Account of Shoot Day

The day began at roughly 12 o’clock,two of us begun filming before the third member of the group arrived, as the two of us were at the location for about 20-30 minutes before the third person joined we begun filming all of the scenes that didn’t require the other actor which is why the schedule changed as we started by filming the shots of  the killer walking down the road and into the path of the house and up to the front door, we then took different angles of this shot in order for us to be able to see the shot from different angles and once we went to editing to merge the angles to create a more exciting walking route for the killer to take, in order to prepare for the day we first arranged a time and day that we were all able to do and then we had to buy all of the necessary props we needed which was done and once we all arrived at the location of filming we had all of the required props. In terms of the day going as we had planned for it on the storyboard is quite accurate as the shots we had done were all planned out previously and we tried to follow the sequence draft as much as we could so overall the storyboard was very similar to the actual running of the day. The only things that were changed on the day was that I was to play the killer as the other actor was unavailable which we adjusted to quickly and I did the best job I could, the victim that was supposed to be played by a girl was also changed as the girl was unavailable so the role had to be changed to a male victim and be played by another member of our group, leading up to the filming the location was also changed as the original location was changed as it was unavailable by the time we were ready to film. Overall the changes made did have a big impact on our final piece as we had planned for an attractive female victim and experienced actors however once we adjusted to the inexperienced actors the final product was considerably affected but not massively and the change in location was dealt with quite easily as well so overall the changes in our plan did not have such a great effect on our final piece. To a considerable extent we were well prepared as we did have all of the props and all of the equipment ready for the day of filming however the changes to the plot in terms of actors and gender of the victim was unplanned so that was a surprise as well as the location which was changed to a suburban home rather than an empty old house was also not planned but overall the group adjusted to these problems well and we were then able to film without an issue, we knew what we were going to be shooting from the start as we had planned out a shot-by-shot list which allowed us to know every shot we needed and what the next one we were going to shoot was and as we had all of the props ready the shooting not only ran smoothly but also without any issues. The effect that we were planning to create was a mix between a thriller with both elements or horror and comedy in order for us to be able access all parts of the target audience who enjoy different elements in the thrillers they want to watch, we wanted to create a thriller that not only appears real but also shows the problems with society today which is why we have a teen addicted to technology showing how disconnected from the real world the younger generation is as well as how easy it is for someone to gain access to your home without knowing their true intentions but we were clearly going for a mix of genre between a horror thriller but including some comedic elements as well. All of the steps taken to produce our product clearly thought about the target audience as we always had to think about who we wanted to watch our film, this relates to the target audience as we are aiming at the younger viewers aged 15-25 who will be focused on not only what the kill is like in terms of how much blood there is but also in order to the comedic elements in order to get a laugh from the thriller as well if the horror side did not appear as popular as we wanted. 

The mis-en-scene that we used was created in order to relate to the thriller/horror genre of the film we were we making, the costumes used were that of normal people who were going about their daily business just like normal people, the lighting was a mixture of natural daylight and some shots also had additional lighting, this enabled us to provide the authentic shots as we wanted the audience to believe it as much as possible. The shot choices that we made were key to the film as it gave us the opportunity for different angles to be used as well as a change over from each scene with very simple and smooth transitions from shot to shot, the tracking shot were done so you could follow the killers movements and see how he goes about his job, the close ups provided meaning as they show emphasis on each element of the shot and also allow for the true feeling in a scene to be shown, the tracking shots were used by us to allow for a good view of how each character was going through their business and the close ups showed the emotion of each character. The best shots that worked well were mainly the tracking shots that were very accurate and showed the path of the killer and the victim, the wide shots used to set the location were a good way for us to show how the killer was not only calm before the job but also did not hesitate when he entered the house however on the day certain shots needed to be changed to adjust to the location such as the wide shots which had to be well timed due to the traffic volume in the area, we changed the shots of the victim as it was now a male victim instead of a female so instead of flaunting the victims gender and looks we aimed to show their simple and careless nature through the use of technological  addiction and real world unawareness. The additional changes and ideas we used had an overall positive effect as they not only made the filming process run much more smoothly but also allowed for the final product being produced to be a mix of genres combined with real life stereotypes and fears of stupidity. The main features that worked were the camera angles used and the location of a suburban home as it reflects a regular lived in environment that provides a more realistic storyline, however if there was anything I could have done differently it would have been the part of the victim as it might have been more popular if we had used an attractive female victim as it would have been more popular with the target audience, the fact that the acting wasn’t also great was a downside as we would have rather used more experienced actors who knew what they were doing as well as maybe having a different murder weapon as a knife can be seen as ineffective so other weapons like a gun would have been much more effective and easier. All of these ideas are reflected in the horror/thriller genre as I made sure to take the genre into account for every decision that we made as not only are all of the camera angles and shots used specific to the genre but the props and costumes as well were those in keeping with genre such as dark clothes on the killer or a knife with blood on or the plastic sheeting.

The costumes and props chosen were also extremely important as they not only show the characters intentions but also are in keeping with the genre. The killer was supposedly meant to appear normal and to pretend to be a cleaner so we had the actor dress in normal everyday clothes such as a jumper, trainers and tracksuit bottoms however the black jumper shows the darkness of the character as the white bucket he is carrying contrasts with the characters pretend job is that of a positive figure. The costume of the victim is just regular, simple clothes which show his simple nature and classic teenage personality of not caring about what he wears, this is in keeping with the genre as the victims never get to choose what they wear when they get killed so they are stuck in the everyday clothes they decided to wear that morning which is why they look so plain and normal looking. The props chosen such as the phone show modern times and what a stereotypical teen is doing, the knife is used as it is the easiest to conceal murder weapon and is the most effective, the cleaning bucket allows the pretend job to seem more believable which as more realism to the film, the plastic sheeting allows for the idea of keeping the kill clean be maintained and adds a Dexter like quality to the kill, we used a watermelon to create an accurate stab like sound that is more realistic and helped to ensure the film was more authentic. The films that inspired our costumes were films like scream where the victim dresses in everyday clothing and man bites dog where the killer wears the clothes that are appropriate for the job they are pretending to do. The dark clothes used allow for you to see who is really evil and has bad intentions compared to the victim wearing lighter clothes who is more pure and innocent. The films that inspired the props were those such as Dexter where the plastic sheeting is used to keep the mess clean and Scream where the door is opened to anyone who seems slightly legitimate while not knowing the strangers true intentions.

The actors that we chose we not our first choice as the actors we had originally chosen were unavailable on the day of filming so two members of the group had to play the roles, I played the killer and Yosi played the victim, they were not chosen out of talent but were rather the final option. The actors may not appeal to some parts of our target audience but will appeal to some additional parts as well, the male killer is the same as we had planned so it reaches the same part of the target audience we aimed for and has been unaffected by casting changes however even though the target audience was changed due to the fact the victim was no longer a girl it somewhat alienates some of the male target audience who only watch horror films to see an attractive girl act scared but the advantages of using a male victim are that it does provide the opportunity for our target audience to expand to having more female viewers who like the male victim idea. The actors had the right look as the killer looks somewhat menacing and clearly is not afraid of what he is doing as well as the victim being more innocent looking and more fragile that allows for the killer to clearly have superiority over the situation, the ideas that the actors put across about the film are that it is a classic situation of one figure clearly in control compared a weaker victim and that anyone can be misleading as well having intentions that are not as they appear.

The lighting that we used in our film was mostly natural light, this not only provided us with accurate scenes of normal day lighting but created a realistic effect of each scene, in some shots we used an additional light in order to increase the light in darker places or to overpower shadows, the use of the additional light provides a more positive effect as a more well lit scene shows as being more positive and the more dim scenes are more negative allowing viewers to see what scenes were going to have each type of event happening in them. This is appropriate for the genre as more dim settings are usually more ominous and let the audience know what is coming whereas better-lit scenes present a safe environment for the characters, this is seen in movies such as Zombieland where a darker scene means a negative act is going to happen and positive things happen in films such as The Usual Suspects where the better-lit scenes had little violence and showed safety. The lighting added to the mis-en-scene as it alters the audience’s emotions between scenes and builds the tension in each scene leading up to the end. Overall I think that the lighting did work as it fulfilled the purpose we needed it to, if I could change anything about it I would have chosen for more dark scenes and then more bright scenes, which showcase the opposing nature and intention of each character.

The sound we used was very necessary in each scene, the ringing of the doorbell not only lets the killer know if someone is home but also provides the victim with a sense safety as the killer rings the bell just like a normal person, the music that the killer listens to when setting up for the kill creates an effect of enjoyment as it is clear that the killer has no issue with what he is doing and the music lets him go through the process in a more enjoyable setting. All of the sound used creates the suspense where it needs to like the doorbell once the killer arrives and tension is created once there is silence when the killer is ready, sound relates to other films in the genre through a more menacing sound being used for the kill scenes and no sound for a suspense build up such as Jaws where the scary music indicates an attack and silence indicates safety. As well as the watermelon we used to create a foley sound for a stabbing noise which provided the authentic audio played during the stabbing.