Behind The Scenes Full Write Up

In this post, I am going to be discussing the behind the scenes elements of our thriller film, including what went well, what didn't work well and how we changed it and what did we change. 

One of the things that worked well was our original idea and we were able to stick with the majority of the original ideas, which worked well because it meant that the pre-production and production work coincided. Another element that worked well was my work on the sound boom and also as the director, because I was paying attention and listening to instructions and coming up with new ideas. In addition to this, Coming up with new ideas and adapting our scene outline and shot list to work best with the set and the layout of the church was another thing that worked well as it meant that we were able to utilise the location to the best of our ability and we worked well as a team discussing how we could adapt the scene to work best with the location. In my opinion, the actors were very good at listening to instructions and also came up with ideas of their own to contribute. An example of this is when Mike, the actor who played the role of the psychopath started singing 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas' in a very creepy and psychotic tone, and so we decided to add this in at the beginning of the scene when he enters. This is an example of one of the elements within the opening sequence that we changed but from my point of view this work effectively and was an asset to the sequence. The final element that worked well was the mise-en-scene of the location which was really good and the costumes worked really effectively in creating the right look for the film. In addition to this the fake blood and scar looked really effective on camera and so this was one of the strengths to our shoot day.

 

However, there were also elements that didn't work well, but as a group, we found ways around it and dealt with the problems and found solutions. One of the elements that didn't work well was the fact that the church was very cold and our actress was just wearing a white summer dress and so she was very cold but we were able to deal with this by giving her a jacket or a blanket between takes so that she didn't get too cold. Another element that didn't work very well was the fact that at times our communication as group could have been better as we had different ideas about what would work better but we were able to sort this through discussion, compromise and listening to each other’s ideas an supporting those ideas. Finally, one of the last elements that didn't work as effectively as we had hoped was the retractable knife was quite bad in terms of quality so we tried to cover up the parts of it that looked quite fake and unrealistic and we also had to bear in mind that this part of the film needed to be rehearsed a few times without the camera before we added the fake blood because we only had one shirt for the character and so we needed to work out the logistics of this shot before we added in the fake blood and so we were only able to film this shot once.

 

There were quite a few elements that we had to change, either because when we got on location we realised that they wouldn't work very well or when we arrived on location we came up with new additions to add to the original idea to enhance it. Firstly, we changed the order in which the shots were filmed due to the availability of one of our actors being limited on the day and in addition to this we also needed to bear in mind that some of the shots needs to be left right until the end of the shooting, such as the use of the fake blood and the candles for continuity reasons. We also made some adaptations to the scene outline in order to use the location to our advantage as there was small ally way entrance that we decided to use for the psychopaths entrance. The final element of our opening sequence that we changed on the day was the addition of a song at the very start of the scene. Mike, the actor who played the role of the psychopath started singing 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas' in a very creepy and psychotic tone, and so we decided to add this in at the beginning of the scene when he enters.

The day before our shoot day I had arranged with the actors, through an email, to get them to bring in their costumes to check that we had everything that we needed and also to ensure that we avoided any last minute panic if the actor didn't bring in the costume that we needed. 

 

Another thing that I organised the night before the shoot was making sure we had all of the props that we needed. I made a list and then ticked it off when i knew I had it ready for the following morning. This worked very well as it meant that we were organised and ready on our shoot day. Finally, I decided to print out a copy of our scene outline, shot list and our storyboard to take with us on the shoot day. This ended up being very useful as it meant that throughout the shoot day we could refer back to our original idea and it also made sure that we shot all of the things we intended to film. 

 

Before the shoot I had organised the costumes, props, location, scene outline, shot list and storyboard were all ready for our shoot day. It was essential that we had everything ready in time for the shoot day so that there was no last minute panic. I prepared all of this through emailing the different people involved including members of my group, the cast, the secretary at the church and the costumes and props department at school. 

 

When we arrived on location, we had a look around the church and discussed where the best lighting was, the best acoustics and also what would look best on camera. We moved some of the furniture around, however we were very careful as it was authentic to the 14th century and we ensured that we returned it to the correct location afterwards. We already had most of the things we needed in terms of props and costumes but we just needed to make sure that the logistics of our scene would work in the space. Once, we had decided whereabouts in the church we were going to shoot we did a few rehearsal runs of the scene, without the filming equipment, just to check that it worked and that the actors knew what they were doing. 

 

One of the main things that took time at the start of the shoot was the makeup for the scars ad wounds on the victim. We had to ensure that these looked realistic on camera and they took time because they needed a lot of minor details in order to make them look effective. Setting up the camera equipment also took some time because we had to bear in mind when setting up the camera, where the best lighting would be and we also had to ensure that we would get everything in frame when shooting. Something else that took time at the start of the shoot was informing the actors about what the scene was about, giving them a bit of detail about their characters and also running their lines with them.

 

From my point of view one of the most difficult elements of the shoot was communication because at times we were not all on the same page and I believe that this slowed down the process at times. However, we worked through this by listening to each other ideas and taking into account what the other members of the group wanted to do to ensure that everyone was happy with the final product. Another element that proved to be quite challenging on the shoot day was the continuity of the scene as we had to ensure to bear in mind the 180 degree rule when turning the camera round to get a different angle of the scene. Continuity also proved to be a problem with the use of the fake blood and he candles, as these shows could only be filmed once otherwise, there would be blood on the psychopath's shirt already and the level of wax would have decreased. This made it difficult because we had to make sure that everything was set up so that it would all go smoothly in that one take. 

 

I really enjoyed seeing all of our ideas come together into the final product and witnessing the development of our idea come to life on set. One of the elements that I particularly enjoyed was using the sound boom as this was something that I had never used before and so it was really interesting getting to learn more about how the sound boom works. I also thoroughly enjoyed playing the role of the director and calling 'quiet on set' and 'roll camera' as this gave me a sense of pride and control over the project and I really enjoyed helping the actors understand more about their characters and giving them instructions in order to make the scene come to life.

 

Overall, I think we worked well as a group, as although there were some minor communication difficulties along the way, in the end we were all really pleased with the work we had done on set and we all felt a sense of pride about what we have collectively created. I believe we all took on our roles very well and we all thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of the pieces being put together and watching our creation and idea come to life.