Filming: shoot day 3 reflection

We filmed our third day of filming on the 13th March, in the school art gallery which had an exhibition at the time of filming. We decided to film in this location because we wanted to end the film with the protagonist exhibiting the photographs she has taken; it will be here that she realises who is in the background of the pictures and the trailer will end with the figure of her 'dead' partner in the window of the gallery. The lighting in the gallery was very natural due to the amount of windows within the building - with the weather being bright but overcast, it gave us the right amount of light to not require additional lighting.

As the art gallery is within the school premises, we had to gain permission from both the art department and the main office to ensure we would be allowed to film in there. This was done verbally as it was easier to gain a quick answer, and both of these places agreed to us filming in there. The front office asked us to follow the regular school rules of not photographing/filming pupils who haven't given permission due to safe guarding reasons, so we had to make sure that we didn't capture anyone in the background of the shots.

Similar to the rest of the shooting days, we used the Panasonic SD-700 alongside a 8GB memory card; we decided that we didn't need a larger storage capacity on the card as we were only shooting one scene, and we were also very close o the media department so if we did happen to run out of memory, we would be able to fetch a second card without wasting time. Again, we only bought one fully charged battery that had 90 minutes of battery life because we didn't feel that we were going to be longer than this amount of time, and we would be able to get a second if we needed to. We also bought the storyboard so that we could use it for reference and follow the shots we had planned; as with the other shooting days we filmed a number of extra shots so that we would have a variety to choose from if the original shot didn't come out as we had planned. There was no plan for dialogue so we didn't feel it was necessary to use a microphone.

When we uploaded the footage, we felt that we had achieved what we aimed for the resolution of the film trailer. We filmed a number of experimental shots that helps to build the tension at the end of the trailer, and we will intersperse these throughout the final scene. There were multiple endings that we decided to film so that we could discuss which would be more effective with our teachers, as we weren't sure as to which would create the best ending the would engage the audience the most. There are some post editing techniques that we will have to carry out as some of the footage has a blue tint to it; we think this is as a result of the light exposure in the gallery, but this was something we couldn't control but can be easily rectified.

Production: call sheet 4

Filming: shoot day 2 refilm

We again scheduled to use the dark room on a free period, and also decided to film shots that weren't specifically designated on the storyboard so that we would have a larger variety when it came to editing.
All the shots were filmed with the average LED lights that were already present in the room, and we brought additional lighting to frame the actress's face when we capture the shots where she comes to the realisation that there is someone in the pictures; this was something that we hadn't done well in the original filming, so we improved on this. We also decided to use water as a substitute to the chemical normally used in developing photographs, this is to help make the scene more realistic, but this also allowed us to shoot more complex close up shots involving the reflection in the water; these atmospheric shots help to portray the emotions within a scene, and engage the audience through the representation of tension shown in the footage.
We later uploaded the footage onto Premier Pro, and found the correct settings to modify the lighting to include only the red elements within the clip; this provided a suitable red filter that has given us the effect we wanted. The footage was vastly improved on quality, with the audience able to make out the  figures on the pictures the female is developing.
The range of shots that we took were much more complex, and when we put them into sequence it has allowed more tension to be portrayed through the extreme close ups, with the detailed shots prolonging the information that the audience want to discover.

Upon reflection, this is something that could have been avoided by thorough planning, where test shots could have been taken to investigate whether the red lighting was suitable to film under, or if we would have add a filter, as proven in our re-shoot.

Production: call sheet 3

Filming: shoot day 2 reflection

Having reviewed the footage we captured during the day 2 shoot we discovered the the dark room scenes hadn't come out as expected and that the red overhead lighting had caused the footage to become pixelated; it is something that we have tried to rectify but due to the severity of the pixelation there is nothing we can do. We achieved the portrayal of tension and sincerity through the use of the red lighting, however the quality of the footage was so poor that it was near impossible for the audience to make out the figures that are present in the photograph that female character notices. This is a key part of the trailer as it is where the audience is aware that there is something happening; the pixilation means that we are unable to effectively present this to the audience, and so the trailer would lose the edge we are trying to create.

As a result, we have made the decision to re-film this scene without the red lighting and to use post production programmes to create a red filter, giving the effect we desired but with the quality provided when using a properly lit location. A further thing that we are going to build on is the complexity of the shots we used; having reviewed the shots in sequence we felt that we hadn't been as experimental as we could have been and so the entire sequence seems very basic. Because of this, we are going to attempt to film a number of more experimental shots that focus on the smaller details to help us add tension for the audience.

Filming: shoot day 2

Today, March 1st, we filmed the scenes in the darkroom and in the cemetery; this was a scheduled filming day that we had preplanned around a week before. We made the decision to shoot two scenes in one day because we knew that these were going to be relatively small parts of the film trailer, and we were using locations that were very close in proximity to the school - this makes access very easy and means there are no requirements to calculate travel times into our scheduling.

The cemetery we had located was very close to our school, which made finding a suitable date for filming much easier as we knew it wouldn't require additional time for travelling etc. At the start of the day, both Megan and I had a free lesson at the same time as Nicole, so we made arrangements to shoot during this time; the weather on the day of filming was overcast, but this helped us create a sense of pathetic fallacy. The dark weather reflected the situation that we were trying to portray, with the death of her partner. As we were aware of the weather, we ensured that the actress had bought suitable clothing so that she wouldn't be cold.

As we were very close to school, and the scene we were shooting was only going to be a very small part of the film trailer, we made the decision to only bring one battery. While we didn't film for very long, we felt that we could return to school if the battery did run out, although in this case it didn't. Unlike our first days filming, we didn't use the 16GB memory card as we felt that the amount of footage required would be much less that this, and as mentioned previously, the proximity to school would allow us to return and fetch a higher capacity card if it was required.
Similar to the first filming day, we took copies of the storyboard so that we could get the shots we required, however we also took multiple shots that weren't planned so that if our original idea didn't work, we would have back ups.
As we were filming quite a sensitive subject, we ensured that when we were focusing on a gravestone we didn't capture any personal information of the deceased because we hadn't specifically gained permission from the family of the grave we were using, which could have provided us with a confidentiality breech. However we did show the back of a grave stone, which showed the surname of the deceased; we felt that this was acceptable as it didn't reveal any personal information that would allow someone to identify the person, and potentially cause distress to the victim's family.

When filming in the dark room, we made the decision to use the red lighting already present to represent the location that the character is in; the colour red also connoted danger which is relevant considering that this is when she first notices a figure in her pictures. Having consulted with our teacher, we felt that this was the best decision.
We ensured that the dark room was empty when we planned to use it as we didn't want to disrupt anyone developing their coursework - we did this by checking the timetable before hand and making sure that we chose a period that was free. By ensuring that the dark room was free, it meant that there would be no other students present who may be captured by the camera; they wouldn't have been given parental permission to be filmed, and so this could have been a safeguarding issue that would be difficult to control.