We present a novel experimental setup to investigate two-dimensional thermal
convection in a freestanding thin liquid film. We develop a setup for the
reproducible generation of freestanding thin liquid films. Such films can be
produced in a controlled way on the scale of 5 to 1000 nanometers. Our primary
goal is to investigate the statistics of reversals in Rayleigh-B\'enard
convection with varying aspect ratio; here numerical works are quite expensive
and 3D experiments prohibitively complicated and costly. However, as well
questions regarding the physics of liquid films under controlled conditions can
be investigated, like surface forces, or stability under varying
thermodynamical parameters. The thin liquid film has a well-defined and -chosen
chemistry in order to fit our particular requirements, it has a thickness to
area ratio of approximately 10^8 and is supported by a frame which is
adjustable in height and width to vary the aspect ratio from 0.16 to 10. The
top and bottom frame elements can be set to specific temperature within T=
15-55{\deg}C. The ambient parameters of the thin film are carefully controlled
to achieve reproducible results and allow a comparison to experimental and
numerical data
