Location inspiration

Eliza and I decided on out location, after inspiration from old photos of Heygate estate that I used in a passed art project. These photos showed the dark and grungy elements to the estate that was deserted for 15 years. Unfortunately the estate has now been knocked down, and is being rebuilt, however it inspired us to find a similar location. 

Some of the photos are shown below:

I have several more of these photos, which may be incorporated into our title sequences and indents, and we will decide after determining our exact ident layout, and title sequence design.

Film Title

Originally we were using this name (Night Falls Fast) for our ident, however we decided the name would be better suited to out film title due to research into the factual book named 'Night Falls Fast'. We created a logo for the ident already, but then decided that we could try and incorporate it into our titles for the film. This is shown below:

The graphics wouldn't necesarily be on a dark background, but could be overlaid on the video, such as the still shot shown below:

Ident Re-thought

After deciding that our initial ident name (Night Falls Fast) would be better suited to the title of out film, we decided to use 'EE Productions', where I will be looking to practice more possible ideas for out ident itself. I will be using cinema 4d again to try out simple indents, and see what ideas we come up with.

Location

For our locations, we are using an estate in New Cross Gate (south east London). This estate is undergoing maintenance and is covered in scaffolding, hopefully presenting a deserted estate within the film. There is this one light that stays on all the time, just above the stairways which we will use as Merry (the protagonist) is being chased. Below shows some of the pictures of the estate. We will be filming here when dark.

As well as this estate, Eliza and I will be filming at the south bank in the very opening of the film. We did a recce where the light was reflecting off the wet floor with the shadows of the trees contrasting to give a really interesting shot. This is shown as below:

Actors

Eliza and I had a vague idea of our actors as we were planning the film. We had several possibilities for the lead protagonist, but decided to use a friend name Merry, who has been involved in a series of school productions, and we feel she will suit the character. As for the antagonist, we will be using Eliza's dad, playing the mysterious character who is seen to be following the protagonist. There will be a short voice recording of the phone call, which will be done using my mum to record the short conversation.

Phone Call Draft: Mum

Mum:

''Hey darling''

''Hope you had a good day, how are you?''

''When will you be back?''

''Okay see you soon! Have fun!''

Recce shoot

This is our rede shoot, getting in some practice shots for our filming. We visited South bank, where the lighting and reflections were great given the dull light colouring. The shadows of the trees contrast the light reflecting off the wet surface, making for an interesting and exciting shot.

Unfortunately, despite our media teacher's warnings (and threats) Eliza and I were unable to film more than a recce shoot today. We had failed to charge al of the equipment to maximum capacity in preparation for our shoot.

However, we managed to get a shot of our Protagonist (Sara played by Meredith Mack)  in the location we wanted to use for our opening scene and possibly with the same sort of lighting that we aim to capture in our end product.

Eliza and I chose this location (the Southbank) because we felt it encapsulated the urban effect we were aiming to achieve, yet the reflection from water (of the river Thames) gave slightly eery, mysterious look in winter weather.

In actual fact, Eliza and I captured a shot where the sunlight was reflecting off the water left on the pavement, framed with large trees on either side. We thought this was quite beautiful, against the urban backdrop of London.

DISCLAIMER: we haven't quite yet mastered the act of uploading footage to youtube under the correct title......

Lighting: First Use

Eliza and I reminded ourselves how to use the filming equipment, including the use of the lights for the first time. We learnt how to create depth within the shot, using a back light and key light to create contrasting tones.  For one camera angle we had the camera facing into the light, creating a glowing edge around the actors, while the backlighting ensured the depth of the shot was kept.

We learnt that the lights power source lasts no longer than 25 minutes, some key information for when we begin filming. It was helpful to learn about the use of several lights to create the best depth, and creating angles to get the optimum brightness.

Lighting Practice

Here is a task we were set in practicing using lighting before we began filming. We experimented with making flat weather into interesting lighting through the composition of the shot. We also experimented with using filler lights and spotlights in an interior atmosphere. We learned a lot about where to position the lights and how long their battery packs last for, hopefully avoiding them running out during our night shoots!