Location - initial ideas

When it came to thinking of ideas for our location of the thriller we came up with a few initial thoughts. We are basing it on the movie 'Shrooms'. This made us think that it would be better being set in a forest or woody area. One of the the two main ideas we had were a footpath in Lt Maplestead called Parks Farm. This is a woody area which has fallen down trees and is quite dark no matter of what time of day it is. The sun shines through the gaps in the trees in different places which will help create the eerie atmosphere we are wanting. Another good point about this that there is a quite country lane leading to it (that our actress can run down) and a field when you come out at the other end.

Our second idea is Bluebell Woods in Sible Hedingham. It's a large secluded forest which we believe will be good for our filming as it gives a "middle of nowhere" appeal. Inside the woods there are big craters which would be good for our plot as we intend to use them in our filming as part of the last scene. This woods is open to the public which means we could go there at anytime, but it could mean we could have interference with the other people which we will try our best to avoid.

Laura Jolley & Lizzie Neal

Sub Genres of Thriller Movies

Crime Thriller: Offers a suspenceful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. Often focus on the criminal rather than a policeman. Usually include; murders, robberies, shootouts or heists. Eg - "The Silence of the Lambs"

Disaster Thriller: The main conflict is due to a natural or atrificial disaster, such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes or volcanoes. Eg - "The Day After Tomorrow"

Medical Thriller: The hero/heroine are doctors/medical personell working to solve an expanding medical problem. Eg - "Coma"

Mystery Thriller: Suspence films where characters attempt to solve or are involoved in a mystery. Eg- "Shutter Island"

Psychological Thriller: The conflict between main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical. Eg - "Red Eye"

Religious Thriller: The plot is closely connected to religious objects, institutions and questions. Eg - "The Sin Eater"

Supernatural Thriller: The film brings in an otherworldly element mixed with tension, suspence and plot twists. The hero/villian may have some phsycic ability. Eg - "Unbreakable"

Alice Humphries

Inspiration

We got the idea of using white masks on the clan members from a couple of different movies. Michael Myers in the original "Halloween" wears a white mask, as do the people in "The Strangers". Unlike in "The Strangers" we chose to use plain white masks instead of ones with faces painted onto them, we though this would make the gender of the clan members more ambiguous.

[Michael Myers]

[The Strangers]



This clip from the movie "Shrooms" inspired part of our film. We thought the girl running through the forest would be very effective and easy to film, as all members of the group can easily get to various forests to film.

Alice Humphries

Camera Angles

Close-up: A certain feature or part of the subject takes up the whole frame.

Extreme close-up: Shows extreme detail.

Medium close-up: Half-way between a close up and a medium shot.

Medium shot: Shows some part of the subject in more detail while still giving an impression of the whole subject.

Long shot: Shows the image as approximately "lifesize".

Pan: A movement which scans a scene horizontally.

Tracking: Camera moves alongside the action.

High angle shot: Camera is elevated above the action.

Low angle shot: Often used to increase height. Camera is positioned below the eye line, looking up.

Bird's eye view: Shows a scene from directly overhead.

Worm's eye view: Camera is close to the ground, tilted up.

Tilt up: A movement which scans the scene vertically.

Tilt down: A movement which scans the scene vertically.

Shot-reverse-shot: One character is shown looking at another character (often off screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes they are looking at eachother.

POV shot: Camera is positioned as though it is a human actually observing a scene.
Over the shoulder shot: A shot of someone or something taken over the shoulder of another person. The back of the shoulder and head of this person is used to frame the image of whatever the camera is pointing toward.

180º rule: The 180º rule is a basic guideline in film making that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship with eachother. if the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line.

Alice Humphries