Location

When discussing the locations of our opening we wanted to make it as realistic as possible, so it was effective for the audience (is believable). Due to the storyline of our opening we had chosen we needed three different locations in order to for the storyline to make sense for the audience and allow it to look as effective and realistic as possible.

Here is one of the locations we had used in our opening. It is  a garage located in my house. The reason we chose this location is because we needed a eerie/creepy location for the flashback, where 'Lydia' was taken to when she was kidnapped. Once the lights were off and we put our own lighting in we found that we could achieve the creepy atmosphere that we wanted. The reason why we didn't use the original lighting that was in the garage is when we first begun filming we realised that the videos looked quite orange (due to the type of lighting). We did not want this because it gave more of a warm feeling rather than a eerie feeling. This why we used torches and a lamp instead, this gave us a choice of where we could place the light, this meant the audience would be able to see the expressions 'Lydia' has, as well as the bruises and blood (so the audience can get an idea of what has happened to her. However, before filming we discussed the positioning of where I should sit, as I would be tied to the chair the whole time. When thinking about this I took into consideration that we wouldn't want to much going on in the background. This is because the clips from the garage scene are going to be quick with fast cuts, meaning that the individual clips need to be direct in order for the audience to understand what is going on. This is why we decided to place the chair facing away from the garage door, giving a plainer background for the audience. This we found to be effective because the darkness from the background contrast 'Lydia' from it, allowing the audience to see the scenes more clearly.  

This is another location we had chosen for our opening, which is my bedroom also located in my house. This is for the very beginning of our opening where we first meet 'Lydia'. I found that this would be the most effective location for the beginning due to the bright colours of the walls and bed it represents the innocence of the character as the audience get their first glimpse as to what happened to 'Lydia'. This means that the location contrasts between our previous location (the garage) as one is very calming and innocent, where as the other is very dark and evil feeling, as they cut from one another. This allows the audience to straight away feel the tension and mystery behind 'Lydia's' past. However one issue we found with this location was the lighting as, much like our previous location the original lighting we used gave almost like an orange filter to the video when we began filming. We wanted to avoid this because it made the videos look more unrealistic and amateur. To solve this we decided to use natural lighting instead, which was effective because it allowed the audience to see the setting and background clearer without an 'orange filter'.

Our final location would be the park where 'Lydia' and 'Mia' meet up to discuss what happened to Lydia when she was kidnapped. We found that this location would be the best place for the two friends to meet because it is seen as a quite innocent place as it is where children play, however it can also have creepy aspects when empty, leaving it an effective place to set the particular scene in. This is because it enables 'Lydia' to look vulnerable when she is sitting alone in a public place. In addition to this, as we had to us natural lighting it went well with the previous scene which was in the bedroom as we used natural lighting in that scene too, this meant that the all of our scenes would connect and none would look out of place, as our opening is only two minutes it was vital our scenes connected (in order for the dialogue to flow and be understandable for our audience). When discussing which area we should film the scene we all came to the conclusion that we should film on the furthest bench to the right. This is because not only were the gates closer to this bench (where 'Lydia' would be walking through) but this side of the park would get more light which was essential as we wanted to make the picture quality was the best for our audience.