Sunday 17 February 2013

Production - Draft Edit

Hello readers,
 After shooting, we felt it necessary to quickly compile our footage together to get a feel for the shots together and gain an understanding of what shots should be omitted and what shots work well. We decided to not use any footage from the garage location as we felt the fluency was lost. This resulted in just using footage from the woodland location. We felt the pace is sped up by doing so.
 When properly editing our final opening sequence, we need to consider the direction in which the characters are running; in this draft edit, we cannot gain a full illustration of the chase scene as it appears they are running in opposite directions. Also, there is no sound over this and no credits, all aspects of our opening sequence we need to consider.
Another decision that we made when reviewing our draft edit was that we felt we would dismiss the end caravan scene. Although this was not included in our storyboard after deciding we would rather concentrate on the garage, we decided to shoot the entrance into the caravan at the end, however we felt this did not work well and the lighting appeared different resulting  in an amateur look.


Thursday 14 February 2013

Planning - Shot Log

Hello readers,
 Whilst filming we recorded shots taken on a pre-prepared shot log. This enabled us to ensure we took the necessary shots and fulfilled the correct time of the take. Without this, we would not have been able to keep track of the shots taken and could have potentially undershot. Having previously shot test shots within the garage, we felt it wasn't necessary to re-shoot these (despite being fairly unexposed, we felt this enhanced atmosphere) so this is why these shots are not included within this log. We also did an extra shot of the captor carrying the victim into the caravan; this take is also not logged, as it wasn't our original plan to include it and until we produce a draft edit we are still unsure if we will include this.


Wednesday 13 February 2013

Planning - Costume Make-up

 Hello readers,
An important factor of costume design is make-up; make-up can add realism within film. As our victim is escaping after finding herself imprisoned from being captured, we decided to create the look of a black eye and a cut eyebrow. This would add verisimilitude within our film opening; therefore, adding more interest and engaging our audience.

This picture illustrates how the make-up will appear on screen for the viewer to see.


 To create the illusion of a black eye on our actress, we used purple, green, beige, blue, brown and yellow eye-shadow. By dabbing each colour around the eyelid and underneath we were able to achieve what appeared to look like a bruise. To create the illusion of a cut eyebrow, we blotted red lipstick and ketchup to congeal together to form the appearance of dried blood. The rest of the face was left bare, to increase the look of the bruise. Below are images showing the stages of the make-up application. We ended up with a subtle, realistic look which will appear within our film opening.



                                                                                                                               

Production - Filming Opening Sequence

Hello readers, 
Shown below are pictures of our filming day. Despite the snow, we continued to go ahead with the date of Tuesday 12th February. In fact, we found that the snow enhanced the visuals of our footage as the red against the white made our victim stand out more.





Monday 11 February 2013

Planning - Risk Assessment

Hello readers,
 Before filming, it is vital that we evaluate possible risks that the crew and the actors could experience. By highlighting these potential risks, we can avoid them as much as is possible.
 This is our risk assessment sheet: 
As a last minute decision, we have chosen to reuse our shots from testing within the garage scenes, so this is why only risks that could happen in the woodland environment are evaluated. We chose to not go forward with filming new shots within the garage as we can reuse our test shots, and, in order to save time, we feel this is the best choice.

Planning - Call Sheet

Date and Time:              Tuesday 12th of Febuary

Location:                         Weston forest & Moreton Pinkney

Storyboard Scenes:  All

Cast:                                 Shannon Bulmer & James Poole

Props:                              No props needed other than necessary equipment such as camera, lenses, camera rig, tripod, monitor, costume and makeup

Costume:                        Shannon - Leggings, red jumper, wellington boots
                                           James - Jeans, green jumper, wellington boots

Set Up:                            11am - 11.30am

Filming:                           11.30am - 4pm



Saturday 9 February 2013

Planning - Filming Date

Hello readers,
We are set to begin production on Tuesday 12 February 2013. We will be filming during the day of both the garage location and the forest location. A Facebook event has been created by one of our team members Amber Wilson to remind everyone of the date.

However, there are forecast warnings of snow; if this goes forth, filming may have to be postponed or we will have to adapt our film to this weather forecast.
Due to this weather warning, I have looked at what the new possible aesthetic of our opening sequence will be. 
 An infamous chase scene within snowy conditions is The Shining (1980). The snow enhances the feeling of 'no escape' as running becomes harder and conditions are more brutal. Footsteps also lead the captor to the victim; these are factors that we could use to our advantage when filming. The Shining's colour grade is very dark, whereas we are filming in the day so our footage will be more exposed. If we decide to later change the appearance of our takes then we can do so within a colour grading program, such as Adobe SpeedGrade, which was previously tested on our test shots within the forest. 


Wednesday 6 February 2013

Planning - Storyboard

Hello readers,
 This is our storyboard for our opening credits. As you can see, we have altered our original idea of including a caravan scene; we did so as we felt the time limit would be exceeded, and there would be a lack of pace and fluency due to jump cuts to different scenes, thus, leaving us to decide to only concentrate on the main escape scene and the garage.
 We did not include timings within our storyboard as we felt to overshoot our footage would be better in the editing process; it would give us a bigger flexibility and access to using what we feel to be the best shots.

Tuesday 5 February 2013

Planning - Costume Design

Hello readers,
 In consideration to costume design within our film opening, we decided that the victim should stand out whereas the mysterious captor should be in darker colours; this creates a juxtaposition between the nature of both characters.

Victims Costume
As a team, we decided that the victim should wear a bright colour to appear significant within the dull woodland environment.  Our actress will wear a bright red jumper which will contrast with the hues of greens and browns within the forest. She will wear this with dark leggings to enhance the brightness of the jumper and dark blue wellington boots. She may also wear a dark raincoat over the top, again to increase the statement that the jumper provides (the raincoat and wellington boots may also suggest context to the characters previous situation before being captured).
 The clothes are tight-fitting (besides from the rain coat) so this will highlight how small the victim is against the domineering captor. 




Captors Costume
 In comparison to the victim, our captor needs to blend in with the environment. This will add to his stealth persona so therefore he needs to wear dark colours; our actor will be clothed in a dark jumper as shown and a dark t-shirt with dark bottoms. Within the main chase scene, the captor will take off his jumper to project his anger and fluster towards his anxiety of the necessity of capturing the victim once again; a tight fitting t-shirt will also define the build of the captor and therefore illustrate the little hope the victim has of escaping.