2nd attempt of filming

So the following Wednesday, Kameir and I came back to my house to re-shoot the shots needed to make the film better. But because we were unable to find the sheet with the shots we needed to re-do, we decided to re-shoot the whole film together.

It was very hard just being the two of us, as I would be filming and directing whilst Kameir would act;but we were very focused as we realised that is was very important to finish the film at a better quality. Also we felt we needed o re-record as in the first shoot Kameir was wearing obvious gold studs, but was not the second time round; so it was also to ensure continuity as well.

We changed some shots we used to make the match cuts more realistic, for example when Kameir is walking from the bedroom to the bathroom instead of having a shot of her back going into the bathroom we changed it to a shot of seeing her walk into the bathroom head on. just the slightest change appeared to look alot better than the original.

Overall the second filming did go alot better, we also did the establishing shot during the evening which set the mood better than during the day as it created tension. So now we had better footage to use the following day, we also learned from our mistake and watched any footage recorded .

editing clips of shadows

The morning we had to edit our film. I was trying to film the establishing shot outside my house. But because it was the day after the snow day, there was alot of ice. so it was very hard.

When i got to college to see the editing, we found that because we hadn't watched our shots after we did them; they were not great and was unable to use all of the clips. so during the lesson we decided to go through all the clips we needed to re-do(which was quite alot).

In the end because we didn't have alot to work with, we decided to create the soundtrack to go with certain clips that we will need. At the end of the lesson we made a date that we would record some of the shots again the following Wednesday, and thought about what we need to do better which was:

- watch the clips again
- keep recording until happy
- give ourselves enough time
- remember what we used in the first recording to keep continuity

first day of filming shadows

The first day Ashton and Kameir came to my house around 4ish and we re-read the storyboard to get familiar with the storyline. In our storyboard we had two different versions of the bedroom scene, as we didn't know what bedroom would be best. After deciding which one was suitable for the film we then set up the camera and began shooting.

We found that it was easier as we had more time, but was very frustrating at the same time as it was getting late and very long. The last shot we had to film was very hard, as we had to find a plain wall in my kitchen to do the shadows, but it was hard not getting the door and the painting in my kitchen into the shot.

One thing we didn't do properly was watch our shots over after we had done them, but we did generally stick to our storyboard which was good.

intro to cameras

Starting the filming for the final

After pitching our film to our teacher, we decided a date to start filming our film. The date we picked was the 28th January that we would all meet up and film.

Filming was really fun, because we wasn't under pressure as much it was alot better. Also having the story board helped alot as many times we forgot what shot angle or shot type was next. In our final film we including many tracking shots to create the view that someone was watching the female protagonist in the house or to show the point of view of someone in the house. We also used high angle shots and low angle shots to give variety.

At the end of our film we have a shadow shot using the lighting equipment which was hard because we had to set up and record the shadows without getting the people in the shot.

In the morning I went to record the establishing shot but because of the ice it was very hard and also the timing did not make sense, as we recoded in the evening. But overall it went ok, but we knew we would probably have to record again.

Brain storming the thriller genre

In class we talked about what is a thriller and what its aim is to do. We came up that a thriller is a film that makes you feel tension, it brings suspense (an expectation that something is going to happen but you're not sure what and when. WE thought that a thriller tends to have a plot that reflects real life situations and also everyday characters. Whilst watching them you tend to get a feeling of anxiety which is due to the tension built in the film.

Our teacher then asked us to list some programmes or films that we think would be considered as thrillers. I thought the following:
- Arlington Road (film)
-Courage the cowardly dog (programme)
-Jaws (film)
-Thriller (mini-film)

We then realised that there are many different types of thrillers that build tension and make you feel the tension. We came up with some such as:

-Crime Thriller
-Espionage Thriller
-Action Thriller
-Sci-Fi Thriller
-Supernatural Thriller
-Physcological Thriller

After this we then looked at after examples to see what made them a thriller

BLOG BLOG BLOG!!!

Alethea - well done. I'm getting a real sense of your process. But Kamir and Ashton please keep your blog up to date! I notice there are some unpublished posts saved as drafts - so finish those off and post them ASAP!
Good luck with the filming tonight