Account of shoot day

For Day 1, we stuck to storyboard and the schedule and filmed it as we had planned. For Day 2, our whole group got to school (where we would be filming just outside) at about 9:30am so that our group would know what we were doing before we headed off to our exact location and set up the equipment. We also had to organise our filming time with our actor’s (our teacher’s) schedule and so it was filmed during school on a Friday. At first, we were going to follow our storyboard but as it came to filming it, we found that our original location of an alleyway outside our school didn’t provide enough room to get a good variety of shots and show a story. Therefore, we decided to change the location to a playground which was also nearby and this prompted us to adapt the storyline slightly along with our actors’ improvised lines. The different setting to what we originally intended also meant that we had to experiment with different camera angles. I feel that this whole change of plan actually benefitted our thriller as it made us realise that our original idea and script were not as good as they could have been as they were just a little too simple. If we had shot it as we had originally intended, we might have decided to re-film it anyway and, therefore, this on-the-spot change potentially saved us from having to re-film it on another day. However, we did have to re-film what we filmed on Day 1 but to match the adapted script and plot from Day 2. This only needed to be changed slightly as this character’s role was basically the same. Our group all had varied experience of using the cameras and equipment and so we all put our knowledge together to make it easier to film shots which connoted tension and suspense and were typical of a thriller film to appeal to an audience that like this type of film.

We created mise-en-scène by making the setting for Sean in our thriller in a children’s playground. Many thriller films have a setting like this in them at some point as it creates a very creepy atmosphere, like the childlike innocence has been removed by a horrible murder. Our other setting for Sebastian was shown to be very dark, creating an ominous mood for a thriller and emphasising the mystery behind this character as the darkness means that we, in addition to Sean, have no idea where he is. We used a lot of close-up shots of Sean to show his emotions and of Sebastian to show his non-existent emotion which aided in portraying him as the antagonist of our thriller. We also used medium and wide-angle shots of Sean to show the setting around him. In addition, we used a circular dolly shot which revolves around Sean as he is inspecting the body and demonstrates his confusion of the situation. We also used a few low angle shots of Sean which, although he is being threatened, connotes his authority as he appears to be handling the difficult situation he is in with strength. In one of the last shots where the camera is zooming into Sean’s face, we had to film this a few times. This is because whilst we were zooming in with the camera, we also had to focus it at the same time which we found challenging and so we made this easier by having one of us zoom in with the camera while another one of us focused the camera and we eventually got the shot right by doing this.

The character of Sean was wearing a suit under a winter jacket because the suit represents his authority as a detective and the winter jacket reflects the cold weather (which helps show the thriller genre, as cold weather is usually more associated with unhappiness that hot weather and shows a bleak mood), the dead body was wearing casual clothes to signify that he was just a regular person off the street and it didn’t matter what the character of Sebastian was wearing as it was too dark to see his clothes and the close-ups shots of his face didn’t allow his clothes to be seen anyway. All together, we used very simple clothing with no make-up or styling because this made the thriller as natural as possible and helped it become partially relatable to an audience. We did, however, use ketchup mixed with some coffee to create the effect of blood dripping down the slide from the dead body’s head which was improvised as, originally, there wouldn’t have been a slide for the ‘blood’ to drip down. This relates to the thriller genre as many people die in thriller films and blood is a key element of highlighting their death, or there is just a lot of violence in general which commonly produces blood. We also used props of the two phones used by the two characters, the list of names and the gloves, the laptop and the chemicals for the titles. These helped us show the plot as we wanted it to be shown and helps demonstrate that it is a thriller.

We picked our actor to play the role of Sean Finch as he has a slight resilient look to him with an ounce of mystery. This mystery would cause excitement for the audience as although he is made out to be the protagonist, they still may feel like they shouldn’t trust him completely and will grip them in suspense. We also chose him as was very passionate about playing the role and he acted confidently. In addition, we thought that he looks a bit like the actor Jason Statham who has appeared in thrillers such as Crank and so he would appeal to our target audience. We chose our other actor to play Sebastian as we needed someone who was able to read lines with little emotion as Sebastian doesn’t care about anyone, and our actor was able to this.

When filming outside we didn’t use any artificial lighting as we filmed it during the day and so there was already enough natural light which made any artificial lighting unnecessary. There is one shot where Sean is standing and his silhouette is created as sun beams shine down from behind his face. This makes a conflicting atmosphere, where the mystery created by the silhouette is contrasted with the brightness of the light, symbolising how such a dark crime was committed in a usually very happy place and emphasising the thriller genre and Sebastian’s sadistic nature. When filming inside with Sebastian’s character, there was no light except for a key light which was shone on the actors face. This created a sense of mystery and helped show that Sebastian is in a dark place due to the intensity of the light on his face which presents him as a dangerous character suitable for a thriller.

The sounds in our thriller included a lot of ambient noise such as the rustling of the trees, the whistling of the wind and the noise of cars driving past. This made the setting even more relatable to the audience as they are sounds people are very familiar with. It also brought more tension to the thriller as these circumstances in a familiar environment will draw in the audience and cause suspense. Other sounds were of the gate swinging open and shut, the footsteps up the playground set and of course the dialogue, however this was crowded by the ambient noise and so this must be edited to make the dialogue clear.

I played a big role during the filming of our thriller. I helped set up the equipment if people were struggling and I made sure that the camera was level on the spirit level for every shot as we didn’t want wonky camera shots. I also filmed many shots including the circular tracking shot because others in our group had tried it but due to the gravel floor, they’re shots were very shaky. Therefore, due to my steady hand, I filmed the shot moving the dolly as steadily as I could. This shot was an integral part of our thriller as it allowed the camera shots to move from the side of the playground set to the front and so I needed to film it. In addition, I came up with the idea for our title sequence, filmed most of our title sequence and also suggested different camera angles to be used for different parts of the dialogue, even if I wasn’t filming each one. Therefore, I played a very important role in the production of our thriller opening sequence.

In general we worked together well as a team, taking into consideration everyone’s suggestions and opinions throughout the process. For example, as soon as we got into the playground someone suggested that we film the swing swinging, which we did. This was a good idea as it has been used before in thrillers to create a feeling of emptiness in the playground, but like someone has been there which causes tension. We each played a part in every role such as directing, filming or setting up and if someone was having difficulty with what they were doing, another person from our group would help them so we could continue filming at a steady, effective pace.

Overall, I was happy with the end result. This is because we made it easier for us in editing by filming scenes more than once with different camera angles so that we would have more shots to choose from. Our shoot day didn’t meet my group’s expectations as we didn’t know that we were going to film in the playground until we got to the alleyway and realised it wouldn’t work in the way that we wanted it to. However, we overcame this change of setting and still managed to film a lot of different shots in a few hours.