Filming Experience

As I was the main character in our opening I was able to film as much as the others in our group. However, every shot that I was not in I made it an opportunity for me to share my filming abilities. The scenes where I was acting I continued to guide my group by telling them which shots to do and how to film them. From this I would say I was the Director of our opening. Here are the scenes I was able to film for our opening.

One of the shots I was able to film was for the park scene, it was a viewpoint shot (Lydia's/My viewpoint) of 'Mia' (who is Chelsea from our group) walking towards 'Lydia'. Before I filmed the shot I guided Chelsea to where I wanted her to start walking from, I chose for her to begin walking from quite far away, as when it came to editing I could choose which distance she could start and finish walking. In addition, before I filmed I changed the camera's setting to manual focus, so I could purposely make the camera out of focus. The purpose of this would be to represent 'Lydia's' fear and confusion as she thinks her kidnapper is walking towards her. When watching it back it turned out to be effective as it isn't clear for the audience who the person is, building tension. However when I actually filmed this scene I used the tripod, its purpose was to keep the camera steady without any shaking. This was a mistake as it needed to be slightly shaky in order for the audience to understand it is 'Lydia's' viewpoint of what is going on. After realising this small mistake we went back to the same location, which was the park, and filmed this shot again. We did the same set up as last time but this time I held the camera as I filmed, which gave the final shot my natural shake from my hands, this helps represent the fear that 'Lydia' has in the current situation. After doing this and watching the shot back we found that the shot was very effective as it was now shaky, making it look more like a viewpoint shot and more realistic.

In addition to this I was able to film another scene which was for the flashback scene. This was a viewpoint shot from 'Lydia' as she tried to figure out where she is. This was an interesting shot to film as it needed to look like it was 'Lydia' looking around the room. To achieve this and before I begun to film I made sure that I took the camera off of the tripod as I was going to hold and move the camera myself instead of keeping the tripod, this is because it was a viewpoint shot (it needed to have movement and be naturally shaking. Whilst also making sure that the camera was out of focus. This is  because I wanted to not only represent the confusion that 'Lydia' was feeling but also the state that she was put in, meaning she had obviously sustained some serious injuries. When filming I moved the camera side to side, in order to capture the idea that 'Lydia' would be looking around, one key aspect that I made sure I filmed was the light at the other end of the room, this was effective because it gave the scene movement, in order to make it look more realistic. This allowed the audience to understand what 'Lydia' was doing when she awoke. For this scene I did not matter as much if I was shaky as it added to the effect of how 'Lydia' was feeling at the time.

One other small shot I was able to film with Gabrielle would be the blood dripping scene which was also for the flashback scenes. For this scene I decided to use the tripod as the shot needed to be steady in order for it to be effective for the audience. In addition to this we also zoomed very close to the floor in in order for the drips of blood to not only be the centre of the shot but we wanted them to take up the majority of the screen/shot. This was because we wanted to increase the tension of the flashback as a whole and seeing the blood drip in this shot makes the audience worry for 'Lydia's'; safety and builds the tension for what is to come. When filming this Chelsea was dripping the blood on the floor, I would guide her where to drip it and how much in order for it to be central and believable for the audience. This was effective because we did not want too much blood and it not be realistic, but also we did not want too little blood, otherwise it would not be as frightening and worrying of our audience (this was an important aim of mine when filming our opening). Moreover, another aspect of this shot be paid attention to would be the lighting, we wanted it to be clear to the audience that what was dripping was blood, however we did not want to look too forced/fake otherwise it would have looked unrealistic for them. This is why we placed a torch near where the blood was going to drip, but far enough so it still gives an ominous feeling for the audience.

Overall I believe that my filming experience has been successful. Even though I was not able to film as much as I would have liked (as I was acting) I made sure that every chance I was given I executed each shot effectively. I did this by choosing the most ideal shot based on what I was filming, I also made sure the lighting was effective (if I could control it) based on the dialogue e.g. the flashbacks are where there is a lot of tension and darkness, meaning there will be less lighting (to represent evil). One other aspect I took into account would be whether I used props when filming in order to get the most effective shot, an example would be if I required a tripod or not (whether I wanted the camera to be steady or not).