Thriller - Day of Shoot

Well, after all that preparation and time put towards our thriller we finally did it... The majority of it anyway. As we didn't have much time (due to careers, we had to start at 10, and because Matt had to leave early we finished at 3) we had to do as much as we can and then finish whatever we didn't have time to shoot another day.

Firstly we had to set up our first location the afternoon/night before. This involved making a tent in which doctors would operate patients on in order to try and cure/save them. We got all of our sheets and tarpaulin etc from Al in the theatre department. Setting up was quite fun as it was only three of our team mates; Tilly, Lavinia and me. We used lighting stands with weights to help keep up the sheets to create the tent. With the help of Scott one of the workers for the media shoots, we used crocodile clips to keep them attached to the lighting stands.      

from left to right; me, Lavi, Tilly

To help make this look more shocking and menacing, we got some hospital masks and put fake blood in them so as to make it look like people have TRIED to save themselves but our setting and thriller is sort of saying that nothings worked. I think that this will work a lot more effectively and will hopefully encourage the audience to see what we are trying to make them see.

After we had shot this sequence we started getting ready for our next set which was the Morgue. We laid out 7 bodies out onto the floor of the studio with white sheets over them to indicate that there had been a lot of work put into organising the people that had died. We left the studio doors open with a dust sheet half attached to the upper door frame. We then threw blood onto the sheet to show that humans had tried to barracade them away. This was my favourite scene to film as it went a lot better and looked a lot better than how I thought it would. I was really impressed that it ran so smoothly and that we didnt have any problems or stressful situations, apart from the fact that we painted a lot of hands of the extras with dead make up, then finding out that this couldn't be seen through the camera.

After this we then had a plan to use the trailer which Frankie had been in charge of taking care of (although she had failed to do so so it was very last minute). Tilly and I spoke to Georgina (the kitchen staff who's son owns the trailer) and she said that the trailer was at Cornhill Manor. So Matt, Phil, Tilly, Lavi, Frankie and I went to Cornhill only to find that the trailer was filled with trees and branches which we couldn't empty. So we had an idea of going to the tennis courts which would have been quite good to use for a body situation because the fence and gates were very rusty and looked as though they had been left for ages. When we got to the tennis courts (still at Cornhill - which is about 15 minute drive from Hurtwood) we spent ages trying to plan out that in order to make it look like there were loads of bodies, we had to lie - take the shot - move and lie down - take the shot, etc. This was going to be a very long process and also seemed kind of pointless so we decided against it and went back to school.

From left to right; Frankie, Tilly, Lavi, ME

When we got to school we did our last shot which was down in the corridor in Hurtwood where the laundry rooms and bathrooms are. This shot was very fun to shoot because it meant getting all of the people we could find, including friends and people who we didn't really know, to lie down on the floor warped and squashed together. It looked really impressive and I was really satisfied with this particular shot. However it was very stressful to try and get people to be quiet constantly and stop wriggling but to get people to stay completely still and silent through the extreme heat which was radiating from the Red-Head light. We put the camera at an angle so that it looked warped and much more menacing so I'm really looking forward to editing and seeing all of it.

All in all I was genuinely surprised and satisfied at how good it was and had gone. We haven't finished shooting it all yet and will take out a day one day this week to complete it and I'm really looking forward to finishing and editing it.


Here is a video which my teacher filmed of me shooting the tracking shot inside the Morgue.

Thriller - Practice Shots

We were slightly concerned with the different shot ideas which we would have to take, and as our teacher comes in early to school he kindly took some photos on his iphone and showed us how to edit them on garage band. This benefited us greatly as it broadened our ideas on different ways to film and edit.

For our opening shot in our thriller we wanted to have an establishing shot of the sun rising to set the scene. My teacher took some photos of what we would potentially like to shoot, he took this on his iPhone.

I think this is a beautiful shot which is very atmospheric and could potentially suit our thriller in the fact that as well as being seen as something beautiful, it is also very naturalistic and dark, correlating to the idea of the end of the world and how nature takes its course.

This is another example photo which he took, experimenting with a low angle shot which we found worked really effectively as the daunting bare tree branches leave little room for comfort and hope and although it's still a beautiful shot, it's less cliche beautiful than the first picture.

 This final picture was taken at roughly 7.20/30 in the morning (the same time as the previous pictures - as we found that this was the best time to capture the sunrise) from our media classroom. I like this one a lot because it associates with fire and burning which again links to our idea of destruction.


As well as researching our shots we also looked into creating a tracking shot which we took from a car driving up to school early in the morning.

Thriller - Schedule

8.00 - 9.00 = Tibetan Village

9.15 - 10.30 = Media Room (Set up the night before)

10.40 - 11.30 = Hurtwood House

11.40 - 12.30 = Police Tape/Perimeter Shot

12.30 - 1.00 = Trailer (Set up the night before)

LUNCH

1.30 - 2.20 = Laundry

3.00 - 4.00 = Studio/Dead Bodies


process of doing dead body make up will be carried out in lunch.

This has been laid out in this way due to the time schedules from other thriller groups needing to carry on their shooting, but also because of particular timings and which rooms (eg the laundry) are open/closed/available at particular times.

Thriller - Update

We have decided that instead of paying a huge sum of money to film our thriller in a small barn, we are now going to stick to our original plan and film it at the school.

With everything in order and our plan and locations finally set out I'm sure it will all go to plan as we have gathered up our props necessary and scheduled our film plan.

We have had some trouble however in the time periods and schedule with our thriller, we have been told that we can only work until 4, which I suppose works out not too badly because we can get home okay but also we were told that we can finish off what we finished next week. However, our entire year have been told that we have to go to a careers meeting which means that some of group will not be there when others are and visa versa. I have been told that I have to go to the 9.00-10.00 meeting which means I will not be able to work until 10.00. This means that our group is very short for time which is really frustrating and my biggest fear is that we will end up paying for it when we lose the marks.

Although Matt and Luke have reassured me that it is completely fine and that we will definitely get it all done.

Thriller - Costume

Now of course I have already displayed my ideas on how I think that 'The Road' is a perfect example and inspiration for how we should do Emma's costume. 

We want her to be wearing very dirty and very grubby clothes which will indicate to the audience how long she has been travelling for and to illustrate the period of time and her lack of resources and having to make do in grubby and disgusting clothes which she has clearly had to wear for a long time.


I like the idea of Emma wearing a form of boots, for practicality but also we want to put plastic boots inside. This demonstrates tot he audience that she has used them to keep her feet as dry as possible, and shows that she has been 'surviving' for a long time so she is aware of how to protect her body.


We also plan to give her a rucksack which we would also make disgusting so that it shows she has been keeping provisions in there to help her sustain her welfare and health.  

Thriller - Location Works

In response to our new thriller set which admittedly has been left very last minute, I took the time to email them with details which we needed and what we would like to do and shoot. As well as the date (27th January) which we will be shooting our thriller. 


They have not replied YET. However I of course received a confirmation email clarifying all of the details sent to them and that they would try and get back to me asap. 

Thriller - Shot Ideas

I really like the idea of making it visually interesting and creating an eerie technique which will compliment the design as well as the idea of the thriller (Paramedic). 


Not only is this particular angle and shot ideal, but it is also apart of the location which we will hopefully be using. I would like to film it here with Emma (the girl we are using) staggering, or lifelessly walking/surviving along the greenery outside. Then we would cut to the next shot of us actually following her as she walked. 

This picture would be perfect for shooting as well because of the emphasis of the open field and the surrounding trees creates an idea of emptiness and isolation. But also the barbed wired fence suggests entrapment which correlates with the idea of paramedic and our heroine/survivor being alone.

Here is another part of the location which we are hopefully using. It has been left in this derelict state in order to be used for sets for films and working productions. 


It's perfect for what we're looking for and we can still use the inside of that to put in 'bodies' and sheets with a "WARNING" tape barricading the door to indicate to the audience that there has been an illness and paramedic which has wiped everybody out, as after all that is the key aim and motif to our thriller.

Thriller - Updates & New Ideas

Throughout the Christmas holidays I have been constantly worrying about how efficient our thriller will be and whether or not we will be able to completely portray the idea across exactly or near enough how we pictured it. 


Firstly, Tilly and I have discovered a video through a friend which has given us some inspiration and will also enable us to make our thriller cleaner, simpler and hopefully much more effective if we manage to pull it out of the bag within the next 4 weeks (which I'm sure we can).

Secondly, as neither of us were very convinced nor enthused by our last idea of aimlessly roaming around the school and trying to put everything together last minute. We have discovered an excellent location which is not very far from school, nor hard to get hold of or use. http://www.locationworks.com/library.php?reference=33975&image=10