Account of Shoot Day

How we started

We set about as a group, obtaining our props and putting the set together. The set was made up of wooden walls in the studio, which were covered in plastic bricks to give the impression that we were in an apartment and floor boards which were laid down on the floor. This was different from our original plan as we were going to have a room which was all white with no windows; however it turned out well for us as it gave the impression of a dingy, dirty flat and it also gave us more opportunities for shots that weren’t in the original plan. These extra shots that we created gave us a lot of extra material and helped us to capture a lot more or the action and the story that went hand in hand with our thriller production. Although these extra shots made us drift away from our original plan, it benefited us in the way that we were able to get more done and were able to created more suspense and action. Although the set was located in the studio, we felt as a group that this was far more practical than going out and finding a grotty flat somewhere in the middle of a town/city. Also it gave us the opportunity to create the set how we wanted to. To create the inside of the flat, and make it look as dirty and horrible as possible, we threw toilet paper on the floor and left newspapers scattered around the flat, we also used two tables, a mattress and a light bulb that hung from the ceiling.

Reasons for our Choices

We chose an attractive female character to entice the male audience to pay to watch the film. We also chose her style of clothing to be seductive yet at the same time to be professional and important, which is how we were planning to portray the lead female character. We also made her out to be strong willed and a leader which would appeal to the female audience who would enjoy watching a female in the lead role. We created a lot of tension and suspense around our lead female character which would appeal to both the male and female audience.

Props

In terms of props we used dirty coffee mugs, plates and cutlery to make it seem like the man who lived in the flat was not fussed about personal hygiene. We also had a mattress on the floor, and scattered newspaper and toilet paper around the floor to create the sense of a grotty, dirty flat. We also used handguns, torches and a shotgun to go along with the swat team. In my own opinion I felt that these props were vital to creating the sense of realism about the group of officers. Also hand guns conform to the genre of thriller. Finally the photos along the wall were crucial in portraying the story. We took all of the photos and developed them to make the audience believe that the man who took all of these photos is obsessive over his victims. The costumes that we used felt to us as a group that they were suitable for the swat team and for the lead character. The swat team were all dressed in black boiler suits which we felt were appropriate, and to make Jenna (lead character) seem official and professional we dressed her in a suit and tied her hair back.

Lighting

We used dark dingy lighting in the flat to go along with the feel of the flat being a dirty run down place for someone to live. We also used a pink light coming in from the window to create the feel that this flat was situated in an urbanised area. We felt that the pink light might be coming from a dodgy club opposite, again conforming to the feel that this flat is situated in a dodgy area.