Main Brief: Production Schedule

We created our production schedule so we could plan when to film our shots and when to edit. Our group had events such as school trips, mocks and the school production that were going to intefere with the weeks comencing the return from half term. The production schedule allowed us to plan who would be away then, and we were able to come up with an efficient timetable that would enable us enough time to film, edit and evaluate our main brief.

We created a group chat on WhatsApp which would allow us to share pictures and videos easily and to message each other instantly without having to send two texts. It proved to be a valuable and wise decision.

Mini Brief: Filming Day

Once we had finalised our production preparation, it was time for us to film. We booked out a Canon 600D camera with an 1855mm (Kit) lens to use for filming, as this type of camera allows us to adapt the ISO and aperture which would create a dark image with lots of shadows (which are conventions of the thriller genre.)

When we reached our filming location we first started to clear up any rubbish that would intrude in our shots. This included moving chairs, tables and relocating barrels (inside the cupboard.) In the process we discovered that the lights from the adjoining room did not sufficiently illuminate the cupboard we were filming in .  We knew that there were no lights in the cupboard but the camera could not detect shapes due to the lack of light, so the filming quality was blurry. To adapt to this problem, we used torches from our phones to illuminate the corners of the cupboard. This meant we could manoeuvre and manipulate the lighting to show important things (such as the face of the hostage) but to also create shadows that would convey a tense atmosphere.

Once filming it took us a few shots to realise that the camera was out of focus. The cameraman (Abigail) figured out how to use autofocus shortly after saying 'action' and the filming quality improved dramatically. The filming process went well, despite having some problems with the size of our filming location. The main issue was lighting (As mentioned  above) and space. Whilst following the 180° rule we came to the realisation that it was hard to film a low angle shot of the interrogator (portrayed by Bethan) in a cupboard around 2 metres wide with a filing cabinet, barrel and hostage (portrayed by Beth) in the way. We were able to overcome these difficulties by slightly moving the barrel so the cameraman had enough space to crouch down when filming.

Here are some screenshots from the clips we filmed (and before we started the editing process!)

 

 

 

Mini Brief: Pre-Production Storyboard Draft

Following our visit to the location, we drafted a storyboard of our sequence.

 

Mini Brief: Pre-Production Recées

We went to look for the perfect location for filming our short sequence. We kept the conventions of horror in mind, and were able to find a small space with low lighting (but sufficient to film in) with dark corners for shadows. There is graffiti on the walls and the tight conditions create a 'suffocating' effect which creates tension and builds suspense. Here are some Recces' of our proposed filming location: