Production Diary: Shoot 1. 5/11

Our first day of filming was on Wednesday the 5th November. Here we had to shoot outside so we had to check the weather forecast to see if this was an option. It indicated that it wouldn't be raining and that it'd be a dull day, which was the perfect condition for our filming and ensured that the cameras and other equipment wouldn't get damaged from any potential rain. Luckily, it was sunny and a good day to film on.

This was our first attempt at filming and although we managed in the end to get all of our shots that we needed, we did however encounter a few problems and a few things that we would change for the next day of filming. Firstly, only two of the four members could film, because unfortunately half the group was ill. This was disappointing but luckily we were only filming one short scene so the schedule wasn't too hectic. 
We also encountered the problem that with our first few shots we had props in the corner (the bags of the actors) in the shot. Luckily we noticed this straight away and we were able to change this and re-take the shots. 

The image above shows that for one of our shots we had to take it off the tripod to get a shakey shot. This created an eerie atmosphere but also gave the shots we used a different range.

Next time to improve we will be more organised and tell the actors to come after we have set up, because this time we left for the location at the same time, which meant our actors had to wait for us while we set up for the filming. 

Prior to the filming we had to fill out a 'call sheet': 

Call sheet 1 5-11

This allowed all the information from the day of filming to be collated and kept in one same place. Not only this, but it shows us which actors were needed that day and the locations and timings for our filming.

Rating our production

Our trailer would probably be a 15; this is on the grounds that the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) prohibits certain things to be allowed to be screened to a younger audience. Below is what the BBFC allow to be seen in a film rated 15...

Within our trailer we could expect to see scenes of violence and potentially disturbing images for audiences younger than 15. It has themes that can be related to strong threat and horror, however there is no sustained focus on sadistic or sexualised threat.  

Shot List - changes

While on set, we realised we were over-ambitious with some of the shots and scenes we wanted to get done. 
Due to this, we changed and edited some of the scenes on set to allow more room for creative elements to be brought into it and allowed more room for ideas we had thought of on the spot, rather than sticking strictly to a shot list. 

Above are the images of our shot list and the marks we made on set, filming our production, that we wanted to either get rid of completely or edit. 

These were all decisions we decided on as a whole within our group as we all thought the changes we made were better, more creative and held more horror elements within them. 

Permission Letters and Location Recce

Music, Location and Cast.

Firstly, the music we got for our production was non-copyright. Therefore, we didn't need permission to use it. We gathered it from websites like www.soundbible.com and http://incompetech.com/.

Location Rec

Above are the risk assessments and the permission letters for our production. These were vital to ensure our own safety and our permission to use the locations we desired. 

Finally, we had to have permission from our cast members that we could use them in our production and have the rights to what we record. We did this by sending out letters to our different members of our cast to get signed by their parents and returned to use before their filming started. 

After we had these letters returned and all the paperwork completed, we were ready to start filming.

Make-up for Layla

Regarding our make-up, it was the first time we had tried out the make-up on Layla. This was a big part of the production because she had to look the part. We had already decided on the clothing she should wear, but when it came to face make-up and props and we needed to experiment a bit. 

We knew we wanted certain elements to be striking about her to suggest the horror element. This was things like a pale white face and dark black eyes.

Above is what she looked like before the transformation began.

Here are the different props we used to get her to look as she did in the production.

After focusing on her make-up, we then had to do her hair. Here all we used was water to make her hair look wet in clumps across her face. We then tied it up a bit at the back to make it look matted and unattended to. 

We then thought another small prop of a bandage with blood seeping through on her arm was a nice touch. This was simply done by wrapping her arm in a bandage and the fake blood was ketchup. This was easy enough to do and it looked really effective. This was another element we only decided on while we were doing her make-up; it was unplanned. 

Below is a picture of her overall make-up and costume. We were really please with how we had done in the creation of this. 

Although it was tricky, we remembered how we created this look in order to make the next time we completed her make-up more efficient and also remaining similar. 

Production Diary: Shoot 2. 12/11

Before we went filming we had to complete the call sheet: 

Call sheet 2 12-11

We completed this to indicate which scenes we were aiming to get filmed in a certain amount of time. This allows us to keep it to a rigid schedule and means we don't have to go over the top with what we need to film. It also allows us to focus on what we need to get done. 

When it came to filming, we had to get our props ready beforehand. 

This was what we used to show that our protagonist was crying. 

We also had to decide in advance about what type of clothing our actors would wear in order to have this all ready before filming started so we could begin filming promptly.

This time the location wasn't at school and we had to leave altogether. Timing this was quite difficult as there were six of us in total (including crew and cast), so finding a day when everyone was free became quite a challenge.

During this time of filming we came to change the script slightly. We geared slightly off our shot list as on set we came up with fairly creative ideas that we could complete well with the setting we were in. This meant our shot list wasn't stuck to completely, but we all felt we were happier as we had stronger scenes to put in our production. 

During the filming we tried different types of shots - one being in an alleyway to create the idea that she was enclosed and trapped.

We did check the weather forecast, however, it was unpredictable and therefore had to take precautions with us - an umbrella and thick coats to stay warm.

Shot list

Shot List

Change of cast

Into the pre-production we suffered a change of cast. 

This was down to the fact that our previous cast member, Megan Ashworth, was unavailable frequently meaning we couldn't get started with our filming as promptly as we would have liked to. 

This meant we had to try and find another member of our cast who could replace her. 

From here we asked Layla Khan...

This meant we could start filming sooner as Layla was more available and appeared to be more enthusiastic about the whole production.

Our Cast

The actress we chose to play the role of ‘Rosie’ in our trailer was a girl called ‘Rosie Goddard’. We chose her because we thought physically she fit the part, with long brown hair, quite pale skin and she is fairly innocent looking. This was essential as she was the vulnerable girl in the film, so we wanted her physicality’s to match her whole personality. However, she had the ability also to play the crazy lady which she later becomes as the film develops.

Our protagonist is an experienced actress as she has already starred in a film, ‘The Knife That Killed Me’. Therefore, we asked her if she would take part in our trailer as she has had experience in this field, and also proves she’s good at acting, which is essentially what we need as well to make our trailer more realistic.

However, it was harder to find someone to play the part of our antagonist. We wanted an older person initially, but we thought attempting to make one of our peers look like an older person would be a struggle. Therefore, we looked into it and contacted multiple local ‘Amateur Dramatic’ groups, requesting if there were any ladies that fit the criteria.

After little luck we decided we would have to slightly alter our expectations. We did have the idea of linking our antagonist to that of the grudge, with the young girl who is always present in the background. She has her hair all covering her face in order to look scary and mysterious.

We asked Megan Ashworth the play the part of the antagonist. She is 17 years old, and in our survey it became apparent that young people were scarier than old people, so we thought we’d adopt this idea.

We thought she would be ideal because we wanted quite a cold character, so we thought the pale face and really long blonde hair would fit well. We could put the long blonde hair covering her face to ensure the mystery and the whole initial idea of her being scary would be a key feature from the start. 

Storyboard

Storyboard

The primary purpose of a storyboard is to help you visualise what you're aiming to achieve with the film. It allows you to plan out and see the structure of your production and consequently gives you something to go off, alongside the script, when filming is taking place.

With our storyboard we made it quite simple, which meant that the key idea of the specific scene or shot was instantly recognisable when we looked at it whilst filming. Although the drawings are basic, the text underneath reinforces the idea we came up with which in turn made it less vague.

The longer scenes had more boxes to fill in because of the different angles of shots and people involved within a scene. Whereas with other scenes, for example Scene 5, we only needed one picture to show us what we were trying to do because the scene was only going to be a second or two long with a sustained shot, therefore less time needed to be spend prepping for that short scene.

Overall, whilst filming, the storyboard did help because the planning and the filming were quite different in time to eachother, this meant our ideas weren't as vivid as when we first thought of them. By having pictures alongside out script meant that we could visualise in more depth what we were aiming to achieve. 

Final draft of script

SOMNIUM-final Draft PDF by groyley

Second draft of Script

SOMNIUM-draft 2 PDF by groyley