8th Day of Filming

Brief Information:

Date: Saturday 17th January

Location: 57 Ramillies Crescent
Time of Day: All Day (Day and Night)

Time filming started: 12:00pm
Time filming finished: 9:30pm

Scene: 1 + 3
Shots: 73-84 - Interior & 1/2+10-14 - Interior

Crew Present:
Deanna Hopps - Director and Make-up Artist
Cameron Hargreaves - Cinematographer (Camera) and Set Layout
Daniel Springthorpe - Sound and Costume
Charlotte Smiths - Lighting and Directing

Cast Present:
Rebecca Chapman - Alice
Alex Marks - Richard
Millie Russell - Stacey

Summary of the Day:

Our Production team minus 1 + an actress (Cameron was taking the photo)

Charlotte and myself discussing ring scene

The final day of filming!! Oh my, it was such a rush! We weren't sure whether we would get all of the remaining scenes done in time however, come roughly 9:00pm we finished up all of the filming - both scene 3 and scene 2 which enabled all of us to just breath a sigh of relief. 

Scene 3 was once again Millie's shots in the daylight. We hit of the filming day with a mid shot of Alex walking towards the camera and having only his arm in the shot - everything was cut off - and having Millie in full shot behind him. To do this we put the camera on the side, balanced on a walnut to keep the tilt, and pressed record. We all ran out of the way, counted about 2 seconds and then said action. This shot took roughly 2 takes to do because Alex listened to what he had to do, where he had to stand etc while Millie quickly adapted to her role and both improvised and did as she was told, which we liked because it worked. So for this shot, a walnut is given thanks for the shot because nobody was actually manning the camera at that point. :)

Shortly after, we got onto match-on-actions of Millie walking through the door into the living room from the kitchen. She did this brilliantly almost every time however both myself and Charlotte (she was filming this particular shot while I directed) felt that certain elements weren't right; she wasn't smiling enough, the reaction was too quick or too slow.. etc. It had to be perfect and believable. After a while we got the shot we wanted and then moved on into the living room to get the shot that matched it. Without being told what to do, Millie did exactly the same thing first time, however we then felt it would be even better if she took her coat of as she sat down. Millie did this knew part in 1 take - she just adapted to it so quickly. 

Next up was the engagement ring scenes. From the second photo above, you can see Charlotte and myself discussing exactly when the ring would appear in the scene and what Richard would do with it. We decided on having him put it in the bin as it would give a dramatic effect because he is, technically speaking, just thrown his love for his dead girlfriend in the bin and shifted to another woman. Charlotte filmed shots 78, 79 and 80 which is all the shots of Richard and the engagement ring. 

Once this was done came the hardest shot we have ever had to do. The timing of this was absolutely crucial to getting the most effective and perfect shot that we could get. All hands were on deck - Alex and Millie were acting, Cameron was filming - he was operating the camera which was on the tracking dolly at the time - and Daniel was pushing the tracking dolly poles back into the hallway (they had been placed over-lapping the door frame to get a closer track) while Charlotte was pulling the poles. This allowed the poles to move twice as quick and helped add to the zooming out potion as Cameron tracked backwards. HOWEVER, that was not all. I was tucked up behind the door in the living room and had to time the shutting of the door with A) the poles being removed from across the threshold and B) with the acting. I needed to begin pushing the door at a relatively slow but smooth pace just as Alex says "Of course we can be together" but not completely shut it until he has partly strangled her; we didn't want the full strangulation on camera. It took SO many takes to get the perfect one and the daylight was leaving us. We had many problems with the shot such as I shut it too quick or the cast members went out of frame or even the tracking dolly hit the side of the door and knocked the camera, causing a jolt. Despite this, we think that the hard work paid of and we have got a creative shot at the end of our film.

After that, once night fell (around half 5) we began to finish scene 1. We had roughly 4 shots to do in total and for one of them I found myself as a human wedge because I offered myself up to sit between the freezer and the washing machine to stop the freezer from sliding across the floor when Alex slid down it and 'cried' :). These shots were pretty easy to do and once we had regained Alex's attention we managed to get them done - however they did take up the time from half 5pm till 9pm which was probably a bit long for 4 shots.

In conclusion, filming this year has had plenty of ups and downs and disasters. It's really been an eye opener and showed us the impact when certain things go wrong in the filming industry; like cast dropping out etc. However it's been a fun experience, like last year, and we have met new people, like Rebecca, and become pretty good friends and we have had a few laughs - and tears and arguments - but it's all paid off and we have FINALLY got something to edit together and then present to the class!

Now it's on to the editing process of our film! The following post will be day 1 of editing.