Lighting

Our group discussed the fact that we needed to change the lighting in the re-shoot and we decided this should be our main focus seeing as everything else (acting, location etc) was spot-on. Therefore, I conducted some mini-research and found this image!

I thought our lighting could be similar to in this picture of a basement setting. It is pretty much the same as what we were doing before with all the basement lights off and just the studio lights, but in the shoot we did not use this to best effect. In this picture there is a fairly strong studio light centered an a point of the room, and we could shine a studio light on the actor at a stronger intensity (with blue gel) in order to focus the attention on them and express their features and expressions more as well as sharpening their shadows. This I do not feel we did well enough in the first shoot as we tried to flicker the lights on and off but this only caused a blurred focus on the camera. We should always keep the intensity the same, and making it fairly high will be more effective within the pitch black darkness than the extreme dimness we tried last time. The lighting will still be low key but will simply be clearer and sharper such as in good films such as Saw.

My account of the test shoot

Here are some photos I took to show what we did on our test shoot.

A window in the basement we could use as a spy hole.

Where the victim will be sitting in the basement (once removing all the clutter).

Close up of the chair.

Testing out lights at low intensity.

At high intensity.

Filming some initial test shots.

Using the blue filter gel on the lights for cold metallic effect.

Using the orange filter gel on the lights to create a dangerous effect, in contrast to the blue.

Filming from the victims point of view.

Using the chain and padlock as props.

Close up of the chain and padlock.

Close up of a hand chained up.

Using the metal tray to chain the victims feet to.

The chair fully set up with chains, rope and metal tray (just missing the victim).

The weapon line up.

Close up of where the victims feet will be.

Low intensity lighting with blue filter gel (our final lighting setup).

Stairway for killers entrance.

A possible close up of the killers feet on stairway.

Point of view shot of killer walking into basement.

Killer looking through door where blue light shines through.

Our favourite shot of a victims hand on the door.

A hole in the door glass which could be exploited for shock.

What the killer sees as he enters.

The killers shadow as he walks.

Pitch black in hallway between the two light setups, disorientating the audience before the killer reaches the victim in the chair.

A gap in the shelves which the killer can look through and spy on the victim.

What the killer will see (with victim sitting in chair).

My Reflections

The test shoot went well, with my group getting a better feel of our location and deciding on where the lights would stand and where the characters will be positioned. We decided on the victim to be chained up in a chair in a corner of the basement furthest away from the door. Here there was not too much clutter compared to the rest of the basement, with the stacks of boxes and mops seeming easiest to move quickly compared to the various other items in other parts of the room. Also, there was a thin window slit here that we thought could be exploited in some way, and lots of useful props such as weapons, chains and rope. We placed a studio light facing on to the scene from the left, so this would be hidden behind a shelf aisle when the killer enters the scene. This was a decision we made after testing out various other positions, and seemed best suited to a particular POV track of the killers entrance/exit that we really liked. Before trying out shots we tested the camera at different intensities and different colours using blue, orange and green filter gel. We eventually decided to shoot with all the room lighting off, with the studio lights at a medium intensity, creating a low key effect casting lots of shadows and making some parts of the room completely dark, focusing the light on the important parts of the room. We went for the blue gel, as it gave off a cold, metallic look often associated with modern horror, connoting isolation and imprisoment whilst creating an eery atmosphere. With this lighting we managed to complete much more effective shots and gained some impressive footage, compared to earlier in the shoot when lighting was not so prominant. It was here we came up with the long POV track following the victim, and particuarly liked a point in the track passing the door, where a hand could appear blood smeared. The combination of dust on the glass door panes and blue lighting from behind the door created a very shocking effect. We thought this could be even scarier by flashing the lights on and off to create a flickering effect, and this led us on to a new idea with the lights flashing on and off whilst the killer progresses closer to the camera. We also got some good close up footage of the victim but decided on watching this, that a better actor was needed than ourselves. We liked the sounds created in the basement and tested out many of these such as banging and scraping a spade against the ground, stepping on glass and turning on the basement lights to create a buzz that we could play over and over again throughout the scene. This would create a long eery buzzing/flickering noise to go with the flashing lights, and we thought we could add the other sounds over the top randomly as well as some distance and some close male screams to create the situation of more than one person in the basement. We had 3 studio lights to light up the path the killer takes in the POV track, as well as the presence of one or two other victims and their sounds. As each light would have to be controlled to flash it, we decided at least one helper would be needed as well as 2 actors to play the part of the killer and victim. This would also help with the issue of space we found, as it took us a long time to clear out sufficient space for the cameras and pathway. With one or two people helping this job would be done quicker. We felt we would probably need a little more space than we cleared out on this test in order to retrieve LS footage of the victim. This is something we decided we may have to check with the caretakers, and ask if this space could be left so we would not have to clear out every time we shot in the basement. Other than this there were no real issues with the shoot, and with more organisation, props and helpers we decided the location could be near perfect for our film. The layout of it inspired our sequence and storyline and now we are content we can produce a really well filmed and lit opening to a modern horror/thriller film.

Our Shooting/Location Plan

At some point next week (17th-21st November) we plan to ask for school permission to use the school basement for test shooting on Friday 21st November, and real shooting the following two Fridays - 28th November and 5th December. We will ask the school caretakers and if necessary, the school office.

If successful we will use the following dates, using the test shoot as a 'location reccie' (or doing this another week day night that week).

If unsuccessful we will use our inset day (24th November) as a 'location reccie' for our other 2 locations in Chingford near to where we all live, and also as a test shoot. We would have to sort out dates and times to shoot for the following 2 weekends, using the preferred location from the test shoot.

Group Meeting 1 - Notes

Genres

- horror (slasher or supernatural)

- thriller (gangster or crime)

Possible Locations

- school (latymer great hall or basement)

- graveyard (chingford cemetary)

- woods (epping forest, pole hill, high beach or ponds near butlers retreat)

- canal (waterhouse by 'halfords' at outer chingford retail or 'boat club' by chingford resevoirs)

- abandoned house (unused house next door to a friends)

- lonely bar (Jack's dads bar or a bar near to latymer school)

- old fashioned historic buildings (tudor museum, 'the harvester', a pub or 'butlers retreat' - all leading onto chingford plains)

- alleyway covered in forest (organ lane near Kris/Jack's house)

- car park and backstreet alleyways (sainsburys car park at chingford mount)

- abandoned littered streets and warehouses (near lea valley odeon and picketts lock)

- church (st peters and chingford green)

Possible Characters

- a female teenage victim (with loud scream)

- a small friendship group of either girls or mixed gender from a posh public school

- a couple of hard-looking italian or cockney gangsters

- a confident teenage boy who can run fast

- a teenage male or grown up to act as the villain (not necessarily ever seen in shot)

- a group of youngsters our age who can sing!

Available Actors

- ourselves and other media students

- sixth formers who do drama, are past media students or are willing to make themselves available to act

- Jack's cousin and his friends

Ideas

- a murder

- a past event (either a murder or supernatural happening in the 1950's or tudor times)

- a secret gangster meeting or confrontation (leading to a murder, shooting or bust-up)

- a monster/unseen creature attack

- a vampire musical (probably not going to happen!)

Group Meeting 2 - Notes

Idea 1

Location: Latymer School Basement

A victim wakes up tied up in a chair and gagged. With only the sound of dripping water and faint echoes, he begins to hear footsteps. The scene will cross cut between shots of the man in the chair and shots suggesting someone is walking down towards the basement where he is. The sequence will provide some sort of twist, with one idea being that a climax to the scene will quickly switch to a friendlier scene from 24 hours earlier via a graphic match. A link maybe shown between the killer in the present scene and a friend the victim is with in the past (possibly showing the victim who is his friend the same knife used in the present scene, or an item of clothing, tattoo or accessory seen in the same way). This will lead to the audience already suspecting the killer in the opening sequence, but the film will lead on to reveal a different killer in a surprising twist. Another idea is that the two scenes using parallel editing (of the victim and of footsteps etc) are at different points in time, with either the footsteps being a few hours before the victim scene, or a few hours after. The first of these would make the audience think the victim was about to be attacked but would be surprised to see the killer simply setting up his trap (possibly using a knife to cut a rope or something, instead of killing the victim). The second would reveal what you think as a killer to be a friend of the victim who has apparently been lead to believe he will find his friend here (through what he says as he enters and his shocked reaction to find his friend not there). With the audience confused, the friend would face an empty chair and a wall marked with blood saying something along the lines of 'too late'. Then out of the darkness a figure would suddenly appear and grab the friend before presumably killing him. The audience would then want to know what happened to the victim in the chair but will not know until later on in the film. Themes or genres involved in this film would probably include aspects of murder, slasher horror, revenge and suspence thriller.

Idea 2

Location: Path by canal/Bridge

The sequence could be a mysterious continuity-based opening showing a teenage boy walking by a canal. He will look troubled as if in a bad way (messed up life, possibly on drugs). Sinister noises and images disturb his walk in an eery silence. The sequence will either involve someone following the boy and killing him, him witnessing a murder on the other side of the canal only to be murdered in exactly the same way moments later, or his route to be disturbed by the presence of perculiar hooded beings (possibly to look like normal youths, only to be wearing hoodies backwards to mask their faces). Another idea would be to show the boy entering onto a plain bridge to find a dead body lying in the centre. Curious, the boy could move towards the body to find it either dead, a doll or dead but with a sinister and chilling appearance such as a painted face or mask. Then two hooded figures on either side of the bridge he had entered could appear and close in on him, trapping him. They could either kill him or he could jump off the bridge into the canal (which would admittedly be dangerous to film). In each of these ideas it would be hard for the audience to distinguish imagination from reality due to the boys confusion and possibly the sight of him carrying or doing drugs that may make him see halucinations. The end of the opening may show the victim dead with scratch wounds and bruises having supposedly been attacked by the silent hooded figures (zombie-like?) but the last shot could steadily zoom out from the body to show no beings around, suggesting he was seeing things and was attacked by his own mind and ended up killing himself through the horrible images he was seeing (with the bridge scenario ending up in him being drowned in the canal because of images he had seen in his mind). The film could have a moral message against drug use and youth gang crime. I thought the rest of the film could be about a a new drug which is disguised as a standard drug such as LSD, but is actually designed to kill its victims - a possible mass murder or terrorist attack on youths of the western world. Themes or genres involved in this film would probably include aspects of murder, thriller, psycological and creep-out horror.

Idea 3

Location: Abandoned house or 'White House' at Gilwell Park

We do not have a particular idea for these locations but is simply a back up idea in case the other 2 locations are not available. This would probably involve mainly interior filming too, to be safe. One idea we have is a group of teenagers arrive to check out the haunted legends of the abandoned house. One character (a girl) stays outside on look out as she is too scared. Sinister going-ons around her unsettle her and she calls for her friends. The opening sequence could involve her entering the house upon panicing that there is no shout back from inside. She could, to her horror, discover the bodies of her friends inside and either be caught herself, or run away. In running away, the rest of the film could be centered around her trying to escape from the forested area she has entered, entirely from her point of view, or just following her character. The film could be disorientating and end up in her being trapped by her surroundings (unable to leave the park) because of this curse/legend - although this will appear as her lost and apparently going around in circles. She would eventually be killed, possibly in a twist of events. Themes or genres involved in this film would probably include aspects of murder, slasher horror, disorientation and supernatural horror.