The shoot day did not turn out as was initially planed. Our group, which had initially consisted of four members, ended up becoming just James Troughton and I due to the fact that the other two members were absent from the school at that time for various reasons. As a result of this, both James and I had to multitask and adapt our previous planning strategies for the day in order to gain the most out of the short time that we were allotted. We spent longer than expected finalising the finer details of our set design because of the lack of extra hands to help on the actual morning of the shoot.
However, the set was finalised regardless of the extra time that this took and did not set us back too badly due to the fact that we had prepared the majority of both the physical set and aspects of the design to be added last minute prior to the actual day on which the shoot took place. Good organisation prevailed and the day moved relatively fluidly once we actually began filming as we had a rigid storyboard planned out, clearly showing us what shots we needed to do and exactly how we could best conduct doing them.
On entering the studio, we noticed the genie lift which we were eager to make use of, in spite of our small group; we established that as a result of our planning, we could afford to take the extra time out of the initial storyboard and experiment with a number of other shots which may add to the desired effect of our opening sequence. Firstly, we focussed in on the table of the interview room and, using the genie lift, conducted a crane shot, ending in an overhead view of the interview room and both occupants, intended to be the opening shot of the sequence as it establishes the setting from the finer details to the overall establishing shot of the setting as a whole. We also tried this shot in reverse as it seems more conventional to start off with an establishing shot and then later focussing in on finer details such as the evidence photos which are laid out on the desk early on in the scene.
In order not to complicate things for ourselves during post production, with foresight we ensured that we maintained a detailed shot list, consisting of all the relevant information from the shot, for example whether or not the shot may be useful for the final cut and which take was most effective.
We decided to shoot the thriller, for the most part in the studio. This enabled us to control for elements of the shoot such as lighting and the overall structure of the interview room. On the film, the room appears to be reasonably dull and dimly lit, however the set was actually rather brightly lit so that the shots were clear, however in order to achieve a sense of horror, entrapment and darkness, we used a light filter on the camera so that the set did not look so bright.
In terms of shot choices, we made sure to take as many as possible in order to give ourselves the best choice possible when the time came to edit the sequence in post production. Particular focus was placed on close ups, extreme close ups and tight over the shoulder shots, again in order to achieve the effect of entrapment and negative intensity. Tracking shots were also taken so as to give a smooth transition between points of view within the scene as well as to build suspense with the pan within the track, leading us around the room, to the diarised version of our victimised girl within the onset camera in the foreground and her actual image in the background. The idea on which this was based is the fact that had we made the rest of the film, it would keep referring back to her (‘Kate’) diarised version of events in order to signify that this story is about Kate and not Alex (the killer). This can be seen as our unique selling point (USP) for this thriller.
On the day, we ‘cheated’ the spatial relationships between characters and objects in order to make certain shots work. In order to do this we had to collapse part of our set and relocate a wall in order to fit particularly our tracking shot into the scene effectively. As a result of carefully planned camera work; ensuring that all of the elements within the shots held their original place within the frame, we were able to make it look as if none of the set had been moved at all.
The part of the shoot in which controlled lighting played perhaps the greatest role was when we had ‘Alex’ (the killer) talking to what appears to be a webcam. We created this illusion by placing a light string underneath the camera to recreate the look of the glare from a computer screen. We were aware however that this is massively bright in comparison to that of any regular computer; however we felt that in order to create the desired effect, the overdramatic lighting created the feeling of intensity that is mirrored through the dialogue and tight setting of the interview room. These choices were made specifically with regards to the genre of the film.
In one instance, (our tracking shot), we deliberately broke the 180 degree line of action, however this was done in one continuous motion so as not to confuse the audience as to the whereabouts of characters in relation to each other within the room. Other than this, we took great care towards ensuring that this line of action was not broken as a general rule towards continuity in a shot. This proved specifically important with OTS shots and reverse shots.
Throughout the day, I took on the role of operating the camera and directing the actors. Prior to the shoot I had spent time with the actors, ensuring that they were all aware of what was expected of them on set with regards to performance and therefore on the actual shoot day guidance was easy because everyone knew exactly what they were doing. Besides actually shooting the sequence, being the camera-man meant that I had to ensure that certain things were done before we could begin filming, such as light balance, bubbling the tripod and filters etcetera. I also wrote and redrafted the entire script for the sequence and ensured that all of the actors were satisfied with their lines and that they worked well together.
The entire group worked well together in ensuring that all elements of the shoot fitted together well, even if two of the members were not present for the majority of the shoot day. The props list worked well in relation to our set and this was bettered by the fact that we were all highly pleased with the performance of all our actors. I was personally pleased with the costume design that James had finalised for the characters that I had written into the script and I feel that these were exactly what I was aiming for. Overall, I think that everybody within the group is pleased with the way in which our final shoot went and that we are all excited to see how this will come out in post- production editing.
Photos from shoot day:
No comments:
Post a Comment