Although overall we thought the production was a success, we did face a few problems along the way.
The main problem was the fact it was night time when we were filming, and we chose to do this on purpose because it set the scene and allowed us to incorporate the idea of pathetic fallacy within out production.
To overcome the fact it was dark we did bring torches but we mainly focused on getting our production in the natural light. We feel this showed in our production as the lighting changes quite dramatically throughout.
On the picture to the left, the lighting appears to be natural light and appears to be early evening.
But by the time we were filming the section to the left, the lighting had changed so we had to edit the scene so the audience could fully see what was going on at the time.
To overcome the factor of light affecting our production, we had to film on consecutive nights at the same time each night in order for the lighting to be reasonably to same.
Another problem we spotted once we'd actually finished editing our production was a continuity edit fault. Although extremely minor, we did spot it. Luckily it wasn't a key feature throughout our piece.
Here it shows us that 30 seconds in, his drink is nearly empty.
When we go another 3 seconds into the production he has a full glass.
This shows that the editing has gone faulty here. Thankfully though it was only a minor part of our production and wouldn't be spotted normally if it was watched leisurely and that only when you look in depth, that this fault can actually be seen.
Once we began filming we decided that instead of having dialogue in our production (in the second scene), the ambiguity and mystery would be heightened if instead we blocked that out and had louder music with eerie sounds able to be heard in the background. We also changed to order of what happens when editing arrived, changing the end of the script completely.
UPDATED SCRIPT:
Scene one - train tracks
Molly
Diegetic sound:
*heavy breathing*
Breathing continues to become heavier as she
runs down the track and slowly fades quieter as she runs away from
camera diegetic sound:
*gasp*
As she turns around and sees someone in the distance she gasps with
fear.
Diegetic sound:
*falling against the floor*
The sound created as she hits the floor
Cuts to flashback - loud music running throughout- diegetic and coming from the pub they're in of 'Sweet Caroline'. As she exits the bar, we hear louder music that is more demanding and louder (non diegetic), suggesting something bad is going to happen.
Graphic match to the next scene with the whole of the diegetic music from the bar being cancelled out and replaced with the non-diegetic loud, siren-sounding music. The scene plays out and at the end we hear the diegetic sound of the axe cutting through the girl followed by a diegetic *scream*.
Axe- the axe was used as our final prop and we thought instead of using a gun as the murder weapon, an axe is more mysterious and proves to be more of a dangerous, more gruesome weapon.
Torches- we needed torches in order to actually film our production. Although they arent shown in the film, they were a necessity due to the face we were filming in the dark. They also proved to look like car headlights in the background of our opening scene.
Shoes/bag/clutch- these three props were needed for the 'damsel in distress' in our production. These were used as extras to help make it a more realistic scene. When she's running away we allowed the fact that she was holding her coat and her shoes in the other hand to prove she was a girl running away and was scared.
Make up- we used make-up as a prop to ensure that it looked like the girl in our production was upset and had been drugged. We applied her make-up normally and then smudged it across her face to allow the idea that she was being chased to be represented in what she was wearing and looked like.
Wine glass- the wine glass simply allowed us an opportunity for her to get drugged, and was therefore a necessity in our production.
Pills(tic tacs)- again, these were a necessity in our production as it's a key part when she does get drugged. Obviously we didn't have real drugs, so we used small mints in their place, which still looked effective.
Pint of beer - having a pint of beer was only to enhance the atmosphere that we were in a pub. This created more of a realistic feel and we thought it was necessary as an alibi because otherwise he would have looked odd within the production if the man was sat there doing nothing.
Mobile phone - the mobile phone was used to get the other girl away from the scene.
Ketchup - we also used ketchup for the final scene to mirror fake blood. We spread it on the walls, but unfortunately it was hard to see due to the lighting as we had to film at night time.
Scene one - train tracks
Molly
Diegetic sound:
*heavy breathing*
Breathing continues to become heavier as she runs down the track and slowly fades quieter as she runs away from camera diegetic sound:
*gasp*
As she turns around and sees someone in the distance she gasps with fear.
Diegetic sound:
*falling against the floor*
The sound created as she hits the floor
Cuts to flashback - the bar diegetic sound:
Molly
‘ so are we going for some food then’
Friend
‘yes that would be great’
...
*phone rings*
‘oh! Just one moment’
*friend gets up and walks out*
Hustle and bustle of bar and ‘sweet Caroline’ playing in the background
Cuts back to molly running down the track diegetic sound: Continuous diegetic noises of her running down the track and heavy breathing.
WOMAN - In the bar
- Nice, classy, black dress
- High Heels
- Neat and tidy hair, up in a bun
- Red Lipstick
- Clutch Bag
Our reasoning for the girls outfit shows that we wanted her to be in normal clothes with a normal atmosphere because if we went too over the top then a sense of realism would be drawn out of the production we created. This allowed us to create a more realistic approach to our opening of the thriller which consequently connects with the audience because a relateable feel.
MAN - in the bar and throughout
- Black pants - maybe paint or something on them to suggest a regular, normal person.
- Face (blurry throughout to ensure the mystery is constant and so we never find out who he really is)
We decided that the man would be dressed in black, with his face never shown to allow the mystery to be heightened to ensure we never find out who he is. Our choice for doing this was mirrored by a lot of thriller films where, in the beginning, the killer is never actually revealed.
Because we had a large group of four of us, we needed to find days where all of us were available to attend.
To ensure this happened we had a group chat on Facebook so it was convenient to plan our days and get in touch with each other easily.
In order to decide what day we would do our filming on, we had to check to weather because part of our production takes part outside. Obviously we had to plan ahead in order to avoid rain or severe weather. According to the weather forecast, Wednesday seemed like the most appropriate day to film.
