Group 48 has chosen the title "Without a Trace" for their thriller film. The title relates to the plot where a mother's child disappears without explanation. Their opening scene will show the mother being questioned by a psychiatrist about her missing daughter, flashing back to when she searches an empty park for her. They have selected two filming locations and collected props needed for the opening scene.

1. Group 48
Nicole, Ali, Mukhtar

2. The title we have come up with for our thriller is:
‘Without a Trace’
We wanted to use a name that relates to the contents of the film and
the word we thought of first was ‘vanish’ however we decided this is
too straight forward. We researched other words for vanish
however we weren’t drawn to anything. We came up with ‘without a
Trace’ and instantly thought it was perfect for our film as you could say her
child disappears without a trace. The kidnapper cleverly planned it so that it
looked like the mother made it all up. Also it sounds like the name of a
movie and better yet the name of a thriller. Also it’s short, snappy and easy
to remember.

3. Brief outline of the whole film:
After discussing the storyline we decided it would be better if the
film is based on a mother who has lost her child due to being kidnapped
rather than a mental woman who has never had a child as it will be
difficult to display ‘mentally challenged’ attributes.
Brief outline of the opening:
Begins with her in her home being spoken to by a
psychiatrist/counseller. Viewing cross cuts from her in the room
looking blank and emotionless to her running through an empty
park searching for her little girl (like a flashback). It goes back and
forth to make the audience wonder if she’s ever really had a child.
It ends with her being questioned on her child’s existence. After opening
sequence it rewinds back to the beginning of the story before her
girl was kidnapped.

4. Psychological/Mystery/Crime
Thriller
Our thriller is going to be a mix between a
psychological/mystery/crime thriller as firstly a
kidnapping has taken place which is a crime.
Mystery comes into it as the character nor the
audience know what has really happened to the
child therefore there is this constant need to guess
and assume so the mystery of her disappearance is
solved. Also, at some points the audience are
bound to question the mothers psychological and
mental state as nothing adds up causing
assumptions to be made that maybe her child
never really existed.

5. For our thriller opening sequence we will be filming in two
locations. One will be a small children's play-park in Newington
Green to be used when the mother is searching for her child
(the flashbacks) and the other will be one of our home living
rooms for when the psychiatrist/counseller is talking to the
mother after the occurrence. We decided that finding a room to
imitate a psychiatrists office would be too difficult so we
switched it around to something that would be more realistic
looking being a house. We are undecided on using the park
setting as using a child's bedroom would be more relevant if her
child had disappeared from the mothers home. Here are
photographs we took of these locations:

13. What we have decided we need is:
• A Teddy bear/doll
• Pen & Notepad
• Casual yet smart looking clothes for the psychiatrist/counseller
• Glasses
• Makeup (for woman's smudged messy looking face)
• Name tag
• Eye drops (for tears)
• Water based spray (for sweat)
• Pyjamas (for mother at home)
Here’s what we have collected:

14. A pair of glasses for the psychiatrist/counseller

15. A lanyard so the person playing the character of the psychiatrist/counseller really looks the
part. We are planning on sticking a small photo of the actress on the card so it looks
professional

16. The small notepad and pen is a prop for the counsellor/psychiatrist who is taking
notes on the conversation she has with the mother

17. This spray can be used to make it seem like the mother is sweating

18. We can use this so the mother looks like she is crying. It will especially come in handy
when we are filming the extreme close up on her eye

19. This teddy is going to be used in both scenes; the house and the park. In the house it will
be seen abandoned on the floor and in the park it will be held by the mother who finds it
on the floor while looking for her child

20. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y0CcWW3FOQ www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ut1mYp0GL8

28. We believe ‘StudioCanal’ would be a suitable
distributor to use as they sometimes deal with local
independent releases therefore this would be more
realistic than using a big famous American
company. As for a production company we may use
a British company called Wild Horses Film Company
which is who produced ‘My Brother the Devil’

29. We have thought about what age range and gender
etc we are aiming our thriller at. The audience we are
targeting it at is those aged 25-40 of both genders.
This is because the subgenre is a psychological/crime
thriller and we believe those of that age group would
be most interested in something you really need to
use your mind to understand. We have decided not to
aim at at anyone younger as although there is no
visually disturbing viewing some aspects may
confused or upset young viewers. Anyone older than
40 may not find the thriller interesting in the same
way someone younger would as they may have a
change in taste in relation to genre of films.

30. • Tuesday 5th Feb – Friday 8th Feb: Planning
• Friday 8th Feb: First session of filming
• Tuesday 12th Feb: Filming continued
• Friday 15th Feb: Last session of filming
• Half Term: Catching up on blog
• Tuesday 26th Feb – Tuesday 5th March: Editing
• Tuesday 5th March: Rough Cut Deadline
• Tuesday 5th March – Friday 8th March: Minor adjustments
• Friday 8th March: Deadline

31. We are aware that there are certain precautions we must
take in order to ensure filming runs smoothly with no
accidents. As we are filming outside there is always a chance of
the equipment getting damaged or being lost therefore we
know to be extra careful with managing everything safely. We
must also make sure we don’t get in anyone’s way to avoid
tripping anyone up.

32. Over the time period up until creating our thriller opening we
have learnt a wide variety of skills in relation to equipment,
software and blogging. This includes
• Learning how to accurately function the video camera and
how to set up the tripod
• Using final cut pro including how to speed up/slow down
clips, change their time duration, cutting and editing and
adding add titles
• Using soundtrack pro to add our own made up sound
effects/music to footage
• Blogging – how to add photos, videos and screen grabs