Here is some test footage of recording the pub sequence at ‘The William Bray’ in Shere. In this video is Fergus doing a tracking shot using the tracks we layed down on the floor of the pub. It isn’t very clear footage but gives an idea of what we were doing and the atmosphere we were filming in.
Friday 21 January 2011
Account of Shoot Day
On the 17th of January 2010, we shot our thriller 'Resurgence'. We started of with preparation, during last week we collected all our costumes which we borrowed from the drama department. These consisted of all the characters costumes appropriate to the 1930's.
After we went through our check list of props, including the set and costume. On Friday our set was built in the film studio. This set consisted of wooden planks on the floor and a brick wall effect on a sectioned off area of the studio, creating a box set. The brick wall effect was created by stapling on a background drop made out of plastic and painting it to the appropriate orange/red brick wall effect. Then centre stage, we had a wooden chair which we got from the drama department. On the side was a table with various props, these props included a metal bucket with a sponge and the victims hood which we placed over him just before he was electrocuted.
This here is a picture of our electric chair, against the brick wall effect. The electric chair was made out of wood, and had leather straps with metal buckles to illustrate the straps in the 1930's. The chair we used was also on wheels, which was easily moved around if the actor moved around so we had to place weight behind it, restricting the chair moving. From the top of the electric chair there were rubber tubes coming out of the back of the chair, these rubber tubes represented how the electricity passed through to the victim in the chair. As we were only filming the opening sequence we didn't need to portray that the victim was getting electricuted only the steps leading towards it.
When we drew our set sketches which we based our building set on the finished set was very similar except we added in an extra table, it was easy to of done this as all our original planning and notes can still be relevant and useful now. Drawing detailed set sketches allowed our group to know exactly what we wanted to achieve and what look we were aiming to get. I have scanned in our set sketches into my blog, which appear below this post.
When the studio had been set up, our actors came into the studio and we gave them a briefing on what the day consisted of and there roles throughout the day. We got them into their costumes and then brought them into the film studio to run through there actions and lines, this took quite a while as we had to plan there routes we planned our where they’d be situated on set and there actions. We did waste a lot of time preparing for this, but eventually got the concentration and focus.
Here is a picture of the set with the characters smiling for the camera. In this picture, the priest, two prison guards and the victim are present. On the side is the governor is pictured slightly in his cream suit.
Here is a better picture of the cast, which includes a full picture of the Governor in his costume with the priest blessing the victim.
Throughout the whole shoot we wrote down every shot choice we used so we could refer back to them through the editing process and writing up. We did this, so when we started our editing it will be easier to select the good shots and the ignore the shots which were rushed or badly filmed.
Here is a template of the sort of shot list we used.
We started of with the establishing shot, we used this shot as it involved the whole set and all the characters on stage, and the electric chair was situated in the middle of the set so was again a focal point for the audience. An establishing shot establishes the context for a scene by showing the relationship between its important figures and objects. It is generally a long- or extreme-long shot at the beginning of a scene indicating where, and sometimes when, the remainder of the scene takes place.
After doing that we moved on to wide shots, focusing on the whole set again. We had to retake a lot of shots due to the actors forgetting their lines, actions or simply laughing. But this wasn’t a problem as through editing we can pick out the best bits and merge them together. As with many shot types, the wide shot means different things to different people. However the wide shot seems to suffer more from varying interpretations than other types. Many people take the WS to mean something much wider than our example, i.e. what we would call a very wide shot.
The next shot we did was a Mid shot on the Governor, The mid shot was used as it showed part of guy in more detail whilst still giving an impression of the whole subject. After this we did a close up on the governor, this here showed guys face which took up the whole frame.
Moving on to the next actor which was the prison guards, here we did mid shots on the prison guards to show there actions of sitting down the victim (Randell) then keeping on guard, this was used to give an impression of the set itself.
We also did a close up on the prison guards to get there expressions and emotions, contributing to how they will be portrayed to the audience, telling us the kind of characters they are. Connor which was the priest came onto set at the same time as the governor, the shots we did on Connor was a mid shot to establish where who he was, and his actions. He went over to Randell who is the victim in the electric chair, and then we moved on to a close up of his face, we do close ups on everybody’s face to pick up there reactions of there faces in more detail.
I feel these shots all worked extremely well, but the best shot for us was the tracking shot on Randell, we used tracks which we lined out on the floor, the way we did this was difficult as the tracks didn’t seem to want to stay still, effecting the footage when we did a tracking shot. Using a tracking shot enabled us to zoom in right up to Randell face from a far distant away. The tracks had to be straight otherwise the footage wouldn’t be smooth. The reasons why we use tracking shots are that you can do exactly the same shot twice, go from a fixed point to another fixed point.
here is a picture of the tracks we used to achieve this tracking shot.
We could have improved this shot by practicing our technique and using the tracks before our shoot. We also did extreme close ups of the sponge and bucket on the table, this was used to draw significance to these particular items. The shots we took, were rather shaky and unfocused, but we were expecting this due to never used tracking before.
The second half of our shoot was filmed in the ‘William Bray’, our aim here was to see Randell serving behind a bar at some place watching new victims, we had three blonde girls sitting in the corner and one of the girls went up to the bar to order some more drinks, we used a tracking shot simply to get the girl walking over to the victim from her table, I believe it was the most effective and appropriate for this shot. Setting up the track was very difficult due to the space being so small and also the fact people were having a drink there so we had to work round there.
There here is a picture of the girls (Megan, Emma and Jasmine) which we used for Randell to focus on in the 'The William Bray'.
We chose simply to film the execution scene in the studio as it was most practical. Having the flexibility to change the studio to fit our needs was really useful, there was also a lot of space and we could adjust the lighting to our likings.
The second half of our shoot was filmed at ‘The William Bray’ in Shere. The reasons for this was because we needed an area and atmosphere of a bar which couldn’t be created in a studio, although our original plan was to film in the studio and build a set of an American diner, practically it wasn’t possible although we had gathered all our props from the drama department and around various places.
Here hectar is pictured in the bar in 'The WilliaM Bray' behind the bar.
In terms of Mise en scene the film studio was perfect as all our props, set, costume could be used and placed around the studio when not in use. Although we had a problem at ‘The William Bray’, due to this being a public pub which was opened for lunch we had limited space and couldn’t use the props we wanted or needed although most of the bar props we proposed to used were already situated at their bar itself, we managed to make it work.
Here is a picture of 'The William Bray', it was a small, sweet local pub in shere, here are pictures of the William Bray in the evening and day.
Costumes for the electrocution in the Film Studio-
Randall- denim jacket, jeans and a victim stripy top with no shoes.
Governor- pale beige suit, with aTexas
Priest- the priest wore a black suit with a dog color and carried a prop of a bible.
Security guards- wore 1930’s navy police guard uniforms and hats with suede shoes.
Costume for the pub scene in 'The William Bray'-
Randall- jeans and a ‘William Bray top’.
Three girl victims- jeans, tops (casual wear)
Here is a picture of Randells execution outfit in the electric chair, with the two prison guards, governor and the priest.
For the first half all the costumes were appropriate to the time period of 1930’s to make the setting and whole atmosphere more appropriate. For the second half of the shoot it was casual, modern day clothes for this present day.
Various props we used was firstly the electric chair, this here was the main focal point and made out of wood. Beside the chair was a table and on this table there was a bucket and sponge which are typically seen and used in electrocution scenes. The were used also to add effect to the whole atmosphere.
Here is the kind of metal bucket we used.
And here is a simple sponge we used.
The casting choice was very difficult as originally a lot of the people we wanted to cast weren’t free so we had to find alternatives but the main character of Randell was always our original guy we wanted to use. We used Hector McAlister as his personality fitted in with our idea and also his image, haircut and build. The people we choose to be in our film fitted the casting choices as they were reasonable actors and really interested and excited to be in our shoot. This helped as they were determined to work with us and coordinated really well, so they were chosen successfully. The way we dressed them in the costumes and told them how to act, this made the shoot really effective.
Lighting was very important in our shoot; the lighting we used in the studio consisted of two studio lights (these lights are called redheads/blondes lights) , one on the right hand side and one on the left hand side. This provided enough light to cover the studio space and light up the set and props. I would say this lighting was effective; at times we dimmed it a bit as the metal buckles on the electric chair was reflecting and interfering with the footage, so by dimming the lights the reflection was less obvious. In the ‘William Bray’ where we shot our second half we used natural lighting to create the atmosphere that was presented and make it seem more realistic.
This redhead/blonde light is pictured here.
Here is a picture of Fergus opering the camera in 'The william bray' and Will operating the camera at our film set in the studio.
Here also pictures Fergus, having a turn with recording the sound by using the sound mic.
I believe we worked really well as a team, we were organized, coordinated well and were able to make group decisions without disagreeing too much. Assigning everyone different jobs allowed us to get on with it and then come back together with all the materials and research we had done. This saved time and managed to work well as a team. Although, we did have some disagreements and arguments but managed to come up with a compromise or get round the situation by thinking of an alternative.
Here is a picture of how we worked well as a team and how this was important.
It was a long, tiring day with a lot of hands on work, but at the end of the day I was pleased with what we had accomplished and achieved, I believe that after we have edited this our final piece will be promising. The footage that we recorded did meet our storyboard and was easy to follow due to having a detailed storyboard, although we did adjust a few shots as we wanted to improve our footage as much as possible. Working together with various teachers such as Luke and guy was a privilege and I very much enjoyed it, I learnt new things and learnt from our mistakes. But now we have greater knowledge in shooting, using the camera and the overall aspect of film shoots. It is stressful and tiring but at the end of the day definitely worth it.
Throughout the day we watched our footage being filmed on a monitor on the side of the set, this here is pictured. It was a way which enabled us to spot any obvious errors and get the focus, zoom accurately.
After we went through our check list of props, including the set and costume. On Friday our set was built in the film studio. This set consisted of wooden planks on the floor and a brick wall effect on a sectioned off area of the studio, creating a box set. The brick wall effect was created by stapling on a background drop made out of plastic and painting it to the appropriate orange/red brick wall effect. Then centre stage, we had a wooden chair which we got from the drama department. On the side was a table with various props, these props included a metal bucket with a sponge and the victims hood which we placed over him just before he was electrocuted.
This here is a picture of our electric chair, against the brick wall effect. The electric chair was made out of wood, and had leather straps with metal buckles to illustrate the straps in the 1930's. The chair we used was also on wheels, which was easily moved around if the actor moved around so we had to place weight behind it, restricting the chair moving. From the top of the electric chair there were rubber tubes coming out of the back of the chair, these rubber tubes represented how the electricity passed through to the victim in the chair. As we were only filming the opening sequence we didn't need to portray that the victim was getting electricuted only the steps leading towards it.
When we drew our set sketches which we based our building set on the finished set was very similar except we added in an extra table, it was easy to of done this as all our original planning and notes can still be relevant and useful now. Drawing detailed set sketches allowed our group to know exactly what we wanted to achieve and what look we were aiming to get. I have scanned in our set sketches into my blog, which appear below this post.
When the studio had been set up, our actors came into the studio and we gave them a briefing on what the day consisted of and there roles throughout the day. We got them into their costumes and then brought them into the film studio to run through there actions and lines, this took quite a while as we had to plan there routes we planned our where they’d be situated on set and there actions. We did waste a lot of time preparing for this, but eventually got the concentration and focus.
Here is a picture of the set with the characters smiling for the camera. In this picture, the priest, two prison guards and the victim are present. On the side is the governor is pictured slightly in his cream suit.
Here is a better picture of the cast, which includes a full picture of the Governor in his costume with the priest blessing the victim.
Throughout the whole shoot we wrote down every shot choice we used so we could refer back to them through the editing process and writing up. We did this, so when we started our editing it will be easier to select the good shots and the ignore the shots which were rushed or badly filmed.
Here is a template of the sort of shot list we used.
We started of with the establishing shot, we used this shot as it involved the whole set and all the characters on stage, and the electric chair was situated in the middle of the set so was again a focal point for the audience. An establishing shot establishes the context for a scene by showing the relationship between its important figures and objects. It is generally a long- or extreme-long shot at the beginning of a scene indicating where, and sometimes when, the remainder of the scene takes place.
After doing that we moved on to wide shots, focusing on the whole set again. We had to retake a lot of shots due to the actors forgetting their lines, actions or simply laughing. But this wasn’t a problem as through editing we can pick out the best bits and merge them together. As with many shot types, the wide shot means different things to different people. However the wide shot seems to suffer more from varying interpretations than other types. Many people take the WS to mean something much wider than our example, i.e. what we would call a very wide shot.
This photo could be classified as a wide shot, as it involves the subjects, which include the actors and the scenery. Also in this picture, are Fergus using the camera to capture this moment, by moving the tripod around the studio set allowed us to capture a better angle and picture that we needed.
The next shot we did was a Mid shot on the Governor, The mid shot was used as it showed part of guy in more detail whilst still giving an impression of the whole subject. After this we did a close up on the governor, this here showed guys face which took up the whole frame.
Here is the governor, in his appropriate costume which concisted of a cream suit and a leather hat. The way he stood, also showed authority and his high position in society.
Moving on to the next actor which was the prison guards, here we did mid shots on the prison guards to show there actions of sitting down the victim (Randell) then keeping on guard, this was used to give an impression of the set itself.
Here is a picture of Will, who was one of the prison guards.
This picture consists of Hectar who is the victim (Randell) and Patch who is the other prison guard. They are all dressed appropriately to the 1930's era and character.
We also did a close up on the prison guards to get there expressions and emotions, contributing to how they will be portrayed to the audience, telling us the kind of characters they are. Connor which was the priest came onto set at the same time as the governor, the shots we did on Connor was a mid shot to establish where who he was, and his actions. He went over to Randell who is the victim in the electric chair, and then we moved on to a close up of his face, we do close ups on everybody’s face to pick up there reactions of there faces in more detail.
The Priest which was played by the character of Connor is pictured in a black suit, with a dog collar and a bible which was his main prop.
I feel these shots all worked extremely well, but the best shot for us was the tracking shot on Randell, we used tracks which we lined out on the floor, the way we did this was difficult as the tracks didn’t seem to want to stay still, effecting the footage when we did a tracking shot. Using a tracking shot enabled us to zoom in right up to Randell face from a far distant away. The tracks had to be straight otherwise the footage wouldn’t be smooth. The reasons why we use tracking shots are that you can do exactly the same shot twice, go from a fixed point to another fixed point.
here is a picture of the tracks we used to achieve this tracking shot.
We could have improved this shot by practicing our technique and using the tracks before our shoot. We also did extreme close ups of the sponge and bucket on the table, this was used to draw significance to these particular items. The shots we took, were rather shaky and unfocused, but we were expecting this due to never used tracking before.
The second half of our shoot was filmed in the ‘William Bray’, our aim here was to see Randell serving behind a bar at some place watching new victims, we had three blonde girls sitting in the corner and one of the girls went up to the bar to order some more drinks, we used a tracking shot simply to get the girl walking over to the victim from her table, I believe it was the most effective and appropriate for this shot. Setting up the track was very difficult due to the space being so small and also the fact people were having a drink there so we had to work round there.
There here is a picture of the girls (Megan, Emma and Jasmine) which we used for Randell to focus on in the 'The William Bray'.
We chose simply to film the execution scene in the studio as it was most practical. Having the flexibility to change the studio to fit our needs was really useful, there was also a lot of space and we could adjust the lighting to our likings.
The second half of our shoot was filmed at ‘The William Bray’ in Shere. The reasons for this was because we needed an area and atmosphere of a bar which couldn’t be created in a studio, although our original plan was to film in the studio and build a set of an American diner, practically it wasn’t possible although we had gathered all our props from the drama department and around various places.
Here hectar is pictured in the bar in 'The WilliaM Bray' behind the bar.
In terms of Mise en scene the film studio was perfect as all our props, set, costume could be used and placed around the studio when not in use. Although we had a problem at ‘The William Bray’, due to this being a public pub which was opened for lunch we had limited space and couldn’t use the props we wanted or needed although most of the bar props we proposed to used were already situated at their bar itself, we managed to make it work.
Here is a picture of 'The William Bray', it was a small, sweet local pub in shere, here are pictures of the William Bray in the evening and day.
Costumes for the electrocution in the Film Studio-
Randall- denim jacket, jeans and a victim stripy top with no shoes.
Governor- pale beige suit, with a
Priest- the priest wore a black suit with a dog color and carried a prop of a bible.
Security guards- wore 1930’s navy police guard uniforms and hats with suede shoes.
Costume for the pub scene in 'The William Bray'-
Randall- jeans and a ‘William Bray top’.
Three girl victims- jeans, tops (casual wear)
Here is a picture of Randells execution outfit in the electric chair, with the two prison guards, governor and the priest.
For the first half all the costumes were appropriate to the time period of 1930’s to make the setting and whole atmosphere more appropriate. For the second half of the shoot it was casual, modern day clothes for this present day.
Here the three girls are pictured in normal, modern day clothes, which consist of jeans, boots and nice jumpers and tops.
Various props we used was firstly the electric chair, this here was the main focal point and made out of wood. Beside the chair was a table and on this table there was a bucket and sponge which are typically seen and used in electrocution scenes. The were used also to add effect to the whole atmosphere.
Here is the kind of metal bucket we used.
And here is a simple sponge we used.
The casting choice was very difficult as originally a lot of the people we wanted to cast weren’t free so we had to find alternatives but the main character of Randell was always our original guy we wanted to use. We used Hector McAlister as his personality fitted in with our idea and also his image, haircut and build. The people we choose to be in our film fitted the casting choices as they were reasonable actors and really interested and excited to be in our shoot. This helped as they were determined to work with us and coordinated really well, so they were chosen successfully. The way we dressed them in the costumes and told them how to act, this made the shoot really effective.
Lighting was very important in our shoot; the lighting we used in the studio consisted of two studio lights (these lights are called redheads/blondes lights) , one on the right hand side and one on the left hand side. This provided enough light to cover the studio space and light up the set and props. I would say this lighting was effective; at times we dimmed it a bit as the metal buckles on the electric chair was reflecting and interfering with the footage, so by dimming the lights the reflection was less obvious. In the ‘William Bray’ where we shot our second half we used natural lighting to create the atmosphere that was presented and make it seem more realistic.
This redhead/blonde light is pictured here.
Here also pictures Fergus, having a turn with recording the sound by using the sound mic.
I believe we worked really well as a team, we were organized, coordinated well and were able to make group decisions without disagreeing too much. Assigning everyone different jobs allowed us to get on with it and then come back together with all the materials and research we had done. This saved time and managed to work well as a team. Although, we did have some disagreements and arguments but managed to come up with a compromise or get round the situation by thinking of an alternative.
Here is a picture of how we worked well as a team and how this was important.
It was a long, tiring day with a lot of hands on work, but at the end of the day I was pleased with what we had accomplished and achieved, I believe that after we have edited this our final piece will be promising. The footage that we recorded did meet our storyboard and was easy to follow due to having a detailed storyboard, although we did adjust a few shots as we wanted to improve our footage as much as possible. Working together with various teachers such as Luke and guy was a privilege and I very much enjoyed it, I learnt new things and learnt from our mistakes. But now we have greater knowledge in shooting, using the camera and the overall aspect of film shoots. It is stressful and tiring but at the end of the day definitely worth it.
Here is the screen we used to monitor the actions going on whilst filming, and to see if the focus and balancing was good enough. This picture consists of the establishing shot of the electric chair against the setting.
And this shot is the final shot before moving onto 'The William Bray' shot. This is Hectar placed in the electrocution chair with the bag over his head, steps away from being electrocuted.
Friday 14 January 2011
Script
Script
INT
Medium shot tracking in at a very slow speed. The room is a 1930’s American electric chair execution room. The walls are made of breeze blocks. An electric chair is in the centre of the room. The room is lit poorly. The characters present are the executioner, the governor and a priest.
You can hear the sounds of chains clanging around Darius hands and feet. Darius escorted by two security guards on each side. The guards then strap him into the chair. As soon as Darius is sat in the chair he immediately looks straight forward into the camera.
Governor
Randall Merritt you have been charged with several counts of murder. You have been sentenced to capital punishment by the State of Texas
Darius remain completely quite and does not react in any way other than starring straight ahead, the camera is still slowly tracking in
Governor
There is a priest present; do you wish to you’re receive last rites?
Darius does not react+
Governor
Very well then.
A mask is pulled over Darius’s head.
INT
Cut to a diner using a graphic match between the mask and some ones shoulder who is walking by.
The camera again begins to track out from Randall’s eyes. To establish surroundings of the bar to show a group of teenagers who he is looking at.
Props we need to buy/build/find
Final checklist- Props list
Things we need to be built- first half- possibly electric chair.
- American bar (bar)
- Lever for electric chair
Things we need to buy- outfits - convict costume (white baggy dress/linen, light materials), guard costumes, and priest outfit, governors outfit.
- contact lenses scary ( for victim) - http://www.youknowit.com/online-shop/scary-contact-lenses.cfm
- Leg and arm chains
Borrow- suit
- bible – (libray)
- Props for bar-glasses, coasters, bottles, pumps (wills godfather)
- American posters of sports teams etc. to make it obvious were situated, possibly an American flag as well. (play.com)
- Stools for bars, metal with leather either coloured or black.
- Stone wall effect- solid concrete breeze block.
-
website for hire set.
ebay for neon signs
black bar
Shooting script
Shooting Script
Scene 1
1) Interior camera place- eye level angle to man (victim) sitting in the electrocution chair.
2) Use a tripod- most usefully and steady apparatus, also need it on tracks for when were tracking into the mans eyes.
3) Cameras subject- the character of the main part- the man in the electric chair.
4) Aspects of Mise en Scene-
5) Setting- scene 1 stone wall in studio and the electric chair as a focal point in the middle of the studio.
6) Costume- priest, governor, guards, man.
7) Lighting- low dim lights surrounding room one brighter spotlight on electric chair.
8) Props- electric chair, bible, governor’s letters.
9) Shot type- establishing shot, tracking slowly in; close up, extreme close up.
Scene 2
1) Interior camera place- three points lighting on floor- key, back and fall positions. Backlighting to light back of bar, customers.
2) Mid shot angle- use a tripod, also when opening into second scene tracking out to visualize man and location/surroundings.
3) The cameras subject- man in Bar, new surrounding, new time period.
4) Aspects of Mise en scene-
5) Setting- brick wall, American style posters, bar, stools, table.
6) Costume- man in bar tending/casual, everyday clothes. Customers-same casual clothing.
7) Lighting- three point lighting on floor, well lit, bright open room- daytime. Key, film and back,
8) Props- bar chairs, coasters, glasses, posters, duke box.
9) Shot type- tracking out slowly, close up, wide shot.
Planning process for Thriller sequence.
In order to prepare for this filming, there are many steps we have followed.
First of all we allocated job positions to the crew-
Will b-h- sound engineer
Fergus- director
Will- cinematographer
Mimi- producer
And particular jobs for them to do-
Props list-4
Shortyboarding- 1
Shotlist-2
Shooting script- 1/2/3/4
Set sketches-3
Fergus -1
Will b -2
Will d -3
Mimi -4
Then after we drew some storyboards on each shot.
Then in order to visualize our set, we did some set sketches.
This here is of the electric chair.
and this is of the bar in the second shot.
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