On Monday 3rd May we had our shoot day. The day before, our group exchanged a few messages to ensure we had everything ready. I messaged the dancers reminding them to bring in their character shoes, Amy packed a bag with all the props/ costumes and Nosa bought in the doll house- (which we did not end up using)
I woke up feeling positive about the shoot as I felt the group was well prepared and we all made sure we got to school slightly earlier than usual.
Once we were all together, we gathered last minute props and went to our shooting location. We didn't have much to set up as we never had many props to begin with, but we took down some signs and made some posters to tell people we were filming.
One thing we did have to sort out was lighting. Because we were shooting on campus 'below ground', the lights are set and cannot be switched off, so we asked the school's electrician Emma to turn them off for us so we could set up our own. We used lamps and coloured gels so match the mood of our scene.
We also had to get Jonathan, our main character ready. We did his hair and put some under eyeshadow on him to get him fit his role more.
Amy also spent some time doing Fleur's head scar. Whilst Amy did this, we set up lights and quickly did a run through with Jonathan of what we wanted him to do. We were really lucky that our actors were easy to direct and open to try things out.
By the time we started shooting, the hallway was dark giving it mysterious, creepy vibes and we used lamps and coloured gels to get the atmosphere we were aiming for. The washing room had red lighting which was lit up by the lamps and gels and we put a blue light outside the corridor so it would shine through the window and down the stairs-
I feel we managed to create the look for the concept through the lighting as it completely changed the whole atmosphere of the scene changed and the creepy, cold vibes were achieved.
In the picture on the left, Matt tried out different coloured gels for us to choose from. This one was the blue one which as a group we all felt didn’t fit the scene so we went for the red/orange one. When making decisions, none of the group members clashed and we all agreed on things which worked really well.
As a group we mainly rotated with roles so we all had a go at shooting, directing, holding the microphone etc... In the first scene I held the microphone but then in the next scene I was behind the camera and calling roll outs with Nosa. We also took it in turns to hold our phone torches as we used them as a bit of extra lighting. I feel as group we divided out the roles very fairly.
In the last scene we shot, to avoid so many wide long shots, Matt suggested to do a mid, hand held shot tracking Jonathan back down the corridor. This was not only difficult because the camera is heavy, but also because in order to get this shot you have to walk backwards. Personally, I think I did this particularly well. Amy held my hips as she guided me back because there was a step, and I think I kept a fairly steady hand whilst doing this.
A problem we faced during shooting was one of the props on our main character- (the cassette player) lost its clip after lunch. Whilst shooting in the morning, Jonathan had a clip on the cassette to his jeans, but after we had come back from our lunch break, the clip went missing so we had to figure out a way to re adjust it without making a big change to achieve continuity.
We overcame this by getting tape and taping it his jeans (which was difficult as it kept falling off)
Another issue we encountered was because the corridor was long and we were shooting either at one end or the other, we had a lot of wide shots which we didn’t necessarily want.
As mentioned before, to overcome this, Matt suggested we do a mid, hand held, tracking shot to avoid the scene getting repetitive and boring.
I think the most successful part of the shoot was when Fleur, (our dead girl) rolled over onto the tarpaulin plastic. We got close ups of this which gave a really disturbing image as her face is being covered with the sheet, but we also got the camera tracking her whilst doing this. To do this we placed the camera on top of a jumper on the floor, and as she rolled over we pulled the jumper along the floor so the camera followed
her movements.
I think our choice of actors also made the shoot a lot more successful and enjoyable. They both fit the roles and were very open to trying different shots. A close up of Jonathan's face looking at the girl he has murdered is also something I think is going to look really good.
Personally, if something could of gone better, I think it would be figuring out the wide shot situation mentioned earlier on sooner so we could of had longer to think of a way around it, but because it was the end of the day and everyone was tired, we didn’t have much time. I still think the idea of the mid tracking shot of Jonathan is great and the it will look really good when the whole thing comes together.
Out of the whole shoot, the part I enjoyed the most was directing the characters and asking them to try different things to see what looked best on camera. I also enjoyed call outs.
I think the main thing I'm looking forward to see is how Jonathan's dancing goes with the music we are going to add. We are going to add the song 'Uptown Girl' by Billy Joel to make the scene even more uncomfortable for the audience. Jonathan is upbeat and energetic which is unusual for the situation of the scene, creating that uncomfortable atmosphere.
Overall, I feel that as a production team we worked really well together. We mainly kept good communication throughout pre production and on shoot day we didn’t have any disagreements and all worked together on decision makings with no problems. We also equally spread out tasks for each other thtough out this whole process and split all costs for costumes, props etc...
Lastly, a lesson I learnt whilst filming is things don’t always go to plan and to be open to change. Although I wasn’t very stressed for the shoot, I was nervous of things not going to plan or not looking the way I wanted etc, but I realised last minute changes or ideas can be the most successful, like the example the close up of Fleur's face. We also decided not to do the pool of blood which was a big part of our idea, and decided we wouldn’t need the doll house.
