Shooting Dairy

 Day 7

From the start we encountered difficulties. Whiles Louis and Sam pick up a MacDonald’s, me and Jack retrieved a working camera and a charge battery. On coming back Sam and Louis returned to school to continue with the auxiliary task leaving jack and I to once again film without them. We were to film the fight scene however the, set had change from what we had filmed before.  In the new bath room which had been made smaller, and a wall inserted. This meant we were unable to film the fight scene. We decided that this scene wasn’t necessary to our film and would probably make the film flow better if left out.

In order to wrap it up and end filming, so focus could be on editing and effect making, Jack and I continued to film until the final scene and the final shots. This meant getting the gun as a prop in the showdown scene. Jacks brother had leant this to a mate and so we had to get it off of them. Yet another problem.

After all the palaver, Jack and I rushed into action, filming all we could in the remaining time frame. Again approaching the filming in chronological order, so not to get confused we filmed the build up to the finale. The finale which would take part in jacks living room, (this turned out to be a well considered and if not convenient place to film. The window and space which the setting provided made it easy to shoot the scenes as quick and effectively as we both could.)

When filming the chasing scene building up to the showdown between our characters, I decided if it was possible to film a part when the two would be separated, so in story context, finding the gun and ending the chase would be more realistic. This would also help the verisimilitude of the film remain clear, intact and not ruin anyone’s suspended engagement into our film. I thought that the roads and alley-ways were perfect to film, a shot when our clone character was to be suddenly hit by a car. Obviously I wouldn’t be able to film me being physically hit by a car however jack thought that with the use of after effects, he would be able to create this effect. We would however need to hold up the green screen. But without Louis or Sam this was difficult to do with just one person. Luckily we manage to ask a cyclist if he would be able to help us hold the green screen behind me whiles I tried to act being hit by a car.  He was very obliging and held the green scene for us.

As editor I knew a perfect part of the film to put this scene. This fitted perfectly with a drop in the music and I hoped at the time it would shock the audience and hopefully put a cool, exciting effect to the film as a whole.

The finale, would seem to take place in two scenes, we already had footage of one of the endings however we needed to film the build up and finish to the first setting, this also include the showdown and actually firing the gun. When we decided how the two scenes were going to be edited and filmed we drew inspiration from an iconic scene from ‘Transpotting’. This is when in one scene he had just taken a hit of heroine and in the other he has just been hit in the face with a football. Both fall at the same rate and in almost symmetry. We liked this scene so much that we decided to use it as a basis to end our film with. To film this I would have to fall backwards, we used cushions to break my fall and stop me from hurting myself. Unfortunately we realised that we should use cushions too late as I threw myself onto Jacks very hard floor hurting my coccyx.  When the cushions were in place I strapped the camera and tripod to my stomach. Facing the camera towards myself made the focus on me and the movement on the objects and the falling objects and scenery around me. This gave a surreal effect and one which I think matches the entire feeling of our film. We used this technique also when running however I only used the camera at arm’s length.  The gun and nuzzle flashes of the gun firing would be added later using after effects to give a better and more realistic/ professional effect.

Obviously this was our most successful day of filming, filming just over 23 minutes of footage. Jack and I had become very efficient at filming together.  After the filming I also manage to capture all of the film so editing could commence instantly. We then realised that there were small parts which would link scenes nicely, for example first sending a text to his friend explaining how he was feeling and when to meet him on the bridge. These would be filmed whenever possible in the future.

End of Filming (We were all very happy)