Shooting day

The date our group was given to shoot our opening title sequence was Friday 28^th January. We gathered all the equipment needed and set off to our location in good time.

Our Location

We were shooting at Courtney’s (a girl in our class) house which took about half an hour to get to by mini bus. As we arrived at the location, we didn’t take long to adjust to the surroundings – we soon learnt how to turn on and off the swimming pool lights and the fan in the room, which we had to keep the same throughout the shoot to keep up the continuity. We set up the light behind a glass door, with light shining in on the pool, highlighting Bethany (our main actress) as she swam up and down the pool. The whole of our shoot was shot in one location which meant we could spend time getting the shots perfect.

The first shots we decided to get (out of the water) were wide shots of Bethany swimming up and down the length of the pool. Before this, we used the camcorder in the underwater case to film some underwater shots of Bethany. For example, for one shot the camera is underwater filming as Bethany dives over the top of it. We also got some shots of Bethany as she reached the end of the pool, doing a tumble turn in slow motion. Before we took a lunch break, we set up the tracks for the spider dolly to move along, giving the effect of a sweeping shot.

After lunch, we put the tracks into action, moving the camera along with Adam’s feet as he paced up the side of the swimming pool. 

 Bella and me filming the tracking shot

The idea of this is to make the audience believe that the stalker has entered the building and is, in some way, going to harm the girl. Just as the camera stops moving, Bethany and Adam reach the end of the pool at the same time (Bethany swimming and Adam walking). Bethany looks up, scared, exclaiming ‘You scared me!’. This is the first dialogue included in the story and adds an element of shock. When we had got all of the shots we were happy with (focusing on Bethany) we moved on to Ted (the stalker). The idea is that Ted is outside the window just watching Bethany swim up and down. The windows in the pool room got more and more condensed as the day went on, so when we filmed Ted looking in from the inside, it gave a scary effect as none of his features were clearly visible through the glass. The next shots we got of Ted were close ups of his hand slamming against the glass, and later sliding his hand against the glass. As all of this is going on, Bethany is still swimming up and down the length of the pool (training).

The final shots we got at the end of the days shooting were taken from above of Ted peering through the window. 

 Me filming Ted from above on the balcony

In order to get these shots, we had to stand on a balcony and move the camera along as he walked, finishing with a focus pull. We also decided to shoot some POV shots of the stalker walking down the outside stairs. In order to do this we had to lean the camera on a member of our team’s shoulder and get them to carefully walk down the stairs – giving a shaky impression.

CAST

Name: Bethany Quinn

Age: 16

Role: swimmer

We chose to cast Bethany as our swimmer as she has a past in swimming and therefore has a swimmer's physique. She also studies theatre studies as one of her AS levels, and so has experience with acting. We have asked for her consent and she is happy for us to film her in a swimming costume.

Name: Adam Grant 

Age: Early thirties

Role: plays the mysterious man who enters the swimming pool

We originally chose to cast Adam as this character as the mysterious man is later revealed to be the father, however we decided that this reveal was not necessary in the opening sequence. Adam was chosen as he could play a young father (as he is a father himself), has previous experience acting in media videos and is willing to be a part of our video. As it turns out, through our editing process and the changes we made, it was only essential to see the feet of this 'mysterious man'.

Planning

Whilst planning our final idea we looked at my original idea and questioned how well we would be able to pull off all of the ideas.
The main thing that we changed was the idea of the stalker drawing in the condensation on the window, and also the idea that the stalker comes inside to the swimming pool area. Instead of this we thought about deceiving the audience. By this, we meant that instead of the stalker coming in, another character enters the room. The audience will see his feet pacing up and down and assume that it is the stalker. When the girl comes up from swimming she screams before looking relieved to see her father standing over her.

After we had all agreed on a storyline that we were happy with, we decided to start on the script. The majority of the scene will not have dialogue until the end of the sequence when the swimmer exclaims "You scared me!" followed by "Supper's ready" spoken by the father and then "I'll be there in five". The rest of the scene will be the swimmer swimming up and down lengths of the pool with shots showing the stalker through the window.

Our idea of the storyline is therefore quite basic which means that we will be able to concentrate on getting interesting and different shots to what would normally be seen in an AS level project, for example the underwater shots of the girl swimming.

Once we had the script sorted, it was time to start storyboarding. This involved thinking of all the shots we wanted and adding in all the details needed for each shot. For example, the time each shot lasts, the lighting in each shot and any movement in each shot. Our first storyboard only showed our first ideas and did not need to be particularly neat. We continued to edit it until we reached our final storyboard.
Below is our final story board:

Our Group's final idea

Each person out of our group - Talisa, Bella, Laura and I, chose our favourite idea out of the ideas we had come up with on our own. We sat in a group and discussed the pros and cons of each idea and how easily they could be made into a film. A few of the things we had to take into consideration were:

1.) Location - we needed somewhere which did not take too long to get to and somewhere which we had permission to use. The ideal would be the studio which is actually on school property, however we decided that a short journey to a local location would be fine.

2.) Costs - anything which would cost too much money is out of our hands. This is because we are only a group of four college students and therefore, money is limited.

3.) Permission - if we want to film in a public place, then permission would be hard to get hold of so, if possible, we want to find somewhere where permission is either easy to acces (e.g. in a friend's house) or where permission is not needed (e.g. in the studio at school).

4.) Actors - preferably we want actors from our school. As we are members of a school specialising in drama, hopefully it will not be too difficult to find willing actors. However because they are students, it will be necessary to get permission from their teachers to leave their classes for the day.

Taking into account all of these possible problems, we decided that for our group's final idea, we would choose my idea called 'The Deep End' which was the idea involving a girl swimming in a pool while a stalker was looking in on her from outside.

Thriller opening sequence - ideas

My ideas for a thriller opening sequence:

1) Location: Empty hospital

Camera travels down empty hospital corridor. Bright, artificial lighting flickering. Little girl standing at end of corridor soaking wet with seaweed in her hair. She says nothing, but turns and walks down corridor - wet footsteps left on floor. Background noises of hospital machinery e.g. beeping heart monitor, then silence followed by a loud noise, then the girl starts to run (looking behind her at the camera). The camera shakes. She screams then it freezes on her face and cuts to title of film.

Problems: 

Location - we would not be able to film at a real hospital (as it would be impossible to shut off a corridor)

Actor - it might be hard finding a little girl who is willing to walk around all day acting covered in cold water and seaweed.

2) Location: Swimming pool

One girl swimming lengths alone in a pool. Cuts to an underwater shot as if we are looking up at her from the bottom of the pool. The camera then cuts to outside to a shaky POV shot from someone looking through the window. We can hear his breathing. The person spying then draws something in the window (e.g. a heart or "hello") in the steam. Quick matched cuts between girl swimming and man dragging his hand along the window, leaving a trail of blood in his hand print. Underwater shot shows girl swimming with her head under, unaware of stranger, however the audience can see the man through the water. As she reaches end of length, she comes up and we hear her scream. Cut to film title.

Problems:

Location - We would need to find someone who has an indoor pool with glass windows looking in from outside. They must also be okay with a large group coming to film there all day.

Steam - the steam which the man draws in would be on the inside of the glass, not the outside. We could get around this by him breathing on the window (making steam).

Underwater shots - we would need to get hold of an underwater camcorder or a camcorder case (preferably that shoots onto a HD memory card)

Actress - would have to give her permission for us to film her in a swimming costume. 

3) Location: School

Everyday situation - real life and easy to film on location. Camera starts filming inside classroom, quick glimpse of something running past the window. Later on a group of girls are talking and walking towards the toilets "did you see that thing earlier...?" etc. We then get a POV shot of someone behind a tree with deep breathing. The girls reach the bathroom and are looking in the mirror when the bathroom door opens and reflected in the mirror is a man covered in blood holding a knife.

Problems:

School - we would have to make sure that no one was around or being loud while we filmed, which is hard in a school of 300 people. 

4) Location: Beach

Windy day on an English pebbly beach. There is a wind toy in the pebbles which turns when the wind blows and the camera focuses on this before a couple emerge from the sea. A focus change from the fan to the couple is made, the couple kiss and the camera focuses on the girl as she walks up the beach. There is no one else on the beach and she turns round playfully to smile at her partner but he has gone. Camera zooms in on his footsteps in the sand which just stop in the middle of the beach. His scarf is tied to a groyne (wooden fences on beaches) blowing in the wind. The girl screams and sinks to her knees through fear as her partner has been taken and she is all alone.
Problems:
Location - Firstly, getting to a beach would take up quite a lot of time which could be spent filming if we chose a different location. Also getting permission to film on a beach and also making sure that the beach was empty would be hard.
Pebbly beach - this would mean that the idea of the man's footprints in the sand would not work as well because there would be pebbles not sand.
Weather - as it would be filmed outside, there is no guarantee on the weather.

The History of Horror

In this lesson, we watched a film about the history of horror films.

In 1925, the silent version of Phantom of the Opera was released. The lead role, played by Lon Chaney was a key topic in regard to this film. Lon Chaney who was nicknamed 'The man of a thousand faces' used his own make up skills to create state of the art make up for that time.

However the first horror film which started the huge phase which swept the nation was Dracula. This was the first horror film made with sound. The film itself followed Gothic tradition and soon afterwards the film of Frankenstein was made.

In 1935, a new version of Frankenstein was made by James Whale. This time, the film was called The Bride of Frankenstein and added a new twist to the original film which horror fanatics previously loved. As James Whale was such an inspiration to the horror genre, a film was later made about his life (called Gods and Monsters).

Yet another Frankenstein film was made in 1939. This time the film combined Dracula and Frankenstein together and was called The Son of Frankenstein.

Both of these films (Dracula and Frankenstein) are considered to be the starting point to Horror films which are still, to this day, so popular.