the scene due to the limited space. This would allow us to construct some two shots, within which we can show how the two interact and therefore how much power the murderer has over his victim. Besides technical reasons for choosing this location, there are also several practical reasons. As it belongs to one of our group members, we have access to it at all times for filming and potential re-filming. This also means that we can leave props exactly where they are, removing the risk of continuity errors if we were to re-film anything. As well as this, we plan to light the location using candle light, therefore the emanating from the candles will be picked up easily and we will not need to provide additional lighting which would negate the effect of the candle light.