Location

Broom hill lane – the first opening sequences (vigilante walking towards the camera)

Broom hill and 1940’s L.A. side by side

Both have a lack of tall buildings and feature a fairly calm and slow atmosphere

Both have old styled telephone poles

Shots 2 and 4 will be filmed here - see planning edit for help

A thriller convention that was taken in account of decision of this location was isolation. We wanted to not only portray an 40’s setting but we wanted that said area to be isolated to emphasise how dark and dangerous the world around the vigilante is.

We could have chosen a town that lacks some modern developments such as a computer cafe however the surrounding buildings will take this isolated feeling we wanted to convey.

In the shots we plan to have a mid shot therefore we do not want to see an object in the background that isn't form the 40’s era i.e a mercedes benz. The same can be said about our establishing shot we plan to capture of the area. We plan to make sure that no modern inventions are within the frame and that the shot further emphasises how isolated the vigilante is.

location

Since we are setting our film in the 1940’s we had to find a location that conveys very little 2012 aesthetics, this meant we had to find a suburban/rural area to film in to avoid any modern buildings or developments. This is one of the reasons why we choose Broom hill lane . Another reason why we have chosen this location as from conducting some research on 1940’s L.A. We have found that broom hill lane shared some resemblance to a location in 1940’s L.A. Therefore by choosing this location it allows us to create a semi authentic location and period for our thriller.

Broom Hill

Similar run way/road. Broom hills road lacks any modern day road symbols

The school lamppost- First opening sequences(vigilante walking towards the camera)

Drama mobiles- interior of the apartment

Eves Hill – Exterior/ interior of the apartment

Shot 13, 14, 17, 18,19,22 and 29 will be filmed here

Shot 3 will be filmed here

Shots 10,11 12 will be filmed here

Because we couldn't find a real derelict apartment we decided use the interior of the mobiles as a base for our apartment as it can be easily manipulated to look like one. We plan to fill the room with scrap paper and possibly hang the plasterboard on the wall to suggest such a location. In addition we plan to find a house like exterior and corridor full of doors as our exterior for the room. Through the use of editing we may be able to create a continuity between these locations to suggest one building.

Light peaking through the windows slits

Picture reference that helped determine our decision

Above is a picture of the school lamppost at night in a black and white filter, we plan to film a high shot of the vigilante walking under said lamppost, hopefully we can capture the shot and prevent any major continuity errors from the transition of this shot to shot 4 back at broom hill lane. To capture this footage we may stand the tripod on a bench to gain some height. We have chosen this location not only to pay homage and reference to the iconic film noir image of a detective under the lamppost but also as this location at night can easily depict the conventional thriller iconography of shadows whilst still able to show the images within the frame clearly..With the use of shadows we can further explore how the vigilante is isolated and how dark and intimidating the world is around him. Especially if we can capture the high angle lamppost shot we can emphasise how little he is in the world he lives in. In addition this shot will capture the film noir mood we hope to convey .

Above is are images of eve’s hill cottages. The image to the right is a picture of the front door in which shot 10 will be filmed whereas the image on the left is a picture of its interior corridor in which shots 11 and 12 will be filmed. Originally we were looking for a location with a long corridor that could that could suggest an apartment corridor however decided a smaller corridor will work better as the small space will link in with the thriller conventions of confined spaces but also this confined space will create a sense of claustrophobia and this will hint to audiences how bad Short’s living conditions are in our opening. Furthermore through the use of editing we plan to create this apartment setting to make for the lack of access to a real derelict apartment of a Hollywood studio set. Two thrillers that inspired us to set our opening in an apartment were the films sin city and watchmen. We felt that there portrayal of these apartments really captured the gritty and dark essence of a noir film therefore we felt to really convey our noir genre we should set it in an apartment as it allows us to really think about mis en scene . Within this location the shots we plan to capture are generally close up shots. We plan to use a similar film technique Hitchcock used in the psycho shower scene; capturing close up shots and leaving out some details in the frame. The close up shots allow the audience to identify what is happened whereas certain details are left out of the frame which cause audiences to be engaged in the film as they want to find out what is hidden from them. With the added addition of silence, a tool also used by Hitchcock, we hope this will be able to create tension as audience will be expecting something to happen onscreen however very little will actually happen putting audiences in an anticipated state of mind.

Above is a picture of the interior of the drama mobiles that we have chosen to film the apartment scenes in. With a few adjustments such as removing the lamps, tables and with the addition of the plasterboard. The mobiles emptiness could convey a confined space through the use of editing. Furthermore these mobile are fairly dark, this will allow us to investigate the use of lighting in this scene, manipulating light through the use of lamps or torches to create a film noir tone but also with the use of light and shadows we could change the lighting in such a way to further exaggerate how intimidating the vigilante’s world is, i.e. feature frames and shots in which most of the frame is covered in darkness. With most of the frame hidden we may generate a sense of tension as audiences may want to find out what's hidden from them and would want to carry on watching our film. These elements of confined spaces and shadows are thriller genre convention we hope to adapt using this location to create suspense. Finally in the last shot we take using this location (SHOT 29), the mobiles windows can be used to make the shot more symbolic as the shot depicts the vigilante with his back toward the window and by using some lighting techniques we can make the light peak out of one of the windows slits like in the image above. By doing this we could emphasise how time is running out for the vigilante i.e. The light coming through the window if his life and the darkness surrounding the light is closing in. Or the light represents his end linking into the phrase “don’t go into the light”. The vigilante has his back turned away from this light , showing how he’s going to fight on. Yet in the background audience can he the police calling him and if and when the vigilante goes out there he may not come back.

Mr. Farrah’s office – the detective’s office

Wood darling village park – vigilante flash back scenes

Shots 23- 27 will be filmed here

Shots 16, 17,21,22 will be filmed here

Photo reference that helped determine our decision

Above is an image of wood darling. An image of Wood darling village park could not be found on Google images so the image above may not an accurate depiction of where we have chosen to shot but will serve as a visual aid to the explanation.

From doing some background research on the black dahlia murder it is said that Elizabeth Short liemert park so of course we wanted to add some historical accuracy to our thriller so we decided it would be best to film the discovery of Short’s corpse here. However upon doing further research it turns out that she was found on a vacant lot in the liemert park district of L.A. Because of this we had to rethink whether to shoot here or try to find a vacant lot to film on to generate historical accuracy. But we found it hard to find a house that isn't too modern with a vacant lot, so we decided to film here and use editing to suggest such a location. Furthermore this location is perfect for conveying the thriller genre convention of isolation as it lacks any surrounding building or establishments that could suggest a human presence. With this feeling of isolation one could exaggerate how dangerous the environment the vigilante is in i.e. If he were to be attacked no one would know.

Above is a picture of Mr. Farrah’s office. we have chosen to film the detective scenes in here. When deciding where to film the detective scenes we came to the conclusion that we need to find an office so that audiences may establish the detective’s job role. Because we didn't have access to an actual detectives office we felt by choosing one of the colleges office will be a worthy substitution. Moreover we wanted to show another bit of noir iconography that is the detective’s office, ideally one with venetian blinds, however this was best that was found. We found that the room was fairly dark even when it was daylight thus allowing us to easily achieve film noir aesthetics but at a convenient time. Also through this we can use lighting again to create symbolic shots i.e in the photo above notice how there is darkness surrounding the light coming from the window, this could easily depict how there is a better life for this detective outside of the world he is in now, however he is trapped in this world by this closed window. The design of the windows also create a prison cell like effect as the bars on the windows deny him the escape to the better life. In addition we’ll be further establishing our genre as a thriller since this room connotes and denotes thriller genre conventions such as entrapment and shadows.