Question One

1. QUESTION ONE
IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP
OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL
MEDIA PRODUCTS?

2. Title
The title, ‘[TERROR PLANE]’, is a departure from the normal titling conventions
of thriller films. This is a more playful title than would perhaps be normal when
considering the serious nature of the subject. However, the romance dimension
will take over from the terrorist plot so it is not wholly important as to what the
title explains, it just needed to be to be eye-catching.
The title was originally designed to be nothing more than a working title, intended
to be replaced at the earliest opportunity but as we kept using ‘terror plane’ to
describe the project, it grew on us and we elected not to change it.

3. Setting & Locations
Our setting in the foreign, war-torn land of Iraq brings a new dimension to the story, being in a war zone with militant
radicals as a constant threat, creates tension and adds atmosphere. Naturally, our actual locations couldn’t actually be
in the middle east so we attempted to stay inside as much as possible in order to maintain plausibility.
Our locations challenge forms and conventions by attempting to confront an issue that is usually reserved for more
serious drama, whereas our film attempts to bring in some humour and romance to an otherwise cold an evil issue. To
be successful, the locations had to be at least vaguely plausible so as not to be distracting to the storyline whilst also
being easily accessible and fully controllable.
In the end, we economised on the amount of locations whilst maintaining variety. In order to differentiate between the
characters of ‘Brian’ and ‘Susan’, we had to have twice the amount of locations in some cases. For the bedroom and
bathroom scenes, we ended up using 4 different rooms of the same house, this gave us sufficient variety with a great
enough difference between the rooms for the concept of these two characters being in different buildings to be
sufficiently believable. The airport turned out to be our school, which worked well enough for our purposes after
Bournemouth Airport refused our request to film. Our request to film at Bournemouth Aviation Museum was accepted,
who very kindly did not charge us extra to use them as a location, providing us with a fully furnished aircraft interior.
There is added stock footage from genuine middle eastern locations and airports that make our airport and exterior
shots more believable. Similarly, there is footage shot in the Egyptian resort of Hurghada that is added to make the car
interior shot believable.

4. Costumes & Props
The costumes help to show the casual nature of the story that is
unfolding. The choices of their clothing denote both their
similarities and their differences, they both wear casual clothing but
with Susan dressed brighter than Brian.
The only real difference between the two characters is Brian’s
leather jacket. We feel that a black leather jacket helps to show his
malicious intent when compared to Susan’s lighter coloured t-shirt.
One of the most important props that really helps to establish the
plot of our film is the bomb, however it had a much shorter amount
of time on screen than it perhaps needed to due to the 120 second
time constraint and the need for the story to advance quickly. The
added audio and soundtrack add to the gravity of the situation to a
suitable degree to make up for the lack of screen time.
The smaller props help to add unity to the two storylines. The
boarding passes that are clearly for the same airline and also have
consecutive seat numbers and the same flight number, show that
these two are destined to meet. Similarly, phones that show the
same time indicate that these storylines are simultaneous, whilst
adding Susan’s new love interest and Brian’s continued admiration
for Susan.

5. Camerawork & Editing
The film was shot using two different cameras but in a single-camera setup. The only reason for using two was the first
camera was damaged.
The film contains large amounts of low-angle and high-angle shots because of the need to conceal unwanted parts of the
setting. For example, the plane interior restricted our options greatly as we could only shoot to the ceiling or the walls of
the fuselage as the other parts contained museum materials. This meant that we could not shoot down the aisle or have
a great amount of movement. Similarly, our lack of available extras meant that we could not have a full complement of
passengers as would be normal in larger-budget films and in real life. This was repeated throughout the film as we tried
to make it look as foreign as possible.
The editing challenged conventions by using split-screen throughout the duration of the film, having two different
character storylines converge presented its own challenges and gives a very different experience to the viewer as they
have to ingest the happenings of two different people. Additionally, the use of stock footage being used so frequently and
prominently is not normal in films, in an ideal world we would have used all of our own footage but we were forced to use
video sourced from Videoblocks to help add to the realism and plug any gaps we had.

6. Title Font & Style
The title font chosen, after much deliberation,
was ‘Roadway’ This font gave us a clean, sans-
serif look that also gave us options with differing
but uniform sizes. This font was chosen above
the others on our shortlist because it was slimmer
and more angular than the others; we felt that we
needed this in order to be in line with our genre
and the overall feel we wanted.
The title is bookended with square brackets and
entirely in capital letters. We also felt that italics
gave it motion, which is appropriate for the basis
of our film. Also added as a caption is ‘Terror
Plane’ in Arabic which both adds some flesh to
the logo/title and gives further indication of the
middle eastern nature of the film.
ROADwa

7. Story Set-Up
Our story develops the idea of terror plots in
films, a frequently visited subject. We try to
develop a romantic relationship between the
two characters, based around radicalisation
and a failed marriage.
As more and more foreign fighters join the so-
called ‘Islamic State’, we believe that this is a
topical issue. The people that are left behind
are as much of a story as the people that have
actually left to fight.
Our full film would chronicle the before, during
and after radicalisation to the point where these
two meet on the plane that Brian is intending to
blow up as shown in the opening.

8. Genre
The opening to Terror Plane brings together three
different genres: a thriller, a drama and a romance.
As thrillers and dramas are very similar in their
content and style, it’s natural for these two to go
together. The broken relationship between the two
characters adds another dimension to the story, one
which we think gives greater character development
and reliability to the audience.

9. Character Introduction
Our two main characters are introduced simultaneously,
one the of the advantages of split-screen is the ability to
present more than one event at the same time.
We see Brian shaving and Susan brushing her teeth,
both typical tasks of the daily routine that people can
relate to, not giving any indication that these two are in
any particular place in the world. As we move on, into the
bedroom and see what they pack, differences in their
motives and intentions become apparent. Brian has his
bomb and Susan has her typical clothing.
These differences are also shown in the props, Brian has
many phones and some abnormal objects whilst Susan
travels lighter with only some books and normal travel
documents.
Brian’s interactions with shady characters and suspicious
phone call also help to show his motivations in contrast
with Susan’s loving conversation.

10. Special Effects
There were no groundbreaking special effects used, it was practically
not possible to achieve this in terms of budget and timeframe.
Chroma keying the green screen to make the car journey appear
plausible is the most obvious special effect used. The split-screen is
an unorthodox strategy, not often used at length in many films.
Grading the colour to be orange was the most significant post-
production effect, designed to make the idea of being in the middle
east more plausible. Added titling and the black divider are
fundamental to making the film work.
Realism was very important for us and our genre, so the fewer visual
effects used, the better.