Weather problems

Over the past couple of days, we have experience lots of snow and this has interrupted our filming schedule. We had planned to film on Thursday however, it was very difficult for us all to get to our locations due to this weather and so we had to cancel our plans. I did think that the snow could add an interesting effect to our sequence but we knew we still had to be safe in the way that we went about it. We have rescheduled to film on the Sunday when hopefully, the ground will be mostly clear but we are hoping for a little snow in our higher locations to still be present. This will enhance the aesthetics of our footage as the villain will stand out very will on the white snow and would be a perfect ending to the sequence.

Filming day 2

This day of filming was very rushed. Due to extra revision lessons after school, not all members could attend to film straight away which was a problem as we needed to film before it went dark. We worked with what we had and we all got together to film despite Beth. I filmed a lot of the shots as I knew the location very well however we did face problems with the dark as when we watched some of the footage back, we could not make out much of the action. The darkness added a rather sinister element to the footage which made some of it very good but in other places we could not see so we realised that it would not be consistent. 

In order to counter this problem, Eboni suggested using car headlights which gave us some extra artificial lighting and looked very good from some angles. Again however from others we could not make out the antagonist which would be a key a focus when the sequence would be watched through.

We used improvisation however we came to the decision that we would rearrange this session for filming to another date so that the lighting would be much better for us and we agreed on Sunday morning which was much more appropriate.

Costume/Props

The title sequence film that we are creating contains a villain and so to fit the act, I researched some outfits that we could use on Amazon. I searched 'black cape' and many suggestions came up which matched exactly what we were looking for however we had to make sure that the sizes were correct. Many of the capes were rather small and used for little children to dress up so I had to filter to the search regarding sizes. Max, who will play the villain, is around 5"6 and so I took this into consideration during my search. We agreed as a group that the cape would need a hood so that the audience who are watching the sequence are not given too much of an insight and therefore his face needed to be hidden. Eventually we found a perfect product that we could use and Eboni conveniently had a voucher for Amazon and so purchased it herself. It will take around a week to come and so we will not be able to film in this time but so far we have got all of the footage that we can. This is the cape that we have chosen:

Problems during editing

During our first lesson of editing we noticed a slight problem with the footage that we had filmed. When editing it is much easier to find out which shots you get together or which ones you need to change in some circumstances. It is very helpful for us to identify mistakes which we did. When filming the hall scene at the house we noticed that in the background of our POV, handheld camera shots we had the left the tripod in shot. This was a very silly mistake to make however we can easily go back and film again as we do still need the house for some scenes later on in our sequence. 

Another problem that we identified was the orientation of the camera. I noticed that some of the shots were in landscape which was correct however some others in the later footage were taken at a portrait angle and this does not fill the screen when in sequence. We did this as the camera had run out of charge and so Beth improvised and used her phone to film the rest of the shots. This was a mistake however and we will take this into consideration when we go back to the house to get the rest of the footage. 

Editing our footage 1

Today, Eboni and I began to edit our first lot of footage in Beth's
absence. Eboni went to upload the footage to the macs prior to the lesson so that we were ready to edit when the lesson itself began. I took control of the editing for the first half an hour and I dragged the footage into the timeline and began to tidy up each clip. We decided together on which shots and clips were appropriate for our sequence and I cropped them time so that they were edited into nice, concise pieces of footage. I used the 'blade and arrow' tool to do this and then put the clips together whilst I then went on to add pace to the different clips using the 'slow motion' function. This generally gave the sequence more pace which would in turn increase the tension of the audience whilst they are watching it whilst ensuring it is gripping. After the halfway bell I passed over the editing to Eboni who experimented with filters to put on this footage in order to make it suitable for a horror film title sequence. We chose the 'combat' filter which we mutually decided would be perfectly suitable to the piece. Eboni added the finishing touches to the footage that we had as at this point, it was only limited as we still have more filming to do at this point.  

Filming Day 1

Over the holidays, Eboni, Beth and myself had been in contact about when to begin filming in terms of when we were all free and available including the cast (Olivia). We decided upon the 3rd of January for our first day of filming.

Schedule

1. Meet at location (Beth's Nana's)
2. Fill in all consent forms and final planning for the day.
3. Begin filming in order of: door entry scene, family photo filming, walking up the stairs, approach of upstairs door, Olivia bed scene.

When we arrived at the house it was clear that we had a lot to address and that we wouldn't begin filming right away. Beth and Eboni filled in all consent forms including the risk assessment and location release before checking up on final plans for the day of filming ahead. After this we were ready and I began to set up the equipment in the downstairs hallway as this is where the house scene will begin. Before capturing any footage we fell into a problem. It was not serious however, and could easily be addressed. As we were filming during the festive period, there were still Christmas decorations up inside the location, e.g cards on the mantelpiece and tinsel up the stairs. Both areas of which were needed for our scene. With permission, we all helped to take these down as it would not look professional in a film, particularly a horror.

I firstly filmed a pan shot of the mantelpiece which had a variety of old family photos on it (as seen right). At this point we need to get lighting correct as I moved with a handheld camera across the old family photos which we used as very useful props. To ensure that the lighting was not too bright, Beth held up a coat against the window to prevent too much light getting in. We all took turns at this point to hold up the coat as it was not particularly an exciting job and it wasn't very professional however it addressed the problem that we had well. Beth then noticed at this point that another problem was the ambient sound in the house. This consisted of moving around, doors shutting and coughing so I will have to address this during editing as I am in charge of sound and I plan to replace it with non-diegetic music.

I then filmed a part of the scene with a POV effect with the camera going upstairs into the bedroom. Beth directed this part as she knew the location well and how it could work to our advantage as Eboni and I took charge of filming. I filmed on the camera going upstairs whilst Eboni filmed a very effective side shot of the bannister as we proceeded upstairs. I then had to crouch down to take a low angle shot as I walked towards the door of the bedroom to make it look imposing and we went on to film Eboni's sister (Olivia) in the bed scene. I provided high key lighting using the flash-light on my phone and Eboni filmed a  close up shot to focus on Olivia's facial expressions which began to look very agitated. This was all that we could film up to this point as we did not yet have all appropriate costume for filming.

           

Location Release form

Before filming we had this location release sheet to fill in which would allow us to work and film our sequence in certain locations. Some of our locations are out in the open and therefore didn't need any consent but one of our scenes takes place at Beth's Nana's house. Beth explained why we needed to do this with full honesty informing her family members that the video would be accessible online however it was needed for our coursework. Our consent was granted which left us ready to film on day 1 and we were perfectly able to film in this house location.

Risk Assessment form

Before we began to film on day 1 we had to fill in a consent form in terms of risk to ensure that the filming procedure would be a safe one for all involved. We came together and went through the whole sequence thinking where there may be some dangers and sure enough we found them particularly in scene 2, they were:

1. Max slipping on railway setting- For Max to be in a commanding position as an antagonist he must be high up and therefore has to do a small amount of climbing before he is in place. It is a rather steep climb but it is easy to do if it as approached in a sensible manner. It is however still a risk that we have addressed and to prevent this we will make sure that Max is wearing a pair of shoes with lots of grip to ensure him of safety more than anything.We will also not film this scene when the weather is rainy or icy to make sure that he doesn't slip and that therefore won't be injuries.

2. Olvia feeling cold during filming- Many of our shots will be taken outside and the current season is Winter. Olivia's clothes are very thin so she can fit in with the act however to ensure that she doesn't become too cold, Eboni will make sure that she has a warm coat for her to wear for the interval times when we are not filming. We have planned these scenes well in order to get them done as quick as possible which leaves Olivia a shorter time to become cold.