The shoot day

 The shoot day started at 8:50 the hole crew met up and we discussed our next steps. We had more or less an hour left until our cast was available so we decided to make some last adjustments and perpetrations. Bert and Pablo were supposed to start putting the blood on the apron while I got the priest costume form the theatre department. I then joined them putting the blood on the apron. After trying different amounts of blood we decided on more stylized marks all-over the apron and we ended up with a very bloody look. We even developed different tequnices but the key learnings were more, more, more fake blood! 

We then moved on to the first location, a boarding house on campus (‘The Lodge’), we set up our camera and decided to first get a basic shot on a tripod which would only show the legs of our actors. We had the choice between tow doors. A ‘normal’ house door, which looked great but on the door handle was a code panel which made it seem as if it was a communal living area and not a private house another door looked a bit like a barn gate we decided to use the ‘normal’ door as it seemed more appropriate to our scene and simply framed it in away you wouldn’t be able to see the code panel. We then looked at the movement in the scene there were some limitations that we needed to keep in mind. For example we wouldn’t be able to spill extra blood or rather create a realistic wound on the actresses stomach after she gets steps therefore you shouldn’t be able to see the her stomach when and after she falls. James would hide her stomach by standing Infront of it her while she’s still falling when she’s laying on the ground we advised her to fall with her legs angled towards the camera thereby hiding her stomach. The Knife was already bloody when we started I spread blood all over it and especially at the tip. In order to make the murder seem more brutal I wanted the knife to not be visible before he stabs her. This way the blood would be more effective. We worked out the angle in which James would need to hold the knife so it wouldn’t be visible or at least not visible for a long time. We framed our shots with the stereotypical cinema bars as we thought this would match the vibe we were going for. I also directed the way James would walk. We tried some variations, in tempo and also the way he would carry himself he shouldn’t seem to nervous or to excited but still as if he is happy to do this as if it brings him joy. After we got a few takes sometimes with some variations of how the action would take place e.g. how often James knocks on the door or if the door would close or not. This was quiet easy to do because in order for the door to stay open after the victim opens it someone would need to stand behind the door hand hold it. When we then wanted the door closed they would simply let go. We rotated in three decisions one person would kneel behind the camera and operate the camera the other tow of us would either hold the mic or deal with the door. After we got the basics we tried something that we had in mind from the start. It was a hand. healed take that would show the killer walking towards the house (downwards from his knees). We then moved on and shoot some establishing shot of the house. We filmed from a lower angle how James would approach the house stop and go closer. the low angle was supposed to make him seem more epic. I placed a rock on the ground as a marker so James would know where to stand that way the framing would work and we wouldn’t need to adjust the focus. Finally, we did some takes of James walking and experimented with some pans and tilts. 

 

 

At approximately 11:20 am we drove to ST. Holmberry to film some shots of James traveling and his encounter with a dog. We filmed our first shot at what we thought empty village street. But cars wouldn’t stop passing by this was especially uncomfortable for James as he was standing in a bloody apron with a knife alone in the middle of the street, although we advised him to fooled his apron and hide the knife while were not filming this wasn’t always possible because sometimes cars passed by while we were shooting or right before. But James was always really polite to the people and we all copied this welcoming energy when the people passed by that we were standing behind a huge camera and tripod probably also helped that our present wasn’t alarming. In our first take James walked the down the street and near the end made a turn to the left. We decided that this didn’t seem right so we told him to start moving in a diagonal line. During the next take a stood behind the camera and gave him hand signs how he was supposed to move. After that the best actor in our sequence arrived on set. Our media teacher’s dog. After everyone was adored the dog for a bit we started setting up the camera Bert and I were in difference about how we should set up the wide shot. We were filming at a street were on one side was a tall hedge and on the other side were some cars. I wanted to place the camera in the middle of the road as I thought that that way the shot composition would be more interesting. Bert believed that the shot would look be better if we were only to see the green as it would highlight the quietness of the village. We asked our media teacher who agreed that the shoot in centre of the street would offer a more interesting shot. While James and Tom who played the dog walker acted out their scene we tried to remember where they were stopping for continuity so when we later on shoot medium and close ups they would stop at the same spot. Another thing I learned today was to shoot as littles as possible with dogs. While they are incredibly happy and initially raise the happiness level of everyone at set they are not great at upholding content unity. For minutes straight we tried to shoot a close up of the dog jumping up on James. 

 

After lunch back at school we picked up another Tom the actor who is portraying the priest. When the day started, we didn’t know he was going to play him but he was free and happy to do it so we were really excited. When we arrived in the church, and he put on his costume we couldn’t believe how well he looked in his costume. I looked at the practical lighting in the church and the location in general and placed Clare the actress who portraited the villager on a seat next to the corridor. I started out telling tom to stand in one of the rows and to Clare’s left so she could easily move but the framing felt odd because why wouldn’t the priest stand in the corridor so we placed him in the corridor and a bit further down the back so Clare could easily stand-up greet James and leave. On set we worked shop the dialogue while I had written some backup lines I wanted the actors to be able to free to improvise this way I hoped their dialogue would suit them better and it did! They came up with some hilarious lines and were able to riff. I then talked to them, and we shortened the dialogue as this was supposed to be a brief conversation. After the wide shot we moved on to some mid shots and close ups. For Clare’s closeup I wanted her to talk to Tom about a hideous sin she had committed. While we are most likely not going to use this either way I think it helped both of them understand the situation they’re characters are in better. I was constantly worried about the 180 degree rule but my teammates and our media teacher ensured me that we were okay. We then moved on and set up the camera to shoot the murders conversion. Originally planned to have James kneel down Infront of the alter but. it was to far away. So we decided to scrap the kneeling bit and they would just stand further down the church this would also demonstrate a stronger conception between the characters. This turned out to be a hard scene to shoot. Because someone had released the giggles. First Tom who didn’t even know that he is going to be in this video and who is not an actor needed to memories the lines and always switched certain parts. Important to remember is even when he switched a line to always keep going. After both of them new their lines I talked to them about the pronunciation of the words they were going to say and which parts they should stress in order to match the feel of the scene. This and of course working with the dog was the most fun part of the day for me as work shopping the dialogue and talking to the actors about their characters and how these would act allowed me to really be creative. This was also the first time we needed additional lighting earlier we shot outside and the natural lighting worked great, the practical lights in the middle of the church also worked well but now as we were further back we need to add some ligth. We added some soft orange light which was not intense (thereby simulating the practical lights in the church) because this area was nearly completely dark in the previous wide shots. We also added a steal collared back light from the left (simulating the light coming from a widow) which would outline the actors silluett. This light setup also resulted in one side being filled with shadows. This added to the mysterious and dark feel of the scene. In order to finish all the scenes with the actors we filmed James walking into/ towards the church. We did tow variations one where James would come from the street and another one where he would immerse from the graveyard. We had one more idea with James so we went back into the church placed the camera on the ground and tilt it a bit upwards this way James would seem really powerful. We filmed how James enters the church and the idea was that you would only see his sluett because the light from outside would be nearly the only source of light. We were nearly finished so we went outside down to hill in order to film an establishing shot of the church we off course needed to adapt the apprature and tried a few different camera movement. We tried out some different movements and then we could finally say:  

The key learnings of this week and a review of the test shoot

 

The final countdown!

 On Monday is our shoot day this means that we had to sort out every remaining problem. I talked to nearly all of the cast again making sure that everyone is on the same page. The person we wanted as the priest wasn’t available, so our media teacher Adam is going to play the priest. We discussed the sequence and the action list one last time so we all know what we need to shoot on Monday. Bert pitched the idea of the killer listening to music on his headphones after he kill his first victim. With this he wanted to go for a Guardians of the galaxy feeling which Pablo and I agreed would suit our project really well.  Another good thing is about this is that later on in the edit we can simply change the music and create a totally different atmosphere. Bert and I also  checked out the Church location on Google maps we looked for nearby locations were we could film shoots of the walking to the church.

Next up were our props the fake blood arrived as well as the apron. We decided to pick the mid-sized prop knife from the theatre department as we believed that it would look the best. We originally planned to use a prop knife only for a few shots and use an actual knife for things like close ups. Our media teacher pointed out the danger of bringing a object like this on set if its not completely necessary therefore we tried to scratched as many shots with the knife close up which will hopefully allow use to use the prop knife without it ruining the atmosphere. The prop knife just got a new paint of coat and the handle wasn’t completely finished it still had a golden base coat. The apron featured quiet prominently a  logo. I asked a friend who dose art as a level to hide the logo and add a black coat of paint to the knife which see luckily agreed on! We also did a little test shoot of the murder scnce. This turned out to be very helpful as it pointed out the difficulties of this shot and how we don’t want it to look we were also able to work on specific ideas for the framing and instantly test them. 

 

Here is the in my opinion best take we did:

Meeting 23rd of February- Props, casting and costumes

 Today was the first meeting in person in 1 and ½ weeks. We discussed the timetable, the cast and costume. We thought of alterative jobs for the murderer, but in the end stetted again on him being a butcher. Bert wanted to confirm Simon as the Priest but up until now this wasn’t possible so we agreed if Simon wasn’t able to do the shoot, Adam our media teacher would,  who currently is supposed to play a friendly villager is going to play the priest while someone on set will play the friendly villager. We then went to the theatre department to look at knife props. 

 

All of them look obviously fake so we decided to use a real knife in most parts of the sequence but during the scene where the butcher stabs the first victim, we would use one of the prop knifes.

 

I also ordered a apron so we could. soak it  in fake blood on the shoot day. We looked at multiple aprons but then we decided to buy a light beige apron as this would make it seem more handmade and used which would fit into the scenery of a village.

 

Meeting 22nd of February- Schdual and costumes

 At todays meeting we discussed with our teacher what we did so far and what we still need to do. I came up with a timetable for the shoot day. I had to keep in mind restrictions like that people are not available for the hole time for multiple reasons e.g. teachers might need to teach a class and have no replacement or need to attend a meeting. I also thought about how difficult each scene would be for example a scene with dialogue is likely to take longer than a scene of the butch just walking down the road. This is the timetable I came up with:

:A1 MEDIA SHOOT SCHDUAL ON MONDAY THE 28th OF FEBUARY 

 

Start of shoot day (I assume 8:50am):

-the lodge (location for murder)

- Crew

---------10 am James (the butcher) and Zoe (the victim)

 

Moving on to the street at 11:30 am:

-street near to closes location  

-Crew James (the butcher), Adam (friendly Villager), Adams Dog

 

Moving on to the Church at 1:30 pm:

-ABCDEFG Curch

-Crew James (the butcher), Simon (the priest), Clare (friendly villager 2)

 

Presumed end of shoot day at 3:00pm

(I color coded the timetable to make it easier to look for the different types of information like time and people needed on set)

 

I massaged the theater department to ask if we could get a prop knife and a priest costume. They haven’t gotten back to me about the knife but did send me a costume which they have and we could use:   

                                                                   

 

Bert is going to order fake blood online. We still don’t know if we can shoot at a church but it very likely!

Meeting 21st of February- Final Preparations for Shoot Day

 The school was closed today as there was no water in the hole area. So we had a virtual meeting. We discussed amongst other things casting.  Bert said that had secured Simon a pathography teacher here at Hurtwood as the priest. I massaged James Hartman (the Murderer) and Clare Crossley (the friendly villager) to check if they are still available and if they had any questions, James asked me about his costume (you can see the plan for his costume in a previous block post).  We still need to get a priest outfit and a knife so I’m hoping to get these things from the theater department when were back at school. 

I still don’t know if or if not we will be able to film at a church. I’ve also written a new version of the dialogue for the final church scene

 Location wise we sadly  still don’t know if or if not we will be able to film at a church. I’ve also written a new version of the dialogue for the final church scene:

Butcher:  Forgive me father for I have sinned! As I’ve exterminated another presided.

 

Priest: I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. May the almighty God have mercy on you, and having forgiven your sins, lead you to eternal life. Amen. We shall thankyou for executing your Deluty!  May the infinite spirit bells your sole!

 

Weekend update 20th of February- Key learnings from the previous week

 

Second editing workshop

The focus today was on audio editing.

The graphic on the timeline representing the audio track is called ‘Waveform’. You can unlink (separate) the Video file from the Waveform by right clicking on the clip and then pressing unlink. This is useful for multiple purposes you can now delete (if there is one) the silent second audio layer (this doesn’t affect the final product but makes your timeline clearer. When editing multiple clips together which all have a separate audio it is extremely that a quiet sound will occur whenever you cut between different takes. This sound can make your edit seem ruff. There are a lot of ways of fixing this problem one is by lining up your audio tracks on one level. Then going to the effects tab, opening the Crossfades folder, drag and drop the Constant power effect onto the tow audio tracks in question. You can now shorten the duration of the effect and the sound should be gone.  

 

We then discussed ways editing can shape a scene. For example through editing someone can dominate/ win a scene. This can be achieved by simply cutting more often to them and or giving them more screen time. 

 

It is also useful to edit in a way that matches where a character looks.

 

When editing it is also useful to look at what material there is and what you can do with it. Cutting a line from the sequence can completely change the tone or content of the scene.  

This is the sequence we edited: 

Meeting 8th of February- Updating, cast and costume

 Today was the first meeting with Pablo in over a week. During the meeting we updated him on the developments, messaged our (potential) cast and I talked with the actress who is going to play the victim about her costume. Bert wanted the victim to be a mother in her 30-40s. The problem here is that this would mean that we had to cast another teacher which is always complicated. Because you barley see her face, I casted one of our classmates, Zoe Case. She and I discussed what cloths she could wear to make it seem as if she was older. 

Third Studio workshop

Today the class got sorted in three new groups to work in the studio. My group filmed three short sequences which we will edit on Friday, to learn how to edit Audio. We decided to film three sequences. The focus was on audio we therefore filmed three short conversations. The microphone was directly plucked into the camera. The microphone mainly records the audio of where it is aimed at, as it is a rival mic. We were advised to put the mic into a microphone mount. This way we don’t touch the microphone directly which could have ruined the audio recording as every slight movement would have created very loud sounds in the recording. Tow people were Infront of the camera and the other person operated the camera and microphone, each of us got a turn with operating the camera. 

Meeting 8th of Februar- Finding the cast

 Today Pablo and Bert were both on a photography trip. I wrote emails to potential cast members. In the email I talked about the general idea of the sequence the specific character I would like them to paly and I also warned them if their character for example comes in contact with fake blood to ensure that they are comfortable portraying the role. 

First editing workshop

Today we got our first workshop on editing in Premier pro. Premier Pro, by adobe who
also created photoshop and after effects,  is one of the most commonly used editing software’s. Even Blockbuster tent pole movies like Deadpool have been edited with Premier pro. 

 

On of the most important editing principals is to ‘cut on action’. For example, while a character reaches for an object you could cut form a medium shot portraying the character and the object to a close up focusing on the object. Cutting on action makes the sequence seem more natural and smoother. 

 

There are some key terms when it comes to editing. Folders are called bins. Rushes are a bins with all the footage shot on the day. This term originates like many other terms from the time where the industry standard was to shoot on actual film. At the end of the day someone would rush to develop the film overnight. That way the director and producer could look at the footage the next day and decided to do reshoots if needed. In America rushes are called ‘Daily’s’. It is important to keep the rushes in their pure form therefore and to sort the files Editors will often create a log bin. The log bin contains the footage used in the actual edit. It is important to name files in a useful manor like ‘close up of bottle’ this makes the edit more clear, especially on a long term. It is also advisable to watch back the footage you have filmed, as what you might think you filmed isn’t always what you actually filmed. When not watching the footage first and instantly deciding on a take you might miss out on a take that didn’t feel right on the day but is better. 

 

There are 4 basic blocks in Premier the box in the bottom let hand corner shows all the bins. The box in the top left-hand corner allows you to watch back footage the footage in the bins. The box in the bottom right-hand corner is called timeline, which is where the actual cutting is controlled. The box in the top right-hand corner plays back the footage on the timeline.

 

Premiere is a professional software and therefore features a bunch of functions and has intricated mechanisms therefore it is extremely important to actually hit the button and to not miss it even by a little distance. When you start editing footage you can select a initial starting point from where you want to let the shot start by pressing I when selecting a footage saved in a bin, this can later on be adjusted. You then drag the footage onto the time line. Another important mechanism is drag and drop you can for example drag footage from one point to another point on the timeline and then drop it. This why you while have shifted the position of the clip. You start to drag a clip clicking on it, you can then move it by moving your mouse and finally when you want to drop it you just stop clicking the mouse. 

 

You are likely to have multiple clips at the same point on the timeline premier will play the clip that is at the highest position. The position can also easily be changed by dragging and dropping. You can trim the duration of a shot by dragging it to your preferred length. The razor tool which splits a clip is triggered by pressing the letter ‘C´ if you then want to return to the basic setting (the arrow) you simply press ‘V’.

 

Here is the short sequence we edited: 

Weekend update 6th of February- Key learnings from this week

Meeting 4rd of Februar- Props, costumes and storyboard

 Today we created a Props& Costume list: 

Murderer: 

-Knife 

-Fake blood 

-Apron 

-suitcase 

-Wired headphones 

-Dungarees 

 

Priest

-Priest robe 

 

Villager with dog:

-leash 

(Normal outfit)

 

Villager in church:

Pajamas/normal outfit

 

Murder Victim:

-Skinny jeans 

-Blue shirt 

-round glasses 

 

 

I started a storyboard of important moments and Bert helped me with a drawing: 

     

                            

Meeting 3rd of February- Casting and Dialogue

 At todays meeting we talked abut casting and we came up with a list of student we think would fit the role:

 

The Killer:

James Hartman

Tom Wichelow

Stuart Butcher 

 

 

Murder victim:

Zoe Case 

Iside Montaldo 

 

Villager:

Adam Grant 

 

 

Villager 2:

Clare Crossley  

 

Priest

Lee Johnson

Simon Powwer

 

 

I also thought about what bits need dialogue and what kind of dialogue they need: 

 

 

The ‘Moring’ bit. 

 

Villager: ‘Mornin’

 

Murder: ‘Morning’

 

 

The ‘Quick chat in the church’ bit:

 

Oh James lovely to see ya

 

The ‘Epic confession’ bit:

 

Murder: Forgive Father, me for I have sinned!

 

Priest: "May the almighty and merciful Lord grant you indulgence, absolution, and remission of your sins. Amen. Thank you for your service James."

 

 

For the dialogue I did some research on what the common phrases for confessions are. 

 

Meeting 2nd of February- Planning Locations, casting and working on the characters

 At todays meeting I started redoing the character list: 

 

-Killer 

 -Murder victim

 

-Villager with dog 

 

-Villager in church 

 

-Priest 

We also discussed the locations we need: a church, a house/ a door that leads to a living space, and some form of street. Our teacher is still in contact with churches of previous opening sequences. There is a on campus boarding-house called the lodge which has looks like a small cottage which would be perfect for the house scene. It doesn’t really matter where we film the road scene so we decided to just film at a road near the church location. 

In terms of casting started sharing our ideas on who in the school fits the best each role. We decided to only work with people from school as this is the most doable option

Meeting 1st of February- Action list 2.0

 Today after having a chat with our teacher and a professional camera operator about our idea we restructured it and then Bert and I started writing an action list for our sequence which I then continued and finished writing afterwards.

 

ACTION LIST:

-Black void with title card

-Sound of signal Knock 

-Cut to medium low angle shot of murder standing Infront of the door 

-He knocks a second time 

-door slowly opens

-He forcefully kicks the door and enters the apartment the person in the living space backs away 

-the camera follows them as they move into the room

-He kills her and she falls on the ground 

-He knells down and says some final words to her

-Black void with title card

- wide shot of empty rural road 

-The killer walks into frame still holding his bloody knife 

-he walks around a corner

-close up of dogs eyes 

-sounds of dog growling 

-Cut to the eyes of the killer

-wide shit of villager with dog walking towards the killer

-cut to medium shot of villager 

-the villager greets the killer

-they walk past each other 

-Extreme wide shot of church in a Dutch angle

-murder walking down towards church

-he puts down his weapon  

-cut to closeup of cross

-cut to wide shot showing the seating area and the altar the sunlight spotlights a bible 

-cut to wide shot of priest and someone who confesses to him

-cut to wide shot of the church entrance 

-cut to medium shot of church entrance

-slow motion

-the door opens and beacons of lights shine through the room as the camera moves in to a low angle 

-The killer enters 

-normal motion

-cut to medium shot of Villager who confesses (she seems frightened)

-the villager looks at the killer 

-the villager stands up

-cut to medium shot of the villager and the murder 

-they have a nice little chat 

-the villager leaves 

-cut to over the shoulder shot as the killer walks towards the altar and kneels down 

-the camera moves around him and closes in on his face

-he looks up

-eyeline match and cut to Jesus’s face 

-The killer starts confessing 

-cut to close up of the killers face 

-cut to low angle close up of the priest who forgives and thanks him for his sins 

-cut to medium shot that slowly moves into a extreme wide shot of them standing/kneeling Infront of the altar

-cut to title card 

 

In general terms our idea, which was developed based on our work from the previous weeks, is now about a small town and their designated Killer who kills everyone that brakes the peace of the town. But everyone living in the town including the Priest is okay with this. In the rest of the movie tow people would move to the local town that brake the peace but survive the assassination attempt and then have to try and stop the tyranny.  

 

During our chat with our teacher and the professional camera operator we amongst things like structure, and themes we talked about do-ability of our idea. A important part of our idea is when the killer walks into the church soaked in blood as he just killed someone. The problem here might be that the people in charge of the church wouldn’t favour us shooting a scene with blood and knifes inside of a church. Therefore, I suggested that he simply takes of his apron and lays down his knife. We then came up with the idea that the reasoning for his actions would be that he respects the church.