Target Audience

The primary target audience for our thriller, 'Angel Cafe', was aimed at young women between the ages of 16-25. Young people feel the effect of fear and what triggers their fears when watching films like 'Angel Cafe'.

Despite the thriller being an old style, Noir thriller, which is quite an adult sub-genre, it would appeal to young people, women in particular, because one of the main roles in our thriller is female. She is deviant and dishonest, yet appears helpless and dependent on other people.

The phobias and fears that appear in our thriller that may effect the target audience are, claustrophobia, stalking. Helplessness is another fear in our thriller film and also the fear of being found out or guilty. This could especially apply to young people, particularly in teenage years as the go through rebellion stages.

The fear of being followed and watched is one that effects everyone. The idea of an extra prescience and being alone is one that haunts people. This can also confuse the audience, but purposely, for example, in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo this film has a slightly deceptive plot, it tricks the audience into thinking someone is dead, when really they are alive.

Our target audience would probably be quite intelligent, either still in school or at university or training for a job. The rest of our plot for the thriller is a little complex and would need concentration and focus to w holey understand what is going on. It all starts from when the female character takes the money out of the till.

I don't think the target group would like films where there is no outcome or no systematic story line, for example, a chick flick film e.g. Bridget Jones. I think our thriller would have the same kind of audience as The Third Man, maybe Thelma and Louise because of the link to women trying to fend for themselves and the Femme Fatal image, and finally Kill Bill.

Casting *UNFINISHED*

In the style of the thriller genre, we thought that the criminally influenced man should be an older unshaven thug-type. Lauren kindly volunteered her dad, Alan Burton. Alan fits the role of Adrian Doyle very acutely. He fits the 'Harry Lime' look, the older criminally influenced man.


The female in our thriller has the 'butter-wouldn't-melt' look, she appears blameless and lawful. However when she takes the money from the till, it should put a different spin and perspective on her character. I hope she would appear dishonest, insidious and somewhat corrupt. We cast Kaya Maplestone. By casting Kaya it may also suggest some racial hatred. For example in Jackie Brown, she fends for herself, is the friend of some and the enemy of others.

Re-Filmed Footage

After the struggle we had filming our last shots, we changed the location and the cast, and re-filmed all of the footage. I think the shots turned out better than they did previously and we had more of an idea about what was expected of us from these filming sessions. We still need to complete/re-film about 3 shots, but this is most of our footage.

I think the range of shots that we used has improved and our skills with the camera have definitely improved. I am a lot happoer with this shoot, and prefer the use of shots in comparison to the other one.

Possible Tracks for our Thriller

Possible background music

http://www.freesound.org/people/ERH/sounds/30306/

http://www.freesound.org/people/imaginaryband/sounds/79418/

Radio Sounds
http://www.freesound.org/people/cognito%20perceptu/sounds/38693/

http://www.freesound.org/people/Percy%20Duke/sounds/23503/

Reviewing Our Footage

This is our footage, after filming on our scheduled Wednesday at our initial Cafe, we went over our footage and decided it was unusable. The exterior footage we were happy with but reviewing the footage from inside didn't look how we planned it to. This meant we had to go and find a different cafe to utilise. Luckily Lauren works in a cafe in Bungay, so we plan to drive out there on Feb 1st, and make up for the filming we had lost out on.

What Went Wrong & Improvements

Lighting - When we attempted to film a section in the dark, we didn't have enough lighting to cover and reflect onto the scene which we were filming. This made it very difficult to film, and when looking over the scene's, could not see much at all. Despite not being able to see anything, some of our inter- references were linked to scenes in the dark, if we did ours really badly, I felt it wouldn't qualify for that. To combat this, the cafe that we have chosen, has low lighting which in effect, if we try and get the right angles, we can use to look like the lights have been turned off. Also we have a light reflector which hopefully will be useful when filming this scene.

Characters - I think our female character was suitable, she was young, and naive looking. However our problem came from our male lead. He was tall dark and dark haired but I think too young. We needed an older man, unshaven and thug like. To overcome this, we will be using Laurens Dad, he has agreed not to shave for a few days, this will create the reugged look. He is also older than our initial actor, so it will overcome that problem.

Costume - The continuity of our costume was not consistant, there is a scene where he was wearing the hat and then not wearing the hat. This will affect our grade as continuity plays a part in that. I think that was the only problem with our costume. So on Feb 1st, we will be using simular costumes but making sure the continuity of the hat is kept consistant.

Shots - Despite using a range of different shots, we managed to achieve only mid-shots. To enable us to achieve higher marks on our practical aspect, we needed to shoot more close-ups, also this keeps the male character more annonymous which keeps the tension up throughout the opening.

Hopefully when we film for a second time we can take into account what we did wrong the first time and really tryto combat these problems and not make the same mistake again. As long as we are prepared and know exactly what we have set out to achieve, then we should have stable footage.

Characters Names & Meanings

The male characters in our thriller opening is named Adrian Doyle. After researching the meanings of names on the internet, 'Adrian' means 'The Dark One'. This fits well with the character, he is anonymous at the beginning as you only see the back of his head. The name 'Doyle' means 'Stranger'. This implies that the main female character does not know Adrian or that she has never met him before and he is a stranger to her. 


The female role in our thriller is named Agnes Maplestone. 'Agnes' means 'purity' and 'innocence', this reflects her character hugely and she is very gentle. After deciding not to chose a fancy name or a name that would be unbelievable via the characters habits and traits. 

Intertextuality and Screen Shots in our Thriller

The introduction of Harry Lime in The Third Man

Here are some screen shots of the footage we recorded for the opening to a thriller film.We tried to make a few inter-textual references within our opening to other thrillers such as The Third Man. By taking influence from classic thrillers like The Third Man, it helped structure our shot list. We took influence from other thrillers as well, for example The scene in The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo where Blomkvist is pinning up photos to a big wall full of photos. From this we have decided to incorporate a wall of photos into our thriller at the end, ultimately ending in a double cliffhanger.
The name of our Cafe is quite ironic and fits well with the story line of the opening. 'Angel Cafe' contradicts Adrien, the main male lead in our Thrilller opening.

Bill's feet in Kill Bill vol.1

The shot either side of this text was influenced by watching the opening scene of Kill Bill 1, when the camera tracks Bill's feet walking toward the Bride. However, in contrast to this, we have filmed a shot of the character Agnes' feet, and intend to put it in the edit before the tracking shot of Adrien's feet, which hopefully should provoke thought and debate about who the victim really is. Despite this, at the end of the opening 2 minutes, it should give a clear idea of who it is.

The next shot, we tried to achieve this shot but with Agnes in the foreground, oblivious to Adrien's presence there. We tried this effect in two shots that we filmed. It is effective in our thriller because it sits on the idea of deception. Adrien is hiding from Agnes after locking them into the cafe together. She does not know he is still in there. Harry Lime in The Third Man is trying to deceive his best friend, Holly, he succeeds in faking his own death, also by being anonymously chased around the sewers of Venice.

Location Shots

These are some pictures of our location where we will be shooting our thriller film. I think it is a great location and it is small unique and original which hopefully should show in our thriller.

FINAL shotlist

1. Over the shoulder shot of a man walking into the cafe.
2. CUT TO, tracking shot of girl walking towards the man sat at a table. 
3. CUT TO, over the shoulder shot of the girl approaching the man sat at the table. 
4. CUT TO, high angle close up shot if girl picking up the cup and saucer and turning away.
5. CUT TO, close up and pan out to high angle shot of girl walking away.
6. CUT TO, point of view shot of girl walking away.
7. CUT TO , shot reverse shot between the man and the girl walking away.
8. CUT TO, tracking shot of mans feet getting up and starting to walk.
9. CUT TO, low angle shot of man approaching the door.
10. CUT TO, close up shot of man bolting the door shut.
11. CUT TO, panning shot of man standing in the shadows/hiding behind the counter. 
12. CUT TO, point of view shot of girl walking towards the door.
13. CUT TO, medium close up shot of girl trying to find her keys with the man stepping into the shot just behind her in the shadows un-noticed.
14. CUT TO, black screen with the title on and fade into a medium close up shot of a wall of photos of the girl.

Re-visited Characters & Costumes

In our thriller we will feature only two characters. One will be an older man who will feature as our killer. We will also have a young girl who will play the victim in our thriller.

The Killer

We have cast a middle aged man to play our killer. He is of an average height with Dark hair.

I imagine this character to be wearing quite simple clothes of a monochrome colour. My vision of the character should be that he is quiet and subtle, I think this should be reflected through his costume. I think when he gets up to leave, he should place his hat on his head to show that he is disguising himself for what he is about to do, it is a form of mask to protect him from the real world.

I think this choice of clothes also foreshadows what is going to happen in our thriller, it casts a view into the future via the clothes. Even though our thriller has a chronological plot line, it will give the audience a chance to think about what will happen.

I was influenced by some of the characters in The Third Man (1949), the costumes were cast by the director, Carol Reed, they consist of monotone clothes, hats and long coats. I think  the vintage style of the film will show through our character in our opening.

The Victim

The girl will be at work so she will be in her waitress clothes. Her costume will consist of a white shirt, to signify her innocence in the situation between her and the killer. She will also be wearing a black tailored skirt of trousers and some black shoes, we will also feature a coat in her outfit, possibly highlighting a bit of her character to the audience. Her costume will show her innocence and foreshadow that she is not the one in the wrong. Hopefully the audience will pick up on the fact that, that is what we are aiming to do.

For this character, when she is in work I think she should look quite regimented and strict with her uniform, much like Jackie Brown is in Quentin Tarantino's movie 'Jackie Brown' (1997) I think it would fit in with the opening of our thriller.

New Shot List for Opening of Thriller

• Longshot esablishing locations, scene and characters. This introduces the two characters to the film.
• Cut to a tracking shot of the girl walking towards the man, sat at a table.
• Cut to an over the shoulder shot of her approaching the man, and the man putting his newspaper down on the table.
• Cut to a high angle/Close up shot of the girl picking the empty mug up, close up (using the rule of thirds) showing the newspaper headline. (Relating to rape/murder)
• Cut to an extreme close up of the date, showing this part is in a flashback.
• Cut to a zoom out of close up into a high angle shot of the man and girl.
• Cut to a point of view shot of the girl walking away, using shot reverse shot between the girl and the man to connect them. Girl goes into the kitchen.
• Cut to a tracking shot of the mans feet as he gets up and starts to walk.
• Cut to a low angle shot of the man approaching the door.
• Cut to a worms eye of him opening and closing the door.
• Cut to an extreme closeup shot of him bolting the door.
• Cut to a panning shot of the man walking towards the counter and crouching, out of sight from the girl. The girl comes out of the kitchen, scans cafe and switches most of the lights off and walks towards the door.
• Cut to an over the shoulder shot of man walking towards the the girl whilst she's looking for her keys.
• Cut to a man standing directly behind her, cut to transition/panning shot of the girl to man, in a different scene/location.
• Cut to a transition shot continues to over the shoulder shot of the man attatching photo of the girl to a wall.
• Cut to a close up panning shot showing all the photo's of different dead girls.

Changes & Further Developments to Our Thriller Planning

We decided that our previous idea for our thriller was becoming a little complex, in terms of ideas leading on from the opening scene, also we would have to use a lot of locations which involves longer time to film.
Using our original idea, we will still film within the cafe, however more will go on inside the cafe. However we will still use the idea of the wall of photos, this will be in a different location yet it will be anonymous. We made this decision due to the limit on time, of 2 minutes.
The changes in our thriller have been triggered after analysing the task, what is expected of us and after gaining a wider knowledge the thriller genre by watching films and researching.

• Much like our last idea the film will begin with the young girl working in the cafe, however the difference is that the man will be inside the cafe sat down having a drink, instead of being outside taking pictures of her.
• The man will be sat at a table reading a newspaper with 'murder/rape' headlines on it. The girl will go to collect his coffee and the camera will catch the headline of the newspaper, foreshadowing the rest of the plot and she will take the coffee from him, implying she will soon be closing the cafe. The date on the newspaper will imply that the scene is a flashback.
• The working girl will then return to the kitchen with the coffee cup. During this the man will approach the front door of the cafe, open and close the door to imply that he has left, leaving the girl to continue to lock up. An extreme close up of the bolt sliding across the door will be next. He will then walk to crouch behind the counter, so that the girl does not see him.
• Once returning from the kitchen, the girl will switch off all of the lights and slowly walk toward the door, searching for her key in her bag/pocket.
• We will show a shot of the man stood closely behind her, slowly closing in on her in a threatening way.
• We will then use a transition shot to conclude to the next scene,using the back of the girls head, fading into the back of the mans head. He will then place the girls picture on his wall of many other pictures of young girls.

The man will/is a sadistic killer, and the rest of the film will continue to proceed in modern day filming. The aim and plot of the rest of the film will be an investigation into her murder and disappearance, an influence came from 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' which inspired the wall of photo's.

I think this idea is much better than our previous idea, it is simpler yet in my opinion a lot more effective.

Adaptions and developments to our Thriller Idea

We aim to change our idea slightly, but just play on different ideas but sticking to the main story line. By developing our ideas it will make it a lot easier to create, also the narrative will be chronological/linear so a lot easier to film than a flashback. It is also a lot more viable to film  in 2 minutes. The flow of the opening will be much smoother and leave a more anonymous ending, ready for the rest of the film.

Our initial Idea.

• Girl working in a cafe. (soft music to be playing in background)
• A shot to establish who she is, and her name on the name tag, 'Summer'.
• Over the shoulder shot of man watching her and taking pictures of her in his car.
• Flash shot of a wall covered in pictures of the girl.
• Man follows the girl home.
• He follows her into her home.
• Shot of unlocked padlock on the gate.
• Shot of the man continuing through the gate.
• Black flash, scream from girl.
• Shot of man driving home in pick up truck.
• Shot of her foot moving in the back, to imply she is still alive.

Changes to our idea.

• Girl working in a cafe. (soft music to be playing in background)
• A shot to establish who she is, and her name on the name tag, 'Summer'.
• Over the shoulder shot of man watching her and taking pictures of her in his car.
• Flash shot of a wall covered in pictures of the girl.
• Man follows the girl home.
• He sits in his car and watches her enter her house.
• He drives home.
• He gets home.
• He hears movement upstairs. (music changes to create tension)
• He goes upstairs.
• Goes into the room with the wall of photos, with the girl dead in.
• Flash of the Title 'Summers End'
• Panning shot of the man's face looking worried.

We changed our idea because we were not 100% happy with our first idea. The storyline was not going anywhere and we had no plan for the rest of the film. There also would have been no mystery and more of an action film rather than a thriller. It also leaves a cliff hanger to who killed the girl in his house and how they got back to his house quicker than he did.
We have thought about the music and that we didn't want to use diegetic sound in the first scene apart from maybe the scream when the girl is killed.However by using no music it creates more tension.
We want to call our Film 'Summer's End'. It implies that it is Autumn/Winter and that Summer has passed but also that the girl's name is Summer, and even from the first scene and the title you know something is going to happen to Summer. It creates direct association. It is Summer's life that ends.

Initial Thriller Ideas

First Idea
We came up with a storyline of having an old man telling his story, but he would be the voiceover/narrater in the start of our thirller. However the opening would be him as a young man, he would be telling his story through the actions in the poening, and his voiceover track.

We didn't choose this because we thought the idea was too complicated to try to put the story accross in 2 minutes. Also trying to plan the storyboard and shotlist, while trying to incorperate a voiceover, over all the scenes. This also means that the narrative could not be chronological/linear due to this being a part of his memory and a flashback. We decided to devise something much simpler so that what wa happening was much clearer to the audience.

Second Idea
Our second idea was to have a little girl trying to seek revenge on her step-mother for causing corruption in her family. The little girl and her alcoholic dependant dad, set out to kill the step-mother.

We didn't choose this idea because we didn't think there were enough conventions of the thrille genre embeded into this idea. A disturbed child is more of a horror convention and is slightly unrealistic. Also trying to convey relationship staus' in 2 miuntes would be a huge challenge.

Third Idea
Our third idea was to take a teenage girl who works in a cafe, and a man sat outside in his car, taking pictures of her through a window, somewhere in amongst these scenes we would have a flash of a wall covered in pictures of this girl. This shot would imply that he is her stalker and that she is in danger. She walks home and he will follow her in his car, lurking just out of sight. A flash of a black screen, and you hear a scream, this will be the girl being killed. It then shows a man driving a pick up truck, with the girl in a bin bag in the back, but her foot twitches, implying she isn't dead. Her shoe is to be found by the lake where she was 'murdered'

We chose this because it was somewhat simple, and has only two characters. We had ca clear idea  of filming locations as well which makes it a little easier. The idea will fit into 2 minutes which makes this a better idea to aim towards.

Thriller Planning

Filming Locations

We are due to film our thriller Ilketshall St Andrew. These are some of the locations we have chosen to film at.

This first shot is of a desolate old farm road that we will use for our character to walk down on her way home from work.

This next shot of the iron gates will be useful to create tension, anxst and power amoung the audience. They represent male domination in our film.

This is an old warehouse/farmhouse that we can utilise for the murder of the victim.

This roud we can utilise for the car driving down it following the girl.

The lake will we useful for the murder of the the victim as well as the warehouse. It is an eery location





Thriller Ideas

Locations

• Lake
• Busy Road
• Quiet Woodland
• Bathroom
• Church
• Garage
• Grand House

Sound/Music

• Sound of Walking
• Rustling of leaves
• (Music has to be written before 1961)

Who/Characters

• Glamourous young woman.
• Younger man
• Older man

Storyline

• Murder by a lake
• Stalking into Grand House
• Murder in a church
• Stalking down busy road