Meeting 22

Date: 15/03/09
All present

We all went round to Chris' house to carry on with editing, using the laptop however we found that the work we had saved did not work on Final Cut Express as it has a different version of the programme and as we had uploaded to the Macs in E3 the data would not work on the laptop. This is when we decided to start our evaluation by making notes on all the points we need to mention about our filming process and planning

Meeting 21

Date: 12/03/09
All present

We stayed for two hours after school to upload our filming and started editing it by putting it in the correct order and cutting out certain parts of shots. We came across a problem with linking two shots of the letters as there was a jump and tried to use the roll tool on Final Cut Express but it did not work, this is when we ran out of time so decided to take the laptop for the weekend and continue at Chris's house. 

Filming progress continued

Date: 12/03/09

We all had two free periods at the beginning of our day so we got the 6.50 am train to Cambridge in order to get back to school by 11.10m for our first lessons. As we were on the train on the way there we rang the Regent Hotel and they told us that we could not film until 11.00 am, however as we walked past the hotel at around 8.00 am they did not look very busy but we didn't want to annoy the staff and so came back at 10.00 am when they allowed us to film as long as we didn't get in the way of customers. We managed to do this well however filming the letters with credits on them took quite a while as we couldn't get the angles of amount of air to blow away the letters.

Filming progress

Date: 11/03/09

Today we all had two free periods at the end of school so we went to Clarice's house to film the bedroom scene with the intruder. We found that we could not get the camera high enough to get a high angle shot but solved this problem by using DVD's underneath each leg of the tripod. Another problem we had was blocking out the right amount of light, enough so that we could see what was happening but not too much that it looked like daylight but we managed to get the right balance by using black paper. 

Final Soundtrack?

Edit of previous tracks - Karsh Kale track and Jack the Ripper track faded together with the correct time, matching the current credit sequence at 15.11 seconds and continuing to roughly 51 seconds before the soundtrack is no longer in use.

click to play

Discussion

We discussed final planning for tomorrow's filming over the phone
  • Casting -Who will be the intruder?
  • Props - Letters and Photo (printing and frame)
  • What we have each prepared. (Clarice -photo frame, letters, cast, Chris -printing photos, cast. Sophie -transportation)
  • Equipment - Video Camera (charged and setup) Tripod and other mounts (using Chris') and Digital Camera (to take photo's of ourselves during filming and at the set to show our participation)
We had an urgent problem with casting as the person we were going to use had football the same day, so we considered our options and arranged for Courtney Frankham to star as the intruder instead.

Chris will be printing off the pictures tonight and Clarice already has the photo frames and will also be writing one of the letters, and we will be asking someone with neat handwriting to write a second tomorrow so that the writing varies. This is so we have the letters to film on the doorstep when filming in Cambridge.

On Thursday Chris will be filming, Clarice will be assisting and Sophie will be starring. We are going to have to try and keep from shooting to many members of the general public as they may be walking down the path during the shot but we will attempt to get the best shot possible.

Mise en Scene Continued

As we are going to be filming our first scene tomorrow, I decided that we need to know what we are going to need in more detail to make it all come together.

Costume
For the costume of the first scene we wouldn't need the woman in the bed, played by Sophie, to be wearing anything specific as her clothes would not be seen. However her hair will need to be loose and quite messy so that it looks as if she was actually sleeping. The intruder will need to be wearing all black so that he looks like he is trying to blend in with the darkness, other than that he also does not need a very specific costume.
In the second scene, filmed in Cambridge, Sophie will need to be wearing quite smart clothes, as if she is going to a meeting of some sort, I think a skirt, shirt, jacket and plain black heels would work well.

Props
In the bedroom scene, the main props we will need are quite a large photo frame for the main photo, I think a few small ones on the bedside table or dotted around could look quite effective as well, a mobile phone, a bed, bedside table and a window with adjustable blinds. The less essential things we could use would make the bedroom look as if the woman actually lives there, things like a lamp, CDs and DVDs, make up, a TV, jewellery, perfume, a mirror and a hairbrush. These things may not be seen in the film but as we have not filmed yet we dont know what will show up in the shots.
For the scene on the steps in Cambridge, we will not need many props as most of the things will already be there, we will need the letters to blow away with the credits on them and a door mat if there is not already one at the hotel. I think Sophie should also carry a bag and be holding her phone, she could maybe also be using her phone as she needs to look so distracted and busy that she does not see the letters outside her door.

Lighting
In my room I have a sheet that I can attach to the window using velcro however, it is quite a light colour and may not block out enough light. If this happens I am going to make thin strips of black card to attach over the top of the sheet, this will block out more of the light and in the scene it will hopefully show lines of light on Sophie's face and on the intruder so that we can see their movements and on the props so that we can see who is in the photos.
In the Cambridge scene we will not need to edit much of the lighting as we will need the natural morning light, however if it is not bright enough we could make a box and cover it in tin foil so that it reflects more light onto Sophie, and hopefully making it look more sunny.