Possible Locations

Our first location that we will need to shoot with is a dressing room, whereby Scarlett is first introduced to the audience, and we gradually reveal more about Scarlett and carefully establish her character. For this, we will use a local theatre which has a suitable simplistic old fashioned dressing room with good lighting to create the perfect mis-en-scne needed to create the right atmosphere.

As our thriller is a 1930's/40's vintage Film Noir style, it was more difficult than initialy expected to try to allocate suitable locations to film our thriller. 
However, eventually whilst location scouting we found some suitable locations within the city of Norwich which we feel would capture the vintage Noir feel that we aim to create for our thriller. Below is a shot of one of the first locations Elm Hill, which our Femme Fatale character Scarlett will be seen walking swiftly down. This location we feel is suitable and meets the needs required for an old styled thriller, as this is one of the few remaining streets in Norwich that keeps the entirity of it's old fashioned feel intact, with it's cobbled streets, georgian and tudor-style houses, and 1900's style street lights, meaning that in theory the location will not give away the fact that we are filming 70 years after the set time period. Because of the old fashioned street lights, it also means that we can get the ambiant lighting desired to achieve the Film Noir asthetic look meaning that we can film later at night to create a more eerie feel which will add to the essential suspense needed in a thriller.
In despite of this, this location does pose several problems, such as it's popularity means that it could be difficult to film without shoppers or tourists walking into the shot which would obviously ruin the 1930/40's illusion we had created. Aswell as this, cars tend to be parked along side the road, which again could disrupt the filming, but overall the strengths of this location definitely outweigh its limitations.


This cut through alleyway is another locaiton named 'little steps' which we conveniently found further down the road from Elm Hill. This loaction will be used when Scarlett is walking mysteriously to meet someone, unaware that she is being followed by her husband Ray. We thought that this location was ideal for this scene as it is set by a church graveyard, which is portentous in conveying ideas about the possible outcomes from her mysterious dusk visit. This location also has the same old fashioned street lamps, which again create ambiant lighitng, but will also create the feeling of continuity, as it is not directly off Elm Hill, but as it maintains the same style cobble brick work and street lamps, it will not make the shots feel disjointed or out of place. It also is a visually interesting location to shoot on because of the flights of steps, rails and slanting slope meaning that it can make the scene more dramatic and less dull for the audience.
But again, this location does pose several drawbacks, the main one being that at the end of both openings to the large alleyway are modern buildings, in the form of a contempory looking shop, and a block of flats. 

In despite of thinking we had then secured our locations to shoot on, we then ventured further down the road and found another small alleyway which we felt would also be perfect for the following scene between Ray and Scarlett.
 This alleyway is narrower, along with the tall buildings alongside creates a deeper sense of claustrophobia which if the audience were also to be viewing through tight camera shots, would mean that the audience can be put into the position of Scarlett, and empathise with her emotions, feeling trapped and fearful, creating a sense of panic and again helping to build suspense and tension. This technique is used in many Noir films such as The Third Man, but instead it is a case of Scarlett choosing to take this route for herself, unlike where Harry Lime feels it is his last resort, she is openly choosing this literal and metaphorical downhill path for herself, and can therefore consequently be said that the outcome was her own fault.

The final location we are planning to use, is the City Hall, which is Scarletts desired destination, where she waits alone for her Secret lover, which the audience will not be shown and will therefore be left with the suspense built from the previous scene, as well as the knowledge that her husband is watching her although she is oblibious, which creates a longing to know what she is doing, for the audiences own desire to discover the answers that have been kept hidden from them, which creates an enigma which is again vital in any opening thriller. The obvious advantages to this location are the beautiful time period fitting asthetics which indicate a sense of grandeur in keeping with Scarletts own glamerous appearance, but the building itself is also enigmatic as it is not at all clear to the audience what it is, whether it is a house, or public building or simply an office. Another advantage to this location is the lighting surrounding the building as it is efficent and yet subtle to create good atmospheric mystic lighting.
However, the huge disadvantage to this location is the obvious fact that it is a public building in the center of Norwich, meaning that it will be fairly busy, which could have a significant impact on disrupting the shooting as well as the factor of members of the public giving away the obvious difference in time through dress or gadgets they may be carrying which they would obviously not have had or have been wearing at the time our thriller is set.