Sunday, 14 April 2013
Saturday, 13 April 2013
Scene Three Re-shoot
Today I completed all the final shooting of the third scene of my opening in the original location, Leonard Lane, Bristol. Similar to the last time I filmed in the city centre, I ensured that my actors arrived on time as I travelled with them and made sure they had brought the exact same costume. However the weather today was completely dry, completely different to the last day of shooting at Leonard Lane, but this should not be too noticeable as the majority of shots taken today were very close up on the characters.
Today's shots included:
Although this is a very extensive list of what I previously stated was a very small amount of shots, I feel it would be better to include as many close up shots as I can to cut into the third scene to maintain a fast pace to the murder and make the audience feel uncomfortably close to the murder, like they will be in the first scene. I feel that I have learnt a lot from my previous two days of shooting as the filming today was completed much quicker to what I think is a better standard. I also decided to include some establishing shots at the beginning of the scene, panning down from the buildings to the ground in the alleyway to show the audience that they have been taken to a very dangerous location, possibly with the killer from the opening scene before he is on screen. I also found a dead bird in the alleyway which is lead down, similar to the blonde girl after she is killed, therefore acting as an anaphoric reference to his victim in the opening scene, suggesting to the audience they may be about to witness another murder.
Here is a rough edit of the scene which still contains the sound from every individual shot. I plan to take out all the sound and dub the whole scene myself including the ambiance. I also plan to alter the colour levels on the scene to make it appear darker and the alleyway dingier and more dangerous.
Today's shots included:
- A shot similar to the original wide shot but further up the lane.
- A close up of the killer's feet walking past the tramp as he asks for change.
- A close up of the tramp's face asking for change.
- A close up of the killer opening his jacket to pull out a knife.
- An extreme close up of the wallet dropping onto the floor.
- Extreme close up of the tramp looking directly at the killer in fear.
- Over shoulder shot of the killer stabbing the tramp.
- A close up of the tramp's face whilst being stabbed.
- A close up of the killer stabbing the tramp, focusing on the retractable knife.
- Close up of the killer shaking the wallet to get rid of any dirt.
- Mid shot to wide shot of the killer walking off.
Although this is a very extensive list of what I previously stated was a very small amount of shots, I feel it would be better to include as many close up shots as I can to cut into the third scene to maintain a fast pace to the murder and make the audience feel uncomfortably close to the murder, like they will be in the first scene. I feel that I have learnt a lot from my previous two days of shooting as the filming today was completed much quicker to what I think is a better standard. I also decided to include some establishing shots at the beginning of the scene, panning down from the buildings to the ground in the alleyway to show the audience that they have been taken to a very dangerous location, possibly with the killer from the opening scene before he is on screen. I also found a dead bird in the alleyway which is lead down, similar to the blonde girl after she is killed, therefore acting as an anaphoric reference to his victim in the opening scene, suggesting to the audience they may be about to witness another murder.Here is a rough edit of the scene which still contains the sound from every individual shot. I plan to take out all the sound and dub the whole scene myself including the ambiance. I also plan to alter the colour levels on the scene to make it appear darker and the alleyway dingier and more dangerous.
Shooting Scene One and Two
Unfortunately I did not manage to complete all of the filming for both scene one and two of Duality. The day started as expected, my group and I were all on time and had spent the hour before it was free preparing all of the propositions we had collected from both the school and home in the drama hall, ready to move into the room when it was vacant. However it took longer than expected to move all of the school furniture such as tables and chairs out of the room as it took around twenty five minutes to clear out. As soon as it was cleared I started to move in all the propositions into the room.
The class had been left in a state due to previous lessons in the room during the day therefore I also had to take time out of this process to clean the room's floor which could have posed as a safety risk to the actors. As I was doing this, my new actors for the press roles revised their lines until they felt comfortable with the position they were given. It also took a while masking all of the room's posters with pieces of art as many of which kept falling down however this was only a very minor issue. Looking through the shots of scene 2, I'm content with the majority of the shots however I feel that I should have gotten tighter in on the close ups of both the detectives talking. I feel one positive of today's shooting was the close up of Hudson getting infuriated by the reporters which clearly represents his anger and how he finds it somewhat comical that he is been mocked by the press for a job they cannot do themselves. The majority of the problems I encountered were minute and quickly resolvable such as struggling to keep the blinds down to make sure there was no sunlight entering the room, this was of course quickly resolved but, when combined with other problems, wasted around five to ten minutes of valuable filming time.
I plan to complete the filming of scene one and the re-shoots of scene two in a fortnight's time on the final week of term as this will be the next time that all of the actors required for the shots I need will be available.
In order to see what others felt could be improved in the re-shooting, I presented the rough edit of scene two to a number of people in my class to gather their thoughts and opinions.
The class had been left in a state due to previous lessons in the room during the day therefore I also had to take time out of this process to clean the room's floor which could have posed as a safety risk to the actors. As I was doing this, my new actors for the press roles revised their lines until they felt comfortable with the position they were given. It also took a while masking all of the room's posters with pieces of art as many of which kept falling down however this was only a very minor issue. Looking through the shots of scene 2, I'm content with the majority of the shots however I feel that I should have gotten tighter in on the close ups of both the detectives talking. I feel one positive of today's shooting was the close up of Hudson getting infuriated by the reporters which clearly represents his anger and how he finds it somewhat comical that he is been mocked by the press for a job they cannot do themselves. The majority of the problems I encountered were minute and quickly resolvable such as struggling to keep the blinds down to make sure there was no sunlight entering the room, this was of course quickly resolved but, when combined with other problems, wasted around five to ten minutes of valuable filming time.
This picture shows my group and I in the process of clearing the room.
After shooting, I feel that the acoustics of the room were pretty poor therefore I will have to overdub the sound, including the dialogue, of the shot over myself with my actors to ensure that the dialogue is clearly and the ambience represents a busy crime scene to suggest to the audience that this is a high profile case before the two detectives have even been introduced. Despite the number of problems I encountered, I feel that I have overcame these quite well and, like scene three, will have to shoot some shots again but these will not take long and the room will have to be set up anyway in order to shoot the first scene therefore Adam will be available to record the shots that I need. I was also very impressed with the acting abilities of Jack Stiff who plays Detective 1 who talks to Hudson; beforehand I was a little concerned that he may not take the filming very seriously but his performance was the highlight of the whole scene as he clearly presented the frustration that the police force feel that Hudson has not yet solved the case, highlighting the pressure on the protagonist.
After doing some basic editing of the scene, it is clear that some changes are necessary, especially the sound which has been taken out of this clip, but there are a number of small errors which need to be addressed. One error which means we need to re-shoot is in the close up of Hudson talking to the press, you can see a poster saying 'London 2012' at the back, this is an error I should have noticed during the filming process however this shot would not take long to film again and would not necessarily require the two press members to return for the re-shooting. Overall I am pleased with the lighting of the scene but during the close up of Hudson talking to Detective 1, his face is quite dark therefore I also plan to re-film them two shots. Watching the silent clip, I am quite happy with how the room looks, especially in the pan across the room in the opening shot. I feel that the lighting and the mise en scene of the scene successfully represent this dark, dingy hotel room and I feel that I have masked the true purpose for the room well.
Here is the silent, very rough edit of scene two. It must be remembered that this is nowhere near completed and was recorded off of Final Cut Pro X with screen capture to make the file smaller in order to send to my media teacher, hence the icons which appear in the top right hand corner.
After I had completed filming all of the shots for the second scene, I managed to film the opening two shots for the first scene including the killer's walk through the corridor and kick of the door. The corridor scene took a while as I had to ensure that the killer's walk had to last around twenty one seconds, including time spent filming the wall for superimposition's, to ensure that he kicks the door exactly as the heavy chorus of Tame kicks in.
I plan to complete the filming of scene one and the re-shoots of scene two in a fortnight's time on the final week of term as this will be the next time that all of the actors required for the shots I need will be available.
In order to see what others felt could be improved in the re-shooting, I presented the rough edit of scene two to a number of people in my class to gather their thoughts and opinions.
The Use of Music in Film
Music is a crucial element to film since its birth, in the days of silent film, music has played an intricate part in representing the mood of a scene as well as the mood of the character's. Many thriller openings which I have analysed when researching the codes and conventions of the thriller genre use tense orchestral music such as Se7en and Black Swan. Music in thrillers often indicate to the audience that something terrible is going to happen to the protagonist and can also represent the end of a tense moment, showing the start to a lighter part of a film. However because of the limited amount of time I have for the project and the lack of resources to do this, I feel I would be better using an existing song to add to the tense atmosphere of my thriller opening. Through using an existing song, I also have the opportunity to show the audience that the film is set in the 1980's. At first I thought it might be a good idea to use an iconic song from the eighties by artists such as Michael Jackson or Prince. I soon realised that this is also an opportunity to the dark personality of the antagonist and still make the audience feel uncomfortable without using orchestral music. This lead to me finally choosing Tame by Pixies, which was released towards the end of the 1980's in 1989.
I plan for the audience to initially hear the intro of the song through the headphones of the killer as he walks through the corridor. As he reaches the door and kicks it down, the music will then intensify and become diegetic as the song goes into the heavy chorus. The fierce chorus will highlight the brutality of the whole scene and make the audience feel like they are in the killer's position as it will be supported by a shot from the killer's eyes of his victim. Using a rock song carries many sinister connotations and makes the audience see the killer as his evil person who thinks he is a rock star. I thought of this after reading about the 1980's serial killer Richard Ramirez who used to listen to ACDC's 'Highway to Hell' in his car before taking another victim, that part of the book stood out to me as it showed that Ramirez thought what he was doing made him a rock star, as if he were unbeatable.
The quiet opening of the song will create a level of suspense as the audience wonder where the killer is going and why the music is so quiet. Tame includes elements of aggression which will support the brutality of the murder of this innocent blonde woman who appears to have done nothing wrong. Even lyrics within the song such as 'hips like Cinderella' and 'talkin' sweet about nothing' may be seen as a link to the appearance of the blonde victim as she will be presented as quite ditsy as she fails to deal with the dangerous situation. As the song draws to a close, there is the sound of the singer panting, this may be seen as a break for the audience after the distressing murder they have just witnessed; it may also be seen as the killer's creep breathing and a sign of sexual desires being fulfilled, supported by the stroking of the knife in a previous shot.
I plan for the audience to initially hear the intro of the song through the headphones of the killer as he walks through the corridor. As he reaches the door and kicks it down, the music will then intensify and become diegetic as the song goes into the heavy chorus. The fierce chorus will highlight the brutality of the whole scene and make the audience feel like they are in the killer's position as it will be supported by a shot from the killer's eyes of his victim. Using a rock song carries many sinister connotations and makes the audience see the killer as his evil person who thinks he is a rock star. I thought of this after reading about the 1980's serial killer Richard Ramirez who used to listen to ACDC's 'Highway to Hell' in his car before taking another victim, that part of the book stood out to me as it showed that Ramirez thought what he was doing made him a rock star, as if he were unbeatable.
The quiet opening of the song will create a level of suspense as the audience wonder where the killer is going and why the music is so quiet. Tame includes elements of aggression which will support the brutality of the murder of this innocent blonde woman who appears to have done nothing wrong. Even lyrics within the song such as 'hips like Cinderella' and 'talkin' sweet about nothing' may be seen as a link to the appearance of the blonde victim as she will be presented as quite ditsy as she fails to deal with the dangerous situation. As the song draws to a close, there is the sound of the singer panting, this may be seen as a break for the audience after the distressing murder they have just witnessed; it may also be seen as the killer's creep breathing and a sign of sexual desires being fulfilled, supported by the stroking of the knife in a previous shot.
Scenes One and Two Extensive Planning
I have decided to film the first two scenes of my thriller opening in a classroom in the PE area of my school. This area is often unused as the classrooms are only used when teachers are not in therefore we will be undisturbed during shooting, I have also decided to use it on a Wednesday in the afternoon, when sixth form have PE therefore the room will be completely free. However there are drawbacks to using a classroom as I will have to take out all of the tables and cover up posters which surround the room to disguise the fact that it is a classroom.
The classroom itself was chosen after reccying the whole school. It is essential for the classroom to have a corridor outside which has predominantly bare walls to make the corridor appear to belong to a dull, dingy hotel. It was also necessary to have the ability to control the lighting in the room, this made the PE class a perfect choice as the blinds drowned out all of the room's light allowing me to use lights to find the right lighting for the scene and set the thriller opening in the dead of night. The classroom I have chosen also has plenty of room outside to store the equipment which belongs in the room such as tables and chairs. The only drawback of the PE class is the size of the room which is quite large, however I believe that through closely following both the protagonist and antagonist I can make the room appear smaller to the audience than it actually is.
There is another room in the school which meets the same requirements as the PE room however has two corridors which would be needed for the length of the walk at the very beginning of the opening. This classroom is based in learning resources on the other side of the school and may act as a backup location just in case anything unexpected occurs and I am no longer able to use the room in PE.
An issue with using the PE classroom is unmovable objects such as projectors and whiteboards which would clearly indicate to the audience that this is in fact a classroom and look very unprofessional. Again, similar to the issue with the size of the room, I will have to use tight, close shots of characters to ensure that I mask the fact that it is a classroom and make it appear to be a hotel room. It would be easier to film in an actual hotel room however this would include transport difficulties for both actors and props as I would still have to dress the room with typical 1980's props.
Transforming the room
Before shooting even begins I will have to completely transform the room from this PE classroom, covered in sport posters into this dark, dingy hotel room which looks perfect for a murder scene. The first thing I will have to do is clear all the school equipment into a rarely used classroom opposite. The posters on the other hand cannot come down as they are stapled into the wall therefore I plan to cover these with pieces of art from the art department which I feel resemble typical cheap motel art.
List of items needed to disguise the room as a hotel and where I will acquire them:
The classroom itself was chosen after reccying the whole school. It is essential for the classroom to have a corridor outside which has predominantly bare walls to make the corridor appear to belong to a dull, dingy hotel. It was also necessary to have the ability to control the lighting in the room, this made the PE class a perfect choice as the blinds drowned out all of the room's light allowing me to use lights to find the right lighting for the scene and set the thriller opening in the dead of night. The classroom I have chosen also has plenty of room outside to store the equipment which belongs in the room such as tables and chairs. The only drawback of the PE class is the size of the room which is quite large, however I believe that through closely following both the protagonist and antagonist I can make the room appear smaller to the audience than it actually is.
There is another room in the school which meets the same requirements as the PE room however has two corridors which would be needed for the length of the walk at the very beginning of the opening. This classroom is based in learning resources on the other side of the school and may act as a backup location just in case anything unexpected occurs and I am no longer able to use the room in PE.
An issue with using the PE classroom is unmovable objects such as projectors and whiteboards which would clearly indicate to the audience that this is in fact a classroom and look very unprofessional. Again, similar to the issue with the size of the room, I will have to use tight, close shots of characters to ensure that I mask the fact that it is a classroom and make it appear to be a hotel room. It would be easier to film in an actual hotel room however this would include transport difficulties for both actors and props as I would still have to dress the room with typical 1980's props.
Transforming the room
Before shooting even begins I will have to completely transform the room from this PE classroom, covered in sport posters into this dark, dingy hotel room which looks perfect for a murder scene. The first thing I will have to do is clear all the school equipment into a rarely used classroom opposite. The posters on the other hand cannot come down as they are stapled into the wall therefore I plan to cover these with pieces of art from the art department which I feel resemble typical cheap motel art.
List of items needed to disguise the room as a hotel and where I will acquire them:
- Television - School - Science block
- Fake cigarettes - Myself
- Mugs - School - Sixth form
- Pillows and blankets - Daniel Comley
- Coffee table - School - Sixth form
- Artwork - School - Art block
- Sofa - School - Drama hall
- Lava lamp - School - Drama hall
- Typewriter - School - Drama hall
- Cabinet - School - Drama hall
- Pot - School - Drama hall
- Radio - School - Drama hall
- Clock - School - Drama hall
- Rug - School - Drama hall
- Kettle - School - Drama hall
- Chair - School - PE classroom
The classroom is free from 1:40 until 4:00 therefore I do not wish to spend any more than twenty minutes clearing and decorating the room to ensure that I can film both scenes one and two within the two hours I have available. After 2:40 the school will be considerably quieter as many of the students will have left meaning there will be very little in the way of disturbances.
Actors required for scene one (final):
Adam Canning - Serial Killer
Costume: The same killer outfit from the filming of scene three only this time with big, typical 1980's headphones.
Props: Fake knife
Shornie Britton - Blonde Woman
Costume: Blue top, skinny jeans, leg warmers, converse
Actors required for scene two (final):
Adam Canning - Hudson
Costume: Open white shirt, trench coat, smart trousers and black shoes
Props - Fake cigarette
Jack Stiff - Detective 1
Costume: Open white shirt, braces, smart trousers and black shoes
Props: Fake cigarette, lighter
Shornie Britton - Blonde Girl
Costume: Same as in previous scene
Zoran Micic and Daniel Comley - Detective Extras
Costume: White shirts, black trousers and smart shoes
Harry Denley, Samuel Godwin and Aaron Gough - Press Reporters
Costume: White shirts, black trousers
Props: Notepads and pens
Actors required for scene one (final):
Adam Canning - Serial Killer
Costume: The same killer outfit from the filming of scene three only this time with big, typical 1980's headphones.
Props: Fake knife
Shornie Britton - Blonde Woman
Costume: Blue top, skinny jeans, leg warmers, converse
Actors required for scene two (final):
Adam Canning - Hudson
Costume: Open white shirt, trench coat, smart trousers and black shoes
Props - Fake cigarette
Jack Stiff - Detective 1
Costume: Open white shirt, braces, smart trousers and black shoes
Props: Fake cigarette, lighter
Shornie Britton - Blonde Girl
Costume: Same as in previous scene
Zoran Micic and Daniel Comley - Detective Extras
Costume: White shirts, black trousers and smart shoes
Harry Denley, Samuel Godwin and Aaron Gough - Press Reporters
Costume: White shirts, black trousers
Props: Notepads and pens
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