Location scouting

We realised that we might struggle to find a good location to shoot our thriller, as we had decided to set the movie in Vietnam, and there is nowehere in Stafford thta really looks like Vietnam, so we went out looking for places that we might be able to use in the thriller.

Brocton - The first place I thought might be good for a location to shoot the thriller was at Brocton, where i knew there was an old abandoned building in some woods.

This location might be useful becuase of the abandoned buildong there and the woods located near by. However, in the end we decided this was not good enough to shoot our own thriller.

Cannock chase - The next best place we could access easily was Cannock chase. The massive size of the chase provided a bonus becuase we had so many locations to choose from, although a lot of groups decide to film on Cannock chase, we thought it would be fine becuase there are so many different locations on the chase that it wouldnt look the same as another group.

We managed to find an excellent location for filming in the bird sanctuary over the chase, just near Brocton. shown in the picture below is where we decided to film, this area had plenty of trees and was very swamp like, we felt it was the nearest we were going to get to Vietnam in the local area and chose this location to do the filming.

German cemetary - Just over Cannock chase there is a German war cemetary, we needed a war cemetary for the film becuase of the graveyard scene, and it had to look like part of a war cemetary, we felt this location was perfect for our thriller.

With the locations decided, we moved onto planning other parts of the thriller.

Thriller influences - Jacob's ladder

Jacob's ladder

Jacob's ladder is a fantastic psychological thriller about a vietnam veteran who is hallucinating deamons after he suffered a biological experiment gone wrong in the Vietnam war. He is battling to stay sane, when everyone around him further falls into the deamon's traps and is taken one by one, he must find the answer to why these things are after him before its too late. The films ending has a massive plot turn that completely changes the whole storyline for the viewer.

The film overall is very tense and builds suspense at key moments. We thought that this movie would inspure us in making our thriller becuase it is exactly what we planned along the lines of a vietnam veteran hallucinating after a horrific war experience. Jacob's ladder suited this perfectly.

Thriller influences - Platoon

Platoon

Platoon is one of the most famos war filsm ever made, it is set during the Vietnam conflict and follows the story of a young G.I's experiences through the Vietnam war. This movie gave us a lot of inspiration becuase we had chosen to set our thriller in the vietnam war, and this was one of the best depictions in cinema of the Vietnam conflict. We watched the film several times and discussed different scenes that we could draw inspiration from for our own video. 

The scene shown to the right is when the U.S squad find a vietnamese village they beleive to be harbouring Vietcong guerillas, thye also see it as an oppurtunity for revenge after they lost one of their number to the Vietcong.

Although a scene like this might be good for a thriller, perhaps one from a villagers point of view escaping the Americans, who give chase to them as they fle, we felt that this would be too hard to create.

The scen that had most influences on us would be when the squad is moving through the jungle, then at night they set up camp and are ambushed by Vietcong soldiers during the night. we thought we could do something along these lines and create a jungle ambush which leaves a scar in the main characters mind.

Thriller influences - Vietnam war

Vietnam War

The Vietnam war had a major unfluence for us and our thriller, we felt that this would suit the theme perfectly. The idea of a veteran unable to escape his past experiences of war sounded brilliant to use. The thought of patrolling through such dense, harsh jungles not knowing where an enemy soldier or booby-trap could be sounded terrifying. 

I also felt that the Vietnam war is almost like a forgotten war becuase it is not in  many movies, or on TV very often, whereas conflicts like World War 2 have a whole range of movies themed around the war. We also felt Vietnam was a perfect theme for the psycholgical part of the film, becuase of the 60's era, drug use, rock music, and the development of new technology. This all sounded perfect for the thriller theme, whether we wanted to make a psychological thriller or just a conventional thriller movie.

The weapons used in Vietnam were very new and interesting, but at the same time, horrific. One new development was the use of napalm. This literally incinerated everything in its path. But things like the Vietcong's guerilla warfare tactics seemed to be a great theme for a thriller, the thought of fighting an enemy you can't see and could be waiting for you anywhere is terrifying.

The only problem we thought we would have was access to props and costumes for the thriller, becuase we had no access to original uniforms or weaponry, so will have to improvise...

Thriller Influences - saving private Ryan

Graveyard scene - saving private Ryan

I beleive that the opening scene from saving private Ryan is a very effective movie opening. It shows exactly how the veterans from any war would feel after what they have been through in war.

We felt that this scene could be used in our thriller very well, we wanted to show a veteran from a conflict visiting his dead comrades, and this scene gave us a lot of inspiration to do this. The shot of the main characters feet walking is also a good camera angle in my opinion, and we felt we should use this shot in our thriller opening.

We also thought it would be a good idea to have another clip of a graveyard scene at the very end of our thriller opening, again showing how the veteran would feel when visiting his fallen comrades.

Early ideas

Initial ideas

To begin with, we discussed different ideas for our thriller opening among the group, we each decided it best to think of 3 ideas each then present them to the rest of the group.

My own ideas included, a flashback to a terrible experience the main character has suffered in his/ her life and cannot escape the memory. another idea was of some sort of mafia deal gone wrong, involving a chase scene. My third idea involved a teenage girl being stalked by a middle aged man, and she beleives he is folllowing her for an unknown reason, I did not have much planned for that last idea.

Another member of the group believed a flashback to the vietnam war would be a good idea, and that the character keeps halcunating his experiences of the war, we decided to use the idea of a flashback to vietnam and my own idea of experiences the character has been through and he cannot escape.

Thriller certificate

We felt that a certificate 15 was most appropriate for our Thriller, becuase it is an older audience, which is perfect for the thriller genre, as they tend to be aimed at an older audience. Another reason for this certificate would be the films content, although the opening of the film will not be graphic, the rest of the movie certainly will be, therefore a certifiacate 15 suits this film perfectly, as the film will have some violent scenes and strong language.