Photos of our Shots

Here we have some shots we took on shoot day, and the order we might use them in!  (All ordering subject to change)

Car pulling up the drive (unsuccessfully, we were not able to use this shot)

Detectives driving to the crime scene

Backseat shot of their conversation

Inside of container after blackout from car doors shutting

Establishing shot of container

View from the outside, establishing again

Body under the tarp

Flashback, body is about to be killed

Detective finds the bloody handprint

Bloody handprint

Assistant finds note in body's mouth, searching for more clues

Flashback of body being covered/killed

Locations and Set

Opening the Shipping Crate

Our thriller will be shot in the shipping containers outside of the studio, as well as the road leading up to it. The road leading up to it is where the car will drive up, stopping next to the shipping container, the scene of the crime being inside (see storyboard for more details!).  The shipping container, as well as the rock/chicken wire wall will help build the industrial feel, creating a setting that is ordinary but at the same time where a lot of crime has be known to have happened.  The mystery of what happened inside a shipping container will build suspense.

We will have to clean out some of the stuff from the inside in order to fit the actors and equipment in it, which will not be an issue.  The messiness of the container is adding to the mood.  Here are some photos of the inside of the container:

Paraphernalia

Inside of Shipping Container

Inside of Container

Interior of container

Closing the container

Driveway

Industrial looking rocks

Looking in on the clutter

Tables and other Paraphernalia

Why A Shipping Container?

We were inspired by the industrial imagery that a shipping container manifests.  A shipping container can have many stories behind it. Where has it been? What's inside of it? Who's is it?  Additionally, it was a natural set, so no building was required.  We were on-location instead of filming in the studio. 


For example, in the film "Hanna", when she is being chased by the assassins, she is stuck in a maze of shipping containers.  This brings tension to the film, as it is more of a trap.  It's a mystery what's contained in them too. What if they were to explode?


Or, in "Dexter", when he is snooping around the port looking for 'clues'...
The fight scene makes us imagine that whomever loses the fight will end up being hidden in one of the many shipping containers.  The fact that he is looking for a body in the shipyard also manifests some anticipation. 





In conclusion, a shipping container is a less-common setting for creating tension and industrialism.  It can symbolize secrets, which in turn creates suspense and anticipation. 

Storyboard

0:00 - 0:07
Tracking medium shot of car pulling up

0:07 - 0:30
Wide shot of detective and intern outside of the shipping container, opening it

0:30 - 0:34
Close-up of door opening

0:34 - 0:40
Wide shot of detective entering the shipping container

0:40 - 0:43
Close-up of detective looking at watch

0:43 - 0:47
Close-up of detective's face, serious

0:47 - 0:53
Wide establishing shot of shipping container interior

0:53 - 1:00
Tracking shot of detective approaching the body (ambiguous whether he is dead of alive)

1:00 - 1:04
Extreme close-up of victim's face

1:04 - 1:09
Tracking/pan shot from victim's face to the knife at the back of his head (close-up)

1:09 - 1:13
Low angle shot of detective preparing his notes with body unfocussed in the background

1:13 - 1:16
Wide shot of intern, detective and the rest of the shipping container (re-establishing shot)

1:16 - 1:20
Extreme close-up of knife wound

1:20 - 1:25
Focussing and unfocussing over-the-shoulder shot from dead body's perspective

1:25 - 1:29
Close-up of detective's face, satisfied

1:29 - 1:34
Wide shot of detective leaving scene

1:34 - 1:38
Mid-shot of door closing

1:38 - 1:40
Fade out

** Storyboard is subject to change **

** Credits will be either alternating with the scenes, or all at the end, whichever turns out to be more suitable **

Predicted Target Audience

The target audience for our film, a foreign crime thriller, is from older teenagers (young adults) to almost the senior audiences, as it is fairly intellectually involved (as it is in another language with subtitles) and would probably not appeal to a younger audience than that.  The gender would be primarily male, as the crime/gunfight theme appeals much more to a male audience.  The characters in the thriller are also male, and not relatable to the female audience. The education of most of the target audience would either be university educated or multi-cultural/bilingual people with an interest in the Eastern European culture, which is a much more specific audience, however the age and gender define our target audience more generally.

This would help when promoting the film. It also influences the way that the posters would look, in order to appeal to a mature male audience.  We could advertise it in universities or schools and around cultural centres such as Easter European (mainly Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox) and neighbourhoods.

The Back Story of Our Thriller

Siberia. Modern day.  We follow a Latvian detective as he makes his way to the scene of the crime.  He speaks quietly in an Eastern-European language, translated by subtitles.  The sounds on the scene are over-exaggerated, adding to the tension of the situation.  His assistant takes him into the shack, where a dead body sits, eyes open.  He shows the detective around the crime scene, though the detective barely looks at it.  He makes his way towards the door and leaves, as he says, "on business", demonstrating that he already knows what has happened and what has caused it.

The detective is much like a Sherlock Holmes in the way that his powers of deduction are incredible, however he is much more elegant and confident.  The rest of the film follows him as he busts the biggest Eastern-European drug cartel in history, aided by his faithful assistant. 

New Thriller Changes

After numerous meetings with our teacher and in our group, we found that our initial thriller idea would be too complex due to logistics and had a lot of potential for failure.  The logistics issue was that we would have to film it in many different locations (the street, the supermarket) and it would be difficult to acquire filming permission for them.  Also, we had a lot of trouble in creating a backstory and motive for our character and finding out why the audience would "care" about the story.  Additionally, it would be difficult to find an actress who would be up to the standard that we need to act the role of the mother.

We still wanted to have the idea of a dead body, however we need to change the story that goes with it.

We have decided to have a murder scene, the cause of the murder (as we find out in the end)  being drug-dealing-fueled.  It will open with a wideshot of the detective driving to the scene of the murder. 
Our protagonist is a detective, about to bust a drug cartel.  We know he is the protagonist because he has the majority of the screen time, as well as the way he is conveyed through the miss-en-scène.  He is almost like a Sherlock Holmes character, as he is able to deduce the cause and crack the mystery of why the man is dead in a matter of seconds.  He knows that the case is bigger than this small murder, that it is the work of a cartel.  He leaves the scene saying something such as "I must depart on business," establishing his strong attitude (almost arrogance) and leave the audience in a state of suspense.