Thriller shoot reflection
On Monday the 16th January my group
and I started filming our opening sequence to a thriller film. We started
filming at about 10 o’clock in the morning at our First location at Cornhill
Manor.
I did a lot to help during the day and one of
my main roles was the work on the camera which I was doing throughout most of
the day. This was in both of locations doing both the shots from inside and
outside. This was challenging at times especially outside as we had to make
sure that the shots would show that the woman was in the woods but as we had
little woods to work with we had to angle to shots so that they would show that
the woman was in the woods by putting trees and bushes in the background of the
shots. It was also made more difficult by the weather which was raining on the
day so whilst I or one of the others in my group was on the camera the other
would have to hold an umbrella over the camera to protect it.
I was also working on the sound in the scene
which meant that I had to make sure that all the lines of dialogue were caught.
This meant staying close to the camera and making sure that we were always
pointing the microphone at the actors this was challenging at times as the
actors were far away or there were many in the same room.
I was also helping to make sure that the inside
set was appropriate for the scene inside. I did this by making sure that we had
the sofas in place and a smart table between them to show that it was a formal
meeting.
Finally, I was also helping to direct the
actors and making sure that they were all doing what we wanted them to do such
as certain actions and what lines they should be saying. This was very easy for
me as the actors were easy to work with and would do as my group and I wanted
to them to do.
There were a few problems on the day and also
in the pre-production in the last few days before the shoot. One of the biggest
problems was that many of the actors that we originally wanted who were mostly
teachers were unavailable on the day and were unable to do it. This was quickly
sorted out by myself and the rest of my group by thinking that we should
instead use students who looked old enough to be playing the parts in the
scene. Although this gave a slightly different feel to the scene I feel that it
still worked.
Another problem on the day was that we had to
use two locations on the day as the first location didn’t have the necessary
woods required for the scene so we had to change the outside part of the scene
to another location. This then meant that we couldn’t do shots of the actress
from behind as it would then show that the location was different.
One other problem for the outside scene was
that there was a lot of rain and it was very cold on the day making it
difficult for both filming and also making sure that actress was warm enough as
she had to lie down in the scene. We made sure that she was alright by giving
her a big coat in the scene which could be used in the scene as well as keeping
her warm. Also when the actress was lying down we place bin bags on the floor
to stop her from being as cold so we could take more shots.
However, this created a problem in itself as we
couldn’t then show the bin bags in the scene. To make sure they couldn’t be
seen we then did a lot of lower angles and also didn’t show the floor in many
of the shots and also took a lot of close up shots of the gun when she shoots
and reloads.
The day before the shoot I made sure that we
had to shot list printed off for the rest of the group so that they knew what
we would be doing on the day. I was also organising the last parts of the
costume and ordering them a few days before the shoots so that they would be
ready for the day. Finally due to the late pull out of many of our actors I
needed to quickly recast the actors and ask if they were free on the day.
At the start of the shoot it took quite a lot
of time organising what the actors would be doing and telling them how to do it
before we could start shooting. Another area which took a long period of time
to prepare was organising the scenes set as there was limited amounts of
furniture that we could use.
The most difficult aspect of the shoot was
definitely outside with the following shots that we used and also how it was
really muddy making it difficult to film on and the low angled shots which we
couldn’t use the tripods for and instead had to rest the camera on a box and
hold it in place which was very difficult.
I really enjoyed filming the whole sequence but
especially the part outside as although it was challenging I still enjoyed
making the film.
Overall I feel that our group did very well and
got enough shots to make sure that the sequence would work. And especially in
the weather that we had and the problems that occurred on the day and just
before the shoots. I feel we dealt with it well and adapted to what needed
doing.
