Shoot Day Reflection

 

The film day started at 8:30 on Monday the 10th of May. I went to our media class and waited for Mike, Mathilde, Matt and for the rest of the media film team to show up. We then went to the editing suite to gather all the camera gear we needed for the shoot day and headed for the bus to drive to “Ewhurst Place” were we filmed our opening title sequence. We got all the camera gear out of the bus, along with the props and costume and took it inside to the Ewhurst kitchen area to lay it out for easy access. After that, Mathilde got into the costume that Neave had got for her, and we decided that it would look better if she didn’t wear the blue suit blazer, as not only did it not look great, it also was very restricting, meaning Mathilde would not be able to be as free with her motions in the scene. We then walked around Ewhurst to find the best place in the house to film. We originally had the idea to film her going up the stairs and looking in different rooms until she finds the victim, and later the killer, but Mike had a better more interesting filming location in mind for the scene. Ewhurst was having some work done to it, and the scaffolding around the building made for a very interesting search scene for the FBI agent, and it also led into the boiler room, and finally the big cellar which would be the final location in the scene where she finds the killer. The cellar was dirty, abandoned and had some cool but also quite scary furniture inside which made it look very creepy and it would instantly put the audience on edge as she searched through it. Also, the scaffolding area made it look like the scene could have been shot anywhere, as oppose to searching inside a house which could only be a house, this looks like it could have been shot quite literally on a building site, as oppose to inside a house.

 

picture of scaffolding from phone

 

The next thing we did was film, and so we grabbed the camera from the kitchen area and headed to the scaffolding area. Since Mike had to go then and would be back later for his part of the scene at the end, we pretty much filmed in the order that the shots will come in the sequence, which made it very easy for us to remember to film all the shots we needed. We got loads of different angles of Mathilde navigating the scaffolding and looking for the killer, and then it went into the dark boiler room. We needed to light this area with the lighting equipment that we brought with us, and so we turned the light off in the room and lit it ourselves so that we could get the best shots of Mathilde’s face. We also had to facilitate the area that the dying body (played by myself) would have to lie on, and direct Mathilde in how she would stumble upon me. We filmed multiple shots for this and did some close ups on me telling Mathilde that the killer was still there, and some close ups of Mathilde’s reaction. For this part of the day, I had to get changed into my costume, and be covered in fake blood. Moving from the boiling room to the cellar was a difficult part to film, as not only was it very cramped, but we had to make sure that Mathilde was on the correct side of each shot, so that it would look natural and realistic in the final cut. In between the cellar and the boiler room, there was a really cool room where all the suitcases were stored for the boarding house, and it made for quite a cool shot with Mathilde. I was operating the camera in this shot, and I had to do a focus pull from focussing on the suitcases, to Mathilde’s face looking back, to the suitcases. Since this was quite a hard shot to pull off, we took 4 or 5 attempts so that we had a few to choose from. Next, Mike got back, and we were able to film all the parts with him involved. We first just got a lay out of the room, and then filmed according to our plan. As opposed to the plan, where Mathilde just finds the killer and shoots him, we decided that if the killer snuck up behind her and pointed a gun to her head would be a better way to show off the FBI agents’ skills as she would have to kill him from a difficult position. Matt taught Mathilde some fighting choreography so that it would look realistic and skilful when she overcame Mikes character at the end of the scene. For this part of the shoot day, since the cellar was very dark, we again had to light it with the lighting equipment that we had brought with us. This had its obvious benefits, but it did mean we had to be very careful of where we stood, as it was very easy to cast a shadow as a member of the crew, which would obviously not look good in the final cut.

 

pictures

 

I really enjoyed the shoot day. My favourite part of the day was probably when I had to get in costume and get fake blood poured on me for that part of the scene. I found that quite a strange and new experience, but I enjoyed it a lot none-the-less. We had many difficulties to overcome on the shoot day (including not tripping over all the small little bumps and steps in Ewhurst, lighting accordingly and remaining in focus), but the most difficult part for our group was making sure that Mathilde entered from the correct side of the camera, and therefore from the correct side of the screen. This took us a while to figure out, and became quite confusing at times, but now that we have begun editing, I think that we got it right. I am really excited about our opening title sequence, as now that I have seen the shots, it really looks great.