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