Shooting: The Beach

The last day of filming we had was at the beach, filming the final stand-off between Michael's group and Haden's group. We also decided to film the "betrayal" shots there as well, under the pier for a shady feel.

We went to the beach via the train, but we would meet with Hannah and Fiona at the beach itself. Hannah was running late but Fiona met up with us. We went straight down to the beach to begin filming because some of the people acting had to leave early. So we did some improvised shots with a group on top of the hill, so you could only see their silhouettes.

After they had climbed down from the hill/cliff, Hannah arrived and se we began to set-up the shot of the groups clashing together. We had to assign each person with their counterpart, this was so nobody would be left out. We tried not to be too specific in directing them because this would appear staged. After we had a few varying shots of this we set about doing individual fighting shots. Dan and Sam were particularly enthusiastic so we got a few various shots that they had planned out the actions of. We then filmed a few of Clare and Lizzie, when Clare pulled Lizzie's hair she said the phrase we had recently added "watch them die". This added an inference of sadism to the character of Selene. We filmed it twice but realized it would probably have to be dubbed due to the harsh wind interfering with the microphone on the camera.

When filming the clash of the groups we had to entrust Fiona with the camerawork, this was nerve-wracking because we had a distinct vision of what we wanted the shots to look like and so it took a few attempts to get it exactly how we wanted it. For the rest of the time there was always at least one of three of us not in the shot, so the others could film.

It was difficult to frame the shots as well, with the odd dog walker or family group going past. We had to find a back-drop to our shots that was free of people and also we would explain to passers-by that there was no need to worry, we were filming. We knew how bizarre it must have looked to outsiders. One regret I have is not having filmed a greater distance between the clash, so it would appear more dramatic and epic.

We then filmed the shot where Haden throws Michael to the ground, the first shot seemed unnatural so we decided to film again. Daniel suggested that he throws himself to the ground and I would just grab hold of him, after doing this Daniel had winded himself pretty badly, but it paid-off because it made the shot more realistic. Then we had to get Hannah to push over Joe (who was taking the place of Kieran who could not make it that day). It took a while to convince her that it was okay, but she eventually did it.  Before we left the beach we filmed some location shots at the beach as well, that would feature in the beginning part of our trailer. We got a variety of shots, with zooms and pans but we liked the still-shot because it focussed on the movement of the waves.

After filming on the beach we moved onto the pier and did some of the dialogue shots between Lizzie and Daniel. We tried a few compositions but found the two-shot over the shoulder to look the most effective. Daniel and Lizzie tried a variety of lines, but with the wind and the beginnings of rain it was difficult to concentrate and there were some dialogue hiccups. But, again the wind we knew would affect the sound badly so we already knew we would probably have to dub the shots in editing.

We then had a break for Lunch and some tea to keep everyone warm, the cold was effecting everyone.

The last few shots we had to film were the "Betrayal" shots. These took a few times to film because it was difficult for Matthew to strike the balance between looking like he was trying to escape and actually escaping. This was not helped by the slippery pebbles under the pier, but we really liked the location so after a few takes we wrapped up for the day.

Throughout the day we had been passing a secondary camera for photos of production. Not only this but we planned on getting photos to use as posters. As the location was important in terms of the film's plot, we thought it would be appropriate to tie-in the poster imagery with the beach.

 On the way back home on the train, we recorded some improvised shots of the industrial buildings (these had been storyboarded but due to not being able to continue filming on the multi-storey car park we could not have done them). We made a few videos that look quite effective with the movement of the train.

Shooting: The Beach- Photo Gallery

Arriving at the location

 Filming the Stand-off and Clash shot:

We took photos of each character, this was so we could check what they were wearing (for continuity) if we needed to reshoot any sequences at a later date, but these photos were also taken for possible character photos as well.

Filming the location shot of the beach and the waves- we used a tripod for this shot.

 We then packed up to go to the pier

After Lunch and a Tea-break we filmed the Betrayal shot under the Pier.

Shooting: Daniel's House

We wanted to film some shots of Michael and Eve gathering supplies from houses, rather than reuse Lizzie's house we decided to use Daniel's instead. After college we walked to his house, and had a talk about the shots until it had gotten darker outside.

Then we went into the kitchen and filmed the gathering supplies shots. But, we thought the lighting looked bad. So we re-filmed with better lighting and added in some bonus shots. I asked Lizzie and Daniel to look urgent when they were getting food from the cupboards, this was to try and increase the pace of the sequence and also so it made something relatively boring look exciting. We had an issue with continuity at first because one of the cupboards was left open from previous filming. But, we made light of it and kept our eyes peeled for any more hiccups in continuity.

 

After we had filmed the storyboarded shots, we then did some improvisation with Lizzie and Daniel running down the stairs filmed from a low angle as well from a high angle. We also did some improvisation dialogue between Eve and Michael and some shots of them looking nervously out of the window. We felt better about getting extra footage because it meant that we would have a lot more material to choose from when editing.

Shooting: Lizzie's House and the Campfire

Daniel, Clare and I all went to Lizzie's house for filming with her and her brother, Matthew. We filmed the sequence of Eve and her Mother's "Goodnight" and then we were filming the shots when the folder is discovered by Haden and missing from Michael's group. We also filmed the campfire sequence, which Sam arrived later for. While we were there we had some new ideas and improvised as well.

We first filmed the sequence with Eve's mum disappearing and Alfie discovering the empty kitchen. We deviated from the storyboard in that, rather than have the dramatic shot of the door, we had Lizzie's mum walk out of frame and then recorded the sound of a spoon falling out of her hand. This is so we could edit them together so as Eve's mother walks out of the shot you would hear the spoon drop to the ground. We filmed the sequence between Haden and Selene when he knocks the magazine out of her hand. The shot was filmed from a variety of angles in order to have a good selection when editing, there is a compilation of these shots below.

We then had a break for lunch in which time we talked about which shots to film next.

After Lunch we filmed the scenes with Haden's discovery of the folder and Eve realising the folder was missing. We decided to use Lizzie's storage room so it looked like a lot of things were there and it seemed like a good place to find the folder. We filmed without using a tripod and did a tracking shot of Lizzie (as Eve) coming down the stairs to find the folder missing, we filmed without a tripod to get a more fluid movement and also we took influence from the Hunger Games (dir. Gary Ross 2012) cinematography which was mainly made up of handheld/steadycam. After we had filmed Michael's group searching for the folder, we then filmed Haden and Selene finding the folder (this happens before Eve searches for it in the narrative though). We made a shot of Haden's (my) hand picking up the folder as an improvisation and we added movement to the shot we had storyboarded of Haden reading the folder, so the camera had a close-up of the folder then travelled upwards to me reading it.

Sam arrived and we started to make our campfire set-up in Lizzie's garden. We dragged some large logs near a wooded area and then put them next to each other, in front of which we made a ring of rocks and inside the ring we piled firewood and newspaper. We lit the newspaper and had to sustain the fire through the filming. The fire would occasionally dim but by the end it had become rather bright especially when we were losing the daylight. We added in a few handheld pans of the group as well as doing the storyboarded conversation between Eve and Michael. Lana was originally going to be having the conversation with Michael, but Hannah was not available to film and we felt that Eve would be a more appropriate person for Michael to talk to in the trailer.

We also added in a shot of Eve comforting her brother Alfie. This involved her reaching across to him (he was on the other log) but the way the shot is framed it looked as if she was reaching over the fire. This has semiotic meaning that she would go across fire to protect her brother. Then we put the fire out and then made our way to the gates on Lizzie's drive-way. We had Lizzie and her brother run up to and through the gate (in one take) and then in another take, we had them slamming the gate shut, together. The final shot was of them continuing running up the driveway afterwards.

We then had some ideas of shots with torches, Selene and Haden searching for Michael's group in the house. So we turned all of the lights off and me and Clare were filmed coming up the stairs with the torches and along the landing (handheld again). I liked the idea of the torch light blinding directly into the camera (I was influenced by the TV series Supernatural) and it also gave a sense of point of view as well. We did this again in Lizzie's room, Clare and I were filmed entering the room with the torchlight sweeping about. We then filmed the exact sequence again except I had the camera so it was a point of view from Haden, looking for Michael's group.

Going downstairs Lizzie, Matthew and I went into a small room and turned off the light, we then tried to get the shot with her and her brother when she blows out the match. It took a few attempts because the camera struggled to focus in the low light, and someone accidently turned on the light in the middle of filming. But, we got a selection of shots, that we were confident would be included in the trailer.

Our final filming involved the sequence that came first in the trailer. Lizzie got into her pyjamas and her mum put a dressing-gown over her clothes and we set about filming the "goodnight" scene. It took a few takes to get the looking through the door shot just right. Sometimes the door wasn't opened enough. We got a few variations of the hug between Eve and Eve's mother (Lizzie and her Mum). We also did some alternate shots of the folder, with a zoom and without a zoom, this was so we could decide in post production which was most effective. After that it was a wrap (well for that day).

 






















The day of filming at Lizzie's house was the day that included the most dialogue, so made a script to go through the day, although we weren't afraid to modify it in parts to make it sound more natural on the day

Below is a gallery of photos that were taken behind the scenes on that day of filming:

Filming the scenes with Eve's Mother and Alfie:

Selene's make-up:

 Filming the scenes of Haden and Selene with the magazine:

Filming the search for the folder:

Filming and making of the Campfire scene:

 Putting the Fire out and heading to film the Alfie and Eve run through the gate shot:

Lastly we finished our day of filming with the beginning sequence of our trailer with Eve and her Mother's goodnight scene: