Filming: Practical

Shots I filmed:

For our teaser trailer we planned for two filming days, within this I played the killer, therefore being in the shot a lot of the time and unable to film. However when the shots were taken of the victim I took that role. The first is the shot at the very beginning of our teaser trailer. Where the victim is holding up a suicide card. This along with the creepy environment and blood helps the audience to know the genre from the first few seconds (a horror with slasher elements) and helps to create tension. It also presents the killer at the very beginning with her weapon, further creating this atmosphere.

This shot is a reaction shot mid shot, shown after the match on action of the killer opening her lares door and closing it on the inside. A banging noise is heard and the victim turns to see what is occurring (allowing the audience to know that the killer is in close proximity, therefore that the victim is not safe). Lighting was important for this shot, I had to ensure it was neither particularly high-key or low-key, somewhere in between. Since we wanted it to feel like late afternoon.

This shot is shown at the beginning as an establishing shot, of the victim on her laptop. The lighting is very low-key with only the characters face lit. We wanted this to be done as emphasis of the darkness within the film, and highlighting how this will somehow effect her. A subtle use of foreshadowing.

This shot is a close up of the victim browsing YouTube in order to find more information about the deep web. To find out what exactly what a red room is. This shot had to be focused perfectly to ensure the audience got a clear view of what was occurring. We also chose a mac for our filming due to being popular currently, ensuring social relevance.

Another mid shot of the victim on her laptop browsing YouTube to gain more knowledge on the deep web. The lighting is fairly high-key.

 This shot is a reaction shot in low-key lighting. Within it the characters face is lit up white at first, and as she clicks the link to 'The Monkey House' her face is lit up red. Representing the blood, pain and death to come within the film.

The teaser trailer ends on a very similar shot to the one it began with, however this time, with the victim holding up suicide cards, covered in blood, in the killers lare. However this time the killer is not shown, due to the suicide card footage not being shown in chronological order, due to the start of the footage being shown at the very end.

Conclusion:

• Overall I think our filming days went really well as we were very prepared and brought all our props and all the equipment that we needed.
• However lighting was somewhat an issue, but all we had to do was wait a few hours to ensure it was dark enough in the victims bedroom to film the shots of her face lit with the laptop.
• The use of us thinking about lighting in advance, helped us achieve the effect we were looking for nicely.



Filming - Louise Hyam

Filming:

When filming as a group we had to ensure that we all had an equal part within the filming of the trailer. This is to ensure we all had a contribution to a part of the filming of our film trailer.

I chose to film some parts of the killer (harriet) and some parts of the victim (xena) this is because some parts required both of them to be in the footage together therefore it made more sense for me to film those parts. I also filmed some parts of the killer (harriet) because it included lots of different angle shots and camera work therefore i tried to do this. 

In the below images of the killer this is where i used different types of camera angles and techniques to make it effective. For example for these shots of the killer I used low angles this is to show the killer as being dominant and this works effectively through a low angle shot of the killer that I chose to do because it looks up on them making them seem superior and it shows that they have power for some reason. Also for some of these shots of the killer I had to zoom in to show facial expressions and eye movements that the killer was making. This is effective being zoomed in because it shows the facial movements of the killer which are important to create tension also it is important that I zoom in on the pig mask that the killer is wearing as it is a key important thing that is shown the whole way throughout our trailer therefore zooming in upon it when I was filming helps to show its significance. 

 For the two below images of the killer when I was filming it to make this scene effective when the killer is using the axe and throwing it around, in order to make it effective I tilted the camera for some of it right and then the other part of it i tilted it left. This was in order to show the weapon fully and the way that the killer was using it and this was made effective by the tilt as it showed the full action that the killer was doing. This also showed focus upon the fact that the weapon was dripping with blood and had quite clearly been used to murder someone.

For this shot when filming it i started it as a long shot and then when liming i zoomed in whilst the killer moved towards the camera. This was to show the focus again upon the killers face which as it gets closer then goes on to show the eye movements of the killer which is shown in the second image below. Also in the first screenshot in this part of the footage as it is a long shot it is showing the blood everywhere in the shed which is effective for the genre we have chosen and it is also creating suspense throughout the trailer as the audience at this point are unsure as to why this is there. In the second screenshot where the killer is shown on a close up to the camera this is significant to the footage because it is showing blood dripping off of the pig mask which is significant and this is helped shown by the close up and also the eyes is significant and this is made effective by the close up I did through filming.

In these two screenshots of the victim (xena) the footage is shown of her at a low angle and this is done when I'm filming by putting the camera at high angle to show that she is in danger and a vulnerable victim. When i filmed it i did it at a mid shot and this was to ensure that the top half of the victims body can be shown this is in order to show the facial expression of fear that she shows and in order to see her heavy breathing because she is scared which is shown in the footage.

In the second screenshot below this shows her facial reaction from a high angle camera point of view but this shows the victim as being vulnerable. In the top screenshot you can see that there is a weapon i also ensured that when filming there was focus upon the weapon being cut across the victims throat when she is sitting there. This is done through the mid shot showing above the victims shoulders focusing on mainly her had but still having focus on the weapon when it comes across her throat. 

Filming:

Days of filming

We decided to film on the 28th and 29th of December for our teaser trailer. We had to bring props to our location which was set in Staple Hurst, I brought a pig mask which I had added liquid latex and fake blood to ensure that it looks as creepy/eerie as possible. I also brought fake blood, a tripod and for future filming which is needed to finish our piece I will bring guts to the location to film the gory scenes (which I will purchase from a butcher). This will help to emphasise the realism of the piece since they will look very similar, or very likely the same to the untrained eye.

 

28th December:

 

For the majority of this day I acted as one of the main characters, wearing a ring master costume, pig mask and hat all splattered with the fake blood brought by us as a group. My fellow group filmed as I swung weapons and acted out the serial killers actions. Although this is the case as a group we all decided on the cameras angles and positioning prior to ensure we all liked it and deemed it to look suitable.

 

 

I also splashed blood and mud around the shed to increase the realism and look as if it was dirty/grimy since this is a common feature of a murderers lare. As I swung the weapons blood was thrown on me to make it look as if I was hitting the victim.

 

 

29th December:

 

In this day I filmed the majority of the scenes, due to Xena now being the focus. I filmed scenes of xena browsing the Dark/Deep Web, with her face alone lit up by the laptop. We deemed the dark lighting to be effective since it creates a fairly tense environment. I also used a range of shots including close ups to portray and foreshadow events. As well as reaction shots, for example the scene of xena cooking in the kitchen, a bang is heard and a clear confused/interested look is shown wanting to know the events that have occurred.

 

Evaluation:

• Due to the location being in an area I have visited before, the filming was a lot easier since we did not waste time getting there. It was also filmed in a shed in a back garden and a house making it easy for us to use weapons and create our scenes in a hidden environment to not cause any trouble with the general public.
• We did have some issues with getting the animal guts on our filming day as it happened to be a bank holiday and the butcher we had arranged it with was closed. As well as the six other ones we visited. Although this is the case we are soon being able to do this and finish out filming.

 



Filming Location

These are some photos that I took during our filming process of the location that we used which was Xena's shed and we used fake blood to make it look dirty and scary. There is also photos of some of the weapons that will be featured in our film trailer.