Our shoot day started in the morning as we got to the media
studio and found out they did not have a set for us as somebody had misplaced
the set sample that we drew and gave them. But nevertheless we had come too far
to let that get in the way. Matt Flora Beth and I went hunting around the to
school to find everything we needed and also to find things we could improvise
with. we started setting up by 10 30am by this team we had a bed, a sofa, a
dressing table, whiskey glasses, an empty bottle of whiskey a standing lamp
coloured fluorescent lights ornaments, an ashtray, a pack of matches, a
lighter, some slides and all the costumes in place.
However
we ended up having to improvise which included us changing up our set and then
eventually our backstory. Firstly the only bed we had access to was a single
bed as opposed to a king sized/double bed which we initially planned to have
then we could not get access to an ice bucket champagne glasses and champagne
so we ended up filling up a whiskey bottle half-way and using whiskey glasses
without an ice bucket. Also we could not get cigarette butts to put into the
ashtray so we just put in burnt out match-sticks. They slides were not initially a plan of our
set but we used them to make the set look more devious and mysterious because
it was abstract. Then we put some magazines on the floor to make it look like
the place was ransacked. Our initial plan was to make it look like a wife
killing her husband in a glamorous hotel. But we ended up changing it to a
mistress killing the man in an upper class motel. But we got the ornaments we
wanted so from the set up everything started flowing nicely.
We
use the media studio in school because it has the lighting that we needed and
it had a sort of dull/dim atmosphere which put some emphasis on the thriller.
Also the media studio is dark a spacious. The dark lighting inside keeps the
mood of the movie constant. We tried to build suspense through a long tracking
shot and we took this shot about 10 times because we wanted to get it just
right. It was quite nerve wrecking and frustrating as I had to operate the
crane over and over again until we got the right shot. The tracking shot was
also used to show our whole set and to show all the props that we used. We also
used a close up on our actress because she is the one attracting the young
adult male target audience and we know that it is her that our target audience
want to see. We only had one close up on
our actor Bob to show that he was dead and it came at the end of the tracking
shot so it was part of the tracking shot. In total we had about 4 different shots.
We also realised before we started shooting that the way we set up was not
going to work. So we had to change the positions of the sofa and the bed this
helped us shoot Bob and Lynn in better angles so we benefited from those
changes and we ended up liking every change we made and it showed that as a
group we were always ready to work together and we were always in agreement
because even when we had nothing we did not give up and everything turned out
well in the end. However not everything worked on the dressing table because it
was making it looked to cramped and organised to we did not put everything that
was on the dressing table on the tracking shot. If we had a choice we would’ve
tried to put more things from the dressing table in the tracking shot and we
would have tried to make bob look deader but it would have been too obvious
that he was wearing make-up but we managed to make him look pale enough.
We
got a black dress for Lynn to wear because black is known as a dangerous colour
so it was meant to signify that she was danger. Also we put red lipstick on her
and the colour red also represents danger but at the same time it represents
blood and it was used to try as a sort of sign to our audience that she was a
dangerous killer who had blood on her head and also to confirm that Bob was
dead. And this dressing was mostly inspired by monsters by Vertigo films and
Bob was given a white button up shirt because white represents innocence and
peace which signified that Bob was just an innocent peaceful man that was
murdered by a serial killer who had killed other men in her past.
We
used red blue and purple coloured (neon colours) fluorescent along with a white
one. The colourful ones were used to give emphasis that the scene was taken in
a motel and it makes the audience visualise how motels look with their signs
that are normally neon coloured and bright. The lights worked as we did not put
them in obvious places we put them in a way that they would all blend in and
not stand out too much, and that is what we wanted we wanted to keep the room
we shot in dark but also make it colourful as well and the coloured lights did
not make the room look bright which worked perfect for us and we then used the
white light to even out the tone because even when we wanted to room dark it
was a little too dark with only the coloured lights. However we did not really
have any added sound. All we did was record 2-3 minutes of silence in the room
with the sensitive microphone and then we recorded 2-3 minutes of the room with
the projector on. We wanted it to be silent because the scene does not go on
for long before the actress starts talking so the silence will bring up the
suspense like it did in a scene from Olympus has fallen when the agent on the
inside found the presidents son hidden in the white house there was a period of
silence before the terrorists started shooting and what that did was build
suspense and keep the audience on the edge of their seats and that is what we
would like to do to our own audience. The use of the recorded sound projector
is to make the audience wonder what was going on right before the victim got
killed.
I
played an important role in my group I was used to help out with the setting up
as they needed a male figure to do the heavy lifting and move things from place
to place also like everyone else I did help organise all the props we needed
even as we had to improvise and make do. I had a positive mind even when things
did not start off well and that helped me get through the day. Apart from that
I took part in filming the tracking shot as I operated the crane. It took quite
a long time practicing the tracking shot and it got my arm a bit tired after
all the takes that we had to do but eventually I got the tracking shot done
well enough for us to move to the next scene. I was also assisted in making
sure the lighting was not to harsh or was not too dim when we were doing a
close up on our killer and I did this with a large rectangular shaped
polystyrene foam.
My
team was great on that day. Even when we were having a very stressful start
nobody stopped trying to make the thriller a success. Everyone helped out in
getting the props and setting up but apart from that we all did well in our
separate tasks. Elizabeth Lane did very well despite getting her finger caught
half-way through the shoot. She did not let that slow her down she didn’t get
frustrated and she just kept moving on, she made sure the actors were happy all
the time and she made sure everyone was content. When our make-up artist
cancelled on us the minute we needed her Elizabeth did not panic she just went
looking and immediately found someone who did a great job with the makeup she
also sorted out the costumes and made sure everything was available when we
needed it. Then Mathew Flynn played a big role. He helped me out with the heavy
lifting and he was the one who did the close up shots on our killer with him
never getting frustrated when he could he helped Elizabeth make sure the actors
were satisfied. Then there was Flora Slater who did a very good Job making sure
we were spot on with our continuity she had the sharp eyes and she was
responsible for making sure everything was in its place before we started
shooting. She told us when to stand by and start rolling the camera and she
made sure there were no glitches as we were recording. We all played a very big
part in the shooting and we all had a very positive attitude throughout the
day. All of us put the work we did together with the tracking shot lighting and
the close up shots together and created the suspense we wanted and we are sure
that it will be in high demand to our target market.
At the end of the tiring and stressful day we were
all satisfied with what we put out especially considering the fact that we had
nothing to start the day off with. We all stood up to the challenges that came
up to us and overcame them and in the end of the day I think that our
mis-en-scene successfully encapsulated the right effect and I don’t think I
would change anything that we have done for the shoot because it was quite
a good job from the team. And everyone put effort in what they did
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