First Shoot

Yesterday (Saturday 29th) we had our first real shoot and we had some big problems at the beginning because of loads of cars on the road, and other irritating background sound. The worst was heavy rain that you could really hear hitting the umbrella we were using to protect the equipment. Apart from this the shoot went quite well.
We solved the problem of the rain on the umbrella by recording some atmospheric sound of outside to replace the real sound of the outdoor shots. After having a well deserved break we got started on our indoor shots. These worked a lot better than the outdoor shots as we didn't have the weather, or other background sound, to worry about. The lighting all worked well for us and although it meant we left Alice's house at 10.15 (the shots took a lot longer than we initially thought they would) we managed to take all of our shots, exactly as we planned them, which will mean that if anything has gone wrong which we didn't notice while filming, we will have time to reshoot them on Friday.
We were also lucky to have actors who played their characters well and who didn't complain about being cold, although we had them outside in the rain (Barney had to film in the rain without an umbrella for quite a while), and who didn't complain about the filming taking longer than expected.
There are still some things that we need to do (which we will do as soon as possible this week):
- Recording the sound of Laura and Barney laughing together for when she 'hears' the picture
- Recording Barney's side of the dialogue
- Check the lighting, the footage for dialogue and her leaving the bathroom for continuity (we will do this in our lesson on Tuesday while we capture the footage)

- Mel, for the group -

Creating Our Own Track

Although we wished to use the dolly in order to create a track, it was too wide for the hallway we wished to film in. Instead we attempted to create our own track using a wheely chair. Here are a few pictures:

Alice is looking really enthusiastic about this track...

Off we go...

Laura posing nicely...
Oh dear! It didn't quite work haha

- By Aarti

More Pictures from the Shoot

Filming outside before the rain started

Aarti and Alice filming the 'atmospheric shower sound'

Filming the female character leaving the bath

Making sure Laura actually looked like she had just had a shower

Giving Laura some notes

- Mel -

Pictures from the First Shoot

The group :)

The candles, and 'shrine'. This is part of the opening pan.

Aarti enjoying her pizza on a well deserved break!

-Aliceee

Photo For Her Dressing Table

These are the shots that we decided look quite good, plus one that I think might work:

In the top two shots they look like a happy couple, which is how we wanted the shot to look.

In this shot (above) they look happy and are laughing which I think would work well if we decided to have her 'hear' the picture as it would mean the sound could directly relate to the shot, however I don't know if the picture would look as could when it is printed out, and in the first shot (two above) hearing them laugh would also relate to the shot.

UPDATE: The shot we chose to use to put on her dressing table is the first shot.

These are the other shots we took:
Although these shots would also work the others are better

- Mel -

An Early Storyboard of Shots

We have changed this storyboard slightly since the test-shoot for continuity purposes and made it more detailed. We completed our final storyboard today and I think it works much better now!
- Aarti

Meeting 28th November

In our meeting today we've ensured that we're completely sorted for our real shot tomorrow. We've taken the picture of the actors that will be in the photoframe on her dressing table and Mel will post these tonight. Also, we finished our storyboard and shooting script, including when we're taking breaks. We have also checked our equipment to make sure it's all ok, and everything's there. We've also agreed on who's bringing what to the shoot. (Mel: napkins, towel etc, Aarti: Photoframe), we're filming at Alice's house so everything she's providing will be at her house already. Now that we're ready, we're looking forward to the shoot and hopefully everything will go to plan.

Ye I thought of that aswel (paying for food for them) so thats fine with me. Also I think the dress with roses would be best but I'm thinking maybe we shouldn't have a ribbon. We don't really need it and I think that continuity is more important than the ribbon.
In the meeting we were having a few issues with the part of the sequence where she lights the candle and he rings the doorbell so hopefully we can sort that out tomorrow.

- Mel -

Costume

Tomorrow we also need to discuss costume properly.
It's all a bit hectic, but did we finally decide on the pink Roses dress for Laura? And then her just tying a ribbon behind her? The only difficulty with this, is that the ribbon may continually fall etc and would make continuity a bit more difficult. What colour ribbon would we want? I have red.
Also need to ask Barney to wear nice smart shoes and trousers. Wrap up warm with a coat etc :)
- Alice

The Script is good :) We'll print it off for Barney and Laura tomorrow.
I've told Laura about the short meeting at lunch, but not Barney yet.
How did the meeting go today? Sorry I couldn't be there :(
Tomorrow - we need to go over the storyboard, make sure everythings okay and we know what shots we are taking, then establish a shooting script!
Hopefully make this as detailed as possible, just to make Saturday go a lot smoother :)
Aarti and I were thinking of ordering pizza Mel, so if you bring some money and we'll pay for Laura and Barney to say thanks :) If that's okay with you?
I can't believe saturday is the real shoot!!
It's all come round so quickly, but everything's planned and ready and we've practised so BRING IT ON :D (hahahahaha)
-Alice

Meeting 27th November

We had a quick half hour meeting today(27th November),although Alice couldn't be there and got further ahead with the storyboard although we didn't manage to finish,and we had some issues of how to do the part of the sequence where he arrives at the house and she lights the candle and picks up the knife. This meant we didn't get a chance to start the shooting script but we have a lesson and a meeting tommorow. In the lesson and meeting we need to:
- Complete the storyboard
- Complete the shooting script
- Take a picture of the actors together
- Organise the props we need and sort out who's bringing them

- Mel - for the group

Sixth Meeting

In the lesson we captured our footage and got a chance to edit some of it. It helped us really think about the continuity of our sequence and we got to see which shots we prefered. This meant that we could start our final storyboard, which we started in our meeting at lunch.
In tommorows meeting we need to:
- Finish the storyboard
- Start the shooting script

Posted for the group by Mel

Final script:
Girl: "Darling - you were meant to be here at 8:00. You're two minutes late "
Guy: "Ahh gosh yes I know, Sorry I'll be there soon. I'm just at the bottom of your road."
Girl: "Okay - well ... It's almost time (small pause?) for dinner."
Guy: "Okay I''m on my way - Love you."
(both hang up)

Thanks for the ideas Alice, I wasn't quite sure what they should say lol, I did change it a bit so let me know what you think

- Mel -

Ye I think 3.30 is a good time for Barney to arrive. Laura arrive at 5/5.30? I love the idea of him saying 'love you' and her ignoring him, dunno if u did that intentionally or not but I think it would work really well. And I think if the pause after time would work but I think we should try it both ways, and in editing we'll see what looks better.

- Mel -

No problem :) I'll txt Barney to double check -
script yeahh, something really simple like:

"Darling - you're two minutes late. You were meant to be here at 7:00"
"Ahh gosh yes i know, Sorry i'll be there shortly. I'm just at the bottom of your road."
"Okay - well ... It's almost time - for dinner."
"Okay Darling, i'm on my way - Love you."
(both hang up)

Maybe a slight pause after time? Actually, i dunno. We'll talk about this tomorrow. And make it loads better. How long did we want it?

ALSO, we need to arrange times. What time do we want barney to arrive? What time do we want Laura to arrive? We need to sort this out cause it's not really fair if we give them really short notice. I was thinking Barney 3:30? We'll arrive before that to set everything up, but the light starts to fall at four, so we can start filming then. We'll have to do all the park shots at once, so if the light does fall slightly, then it's okay because he's moved on in his journey and it will make sence. Hopefully we'll get all those shots done in an hour and a half? We'll have to take at least two/three takes of everything for editing purposes.

I just realised we need to set up the picture that will go in the frame, sometime this week. Alice if you could talk to Laura and Barney and they could come to our meeting on Friday lunch and quickly pose for one. I'm going into Enfield on Friday anyway so we can take it on my camera and I'll print it like a proper photo in Boots.
Also we need a script for the actors, not that they say much but we could put a description of what they actually need to do actingwise as well. I'll do that now and we can give it to them when we take their picture.

- Mel -

More Photos of Test Shoot

Actors

Hi guys - as promised, here is the picture of Laura:

We have decided to cast Laura Christophis to play the role of the male female character (still need to come up with a name for her and the guy!) She goes to our school and we really feel she'd play the character well.

Why we think she would be good for the part:
Number One: She's available on the days! she's penciled in the dates we plan to shoot in her planner and is really enthusiastic about it all :)
Number Two: HER HAIR. her hair is awesome! And we can make it all huge and scary looking for her role. It would really add to the character.
Number Three: HER EYES. She has really prominant eyes, which we can definately use to our advantage. When lighting the candle she can look all wide eyed and .. yeah .. really really scary!
Number Four: She has lots of experience with drama. She did GCSE and was in Great Expectations last weekend. Also - she's been in previous media films for other students in previous years.
Number Five: She's really nice :) and she'll be really fun and easy to work with.

-By Alice

I just had an idea about the sequence. Not that important now but we could do a section of it that turns into black and white with just the red things in colour. Tbh I'm not quite sure how to do it but I thought it would look quite good.
Also I spoke to my cousin and he said that the burns on his face are quite bad and so he doesn't think he would be right for the park.
- Mel -

Female Character's Makeup/Hair

For the test shoot I did my hair and makeup how we imagined the female character's hair and make up to look. I think it looked really good but for the real thing I think her hair should look a bit more messy and the eyeliner should be a bit more over the top.

- Mel -

Test Shoot Pictures

- Mel -

BLK feedback

do hope the test went well girls - looking forward to seeing the footage :-)

can we have a group photo please? ...
oh one's just gone up, that was quick!

An Idea

High Angle shots of the girl would make her seem more vulnerable. It would make the Shock more Shocking when we reveal that she actually is the 'baddie'.

In the same way, we could have LA shots of the guy to make him seem more sinsiter & powerful and therefore much more likely to be a killer.

What do you think?

Heyy guys...sorry i didn't get a chance to check the blog yesterday but all the prop ideas sound really good...i've found a red handbag, really simple red jewelerry box thing, a red tie for the guy and two fake red roses =) haha we're all going a bit red mad! Also Alice i think your corridor shots are really good and it would make it more interesting to shoot that scene from all different angles!...See you guys tomorrow!!...oh yeah i've also got a camera now so can take pictures tomorrow of 'the process' etc lol

The Treatment

A girl is getting ready for a date, while simulataneously her boyfriend is walking down the street on the way to her house. Towards the end of the sequence we find that everything is not as innocent as it seems. There will be an underlying theme of obsession, which we will see hints of in the girls room. It will have a classic narative pattern with cross cutting between the girl and her boyfriend. There will be non diegetic sound in the form of a music track playing over part of the sequence, although this will not be all the way through, and will be broken up with diegetic sound including a shower, dialogue and footsteps. It is set in a house and along a street, and is quite dark and spooky. A key colour will be red and it will have low lighting. The overall look is quite dark and eerie but also elegant. This will be reflected in what the characters will be wearing, a smart dress and a suit. The female character is elegant and organised to the point of being obsessive and a control freak. The male character is quite nervous and eager to impress. There will be mostly still shots although there will be some pans and tracking shots. The sequence will show that he's feeling rushed but this will show through the acting and music rather than through the camera work. It will be a mostly continuous sequence of the girl but there will be some cross cutting to her boyfriend.

Posted By Group

omg yeah! that sounds wicked!! (the height order thingg)
We'll deffo try that out on Monday!
I bought four red candles. Got soo excited and texted you both. lol - the little things in life ...
they were only 50p each, so i bought four, which means we can use them in the test shoot on monday , therefore we can - try out the lighting, try out striking the match and using that light to show her face. etc. !!

I love the idea of high angle shots of her leaving the bathroom, I think that would look really good and will give it like a hint of unease even before we know we should be a bit uncomfortable if u get what I mean.
Also I was thinking we could organise the dressing table to make it really obvious that she's abit of a control freak. Like everything is in height order or something else thats really obvious.
- Mel -

Location Shots

Mel - those glasses are really good! :D much better than the ones i have.

I was thinking about the issues we had when storyboarding the bathroom scene and i've taken some pictures of that corridor area. I don't think i mentioned before that i have another staircase there. So we could get High Angle shots of her leaving the bathroom or walking into the bedroom. Or film it through bannisters or something. I've taken pictures and uploaded them, So if you both have a look and think about it, then on Monday we can try out diff shots and see which work/which don't.

Here they are:


Here's the clock and the fireplace in sara's room. I couldn't really take the picture properly because we have beds set up in her room atm with family coming to stay. (no worries, they'll be gone by monday) Do you think the clock works? We wouldn't have to have it on the fireplace, we could have it on the dresser, because it would match the wood. But do we think the clock works? Let me know.
"It's two minutes past eight ... "

Yep - here's the corridor. Door to your left is the bathroom, door to the right is Sara's room.

Ariel. Really high, looking directly down. It's a bit odd, but i thought i'd see what you thought.

Props

Yeh they do sound quite good. I just called my sister (I'm not home) and she's gonna take a pic of our wine glasses and I'll post the pic as soon as she sends it to me.

Here's the glasses:
I thought they would be quite good because they're those ones that suposedly fit half a bottle so when you only put a bit of wine in them they look really good.


- Mel -

Props

Ohhh wine glasses. Good point - ( i just this second posted a blog about props, and that was one thing i forgot to include! haha )
You can bring them if you want, but it's not absolutely necessary because for the test shoot i have loads of glasses, and you'll have all the equipment and stuff to bring.
I just looked in my cupboard & we have glasses with little bubbles in ( lol ) which i dont think would be suitable. And we also have glasses with like a swirl around them. Which are quite elegant and could work.

Those candlesticks are perfect, they'll look really good with red candles in them. And that knife is so good, I can really imagine the final shot now I've seen that and more of your kitchen.
Btw do u want me to bring the wine glasses for the test shoot? or should I not bother?
Thats so funny, just as you posted the props we needed I was writing the list out lol
- Mel -

Props

We discussed this yesterday in our meeting, but here is a list of things that we need to get/find somewhere in our house or to buy:
(please update the list, because i've more than likely forgotten some!! ) :)
1) White towel
2) Photo frame - picture of the girl and the guy. (More discussions on Actors needed. We can do this on Monday:) )
3) Red Nail varnish. I have a perfume bottle with a red lid. My sisters got a little red clock. etc , just general 'girly' things that we can put on the dressing table.
4) Phones - Aarti mentioned a more old fashioned house phone to fit in more with the 'elegance'. We'll see what we can do!
5) Red Necklace - if no one has one , then i was in M&S yesterday and they have like a whole array of red jewelerry. It's quite dear though, but if one of us likes it and will wear it again then that's something we can do.
6) Clothes - i spoke to Laura about the dress yesterday. We were talking about the one with the roses on that she wore to Rememberance day - but it's a zip up the side dress. And we wanted to have a shot of her tying it from the back ...
She mentioned a navy blue dress that has a ribbon at the back. Navy blue can be quite elegant?
I also have a black dress that i think would be really suitable, but i don't know if it will fit. We'll also discuss this on monday.
7) Red Lipstick - got this covered! :) haha, thanks Mel.
And i have really light foundation. Eye liner etc is easy to do.
Lots more discussion needed on the guy ...
8) Red Wine
9) Roses (we said we were going to put dried out roses in the fireplace as well -Mel-)
10) Some sort of knife
11) Matches
12) Wine Glasses! (-Mel-)

-Alice

Location - More on Alice's house.

I went around my house and re-took some of the pictures i took last time but didn't upload because the files were too big they took far too long to upload. So here they are -

When we were dicussing a high angle shot of the stairs? I should take some pictures of the stairs through the bannisters and from below as well.

These are the candle sticks i was talking about - I'm going into Enfield today so i will have a look for some red candles!


Hahahaha this pictures makes me laugh.

Street at night - as you can see it's quite well lit. But the reddy glow is due to the setting on my camera. So on Monday when we test shoot at night - we'll see if the footage is far too dark. HOPEFULLY!! it won't be! :)

I thought even the chairs in my kitchen are quite 'elegant' and would fit in well with the mise en scene.

Fifth Meeting

We finished listing exactly what shots are going to be in the sequence because we had to change it slightly and at the beginning of the test shoot we're going to do a shooting script and then test out our shots.

Posted By Group

Inspirations

The Ring - Opening Scene , posted by Alice

The Ring is a horror sequence that begins in a house, exactly like our idea. For this reason, i decided to look at the shot types, the lighting, the mise en scene and general camera work that is used in this scene in order for us to be inspired and use interesting effective shots when we storyboard.

A clear connection between The Ring and our idea, is the use of stairs, so i thought i'd look at how this was shot first. (this sequence starts at 1.47) It's a high angle shot, looking down the stairs, and this allows the girl to creep round the corner, increasing suspense. The shot is long, it takes her a while to turn the corner and look up the stairs before the cut. This is effective because it really helps to build up the suspence, because we know that she is scared about going up the stairs. Perhaps she can see something up there that has frightend her? But from the position of the camera, we don't know this yet. She goes up the stairs quickly, and i really like the shot through the banisters of her feet quickly ascending upwards. This type of shot would be practical in our location because the stairs in my house also have banisters, and i like the next match on action of her coming up the stairs through the hallway. Although for our opening scene we wanted to have the girl descend the stairs, the principles of the shots remain the same. For our idea, we were also thinking of having high angle shots from above, which would also be effective. An important thing to note in her going up the stairs, is that the camera work is still. They do not try to follow her up the stairs or be creative with any tilts etc - and this fits in with the idea of controlled camera work, which we are trying to achieve.

At 2.16 it shows her feet walking down the corridor, and this is very intersting because we wanted to do a shot exactly like this in our sequence because we do not want to show the main females face until right at the end, for a shock factor. I really like the LA shot here, which draws attention to the seeping blood on the floor. This is a shot that we would be able to achieve quite sucessfully.

Another shot which i thought was quite inspiring was the shot at 0.06 seconds. The CU of the girl turning her head ever so slowly. It could be an idea if the girl does this at the end when holding the knife. Slowly turning around smiling menacingly towards the reflection of the guy standing innocently at the front door.

Lighting: it's obviously night, as the house has been artifically lit and there are no curtains on the windows so we can see the darkness outside. The rooms are not well lit at all, and this fits the genre as it creates shadows upon her face and in the environment. It really adds to the horror portrayed. This is an idea we could use, but we have decided to film the outside sequence at dusk/beginning of darkness to make lighting issues outside easier, therefore having a pitch black house would not fit as it would break the rules of continuity.

General Mise on Scene: the house is quite bare. There is not a lot of clutter at all. In the living room when the Tv is first shown, the room is practically empty except for a few things on the table. This is quite generic (horror), and is an idea we should use when filming the bedroom shots etc. Having a bare room would make the environement a lot more spooky and a lot less 'homey' and 'safe.' Would be definately be a good idea to try and achieve this in our sequence.

Possible Location - Pictures from Mel's House

We chose not to use my house to film in but I thought I would post pictures up of my house and explain why:

The front of my house would have been ok, as although the door doesn't have glass in it, there are windows on either side. The stairs are in the middle, with the kitchen on our right. This would have looked quite good. However, there is a bit too much space, and it would be difficult to light, as putting all the lights in the hallway on would make it too bright but without it would be too dark.
The kitchen is a bit too bright to do the lighting we want. Also the table is too rustic to be able to be made up elegantly. Also two of the cupboard doors under the sink are damaged (there's a picture of them above) which would look really bad if we saw them in shot.
Another problem that we would have had filming at my house is that my house isn't on a street. There are gates and a long gravel drive which the guy would have to walk through and across.

Basically, I think that Alice's house and area would be a lot better to film in and would match our sequence a lot better as well, and plus she has loads of random clocks, lamps etc that would look really good in the sequence.