Account of our shoot day

When it came to our shoot day, we were faced with one major problem; the snow. This resulted in us not being able to stick fully with our original idea, as there was no way which we would have been able to have 2 cars in the car park with one driving very quickly, it was too slippy. We therefore decided to change the location of our thriller, and decided to film it outside our media studios, there  was a round space with a driveway and big green mental containers. We decided that we were only going to use one car, and that this was going to be parked next to the open metal container. We also decided that the man (who is going to get killed) would now know that the woman was a secret agent, and that they would be loading the boot of the car up with a duffel bag, a silver container and another 'weekend' type bag. The rest of the plot was very similar to as we originally planned, as when the couple were in the car, the man in the driver’s seat gets shot. The secret agent woman then rolls out of the car, crawling round the car and shooting the man who just killed the other man in the passenger seat. She then drives off with the car, making the rest of the film about her being on the run and being looked for by the boss of the company who want her dead. Even though this idea was slightly dissimilar to our original idea, we still liked this idea a lot and thought it would work well, especially with the snow as it gave the effect of them being in a different country, such as Scandinavia. We were going for the effect of a thriller, as we were before, and still aiming it to the same target audience which we had already planned.

We set up with the car at the top of a hill, with the boot open, right next to the open metal container. This made it look clearly like they were trying to get away from somewhere, and also that they were taking secret things out of the container such as the silver briefcase/box. It also made it look like they were on the run because you think that they must have been hiding out in the container. The mise-en-scene was quite desolate, and therefore showing that they were in the middle of nowhere. The car which we used was quite dirty and old, therefore giving the impression that it was a stolen car, and also showed that she was trying to keep quiet, by not using a flashy new car.

The first shot we did was a long tracking shot. We did this in order to order for the audience to establish the surroundings, and as it got closer in they got a closer picture of what was going on. As we were now using the container, which was not in our original plan, we decided that we could film some good shots inside the container, of them coming in to pick up the bags. We also filmed some extra shots such as extreme close ups of their hands picking up the bags, and of the male actor locking up the container. These shots looked very good when filming and will be very useful when editing as they emphasise how they are running away and have important things in the container. We also filmed a shot at the end with the camera on the floor as the car was driving away, so only the wheels and the man’s dead body on the floor were in the shot. This looked very good when filming and I think will be a very good end to the thriller when it comes to editing. The only thing which I would have done differently would have been to think of a backup location before the shoot day, as we spent around an hour and a half in the morning finding a car park around our school area which we could have used, but we were taken by surprise by the weather conditions, the car park which we had originally planned to use would have worked if it were not for the snow and ice! However, we still managed to film all the shots and extra shots we wanted in the time which we had.

The props which we used for our thriller were; 2 'weekend' bags, a big silver case, a car and two guns. The costume which we used for the woman was a big black fur coat with a white blouse underneath and black wedges. The man who is shot in the car was wearing a leather jacket, a blue shirt and jeans. The killer man was wearing black trousers with a black jumper and a green beanie. We used these consumes because they were everyday looking outfits and therefore it made it look more realistic. The white of the girls shirt was used in order to make people realise that she is actually quite innocent as she did not want to kill the man, however we put red lipstick on her to highlight the fact that she is an assassin and at the end of the day her job comes first, and that she is cope able of being evil.

We chose our actress because she looked old, even though only being 18, therefore she would look old enough to be with the 26 year old man who she is supposed to be dating. They would appeal to the target audience as they appear to be similar ages to the age of the audience we are targeting. She is also very pretty therefore would appeal to the male audience.

The lighting which we used for the thriller was the natural lighting which was outside when we were filming. This was good because at some points during our shooting day it started snowing and this showed up clearly against the snow which was already on the ground. The brightness of the snow made it look quite spooky and therefore was good for our thriller. In editing we may possibly make the sky look slightly darker to make it look like it was dusk or dawn.

We picked up with the microphone the sounds of them talking, and also the sound sounds of their feet crunching on the snow and the ground. We also picked up the loud sounds of the car door and the container doors closing which created nice loud sounds.

When we were filming I enjoyed filming different shots which we experimented. I also enjoyed being the producer and calling standby, turnover action and cut. The bit which I also enjoyed which I had not done before was when we used track and pushed the camera across the tracks, one other girl from my group was sitting on the seat on the tracking panels and I pushed her along the tracks while she was filming. I found this quite interesting as we had to get it consistent so that it looked flowing. I think we succeeded in doing this well and the shot looked good as it focused in on the car and the container.

I think that we all worked very well together as a team, splitting up the jobs so that we all got a go at each of them.

Overall I was very happy with the end result, and I think that it actually went better as I thought it would be as I was originally worried about what obstacles the weather would cause, however I think that the weather actually made our thriller better. I think that the mise-en-scene successfully capsulated the right effect because of the snow making it look like it was in a foreign country.

Final Cast List

For our final cast list we have decided on four characters.

The female role will be played by a Russian girl Anna, she has pale skin and dark hair which will contrast with the red lipstick she will wear. She is 18, but looks older, so will suit the early 20's year old woman role. She will also conform the stereotype of a Russian, as she is a spy and assassin and will appear sneaky and in control. 

The guy who is shot will be played by Paul, a media technician. He is 26, but looks younger, so will look a good match next to Anna. He looks innocent and will suit the role of being killed and lured by Anna.




The killer will be played by Tom who will use the AK47 to shoot at Paul and Anna as Simon drives past. He will be wearing dark clothes and gloves to show he is a  criminals who want to conceal their identity.

Research on the types of car for our thriller

I thought that the Killer and the Shooter should have quite a big car, so that the man who is going to shoot them car shoot out of the back door or window while the driver still drives the car. I therefore though they should have a car similar to this lexus as it is not an extremely flashy sports car yet it shtill shows that they come from a job or company where there are some figures of authority.

I thought the man who is going to get shot and the assain woman should be sitting in a car similar to this Vauxhaul Corsa, as it is an everyday type of car and isnt too flashy, therefore they would not be standing out as the woman needs to be quite discrete in what she is doing. I therefore think that they owuld be in a car similar to this or another type of car which is nothing special, the kind of car you see everyday so it will not stand out.

Target audience

The target audience of our thriller would be aimed at male and females aged around 15-25. This is similar age to the actors in our thriller that's why I feel the thriller would appeal to them. I think that the film would be attractive to females because they would like the idea of the powerful and independent woman. They would also like the untypical role reversal which shows women as being more powerful then men. I think that it would also appeal to men because they would like the idea of a powerful and beautiful lead woman, therefore they would watch it due to this. They would also like the violence and action in it therefore would watch it. When looking at the age certificate of other similar films such as Kill Bill and Salt, we found that the age certificate of Kill Bill was an 18, and we were tempted to make this the age certificate for our film however when researching into Salt we found it was only a 12a and we therefore decided to make our age certificate a 15 as not to limit our audience.

Influences for our thriller

I looked at other films which had a similar storyline to the idea we came up with for our thriller. The ones I thought were similar were Kill Bill, Salt and Hanna. These films were similar to the ideas we came up with for our thriller because they show a female character which the film is centered around. They show the woman being on the run and being chased which is the idea we had for our thriller. These films also portray the woman as being independant and smart, which is how we want the woman to be portrayed in our thriller. These films also subvert the stereotypical idea that the man is the more powerful one, however in these films and in my thriller this ideology is not present, as its shows a strong and well trained woman, a 'femme fatal'.

Further development to our thriller.

After having multiple discussions with Matt and Luke we have decided to change and develop our thriller idea.
We have kept the same theme of our thriller but have changed certain details. We have decided that the woman has fallen in love with the 'target' and her boss decides to go forward with mission as he knows she is 'in too deep' and he aims to kill both of them as a consequence of her betrayal.
Our idea starts with the couple in the car 'loved up' with series of shots that show her looking at her phone reading a text saying 'are you ready?'. We see her ignore the text but looks at it multitude of times and then tells the target that they have to leave . The boss decides to go in for the kill anyways and kill her with the target. The woman sees the boss' car and she knows that they are going to shoot. She ducks and rolls out the car without being shot. The 'target' gets shot and dies. The boss leaves without realising she is still alive.
The rest of the film therefore would become about the boss looking for the woman once he later realises she is still alive.

Cargo containers in thrillers

In our film we wanted to use cargo containers because we canted tpo make it look like a sterotypical thriller. Other films which used containers which we got insparation from is Hanna, Casino Royale and Taken. Industrial sites are often used as a setting for thrillers, because it adds a secluded element to the thriller which subsequently adds to the fear.