Location Scouting for the thriller opening

Introduction:
For our thriller opening we require three locations: the first of our location is a narrow, winding road preferably with streetlights and with a ditch next to it or nearby where the car scenes and the ‘dumping’ of the body takes place. The second location that we need is an elevated building, in which the Boss is inside, with its windows lit-up and external lighting from the ground shining up it to demonstrate chiaroscuro lighting. The third and final location is a room, which is the Boss’s office, with a desk and chair.

The Road Scene

For the road scenes, we have come to the decision to use the roads around Mousehold Heath - as we have found that they have streetlights there. In particular, we found that Gurney Rd is ideal as the location for out thriller opening as, it was very windy and twisty (emphasizing the twisting storyline of our film - thriller signifier) and it had streetlights on both sides. Unfortunately it was so busy that we could not even take pictures of it so, filming would not be a possibility. Nevertheless, we managed to found another road that is suitable - it is a narrow little road coming off it which had streetlights on one side and it didn't have any traffic so we could film at that road at the appropriate time. Additionally, we found Gilman Rd. - which is actually a foot and cycle path now so there wouldn’t have been enough space to use car lights and there were no streetlights (which is our source of lighting). Therefore it is decided that we would film our first location at the road that comes off of Gurney Road.

Satellite map of the road that comes off Gurney Road:

The picture of the road that comes off Gurney Road:



The picture below is of Gilman Road (the location we decided not to film on):

The Ditch Scene

These are the photographs of the sites we are considering to be the scene in which the body will be deposited. (They are all areas near the road that comes off of Gilman Rd). The slant the slope is positioned accentuates the mysterious effect with the camera angle and they look isolated enough to look like a place where someone would dump a dead body - realistic. Also, there's significant room for filming and is quite efficient in the sense that there is more freedom for the capturing of the shots: we could experiment with the camera more easily.

The Building Scene

The pictures below are of the Norwich Union Building, near the Norwich Bus Station, which we eventually chose to be one of our locations in the thriller opening. We have chosen this site because it was most easily accessible for all of the group and the most efficient for filming as there were areas in which we could film in different angles and heights. This gave the group alot of freedom to develope our own unique styles of filming and to experiment on the camera to demonstrate distinctive camera effects. In addition we found the building conveyed an authoritarian look, corresponding with Patrick Callaghan's authoritive figure, and we were going to film the building in an low angle (look at shots two and four in the storyboard) as it gives a sense of dominance and threat.

The pictures are taken in daylight but we plan to film when it is dark which should accentuate the threatening appearance this building gives off.

We also considered other buildings in Norwich - such as some of the buildings in Riverside:

The angle in which this picture was taken can be presented very well when filmed but, in spite of this we thought that this building does not convey a sagacity of threat and is generally not intimidating enough (even when its dark). The windows and texture of the building also are a problem because it looks more like an apartment rather than an office we wanted.


The photographs above are of the same building but taken at different angles - in the end the decision was not to film at this location as it was not easily accessible and made numerous problems involving the efficiency of filming there. This was unfortunate as the design of this building was ideal for the style of filming we wanted to do.

The railings of this buildings and the framing makes this picture a very good shot - the vertical bars in the middle and sides really connote a sense of equilibrium and puts the photograph in proportion. But, this building seems too secluded giving us a sense of isolation, this is not what we want to convey to the audience at all because the Callaghan's are a rich and powerful family so it would be unlikely that they would have this kind of building.

The Office Scene

It was most efficient to film in a classroom at CNS as it could easily be arranged to look like an office and there was a sufficient amount of space to move things around; enabling us to experiment with angles, framing and lighting. There was also blinds in the classroom which is an advantage for us as it give us an opportunity to give the thriller opening's a different filming approach. The pictures of the location:

Before we made the decision to film the office scene in a classroom we also had other locations - basically we considered them because we liked the type of desk that was in the room. However there was a problem of accessibility as not all of us could get to the location, which is another advantage of filming in a classroom at school because everyone could get there easily. Eventually it did not even matter about the desk as ultimately it was Patrick Callaghan that is the focus point of the shots - see shots 6, 11, 13 and 14 in the storyboard. The pictures below are the unwanted locations for the office scene:


All of the locations that we have chosen contribute to the dark and threatening style that we want to convey to our audience. Especially, since we are going to edit the opening to make it black and white - this works particularly well with the fact that we want to portray are opening in a film noir style way.