Filming Logistics

As a group we decided that the Christmas holidays would be the best time to get all of our filming done, as this allows for some time after we return to school as a back up should we need it when we start editing rather than leaving it to the last minute. 

We decided we would need three dates in total, and one back up date in order to film all of the footage needed for our film opening. The three tasks for each of the days are to film the castle element of the scene, to film the forest element of the scene and to record all of the music for the scene. 

Tuesday 22nd December 2015
On this date we plan to film all of the footage we need at the castle. This is the majority of the opening as this location is the killers lair and reveals information about the nature of the killer. We have agreed to meet at the castle, which is in Sutton Valence, at 10:00 on the Tuesday and we have planned to be at the castle for the whole day, or until we are finished. This will give us more than enough time to set up our props and equipment, film all of the footage we need and clear up everything we take and use. 
We have determined who is bringing what and the list is as follows:

Charley (Me):

• Camera
• Tripod
• Fake blood
• Make up
• Mattress
• Any mise-en-scene found about the house
• Pigs ears
• Vaseline

Tia:

• Camera
• Tripod
• Running gear
• Rope
• Headphones
• Beanie
• Leather gloves
• Any mise-en-scene found about the house

Amy:

• Mug
• Bruise make up
• Hearing aid
• Any mise-en-scene found about the house

David:

• Body bags
• Toolbox
• Duct tape
• Pasting table
• Rope
• Bandanna
• Any mise-en-scene found about the house

Using these props we hope to decorate the location to dress it as a convincing lair for our killer. This will involve dirtying the mattress and having various bottles and cans strewn about the location to make it look lived in but dirty. We will also use close ups of mise-en-scene like the pigs ears, so it is important these look right in the location. We also plan to hang David's body bags in the location, to represent the past victims which we see in the killer's flashbacks. This may be a struggle, as we have no means of attaching the rope to the walls of the castle, however we will find a way to do this when we are there on the day.

Wednesday 23rd December 2015

On this day we will film all of the footage in the forest where the girl is jogging. On this Tuesday we will meet at Tia's house at 10:30, as the location we will be using is the forests next to her house. We will only need the morning to film this footage as there are no props that need setting up and we do not need to film a lot of footage. 
We do not need to bring as much equipment to the forest as we do the castle, as the mise-en-scene is more established in the forest itself.

Tia:

• Camera
• Tripod
• Headphones
• Running gear
• Beanie
• Leather gloves

Amy:

• Hearing aid

David:

• Bandanna

All we need to film in the forest is the shots of the girl running. We also need to have a few shots of the killer luring in the background of the forest. This shouldn't take too long, as these shots are relatively easy to film so we can get them done quickly.

Tuesday 29th December 2015

Whilst the girl is running through the forest she has headphones in and is listening to music. As we are unable to use copyrighted music in our coursework, we have decided to write and produce our own pop song. We can do this as my dad has the equipment to allow us to record and mix a song so that it sounds good. David and I are also able to sing for the song and David can play the guitar. 

On this Tuesday we will meet at my house for 10:00 and we will need the whole day to record and mix the track. Amy has written some lyrics for us to use as the basis for the song and before the day David and I need to practise the song so that we both know it well and can perform it. 

As we are not filming on this day and all of the equipment is at my house nobody needs to bring any equipment, although David may bring his own guitar to play instead of mine. 

Practical Task - Filming Logistics

As a group, we decided that we wanted to get all of our filming done over the Christmas Holidays, so we begun by making a list of all the dates within the holidays, and then individually looking at which days we were available on. 

From this, we could then see the days which we could all do. We then decided to pick three of these days to work on our project, doing specific things with a checklist for each day of what needs to be completed, these days are Tuesday 22nd, Wednesday 23rd and Tuesday 29th.

We wanted to film at different locations for each of the days, so the 22nd would be at Sutton Valence Castle, filming the majority of our opening, on Wednesday 23rd we will be at my house in the forests filming the initial running sequence and then on the 29th at Charley's house, we are planning on writing, composing and recording a song which will feature during the scenes where I am jogging.

Tuesday 22nd 
The first day which we are going to film on is Tuesday 22nd. This day will be mainly spent at the location near Amy's house, Sutton Valence Castle. We are planning to begin setting up at 10:00am, which means that we need to meet just before this. Early morning filming will not only mean that hopefully there will be no people visiting the castle, but also we wanted our footage to have an 'early morning' feel to it, as our main character would be out on her run in the morning. Also, the natural lighting will be good in the morning, but not have a large effect of glare on the footage.
We managed to compile a finalised list of what each person needs to bring:

Charley:

• mattress 
• bedding
• wound makeup
• pigs ears
• mirror
• camera
• jeans and hoodie
• clapper board

Amy:

• hearing aid
• tripod
• bruise makeup 
• skirt and top
• mug

David:

• body bags
• all black outfit
• lots of rope
• toolbox
• table
• face mask
• headphones
• black duct tape

Me:

• sports outfit
• jar of ears
• camera
• headphones
• black beanie
• leather gloves
• vasaline 

At this location, we are also hoping to record extra footage, including establishing shots which can be used for transitions or included to provide a well rounded plot to the audience. Using the castle is a very risky location, because it is obviously weather dependent, but we plan on continuing to film whatever the weather, although this may affect some of our shots. The actual castle is the 'killers lair' and so we need to ensure that the mise-en-scene is perfect and exactly what we are picturing. This needs to be effective and so we will ensure sufficient time is spent creating the perfect lair.
Props for the lair include:

• mattress and bedding
• table of knives
• mug
• empty wrappers and packets
• torch
• pile of old clothes

At the castle, we also want to hang two of the body bags that David created. This is may be one of our biggest struggles as we are not completely sure how we can elevate the body bags and make them look realistic, so this will take up a large amount of our time finding somewhere to hang them and then ensuring they are secure and realistic.

We are planning on spending the whole morning at the castle, so will ensure we are fully equipped with drinks and snacks. Also, as Charley will need do the wound make up for both herself and Amy, we will need to ensure that we get our initial shots before their injuries as soon as possible.

Wednesday 23rd
For our second filming day, we are planning on only spending a few hours filming in the forest. Both myself and Amy are unavailable in the afternoon, so we need to ensure we work efficiently to get all the filming done as quickly as possible, without rushing it. 
In this location, we only need to film a short running sequence followed by the kidnap, which means that we can experiment and be creative with our camera angles and shots. Ideally, we want shots of me jogging on the path, but also some shots which can be used to show the audience that I am being watched, so potentially some point of view shots and over the shoulder shots of the killer. We need to be careful when filming this scene because we don't want to reveal the killer but we need to emphasise that I am being watched and exaggerate the kidnapping without making it look unrealistic.
For this day, not as much equipment is needed, as we only require my running gear, Davids all black costume and then obviously the cameras and tripods.

Tuesday 29th
Although we are not actually filming on the 29th, it is still vital as it is a big part of our film opening. We wanted to be as creative as possible with this project, and because I am listening to music when running and copyright music cannot be used, we decided to write, compose and record a song. Obviously this is a large task because it needs to sound professional, and we are lucky that we have access to full music recording and editing software and also have musically able group members, Charley and David, who can both sing and play a variety of instruments. Amy can also play the piano which will be useful. Before this day, we would have already written the music and the lyrics so that we only need to record and edit the music at Charley's house. Hopefully, this should only take the morning to complete. The song can then be edited in with our final piece so that the audience think that I am listening to this song when running. 

Sunday 3rd
Luckily, we have included a back up day into our plan, just in case our footage cannot be recorded for some reason. Before this day, we will also have re-watched all of our footage meaning we can analyse and discuss whether we are happy with our footage or need to refilm specific shots or sequences.

Filming Logistics

Filming Logistics

TDAC will be filming our scenes over the Christmas holidays. We decided that we will need three dates for filming; one to film the chase-scene in the woods, one to film the scene in Sutton Valence castle and a final one to record a song that the girl will be listening to as she's running in the woods. 

As a group, we marked individually the dates which we were available and what times specifically suits us. I then sent round the potential dates on the group chat and we narrowed it down to three; Tuesday 22nd, Tuesday 29th and Wednesday 23rd.

Tuesday 22nd

On Tuesday we are all free all day and so have decided to makes this a day for us to film at the castle. Because we want the castle scene to appear like it's morning-ish time, we have agreed to all arrive early at about 10 o'clock. When I went and took pictures of this castle, I went relatively early and there wasn't anyone there so we are hoping that there again will be no residents or people visiting the castle. (If there are, we will just have to wait until they have left because we cannot get anyone in the footage.) We have also discussed who is bringing what on that day in terms of props and costumes etc. 

Charley- Mattress, sheets (for bedding), wound make up for the cutting of ears, pigs ears (because she has a dog)
Tia- sport outfit, jar of ears
Dave-
Me-

We will do some establishing shot recording and get some extra footage that we can use for mise-en-scene or just to make the footage run more smoothly. We will also have to set up the castle to look like killers lair- this may take some time to make it look really effective. We are going to have a table of tools, a mattress with unmade bedding on it, maybe a dirty chipped mug and some wrappers so it looks like the killer has been living there for a while. We will also be hanging two body bags from a tree or somewhere in the castle with rope to resemble two girls having died and been hanged. We will spend a few hours up there filming and take lots of different angles of the locations and acting so we have lots of footage to chose from when it comes to the editing. As well as this, Charley is going to have to do the fake wounds on our ears/heads to she will have to bring all of her make up as well.


Wednesday 23rd
On Wednesday Tia and myself are only free during the day and not the evening so we are going to get to Tia's house early so we can record in her forests during the morning. We are doing the chase scene in the woods so theoretically it shouldn't take as long as recording the castle scene because there isn't as much needed to be setup. We are going to film Tia jogging in and out of the trees as well as some POV shots from the killer watching and following her. All the audience will see of the killer in this scene is a hand when he reaches out from the tree and grabs her face. Tia will need to be wearing sports gear and someone will need to bring some big over-head earphones. Dave will need to have gloves as well.


Tuesday 29th
On Tuesday we aren't doing any visual filming but instead audio; we are recording a song. Charley has a set up at her house so Charley and Dave will be recording into a microphone a song that we will have written. This will probably take the best part of a day to do because it has to sound like a legitimate track that would be in the charts so getting it right will be tricky. We will hopefully have production behind the track and music playing along but this will all be time-consuming. This is the song that will be played in Tia's earphones and we are recording our own because any songs that is current and in the charts is copyrighted.


If we have underestimated how much we have to do, we are all free on Sunday 3rd so this is our back up date to potentially finish any bits of filming which we have reviewed and think could be improved.