On Monday 16th January we spent the day shooting our thriller. It took us most of the morning and a bit of the afternoon trying to get it right. The set was perfect, and the lighting made it look more realistic as we had two windows with light shining through (one quite pink/neon and the other fairly yellow).
Luke and Katie were there on the day helping us to get the right shot and to ensure that our thriller was the best it could be. Our actors - Callum and Louisa - were extremely helpful and had actually learned the script we provided them with, making the process more efficient.
We started off by rehearsing a few times to get the timing right and to get it as natural as possible. Once we'd sorted out the look of the set and the rest of the props we started to film. After realising that cutting at a certain point would be difficult for continuity, we chose to do it all in one take. It took a few times to get it right but eventually we got the take we liked the most, as well as some others that could work too.
Our only issue is that we didn't know how to do the gunshot wound and make it look effective without a good make-up artist. It would also take ages to get rid of it / clean it between each take so we decided to do most of that in after effects when editing. Instead, before Callum got shot, Louisa splattered fake blood on her face and turned away from the camera slightly. When he was shot, she flinched towards the camera and showed the blood as if it'd sprayed on her face.
I was mainly in charge of using the mic to get the sound by pointing it at where the sound was coming from. I also helped to direct a little and give input but Elena was good at getting our idea across so she did the majority of it, and it was better to have one person rather than four as it would have been muddled. Later on, after lunch, we recorded some extra sounds (foley): bathroom background noise, bathroom door opening and closing, wardrobe door opening and closing, Russian extremists speaking in the corridor and their footsteps in the corridor and on the wooden floor.
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| Our two extremists and the set with lighting |
Luke and Katie were there on the day helping us to get the right shot and to ensure that our thriller was the best it could be. Our actors - Callum and Louisa - were extremely helpful and had actually learned the script we provided them with, making the process more efficient.
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| Passports and plane tickets for props |
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| The set with lighting |
We started off by rehearsing a few times to get the timing right and to get it as natural as possible. Once we'd sorted out the look of the set and the rest of the props we started to film. After realising that cutting at a certain point would be difficult for continuity, we chose to do it all in one take. It took a few times to get it right but eventually we got the take we liked the most, as well as some others that could work too.
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| Picture from a run through |
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| The props for our set (minus the bed and table) |
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| A photo of the start of the thriller |
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| The monitor showing the shot |
I was mainly in charge of using the mic to get the sound by pointing it at where the sound was coming from. I also helped to direct a little and give input but Elena was good at getting our idea across so she did the majority of it, and it was better to have one person rather than four as it would have been muddled. Later on, after lunch, we recorded some extra sounds (foley): bathroom background noise, bathroom door opening and closing, wardrobe door opening and closing, Russian extremists speaking in the corridor and their footsteps in the corridor and on the wooden floor.
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| Me with the mic |
Overall, I really enjoyed the day and had fun getting our idea from paper to screen. It was good to finally film it after all the planning and I look forward to editing it and getting the final product.
