Thriller planning: Location Scouting

Thriller planning: Location Scouting

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 it. The third and final location is a room with a desk and a big chair.


The road

For the road and ditch, we decided to look at the roads around Mousehold Heath, as we’d found out that some of them 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, narrow little road coming off it which had streetlights on one side and had no traffic. 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 as there wouldn't be the issue of traffic at all, however it did not have streetlights, and we wouldn’t have been able to use car lights either so we’d have no lighting.

This is a map of the area we looked at:

These are the pictures we took of this road:

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I think that this would be a good location to film as it has all the qualities that we initially wanted for the road sequence, and it has streetlights which is a huge bonus. Another great bonus is that this road has very little traffic, so we would be able to film quite comfortably on it.

These following pictures are of Gilman Rd, also coming off Gurney Rd:

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In some ways this Gilman Rd would be better than the other small road above. For example, it is much longer and more meandering. Also, the problem of traffic would be completely eliminated as cars are not allowed on here, as it is a footpath and cyclepath. However, there are no streetlights, which is a large disadvantage when compared to the other road. Also, as we couldn't get a car on it, there is no alternative lighting option.

After considering both roads, we decided on using the little road that we looked at first as the location for this sequence. The main reason for this was the issue of lighting, as we'd have to make separate arrangements inorder to have decent lighting, which would create needless hassle as the lighting is already there on the other road.

The ditch

We found a good ditch by the side of Gurney Rd. This is good for us as it would be easy to link it with the road sequence. These are the pictures that we took of the ditch:

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The Building

We needed a tall, and preferably, office building. Inorder to find this, we looked around at the Norwich Union buildings in the city centre, near the bus station, and at the new flats at Riverside, near the football ground. Ideally, we would also have liked the building to have external lighting on the ground, shining up it. However, we knew that this would be unlikely in Norwich.

These are the pictures we took of the buildings:

The Norwich Union building:

1. I am really pleased with this image, the building looks great and the low angle that we planned to film it with makes it appear all the more domineering and threatening.

2.I also like this picture, although the low angle effect is perhaps not so successful as in the previous image.

3. This image is maybe the best of the three, as I think that the low angle shot is achieved with great success here.

The Riverside Buildings:

1. I am quite pleased with this photo, as the low angle shot works well. On the other hand, the windows aren't quite we were looking for as they are a bit too small and reveal the fact that this is a flat where normal people live.

2. I think that this image is much better than the previous one, due to the railing that cuts across the foreground of the picture diagonally. I think that this really makes the building appear much more sinister, especially when it will be in the dark, when we are filming.

3.I think that this photo is better yet, as the side angle hides the small windows that were initially a concern, and the railing is skewed even more. Again, the railing works to great effect.

4. This one is better yet, as the further use of the side angle reveals more if the glass corner which looksreally good. Also, the railing is at even more of an angle which adds extra effect.

4. I quite like the angle of this photo but on the other hand I don't think that it is the right building for the sequence, as these balconies do seem too private and homey.

5. I really like the angles in this image, the skewed low angle effect works really well, especially with the metal railing.

6. I think that the symmetry in this image looks quite good, however again the buildings look slightly too private and therefore unrealistic.

The Office

For our third anf inal location we need a room that can be disguised as an office with a desk in and has blinds. We thought that a classroom would be perfect for this, as it has plenty of space for it to be rearranged just the way we want it, and most of them have blinds infront of the windows. These are the pictures of a classroom that we like for this location:

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Thriller Planning: Character profiles and synopsis

Character Profiles

Name: Patrick Callaghan
Role in the opening sequence: The man sitting at a desk in the building
Age in film: 55
Race/nationality: Irish, though has lived most of his life in England. White.
Accent: Irish/ English
Style of dress: Suits, dark
Educational background: Self-educated
Personality traits/ current situation: Head of the Callaghan organized-crime family (a leader), loyal to his own family, hates the “opposing” families, in particular the Glover’s. He will do anything to keep his family and reputation above the others, whatever the consequences.
Other information: Godfather and uncle of Juliet. He moved to England at a young age with his Grandmother and his younger brother in search of a better life. His parents are dead (and were already dead when he moved to England). His parents died during the conflicts in Ireland after the Second World War. His Grandmother moved out to England with him for safety. His brother was the father of Juliet, however he died through working for his family, and maybe he was at fault.
Additional detail: (Although a completely different character) he may be presented in a similar way to Sydney Greenstreet's character Kasper Gutman in The Maltese Falcon (1941) directed by John Huston, regarding the consistent use of very low-angled shots of him in order to emphasize both his power and the fact that he's overweight.

Sydney Greenstreet in The Maltese Falcon

Name: Aidan Quinlan
Role in the opening sequence: He is one of the three in the car; he was the driver and is the one that lights up a cigarette.
Age in film: 28
Race/nationality: Irish – brought-up in England. White.
Accent: Irish
Style of dress: Smart with overcoats
Educational background: Average
Personality traits/ current situation: Works for the Callaghan family. He is a trusted, loyal worker for the family. He watches over the people below him and does much of the dirty work for the boss.
Other Information: His dad moved out with him to England after death of his mother. His dad was a good friend of the boss; this is why he is now one of the main men in the family.

Name: Sean McLennan.
Role in the opening sequence: Is one of the two carrying the dead body.
Age in film: 24
Race/nationality: English, with Irish roots. White.
Accent: Unspecified, a touch of Irish.
Style of dress: Smart with overcoats.
Educational background: Below Average.
Personality traits/ current situation: Works for Callaghan family. He is a loyal worker, below Quinlan. Does all dirty work first hand and most of the time supervised by Quinlan. He is not a key figure in the film and is “muscle” of the family.
Other Information: His grandparents moved to England, so he and his parents were born and brought-up in England. However he is still in touch with his Irish roots.

Name: Connor Malone
Role in the opening sequence: Is the other man carrying the dead body
Age in film: 24
Race/nationality: English, with Irish roots. White.
Accent: Unspecified, perhaps a slight Irish accent
Style of dress: Smart with overcoats
Educational background: Below Average
Personality traits/ current situation: Works for Callaghan family. He is a loyal worker, below Quinlan. Does all dirty work first hand and supervised by Quinlan. He is fairly new to the family. He isn’t a key figure in the story and is also “muscle” of the family.
Other information: His parents moved to England from Ireland, and he was born in England.

Name: Susie Callaghan
Age in film: 25
Race/nationality: Half Irish, half English. White.
Accent: Unspecified
Style of dress: Classy, yet obvious.
Educational background: Above average initially, but finished education after it became optional.
Personality traits/ current situation: She is aware of her sexual prowess, flirty and unforgiving. She is essentially a femme fatale.
Other information: Her mother is English, but died during childbirth. Her father died young so she was brought up by her uncle and godfather. However she blames him for her father’s death. This is why she has a lover in another family, and attempts to murder her uncle (see synopsis).
Additional detail: She is perhaps a similar character to Barbara Stanwyck's Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity (1944) directed by Billy Wilder.

Barbara Stanwyck (left) in Double Indemnity

Name: David Glover
Age in film: 26
Race/nationality: English. White
Accent: Unspecified
Style of dress: Smart
Educational background: High level of education and specialises in Law.
Personality traits: He is generally smart, although he sometimes acts on impulse rather than thinking things through and allows business matters to become personal. Any flaws he has as a gangster is due to a lack of experience rather than a lack of intelligence.
Other information: He wasn’t planning on becoming the head of the family but rather hoping to finish his studies of Law and become a lawyer/ judge and help the family in that way. However, he was convinced after the murder of his father.


Name: Colin Glover
Age in film: 67
Race/nationality: English. White
Accent: Unspecified
Style of dress: Smart
Educational background: High level of education
Personality traits: He is well-educated and smart, but also street-smart and doesn’t allow himself to be careless.
Other information: He has always hated the Callaghan’s, partly because they’re Irish and also partly because they have always been a threat to his family.


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’. Also, both stylistically and regarding characterisation, it would also be considered a modern film noir, rather than a more modern gangster/ mafia film (such as Goodfellas (1990) or Eastern Promises (2007)). 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 like 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 - in the opening sequence. 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 our thriller opening

Thriller opening sequence brain storm

This brainstorm lists our initial ideas for the theme/ concept of our thriller opening sequence:

1. Pursuit/ someone followed/ voyeurism (e.g. in Vertigo/ sections of Chinatown)
2. Trick/ false assumption (e.g. like in American Psycho)
3. Conversation/ meeting of two people discussing corrupt plans (e.g. the opening of Leon)
4. Music-based opening (e.g. like in Raging Bull)

5. Following one person (protagonist) and their point of view (e.g. Layer Cake) => tracking shots
6. Montage of different shots of different things that seem unconnected => lots of close-ups, fading between shots/ no (or little) sound (e.g. like a short section in The Dark Knight - where The Joker has escaped from the prison cell and is driving in the police car) possibly with fast-paced editing and possibly also similar to sections of Sin City

Finally, we decided on an idea that is a mixture between ideas 4. and 6., with and opening that is music-based with no dialog and has two sequences happening simultaneously (that are linked).

Opening sequence analysis of Sin City (2005, Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller)

Analysing the opening sequence of Sin City (2005, Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller)

In the opening shot, there were immediately several genre conventions. The most obvious one was the cityscape, as the first setting in the film is on the balcony of a high-rise building. Also concerning the mise-en-scene, there are shiny wet pavements and chiaroscuro lighting. Concerning the editing, there are several techniques thrown at the audience. The editing during the conversation between the man and woman is very slow, with incredibly slow zooming in and out. The use of colour on specific body parts (red lips, green eyes) and objects (red dress) also work very effectively. The red lips and dress, for example, create a theme of sexuality and romance. However, this is canceled out and degraded by the theme of sleaze created by the characters smoking, and the slow jazz music playing in the background, which also, along with the black and white, is a throwback to the film noir era. Furthermore, the switch to monochrome during the kiss adds an interesting effect. Apart from the slow zooming, there are also some brilliant camera angles and styles of shots. There is a very nice high angle shot early on, for example, and the zooming out, panning shot that spirals away from the high rise building we were on taking us into the opening credits is fantastic. There are also several genre conventions concerning the narrative in the opening few minutes. For example there is an internal monologue straight away, and the woman's appearance is of an exaggerated version of typical femme fatales, and then the man kills her for reasons unknown to the audience, so there is an immediate hook.

Following the opening sequence, the opening credits are done in a classic comic strip style, with fast-paced music with a low base line giving it an industrial, sinister edge. The images during the credits show extreme violence, fitting in with the music, and giving the film a very dark and sinister tone straight away. However, the images being cartoons, the audience can't take it deadly seriously, so it makes it more fun and enthralling than threatening.

Overall, I think that Sin City has a brilliant opening, and the film is brilliant throughout. I really love the mix of classic noir and modern styles, and it is something I'd love to try and achieve in my own thriller opening, although I know that it would be extremely difficult. I also love the use of narrative in the film, where it is mixed up in non-chronological order and switches from one character to the next. This is something that I could achieve quite easily in the synopsis of my own thriller, provided that I am able to come up with an interesting plot for each storyline. I also really liked the separate internal monologues, however that is something I don't think I could be able to achieve in my thriller, as it is likely that it would end up quite weak and amateurish. There are, however, things that I could use in my own thriller, such as the slow-paced editing, and the use of sleazy music.

Visual analysis of mise-en-scene of the opening shot: