Day 3 Filming - Monday 7th February

Today was our last day of filming the scenes for our film trailer and this was our longest shoot yet over the three days. We filmed scenes 2, 3, 11, 12 ,13 14, 15, 18, 19, 24, 25 & 26 in the separate locations of the bedroom, kitchen, bathroom (house) and subway and road. We filmed the bedroom, kitchen and bathroom scenes at my house which we travelled to from college by car and we walked to the nearby locations that were the subway and road that are in walking distance of my house.

We firstly went to the house location to set up the camera and then met our actress - Laura - who plays the character of Erin. We filmed the scene of Erin walking on her own along a road in her uniform which features at the start of the trailer (3). We tried various pans on this shot as we followed her movement down the road. It is a shame we had no device to create a dolly or tracking shot for this scene as I think that it would have been more effective, as well as other points within the trailer. After we finished this scene we wanted to film at the subway but we wanted to wait until it was dark to do this so we went back to my house to commence filming at the indoor locations.

We then filmed the scenes in Erin's bedroom ( 19 & 2) which we wanted to look quite plain and bare so I took down some posters and decorations from the walls of the bedroom to make it look more plain. We set up the camera outside of the bedroom door as we had some trouble setting it up to create some sort of distance from Erin so we filmed from outside the room looking in to get a wider shot of the whole room. We took 3 takes of Erin throwing her things around the room (19) in an angry and upset rage and I think all of the shots have come out really effectively, although it was quite humorous watching her throw things around the room. We have three choices of shots for this scene which I am pleased about so we will choose which one is best when editing, although I already know one will not be used as Erin trips slightly and the door of the bedroom is pushed closed by something that falls over.

The next shot that we filmed inside the bedroom location was the establishing shot of our trailer of Erin's eyes closed, flicking open and zooming out to reveal her sat on her bed in her room (2). We had some trouble setting the camera up far enough from her bed to create a shot of her eyes that would zoom out to reveal her sat on the bed from a far enough distance so instead we will have to create a cut shot from an extreme close up her opening her eyes to a mid shot of her sat on the end of her bed. This was due to the room not being wide enough to place the camera far enough from the bed on the tripod but I still think that the scene will work just as well.

We then filmed the scenes inside the bathroom (13, 14 & 15). The first one we filmed was a shot over Erin's shoulder where she is looking in the mirror and then reaches for the scissors next to her (13). At this point my Mum - who was to play Erin's mother - was not home yet so she was not there to bang on the door and shout from outside the door so instead I had to create these sound effects. We filmed from the corner of the bathroom as again we found that it was too cramped to film directly behind Erin without our reflection being in the mirror.

The next shot we filmed was an extreme close up of scissors cutting frantically at Erin's hair (14) and we created this by having our actress put in some old hair extensions into her hair and hack at them with the scissors to give a realistic look. As the camera was close to the scissors it has picked up the sound of the scissors cutting so this means that hopefully we will not need to add in any sound effects at this point when editing. We then filmed the last shot in the bathroom (15) of a close up of Erin's feet on the bathroom floor with hair falling from the top of the frame and landing beside her feet. We took three takes of this shot to make sure that the falling hair was completely visible in the shot and fell right beside her feet at the centre of the frame. We also held the scissors above the camera to create louder cutting noises to ensure that it was obvious what is happening in this shot.

After completing the filming of these shots, filming carried on in the kitchen to film scenes 11 &12. We firstly filmed the shot of Erin walking into the kitchen with her hood up where her mother is waiting for her and shouts at her aggressively (11). We took a few takes of this scene and I think that it has worked really well. We set the camera up so that Erin would walk past it from the left with my Mum leaning on the counter top to the right of the scene where bottles and cans of alcohol were placed. We then filmed the next shot in the trailer as Erin sweeps all of her mother's alcohol onto the floor of the kitchen (12). We had trouble creating this shot in an effective way without creating too much mess so we cushioned the floor with pillows so the bottles would land onto the pillows without smashing. The only problem there is that we are lacking a sound effect so we will need to add one in during the editing process.

After finishing filming at the house we walked to the nearby subway which is close to my house (18, 24, 25 & 26). It was dark by this time which we were happy about as we wanted these shots to be filmed at night to make them look a little more dark and lonely as Erin is sat alone in the subway. We firstly filmed the shot of Erin crouched on the floor of the subway holding a bottle in her hand (25). We took this from different angles including the corner of the entrance of the subway and again a wider shot of the whole subway including the entrance. I think these are really effective and well-shot short scenes as the subway really adds to the mis-en-scene of the film trailer as the walls are dirty and covered in graffiti with artificial yellow lighting. We then filmed frame 26 which is the last shot of our trailer which is of Erin crouched against the wall of the subway and then looks directly at the camera as she takes her hood down. We filmed a few shots of this scene, zoomed in a little and looking down at Erin to create a really strong and effective shot.

We then experimented with a few shots as we didn't want to have our actress throw the bottle against the wall of the subway (18) as it is a very open and public place and I did not want any injury so instead we had her roll the bottle along the floor and also filmed a shot of her walking away from the camera with her hood up, dragging the bottle along the wall of the subway which created a good sound effect. We also tried out another experimenting shot of her walking down the dimly-lit walkway next to the subway that leads to the station. we will not necessarily use this shot in the trailer but we thought it was a good idea to try out a few more shots as we were there and the weather was suitable for filming.

The last shot we filmed was of Erin walking towards and then past the camera along the road at night (24). The lighting was quite dim but the streetlights light it up slightly but this darkness may add to the mis-en-scene of the film trailer, although we should have used the night vision setting on our camera to make the shot more visible. We took two takes of this scene, one with a slow zoom out as Erin walks towards the camera which i think worked well.

Overall, the last day of filming went really well and although it took a little more time than we planned, I think that we have filmed some really strong shots that will work very well together when the trailer is finally finished. The only issue I have with the filming was the loaction used. I feel that the locations in the house may hinder the visual aspect of our trailer as we wanted the house to look quite run-down and plain to represent the character's class and lifestyle. The locatiosn we used looked a bit too clean and colourful but we couldn't locate a house of someone we knew that we could use that would have worked better. The whole filming process has had its problems, involving the main actress we chose to play Erin who did not turn up twice when we arranged filming. We fixed this by casting one of our female friend's as the role which has been much more reliable as well as comfortable, making the filming process very fun, relaxed and fairly quick. I am extremely happy with how the group has worked together and I am now really looking forward to editing and creating the final cut of our trailer.

Here is the last Risk Assessment for Day 3 of filming with the hazards or problems highlighted from filming outdoors and indoors in separate locations:
Risk Assessment - Day 3

This is the Day 3 Call sheet for the actors and crew, explaining the locations and times we will be going to these separate locations:
Call Sheet - Day 3

Day 2 Filming - Thursday 3rd Feruary

Today we filmed shots 7, 8, 9, 10 & 17 all in a small park opposite college on Carlton Road, Weymouth. The scenes being filmed in the park are when Erin is sat on the bench watching the gang of boys from her school attack someone and then stands above the victim and smiles. The other scene that will be filmed is the short scene of Erin and one of the female school bullies fighting each other. These are important scenes in our film trailer as they are primarily the only 'action scenes' we have planned so it is important to make them look realistic to highlight the element of violence in our film and reinforce the thriller genre.

We called the local police station before we filmed to inform them that we were filming fight scenes for our coursework in the park near college. The weather was good for filming although it was a little windy so hopefully this hasn't affected the sound. The first scene we filmed was the shot where Erin is sat in the background on a bench watching as the gang attack the male victim in the park (7). We took various shots of this scene and had the actors try different things to make the scene look as realistic is possible. The only problem was that one of our male actors couldn't make it to filming so we were one short of the male gang so we had the female actors who played the bullies to also partake in this scene.

The next part we filmed was the shot where Erin's feet are stood next to the victim's head as she stands over him cowering on the floor (9). We wanted this to be a strong shot as she slowly walks over to the victim and stares at him rather than help him. We then filmed the shot from the victim's point of view, looking up from the ground to Erin who stands over him and then smiles in a sinister way (10). This is a key shot in our trailer and I hope that it has come out okay as it was quite sunny when we filmed and her face may possibly block the light so the shot may be quite dark. I think that common ideologies in society have also been picked up on in these scenes as our 'victim' was dressed in a goth/metal fashion. There has been much coverage in the press over the years about how 'hoodies' mainly target those who look and dress 'differently', quite often being teenagers who dress in this particular fashion. I feel that by featuring the victim to look and dress like that makes quite a bold and realistic statement.

We then filmed the fight scenes between Erin and one of the bullies (17) that we wanted to look as realistic as possible. We had the two actresses 'pretend fight' together but as they were already good friends they felt comfortable enough to 'attack' each other so we filmed that short scene a few times from different distances to have some variety when we are editing the film trailer. I think that this shot may be one of the strongest shots in our coursework as I think it looked very realistic and believable without being too graphic or violent.

The last scene we needed to film in the park was where Erin is sat on the bench on her own, puts her hood up and walks past the camera (8) which leads on to the shot of her stood above the victim. We filmed this three times from different angles/distances to again have more choice when editing to choose the most effective shot as Erin putting her hood up is a key point that highlights her transition from lonely young girl to being cold, violent and aggressive. I thought it was very important to have a good actress to play Erin to take the role seriously and I feel that the girl we chose - Laura - was a good person to portray the feelings and emotions that we are trying to express through Erin in an effective and strong way as she does not have any spoken lines throughout the trailer.

Overall, I feel that our Day 2 of filming went really well and I feel we have filmed some strong and effective scenes to make our film trailer more action-packed and exciting. I think that the scenes we filmed in the park were well-shot and acted by our actors very well which will give it a more realistic and authentic effect. The only problem that occurred was that one of our actors couldn't come so the scene where the victim is being attacked was slightly compromised but we involved the female actors in this scene to make up for this problem. The only scene we didn't film was where a bottle is being smashed against a wall as we did not have a bottle with us and we felt it was unsafe to do this in such a public place so we decided to film this in a safer environment on the last day of filming.

Here is the Risk Assessment for Day 2 Filming, highlighting problems that we may encounter when filming outdoors, suggesting some safety precautions we may need to take:
Risk Assessment - Day 2

Here is the Call Sheet for the actors and crew, with times, locations and other instructions shown:
Call Sheet - Day 2