Shooting 4: Lizzie's House and Campfire Scenes

Our next shoot was a main one, located in Lizzie's house and garden, we planned to shoot a lot of different parts. Iain, Clare, Same and I all made our way to Lizzie house on the morning, ready for a long day of filming.

Here is a rough script we made for the shoot, but we didn't really stick to parts:

First part- Mum vanishing:

We first set up in the kitchen to film the mum disappearance scene. Lizzie had already debriefed her mum on what exactly she would be doing in this shot, so everyone was prepared. We then recorded the sound of the spoon hitting the floor, during which we experimented with which spoon sounded better, and we went with the more clashing sound (as this would be edited together to give the impression shes vanished). 

Then we shot Alfie, walking in the kitchen and finding it empty (known as the spoon shot because the spoon is on the floor in the frame as Alfie walks in). This took some getting because we wanted Matthew's dialogue to be the right tone to suggest mystery. We finally got it and Lizzie was so enthusiastic that Matthew got it right, that she said 'yeah yeah yeah' so quick after him, we were worried it would cut too soon.  

Second part- Haden and Selene's (magazine):

After this, we went upstairs, and Lizzie did Clares make-up, making her into Selene, ready for the next shot. (in terms of wardrobe, we agreed that both Haden and Selene should wear what they wanted but to make sure it was dark. In this scene, to help identify their wealthy background, we used Lizzie's living room, due to the grande furniture (not that it was focused on in one shot). This brought other ideas, so we experimented with different angles in the room to capture this shot. Clare also had to say 'who cares?' a few times as we needed a careless tone, rather than an accent (a problem that seemed to pattern in acting) but we demonstrated to her and she got it right. We were story boarded to get an extreme close up reaction shot of Selenes face after Haden had attacked her almost, and then one of Haden apologizing. But we thought it looked weird and shouldn't be used as that add's too much contradictory depth in their characters for a trailer- we didn't want to show a remorseful/emotional side as that would cue the audience to sympathise or feel confused by their identities. Here's a video showing the different 'magazine slap' shots. 

After this we took a break but then we went on with the 'the folders gone scenes'. We decided to locate ourselves in the sort of spare room because it helped create the idea that the bad group had been in their rummaging through all the good groups belongings and found the folder. We used the storyboard to guide us, but mainly I think we improvised (in terms of framing and camerawork), given the choice of location. I made sure that we used handheld and tracking shots to capture Haden finding the folder, Selene approaching him and asking what it is, then (at a later time in the film) Eve discovering that the folder had been taken. We moved the camera up from the view of the folder, with the government logo in sight, to his face showing a reaction for a subtle dramatic effect. We captured Selene walking towards the camera (as I moved backward) to represent her force. We had to shoot Eve's part a few times as it was difficult to get the acting right, since it was meant to be dramatic, it was almost funny 'the folders gone!'. For this, Matthew and I were walking behind her holding cardboard boxes (in case we were full in sight of the frame) to show how we were getting supplies. After this we had a break and waited for Same to arrive, as our next scene was the campfire. 

Third part- Campfire scene:

We went into Lizzie's garden and found a suitable spot (under trees). We then gathered lots of rocks to create a generic outdoor fire. Karen brought out lots of old paperwork and things to be burnt on the fire, while we searched for logs to sit on, we gathered two. After we got all that sorted, we thought that the lighting was too high key for a campfire, so we waited until it got slightly dark to set up the fire. 

Despite how it kept going out, we managed to gather what we needed. Hannah couldn't make it, but it was okay since we gave Eve her lines because it was more important for her to be established in the trailer. My line 'we can survive this' aims to portray my leadership and strength to keep the group going. Looking back, I think it also served our aim to be 'Hollywood' and dramatic, because I think it was unrealistic to talk about not surviving, though it helped characterise Eve as dependent on Micheal while also highlights the threat to the group. Our original lines talked about Micheal being the leader 'they look up to you Michael', but we all agreed before the shoot in our script, that it was too cheesy and badly scripted. The dialogue between me and Lizie was rather distracting in a way because it sounded just over the top, but we needed it to communicate our ideas in the plot. We ended up laughing when we tried to be serious, so instead to avoid this, when we face one another to do our lines, I suggested the one who isn't facing the camera should close their eyes so the other could focus- and it worked. 

The part between Eve and her brother, Alfie, we managed to frame it well with the fire disrupting their visual relationship, however, an issue came from sound. The camera picked up to much ambient sound, and Matthew was mumbling a little (to sound afraid of what the answer might be) 'when's mum coming back?' so we thought we can just dub it later if we felt it was still important. And finally we got Sam (Luke) to say his line. Lizzie and Iain wanted it to about beans or something (when scripting) to have something funny and light hearted, but we had to push forward this idea of planning to fight back, that when we scripted him saying 'we're gonna have to fight for it' -talking about surviving against the bad group. 

Fourth part- Imagery shots for copy:

After the campfire, Lizzie put out the fire and I remembered the gate shot should be done before it's too dark. So Lizzie, her brother and I ran down to the gate and quickly got it, because we were under pressure and there was no serious dialogue, it was done quickly and successfully. The low key lighting was enough to see what happened and perfectly connoted fear because of the darkness and content of Eve and her brother running into her home.

 In continuation from the context scene, we went inside and got the 'torch' and 'match' shots done. This was my favourite part of filming because we had gotten comfortable with filming. For the torch shot (a new idea) I hid under Lizzie' bedroom desk and we turned all the lights off, while Haden came in with the torch to show that the bad group were looking for the good group. We liked the light hitting the camera lens for a weird flare effect, as it looked quite sci-fi to me. Lizzie had some idea about hiding in the cupboard and getting an improvised shot but the lighting was too abstract and dark. I also pushed for other shots with the torch, which included Haden walking up the stairs with the torch (to secure the idea that it is Haden because the other shot was just light confronting the lens). While playing around with light and dark, we went back downstairs into the bathroom for the 'match shot' to occur. Iain filmed this, while Clare and I waited outside because there wasn't space. We had problems with the lighting affects the focus on the camera, and one time I accidently switched the bathroom light on during a take (Lizzie was not happy). 

Final part- Introduction of the trailer:

We then planned to film the 'goodnight' scene between Even and her mother. We adjusted the lighting so that it was warm and not too bright so it appeared relaxing, while Lizzie got into her pyjamas and Karen put on a gown to show normality. We set everything up and gathered the props (laptop and folder). Karen had rehearsed her lines to perfection (tone) and we began using the storyboard to guide us. The scene was well acted and done within minutes, but the only problem for me was Eve's POV shot of folder. The folder was laid on the table it looked like a weird angle to capture the folder, while the lighting dimmed the colour so it wasn't very conspicuous. Every other issue was minor and overcome.

In conclusion, this was a big day of filming which had it's highs and lows. I think the most successful parts were the acting, the handheld shots and  the imagery shots. I'm not sure what was least successful but I think, in reflection, we should have planned it slightly differently (focusing on dialogue) to communicate idea and establish the main characters more. We agreed that we can decide which shots are useful in post-production because we got more than planned.

Below is a gallery of photographs from the day:

Shooting 3: The Forest and Chase Scenes

This was our first main shoot as it required almost all of the teen cast and we planned to film different scenes within the forest/beck location. We first organised it with the supporting cast to see which days everyone was available. We borrowed two bats from the PE. Department, as props for the antagonist group. I then also went to the town to buy our main baseball bat; I got a wooden one so that I could hammer nails into it, ready for this shoot- the hunt. 

Lizzie slept over at Clare's house so that she could style Selene's character before filming, while she done this she kept us updated through sending us pictures of the process, asking us whether she should darken the eye-shadow more, etc. I stayed over Iain's house because I didn't want to deal with travelling to his on the morning before the shoot, and we also modified the bat on the night before. We agreed that Iain's house was the base for the day because it was closest to the location. The other cast made their own way to Iain's and we set off around 1pm. 

We first filmed the farmer field part of the hunt, sticking to the storyboard, we ensured the long shot was in place began. This took a few takes because people were running at different speeds and then didn't look like a realistic chase. After this we moved onto the different angle of the field part and my shoe fell off once but we got what we needed quite quickly. One thing I really didn't like was the weather because it was so sunny that it looked too nice for a chase scene, so to me the mise en scene didn't correspond with the nature of the film, but my other group members really liked the high key lighting. 

We went to a footpath area with tress, like we imagined in our storyboard. We achieved some improvised shots that featured Haden and Selene parting as the henchman ran through them after the protagonist group. I managed to pull together some other improvised shots of Fiona running (which we plan to use) because it involved movement, adding to the pace and involvement. We also found that one of the planned shot (the one where I laid on the ground and filmed the trees as I rolled over) didn't look as good as planned, and wasn't very trailer worthy either. 

I think we did better through improvising some shots, like when Haden grabs the bat from a Henchmen, as it helped communicate the narrative and identity Haden as the Patriarch of the bad group. For example, in a shot we used Dan (Jake Fletcher) because he is the tallest, as this allowed me to frame the shot so that his face wasn't visible. This had the desired effect to depersonalise the henchman because he thoughtlessly obeys Haden. It meant the camera could focus on Haden as the main subject in order to exaggerate his growing identity. I must say, I was most impressed with Fiona's fall because we weren't expecting it to be so realistic and dramatic, but it was and one the first take. I gathered all the bad group for another improvised shot, the POV of Fiona as she looks up to find the group surrounding her, appearing like silhouettes arching over into the frame. This was the end of this section, people were ready to get more McDonalds (our trusty caterers), but we made sure we got one more shot locked down.

So we went to the nearby tunnel beck location for the shots of Haden's group emerging from the gutter. I took some navigating but when we found it, we had to beg the cast to walk through the beck water (it didn't take much begging, but people were not that satisfied as you can imagine). Lizzie and I composed the group, set up the tripod called action. We had to try two times because Iain almost tripped, but our second time was good enough. We then captured the mid climax part, when Haden says 'Find them' in his sinister toned voice- the rushing water kind of dominated the sound, so we decided we might have to dub him saying it again another time. I framed it so that Selene and the henchman, Alex, were lurking behind Haden, this was great because Clare's miserable expression matches her character perfectly, and it looked well-acted.  We took the opportunity to achieve another bonus shot from higher ground, peeping around a tree to look at the group as they had came out from the tunnel, we thought this might be useful to create a POV effect from the good group. Here's the beck tunnel we used.

We decided to call it a wrap after this and in reflection it was a success with no major or unsolvable issues. 

Here is a small gallery of photographs from the day: