SHOOT REVIEW

Before our shoot, we wanted to make sure that we have everything we needed from the prop list and costumes to making sure our actors were up to date with the schedule. In order to prepare, I wrote a list of everything that we needed to remember to bring in and made sure that each point was dealt with.

HERE ARE THE NOTES I TOOK:

I then messaged our actors to make sure they were still happy to help out with the filming and asked whether they had any last-minute questions regarding their roles and as the director, that was my job to guide and help our actors where they needed. Before the shoot, I needed to bring some of our props including the fake blood and weapon which were extremely important for our concept; so that nothing was forgotten, I packed up everything we needed and left them at school days before.

I ALSO WROTE OUT ANY DETAILS THAT WE NEEDED TO REMEMBER WHILST FILMING FROM OUR PREVIOUS CAMERA WORKSHOPS:

Moving on to the day of the shoot, we began by assembling at the assigned meeting point that we had decided upon in the shooting schedule whereby we discussed everything that we needed to remember before transporting equipment to the shoot location. It was then when we first met up with our actors and began applying makeup and where I, as the director, spoke to Zaza and Daisy about their roles and what their expectations would be for the day.

Daisy applied the makeup to both Zaza and daisy, as our art director whereby we were first able to grasp the attention to detail that we needed throughout the rest of the day with the whole ‘look’ of the girls and spoke upon how we needed to enhance their distress through makeup and hair. 

After completing makeup, we collected all of the filming equipment from the studio where they are kept and loaded them onto the van before driving to Peaslake woods.

After arriving, we quickly began blocking out where we wanted to film, whilst pinning up our sheets of paper around the area to let the public know that we were filming. Another way in which we let the public know we were filming and were ‘working’ was that all crew wore a high-vis jacket which meant we could be seen at all times. We then began filming all the sequences with Zaza and her death scene which were fairly challenging; after driving back to school to have lunch, we were back at the filming location and finished our sequence after getting off the shots that we needed.  

The day itself was extremely successful, and we worked very well together as a production group, sticking to our assigned roles and helping one another out when necessary; we were also extremely satisfied with the standard of performance from all of our actors as it was originally a slight concern for us as our concept involves a large demand of the theatrical performances of the cast.

Another key success of our shoot day was the location; as it was a backup location, we had not been able to block out or even have any idea of where we might film in the woods and how it would look within our sequence and whether it would work with the concept. However, the Peaslake woods worked perfectly to create that isolated sense as the trees were dense, creating a very ominous atmosphere. It also helped that a school property was nearby our filming area and when the weather conditions had got more intense, we were able to go to an inside area and warm up which was another concern of ours that our actor's health would be at risk due to the cold conditions.

I also felt that the weather on the day of the shoot was also very influential over the success as there was a slight fog settled within the trees in the morning which allowed us to get some beautiful establishing shots of the location which worked brilliantly in displaying the desired secluded and ominous atmosphere.

Overall, we were successful able to get the exact shots that needed, whilst also coming up with new and effective shots during the day where we felt would look effective. 

We did, however, have a few issues that we resolved before and during the filming process whereby we had to alter certain aspect of our concept.

Firstly, the costume for the two girls was unable to use once we had it delivered as it didn’t ‘fit’ the aesthetic that we wanted for the victims; firstly, the material was extremely weak and we were worried that when filming it would be easily ripped, especially as we filmed outside, and the actors had to be very physical. Secondly, the costume had already been printed with numbers and writing on the front that was clearly meant to be a ‘prison’ costume, again not fitting to the desired ‘look’.

To overcome this problem, we first began by using spray paint to see whether we could paint over the writing and numbers to personalise the jumpsuits to our narrative. This, however, did not work and instead left the jumpsuits looking extremely tacky which did not fit into the context of the costume.

Despite this costume was left last minute, I was able to approach this issue through two ways. Firstly, I resorted back to our original idea of using cocktail dresses for the girls, which would also fit into our sequence's narrative. By using my own Wardrobe, I was happy with using fake blood etc on the dresses for the shoot day. Here are the pictures of the dresses that I sourced:

Secondly, I messaged Elizabth who is head of the costume department, after remembering a costume that I wore previously for a show. After messaging Elizabeth to see whether we could use these jumpsuits, she agreed, and our costume issue was resolved with an even better alternative to our original costume choice. A way in which we could have avoided this issue would have been from collectively deciding upon costumes and checking each time when we ordered props or costumes so that as a production group, we were collectively deciding upon key elements of the process.  

Another slight issue that came up during the shoot was the limited day light hours due to the time of the year and sunset being at 5 O'clock; we started off slightly behind schedule due to transport issues which meant we had less filming time overall. The daylight issues meant that we had to cut certain aspects or our shot list and alter the ending entirely which was fairly limiting in the overall effectiveness of the end of our opening. However, to resolve this issue we made sure that we had enough footage throughout the day so when it came to editing, that we wouldn’t run out of shots. Personally, if we were to do this differently, I would have prioritized key moments within our opening to film at the beginning so that we could then come back to any extra shots that we wanted afterwards.    

Before filming our final opening sequences, we took part in three camera/ filming workshops to enable us to properly understand how to handle the medium; the skills which we learnt in these initial workshops were extremely useful during our shoot day as we had already learnt the basis of film making in a safe environment.

Setting up the camera was a key element that we learnt previously which was fundamental throughout filming as we had to constantly set up the tripod, changing the angles, changing the height and moving the camera from one position to another. It was also important that we were always constantly aware of the camera so that nothing was damaged; this is where the lingo we learnt during the workshops became applicable, for example when passing the camera, using the “yours”, “mine” rule

The detail to attention when it came to filming was also another key area, we focused on during these workshops; applying these skills to changing the white balance when working outside and as the light began to fade, zooming in and focusing on actors so that it was definitive at all times. During our shoot day we also learnt new skills when working with the cameras and equipment; when changing the lenses, we learnt where to properly assemble and how to tighten the new lens on. We also learnt the skill of focus pulling and became efficient in understanding how to work out where to focus especially when the camera is moving from one subject to another.  

The key equipment's that we used during our shoot day was: the Back Magic 4K camera, the camera tripod and we also used a portable light so that as the day progressed, we also had a source of light, especially when filming close ups of the actors.  

Overall, my most memorable and favourite part of our shoot day was settling into the roles that we assigned ourselves and applying the research that I had done into being a director; I thoroughly enjoyed taking on board the responsibility of making sure the overall artistic intention for the sequence was achieved through not only the filming but also guiding our actors with their roles and their performances. I found when filming, as a production group we worked extremely effectively with one another by discussing the shots we needed to get whilst also thinking outside of the box in what other shots could be effective and then filming them. For this reason, I am very happy with the quality of shots that we were able to achieve; I do however believe that If given more day light hours, we would have been able to capture more shots especially towards the end of our sequence that would have enhanced the overall effectiveness.

Moving on, when it comes to editing our final sequence, I am most looking forward to watching the footage back, especially as it will be completely new to us as when on set you must not watch the footage. As our sequence is shot outside, we have decided that we would like to include a background soundscape that will further enhance the natural element to convey the isolation of the Hunt and to establish the location. Personally, I would like to incorporate an underlying soundtrack that will heighten the atmosphere of the sequence. However, our original concept included a soundtrack at the end if the sequence and after filming it has become aware that this is not feasible with the shots that we were able to get. My concerns for when we come to edit our sequence is the challenge of displaying tension through the filming and the cuts that clearly present a story line. This will be difficult as all production members, including Will who is our editor, have been intensely involved with the overall process of the film making and when editing one must be detached from the product in order to establish the overall conventions of the opening so that there is a clear story line, even if that means cutting shots and moments that are favoured.