Idea of claustrophobia

We decide to base our thriller around a specific fear which is widely shared. We thought that claustrophobia is one fear that if we base our thriller around that, it will add lots of tension to the sequence as the audience will feel like they are in there with the character due to the chosen camera angles.
We researched into the definition of claustrophobia to try and incorporate aspects of the fear which we could use to induce stress and anxiety to the audience to increase tension


"Claustrophobia is an anxiety disorder in which the sufferer has an irrational fear of having no escape or being closed-in. It frequently results in a panic attack and can be triggered by certain stimuli or situations" -http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/37062.php


We had researched news articles of a similar event happening in real life. It was difficult to picture this event happening, so this gave us some more inspiration to our core idea.

Organising Props

We needed to find something that could act as the realistic light source for inside the coffin, because realistically there would be no light for us to see the character when she is buried in a coffin in the ground. We decided to buy 3 LED lights that could stick to the inside walls of our coffin. We are also going to drill a few holed into the top of the coffin so we can let some dirt in through there.

We needed a timer that could also act as a light source. We couldn't find one that was the size we wanted , or that would create enough light. We decided to use the timer from an iPhone, but cover the sides with black card to not show that it was a phone. Hopefully this will also be a realistic light source.

List of things for the shoot

Costume:

Wedding Dress.

Veil.

Make Up:

Foundation

Mascara

Bronzer

Blusher

Red/Pink/Purple eyeshaddow to make bruises. 

Eyelash Curlers

Eyeliner.

Props:

Timer. 

Black Card

LED lights
Dirt

Shot List

We only have one scene in our thriller sequence as it is all based in the same box and doesn't move location.  It is about a girl who has been drugged and has woke up unsure where she is. The person who has buried her in the narrative has placed a timer in there with her. This gives hints to the character that she is on some time limit even though she doesn't know what its counting down to, but neither does the audience. this helps to build suspense as it makes the character and audience want her to move and work faster to escape the coffin. As the timer is counting down we see her progress emotionally, turning her panic into trying to save herself and she comes to the realisation that she is going to be the only person to help save her life. 

Similar media products

Lovely Bones:
24.11.09
Directed by Peter Jackson
Produced by Carolynne Cunningham, Peter Jackson, Aimée Peyronnet, Fran Walsh.

Similarities: In both my film and The Lovely Bones, we have a mysterious male killer whose face is not shown as much as the victims, so the impression of his personality which the audience recieves is quite creepy that they dont know where he is. The victims in both films are young females. 

Differences: The Lovely Bones focuses on one of the killers victims and from the point of view that she is already dead, whereas in our thriller there are more victims. 

What is my intended target audience and how will I attract them?

The age of my intended target audience is from about 19-23, because the lead role in the opening sequence is just slightly younger than my target audience age as they will feel quite close to her and feel a more empathetic attachment and will be attracted to the film in the first two minutes as she is the only character you will see. the certificate for the film is an 18 because the films themes and conventions throughout are quite graphic, but I have made the certificate 15 because it may attract a younger audience as well. 

I think that my film would attract both genders. Male because of the action and the crime, but I thin the majority of the target audience will be females as the female characters throughout the film are victims apart from one, who they will want to subvert the stereotype and succeed. 

I think that they will be quite analytical because they will want to solve the crimes before they are revealed in the film  and it will increase their interest and suspense in the film. 

They would like my film because there is a lot of mystery, crime and suspense. 

I will attract my audience in the first two minutes of my opening to my thriller sequence by using conventions of suspense leading my audience in to see what happens.

Shooting Schedule

We will be filming in the studio at school all day on Firday the 23rd of January as we only have one set which is in the box.
We will be there all day filming, (approx. 6 hours)

Actress Confirmation

Grace has confirmed to be the actress in our thriller. she fits all the requirements and she is available on that day. We do not need any other actors as it is all based inside the coffin with just one girl.

Organising Costume

 We have ordered a plain white dress with long sleeves and a veil to give the impression that it is a wedding dress.

Actors

At first we discussed what we would preferably like our actress to look like. We said that she should have dark hair and quite slim so she would have a lot of room within the coffin. We had a few actresses we considered:

Hannah Nanton-

Grace Quigley-

 

Daisy Doige Hill-

Set design

For the set for our thriller, we will build a coffin. We will make this out of wood and preferably have detachable sides so that we can film from various angles within the coffin. It will need to be approximately 7 ft long so there is room for the actress to move around.

Final build of the coffin:

We will be using shots of from inside from the top of the detachable box to get a point of view shot. 

By hvaing the detatchable long side, we will be able to film long shots of the body.

We may drill holes in the top of one of the long sides so we can funnel small amounts of dirt through to show that she is underground and so the character is aware of where she is, so it is clear she is not just stuck in a box.

Props

We are not needing very many props as we have limited space inside out set which is just a box able to fit a person in.
We will be needing an electric timer of some sort  which will provide a light source to the coffin but also the counting down on the timer will add tension and add urgency to the audience.

Location

We only need one loction and that is the graveyard at the end when it reveals where she is when the camera pans up to reveal that she is in a graveyard. We are planning to use the graveyard in Peaslake as it is quite a quiet village and that is good for our sequence.

Some issues that could arise on filming day is the weather. Preferably we need grey skies which hopefully it will be but we need to regularly check the forecasts for the filming day to see if we should rethink even filming this part or we should edit the storyboard. But we don't want any warm weather to affect the mood of the overall ending to the sequence.

We do not intend to spend much time, so possibly an hour, just to ensure we have a good shot to use and we have tried different angles in the actual location as we will need to test different angles and movements in this space.

We will be using one of the school mini busses to transport our equipment to the location which is five minutes away from our school campus. 

Later on in the planning of our production, we decided against using the location of the graveyard as we felt that more suspense would be created if it was all inside the coffin as there is a question left at the end as to where she is and if she has a chance of getting out. It leaves a slight cliff hanger which will make the audience want to carry on watching to see where she is and what happens to her. 

Costume

We need one costume for the main female character who will be in the coffin for the duration of the sequence. There are no extras.
We will need to order a white dress that looks quite old fashioned/ traditional wedding dress.
We decided as a group to use a wedding dress as it adds another question to the immediate impressions for the audience of what is going on and why is she there. It also gives something to the plot which is shown in the first sequence to look out for in the rest of the film. It is the motive to the person burying her and gives quite a sinister feel to the unknown character burying her.