Planning - Storyboards

Planning - Sound choices

Finding music and sound effects for our trailer, proved to be an extremely difficult task due to the perfect blend we had to find between two pieces of music - one with a romantic tone and one being more stereotypical of the thriller genre. We used multiple websites to find these pieces such as Bensound, free music and even the music in the creators section on YouTube. For the first half of our trailer we wanted to include upbeat, happy music as this perfectly set the equilibrium. When Lewis and Selma are seen during the montage completing various romantic activities, we wanted to reflect and emphasise this mood in the music, therefore we decided upon "Pink Horizon". However, in order to fit the fast paced nature of the second half where a lot of action occurs including the increasingly violent intentions of the male antagonist, we decided upon a more upbeat and thrilling piece called "Apocalypse". This music was particularly significant as the strong, tense beats that occur throughout it allowed us to match the editing to it more seamlessly, having more of a 'thrilling' impact on our audience.

Background music
1. Pink Horizon - found on Youtube creator music
2. Apocalypse - found on Youtube creator music

From my research I also found that sound effects were also common in thriller films layered on top of each other. This therefore emphasises particular actions/events as well as amplifying the suspense featured in our trailer. In order to make the trailer more stereotypical of the thriller genre, we included a voice over of Lewis saying "strike 1, strike 2 and strike 3" throughout the trailer and also a cinematic sound at the end. The voiceover acted as a count down for the female protagonist, suggesting to the audience that she is running out of time and leading them to think that after the third strike something bad will happen.

Sound effects
1. lewis' voiceovers
2. Cinematic sound - found on Freesound
3. Cinematic 'boom' - found on Freesound

Planning - Props

https://youtu.be/_cIrMvbIdyY

Audio copy of our explanation as to why we used each prop above.

Planning - Discussion about finding a day to film

Planning - Script

Scene 1

Lewis: Hi, I'm Lewis.

Selma: Hi, I'm Selma.

Scene 2 - dating montage.

Scene 3

Selma: So I met this guy and he's so charming. I cant stop thinking about him.

Scene 4

Lewis: Hey, would you like a lift home?

Selma: Yeah sure, thanks.

Scene 5 - stalking montage.

Selma: Please help me...

Planning - Costumes for Characters

Female Protagonist - Selma
For the female protagonist we wanted her outfit to be casual, innocent and including light colours. This is important as it portrays her as a vulnerable individual which emphasises the idea of her being the victim to which the audience feels empathy towards. The outfit will contain casual jeans, light coloured tops and a jacket. This is a very casual/normal outfit for most people which will make her character very relatable. I took inspiration from the film 'Split' in relation to her outfit as the main female in this wears extremely casual clothing, including a white top highlighting her helplessness.





Male Antagonist - Lewis
Lewis will be wearing a casual/smart/casual outfit in order to be relatable but at the same time connote a domineering effect over the female protagonists. The dark colours and smart shirt connotes power and therefore emphasises the patriarchal world that is created in our film. This sort of outfit can be seen in many thriller films such as 'Red Eye' where the male antagonist is seen to be wearing a shirt and formal blazer to amplify his powerful and controlling nature.

Planning
In order to plan our outfits, we used social media as this was the most effective way of communicating with each other and getting our ideas across. After discussing a variety of different options, we decided upon the outfits above as we felt these conveyed the right messages to the audience a well as fitting the thriller genre. We also noticed that in order for our trailer to be effective we need the characters to have different outfits in order to show a passing of time and therefore we will use a variation of the outfits above.

Planning - Risk Assessment

Planning - Creating a Pinboard

For our thriller film, we decided that we wanted a shot of a 'pin board' that the male antagonist had created. We thought this would add to the 'thrill' of the trailer, as it would emphasises the idea that he knows everything about the female protagonist, which from research I found is a fear of many people (being stalked). This shot will be used during the initial disequilibrium in order to introduce the main theme of our film which is the idea that the man is obsessive and fixated with the other character. We printed out a variety of pictures of the female character, including selfies, pictures with family and friends and also pictures of where she lives and works. After this, we then wrote out little captions to inform the audience of what the pictures are about. We made sure to make the captions look like they are ripped out to emphasise the home-made nature of the pin board. By doing this this tells the audience that he purposefully took time in creating and printing out the pictures, which adds the level of obsession that he demonstrates.



We made sure to create a plan of what we wanted the pin board to look like as this allowed us to get an idea of what the shot will look like as well as saving time when we have to actually set it up.

Planning - Age Certificate

When looking at the BBFC's website we found that there were various aspects that they consider when rating films. Below is the criterion for a film with an age certificate of 15.

We have decided that 'Fixation' would be likely to have a 15 age certificate, due to intense levels of disturbance, presentations of threat and violence and also because of the psychological twist in the narrative - which in research I found are the conditions of 15 rated films. I think that if this film were to have a younger age rating it would not be suitable for the audience as a younger audience could dwell on psychological aspect which they may then copy. Furthermore I also believe that if it received an age rating of 18 it would exclude a large portion of our target audience which is between the ages of 15-30 year of age. Therefore by giving our film an age certificate of 15 we can effectively target our audience whilst including various conventions of the psychological thriller genre. 

Planning - Production Company Logo

Our production company is called 'Moonlight Productions'. We decided on this name due to the connotations that it has with the night and darkness. This has a direct link to the thriller genre as evening scenes/low key lighting is a key feature of thriller trailers, which is something that we wanted to reflect in out production company name and logo. The font we used for this title is a black serif font with an embossed effect on it. This creates an effect as if the letters have been carved/scratched into the background, potentially with a knife which is a conventional prop of thriller films.

The inclusion of the moon phases signify time passing which from research I found was a common feature in thriller films. I think this is because the idea of having a limited amount of time increases adrenaline and suspense which is what creates a 'thrill' in thriller films. This is most notable in films such as 127 Hours which is heavily focused around time running out for the main character and therefore being a matter of life or death.

The silhouette of the trees emphasises darkness and signifies the idea of the unknown which is a common fear of people that I established through my research. The unknown covers aspects such as the ocean, darkness and space, which causes fear among a majority of people. Therefore, by including this aspect in our production company logo we can effectively convey stereotypical thriller conventions.

Finally, the use of a sunset in the background connotes the turning of day to night, which is a turning point in most thriller films e.g. where everything becomes more intense and action packed.

Planning - Locations

One location that will be using will be Coneygeare park. We decided on this location for the significant opening scene where the two characters meet and also for parts of the romantic montage at the start of the trailer. The reason we wanted to use this location as the meeting point for our two characters is because it adds to the level of vulnerability being a huge open space. It also made sense for our characters to meet at this sort of location due to the way in which they meet (dog walking) which we wanted to be a completely normal, everyday task. This then adds to the twisted nature of the male character as he purposely set out to meet the female in what seems to be a coincidental manner, but instead he has clever thought out every aspect. The reason we are also using this location for some of the romantic shots is because it creates a sense of relatablity, being a causal activities such as walking through the park and talking on a bench that most couples would do.

Another location that we are using would be Selma's house. The reason for this is because we want to shoot some scenes inside of the characters house in order to raise the level of danger she is in. The fact that she feels weary in her own house emphasises his power over her and therefore adds to the thrill of the film, due to the vulnerability of the female victim. From my research I found that a house setting was one of the most popular locations used in a thriller, due to it's relatability. My main inspiration for the use of this location would be from 'The Purge' which is heavily focused in a home, where a lot of torment occurs.

Our last location would be dark street. This is a very conventional feature of a psychological thriller due to the connotations that are associated with darkness. From my research I discovered that darkness and the unknown was a common fear of our target audience. Therefore by including this aspect would allow our trailer to have the most impact in creating fear and adrenaline.

Planning - Characters

For our female protagonist we decided to cast Selma Hedges. The reason for this is because she is an attractive, young female who has stereotypical traits of a female in a thriller film. From my research I found that although most thriller films feature a stereotypical blonde female protagonist, there were also some films which include a brunette such as Split and London to Brighton. This was important to us as it enables us to remain conventional of the thriller genre. Selma is a confident individual which is perfect for our character as she is portrayed as confident and independent at the start of the trailer. Although Selma is only 17 years old, soon to be 18, we felt that she would be able to play the role of a 20 year old convincingly due to her mature disposition. This is key to our film as it helps to create a sense of relatability to our audience as well as making the narrative more realistic. After researching thriller films, we wanted to cast the role of the protagonist to a genuinely kind hearted and likeable person, as this would have the biggest impact on the audience when they are hurt or in an uncomfortable situation as the audience would feel greater empathy for the character.

We knew that casting a male antagonist would be difficult, as they would need to be able to convincingly play the role of an obsessed and alarming individual. We needed the two characters to have natural chemistry and be comfortable acting around each other in order to effectively convey the narrative across to the audience. From this we decided to cast Lewis Pitchford as the role of the male antagonist. Lewis took GCSE Drama and therefore means that he would be able to play this role in the most conventional manner, as he has previous acing experience. Lewis is a similar age to Selma (18), which means that he is young for the character he is playing. However, this will be overcome due to his mature disposition and due to the fact he has experience in playing older characters. Lewis is tall, dark and attractive which means that he fits the features of a stereotypical thriller antagonist perfectly. From my research I found that many male antagonists also have these features, most notably in Split and Red Eye. The tall, dark haired nature of Lewis connoted power and creates a sense of intimidation which emphasises the patriarchal world that is created.


Lewis and Selma have been a couple for many years now which means they have the natural chemistry we are looking for. The romantic scenes at the start of our trailer will be very realistic as a result of this. It will also mean they are very comfortable around each other, which is a benefit to both us and then during filming.





The last character we had to cast is the role of Selma's best friend. This character does not appear much in the trailer, however it is vital in creating verisimilitude. This character needs to act as the 'hope' for Selma (the protagonist) and therefore needs to be a compassionate person. We have multiple different options for this character, making it difficult to chose the perfect individual to play this role. All potential people are already friends with Selma in real life, which is important for the relationship their 2 characters have. One of them (Lois Hutchinson) has experience acting due to the fact she took GCSE Drama, making her slightly more suitable than the others, however, whether she is able to play this role in our trailer is dependant on her availability, which was a common issue during casting.

Planning - Target Audience

https://youtu.be/k2pbHqZ1mtw

Planning - Psychographics for our Target Audience

Planning - Makeup

For our trailer, we decided that we wanted to include some shots that showed cuts/bruises on the female character towards the latter part of the trailer. This would add another level of enigma, as it would leave the audience wondering, how she got these injuries, who gave them to her and whether these injuries will get worse and potentially lead to death in the film. As a result of this, it would allow our film to be more suspenseful and therefore contain more conventions of the thriller genre. In order to do this effectively however means that we would need someone who is skilled in special effects makeup to help us out. We called on our friend Chloe Patterson to do this as she is very passionate about makeup and loves to experiment with various looks, some including the use of sfx. She even has her own Instagram page dedicated to the variety of looks she has created, making her a perfect person to help us recreate this 'beaten up' look.

In order to get a good understanding of the types of cuts that we wanted to use/recreate, we contacted Chloe and organised a day where she could show us the different types of wounds she could do. This was really helpful in giving us an idea of the types of shots we want to include in our trailer.

Planning - Mise-en-scene Ideas

 

After researching thriller films, we found that lighting was very important in establishing equilibriums and also disequilibrium's. We want to use high key lighting at the start of our trailer in order to emphasise the this equilibrium and connote a romantic tone to the film, however after a montage of various romantic meetings between the 2 characters the lighting will change to quite low key lighting and this will remain for a majority of the film. Low key lighting i

Planning - Pitch of our Initial Ideas

Powerpoint - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiB1c-7q_zs&feature=youtu.be

Pitch - https://youtu.be/TerRLfYMXcg

The camera cut out the first half of our pitch, hence why the video of it is very short and only contains our setting choices and USP. However, the script that we based our pitch off of will be shown below.

Comments that we recieved after doing our pitch to the class included..

• Our idea was as a whole well thought out
• The plot twist was interesting and unique 

However, we were also told that we may need to rethink the idea of only having two characters, as this adding an extra one or two may add more depth to our narrative. Suggestions included having a best friend of the female character, a mother figure for the female protagonist or a wife of the male antagonist which adds another plot twist to our film. 

Planning - Ideas for our Pitch

Here we made a spider diagram of the basic idea for our thriller trailer, splitting it up into sub sections of the plot, characters, target audience, settings and music. From this we will create a powerpoint of our initial ideas and pitch this to our class.