Filming Day 8

Date: Saturday 17th January

Location: 57 Ramillies Crescent
Time of Day: All Day (Day and Night)

Time filming started: 12:00pm
Time filming finished: 9:30pm

Scene: 1 + 3
Shots: 73-84 - Interior & 1/2+10-14 - Interior

Crew Present:
Deanna Hopps - Director and Make-up Artist
Cameron Hargreaves - Cinematographer (Camera) and Set Layout
Daniel Springthorpe - Sound and Costume
Charlotte Smiths - Lighting and Directing

Cast Present:
Rebecca Chapman - Alice
Alex Marks - Richard
Millie Russell - Stacey

Summary of the Day:
This was the last chance we had to get things finished. It was Saturday, and the rough cut needed to be completed by Tuesday morning, so things were tight.

We began filming with scene 3, the scene with Millie in. We recorded all of her parts and the very last shot of the film was done as it was getting dark, and people were starting to panic we wouldn't finish it in time. The first part we filmed was the part where the camera was mounted on a strategically-placed elevation nut on the counter, and Richard walks up to the camera, and Stacey appears in the background saying "... but now we can be together!"

Our directors hard at work

Following this, we recorded Millie entering the living room. Charlotte had taken control of the camera for this sequence. We got a reaction shot of Stacey after Richard says "Yeah, I suppose you're right," to emphasise her character is trying to get her hands on Richard. Then, she enters the living room, removing her jacket in the process. At this point, the camera (still operated by Charlotte) sees Richard pull out a small box, and then another shot of him opening it. Inside, an engagement ring. He then closes the box and throws it in the bin, before following Stacey in the living room. That is that very last shot (now controlled by me again) where the camera tracks towards them and then back out as the living room door closes, setting up space for the title. Also, within that shot, there is a small insert or a shot of Millie, which Dan or Charlotte recorded.

END OF SHOOTING-ON-LOCATION!

Volcanic Productions, with Rebecca (I am not in the photo as I took it)

Filming Day 7

Date: Thursday 15th January
Location: 57 Ramillies Crescent
Time of Day: Night

Time filming started: 4:00pm
Time filming finished: 9:30pm

Scene: 2+1
Shots: 59-60 - Interior and 6-9 Interior

Crew Present:
Deanna Hopps - Director and Make-up Artist - Stunt Co-ordinator
Cameron Hargreaves - Cinematographer (Camera) and Set Layout
Daniel Springthorpe - Sound and Costume - Stunt Co-ordinator
Charlotte Smith - Lighting and Directing

Cast Present:
Rebecca Chapman - Alice
Alex Marks - Richard

Summary of the Day:
The day that everyone had been waiting for; 'the falling down the stairs' scene! Rebecca and Deanna were the most excited, as Rebecca had wanted to do it for ages and Deanna wanted to try her hand at creating disgusting wounds:

The abomination

Deanna and Rebecca spent over two hours doing the injury, and during that time the rest of the crew were preparing and readying themselves for the shots whilst recording the shots they could shoot without Rebecca or Deanna being there.

Deanna directing

We spent a good while preparing for the shot of Rebecca falling down the stairs, as it was a possible risk and so we needed to make sure we did it in as little takes as possible in the safest manner possible. Below is the embedded video containing some out takes:

After we did the falling down the stairs shots, we went straight into scene 1, where Alice is lying on the floor with blood over her head. We did this so we only had to do the head wound once, as it ate into out time and took a lot of effort to make, and replicating it would be difficult.

Dan took over the camera for a few shots, where Rebecca falls down the stairs as both him and Deanna we designated stunt co-ordinators, and so it made sense for them to take control. Plus, holding the camera up for hours whilst the directors discuss how they want to press the 'record' button takes its toll, and a small break from it can't harm anyone!

Filming Day 6

Date: Wednesday 14th January
Location: 57 Ramillies Crescent
Time of Day: Night

Time filming started: 4:00pm
Time filming finished: 8:00pm

Scene: 2
Shots: 51-58 Interior

Crew Present:
Deanna Hopps - Director and Make-up Artist
Cameron Hargreaves - Cinematographer (Camera) and Set Layout
Daniel Springthorpe - Sound and Costume
Charlotte Smith - Lighting and Directing

Cast Present:
Rebecca Chapman - Alice
Alex Marks - Richard

Summary of the Day:
Because of the hardcore nine hours shooting session a few days earlier, we had now reached shot 51, which is where the argument goes upstairs. Firstly, I set up the camera, Dan set up the sound and Deanna did Rebecca's make-up for Alice's character profile.

The first thing we shot was the bathroom sequence, which consists of shots 54, 56 and 57. Personally, I believe this to feature some of the best shots in the film. The shot where Alice looks at the door was a spur of the moment idea, and so was the mirror idea, which both worked very well together in my eyes. Then, there was an extreme close up of Alice's face as she is wiping tears from her eyes, which together with the mirror, visual effect and handheld approach, created a very effective shot for me.

The world's creepiest practice shot

After these shots were recorded, we moved downstairs again to shoot Richard and Alice's movements from downstairs to upstairs. Daniel took over the camera for the shot of Alice running up the stairs. We had wanted to begin on the 'falling down the stairs' scene, but we decided that it was too late to start a sequence so heavily reliant on strict co-ordination and match-on-action effectiveness.

Filming Day 5

Date: Saturday 10th January
Location: 57 Ramillies Crescent
Time of Day: All Day (Day and Night)

Time filming started: 12:00pm
Time filming finished: 9:30pm

Scene: 2+3
Shots: 62-72 Interior + Exterior & 43-50 Interior + shot 5

Crew Present:
Deanna Hopps - Director and Make-up Artist
Cameron Hargreaves - Cinematographer (Camera) and Set Layout
Daniel Springthorpe - Sound and Costume
Charlotte Smith - Lighting and Directing

Cast Present:
Rebecca Chapman - Alice
Alex Marks - Richard
Millie Russell - Stacey
Daniel Dabbs - Paper-boy

Summary of the Day:
The plan was to shoot as much footage as possible from scenes 1,2 and 3. Me, Deanna and Millie arrived on-location at 12:00pm, about thirty seconds after Dan had forced himself out of bed. We started setting the location, dressing the set and checking previous photos to make sure the set layout was the same as before. We were under slight pressure, as Millie's shots needed to be filmed in daylight, which was only available on weekends as it goes dark early this time of year, so after school sessions would be rather unproductive.

Director?

The first shot we filmed was of Alex fiddling with Alice's cross necklace (03:31 - 03:39) because it was a simple shot and a good place to begin a long day's shooting. We were planning to stop until 9:30.

Aside from Millie's arrival at Richard's house, there was another exterior sequence of shooting we needed to do. This was an interestingly plain sequence, which featured a paper boy walking up to the house and putting a newspaper in the door and then leaving. Me and Dan took over this whilst Deanna and Charlotte were busy planning the rest of the shooting session and revamping the script for it. We got outside with our actor, and spend about half an hour shooting the sequence from a wide number of angles. We probably did around a dozen different shots. Below, you can see the sequence. NOTE: Skip to 04:58

As well as recording the paper boy's shots, me and Dan also shot Millie approaching the front door and knocking on it. We did this by shooting a few shots and then showing the directors, and then they'd say "that's not good enough!" (not literally) and we'd change the angle or the way Millie acts.

Dan setting up the location recording kit

Rebecca arrived around about 1:00pm, well before we needed her for her shots. After we had filmed Millie's shots for the day, we took Alex and changed him from his scene 3 costume to his scene 2 costume.  The kitchen scene was a fun part to do, combining high-tension, raised voices and quiet pauses. The shot from just outside the window watching Richard (Alex) pick up the photo is one of my favourites, and it shows the tension aspect well.

When Richard smashed the picture, we actually had two separate frames, both identical with identical pictures in them. One of them we gave to Alex to hit on the corner of the freezer (gently) and the other we took outside and hit with a hammer t get a sound effect and broken frame prop without any safety risks. We cut to Alice as the frame contacts the freezer so Alex doesn't have to smash the frame and risk cutting himself, but so we had chance to switch the props around and add the effect over Alice's reaction shot, which was very effective.

Original photo idea for the prop in scene 1

Filming Day 4

Date: Friday 9th January
Location: 57 Ramillies Crescent
Time of Day: Night

Time filming started: 4:00pm
Time filming finished: 9:30pm

Scene: 2
Shots:  31-42- Interior

Crew Present:
Deanna Hopps - Director and Make-up Artist
Cameron Hargreaves - Cinematographer (Camera) and Set Layout
Daniel Springthorpe - Sound and Costume
Charlotte Smith - Lighting and Directing

Cast Present:
Rebecca Chapman - Alice
Alex Marks - Richard

Summary of the Day:
We got a good amount of shooting done in this session, doing the 'slap scene' (a section of the living room part of scene 2) and moved into the kitchen ready for the tenser, quieter part after the shouting in the living room.

We began by setting the scene - dressing the table and tidying the kitchen and hall so everything was right and ready for filming.

Me and Deanna discussing and sorting props

Everyone in the crew as well as the cast were excited for the slap scene. We recorded several different 'slap' shots from different angles to try and get some footage we could quickly edit between to make the cutting faster to match the velocity of the film There is a rather effective part where Richard (Alex Marks) loses his temper with Alice (Rebecca Chapman) and ends up throwing a book (this was originally hitting a chair over, as you'll see in the embedded video below), which creates an atmosphere of high-tension stress and violence in the house. Following it is a slightly contrasting time of quiet.

Deanna and Charlotte both shared the role of director today, which was helpful as Deanna was sometimes unavailable to be near the camera and the rest of the team as she was lying on the ground protecting Daniel's home from destruction. They also sat down and overhauled parts of the script whilst me and Dan sorted out some smaller shots, B-roll footage and foley sounds. When we were all ready, we got together for a mini briefing before we started shooting the footage.

I also had help from the other team members as we all wanted to come up with new shot ideas as we feared we were overdoing shots such as close-ups, over-the-shoulder shots and shot-reverse-shots. The day was wholly successful, with each crew member performing tasks to the best of their abilities and the cast members acting well and putting in great physical and spoken emotive skills.

Filming Day 3

Date: Thursday 8th January
Location: 57 Ramillies Crescent
Time of Day: Night

Time filming started: 4:00pm
Time filming finished: 9:30pm

Scene: 2
Shots: 25-30 - Interior

Crew Present:
Deanna Hopps - Director and Make-up Artist
Cameron Hargreaves - Cinematographer (Camera) and Set Layout
Daniel Springthorpe - Sound and Costume
Charlotte Smith - Lighting and Cinematographer

Cast Present:
Rebecca Chapman - Alice
Alex Marks - Richard

Summary of the Day:
We wanted to finish shooting the beginning of scene 2, the hallway part, where the first part of dialogue in the film appears. This sequence was a new thing for us, as the film me, Deanna and Daniel made last year for the AS course had no dialogue in it whatsoever.

It took a bit longer than expected to begin shooting, as our actors had to learn their lines and we had to set up the scene, which was awkward due to the small space and very colourful walls (this caused lighting problems).

Me setting up the equipment prior to shooting

After, we decided the shot types were effective and the acting of our cast was believable and authentic, which was very important. We were pleased with the overall outcome of the day. Charlotte took over control of the camera for shots 29 and 30, and the crew came to a common ending after resolving a small difference in opinion.

By the crew remaining in their general roles throughout most of the session, I feel that we have made some good progress and are on our way to completing the filming process for 'Behind Closed Doors'. Our crew have a somewhat effective way of working together, each of us doing separate things to achieve a common goal; the completion of the filming process and keeping on-track of the schedule.

Filming Day 2

Date: Wednesday 7th January 
Location: 57 Ramillies Crescent
Time of Day: Night

Time filming started: 4:00pm
Time filming finished: 9:30pm

Scene: 2
Shots: 16-24 - Interior

Crew Present:
Deanna Hopps - Director and Make-up Artist
Cameron Hargreaves - Cinematographer (Camera) and Set Layout
Daniel Springthorpe - Sound and Costume
Charlotte Smith - Lighting and Cinematographer

Cast Present:
Rebecca Chapman - Alice
Alex Marks - Richard

Summary of the Day:
As normal, we started by setting up the scene and making sure everything is it its correct positions. We also sorted out Rebecca's make-up, and her and Alex's costumes so they were ready for shooting. I set up the camera and camera equipment (battery, battery charger, tripod etc.), Daniel set up and tested with the location recording kit, and Charlotte got the lighting equipment together and made sure it was okay to film in.

Deanna and Daniel sorting out the table for the shooting of Rebecca's scene

We began filming with the start of scene 2 again, like day 1, only we had now replaced our actor for Richard with another. Charlotte also washed up and tidied the kitchen to make sure nothing was lurking to mess up the film's continuity.

Today's filming went smoother than the previous day, as Rebecca was getting to know the crew more, and she'd had practise now so she knew what we wanted her to do. We also filmed a bit of Alex's shots in the hallway of him entering the house.

The filming went rather well; the team worked very well together, always collaborating to get things done and mixing each other's skills and strengths together to form a more efficient production team. We were all comfortable in our areas and so we decided to keep this the same throughout the filming process to make sure we achieve a good standard of film.

Transportation:
As there was enough room in the car, we all travelled to the location with the resources that way. We left the equipment at Daniel's house overnight, as we had booked the equipment for the next day and were filming again.