Monday 28th February: Shoot day

 As Simon had delayed are casting, Adam was originally casted for the role of the Priest. But thankfully in the morning we went up to photography and spoken to Tom and he kindly agreed to star as the role of the Priest. With the casting all out of the way it was time to begin the day. I had purchased fake blood and are team had decided it was a good idea to splatter it across the apron of the murderer. We achieved this realistic look by getting a spoon and using the underside of it to press the fake blood across it. 

We started are morning going to the Lodge for the opening murder scene. Are shoot started at 10, so we took the time before hand to rehearse the stabbing scene. We experimented with different ways the victim falls to the ground and worked out a method on how to keep the door open when she opens the door. In order to keep it open we had someone stand behind the door out of frame, holding it open when it is opened. We spent an hour at the lodge and after are visit we went into the bus and drove to our church location, which was around 10 minutes. 

We parked outside near the church and we started to set up the camera for the shot of James interacting with Tom the dog walker and his journey from the lodge to the church. Here my team found the best road where he could walk down. In this instance it was a sloped road. We had to keep an eye out for ongoing traffic and had to keep an eye out for the fact that there was someone walking around with a bloodied apron and a bloodied fake knife. We successfully managed to shoot this scene with different perspective angles. We managed to use a dog for this scene as well and we had no complications which is also a positive. After spending around an hour shooting this scene, we went back to school to have lunch and pick up Tom, our Priest. 

After our meal we went back to the church and moved all are equipment into it. From here we filmed the scene where a villager is confessing to the Priest. We spent around half an hour filming her scene as it was her half day. After that, we proceeded to the ending scene where the killer confesses to the Priest. We experimented with many different camera angles. We also had lighting that we played around with to correctly light up the people. We spent around an hour and a bit in the church. 

Wednesday 23rd February 20

 In todays session we talked about what times we where going to shoot each scene. I also ordered some fake blood for the first scene. We paid a visit to the theatre department to have a look at a set of prop knifes. But we came to the conclusion that they looked too fake, so we are going to research a way to use a real knife on shoot day. 

We have finalised all the actors apart from Simon who is reluctant on giving us a final answer. 

Permission for filming in the Church

 In order to film in the church, we had to write for permission to film in the Church. Adam went through step by step what he was writing so that one day if we needed to write for permission to film somewhere, we would be able to structure an email to them.

They were kind enough to send us an email quickly granting us permission. 

Practical: Practise shoot with Audio: Wednesday 9th February

 In today's lesson we had a practise shoot using the microphone. We used a Sennheiser microphone and we used the audio cable to connect it to the BlackMagic camera. We then proceeded to make 3 short scenes.

The meaning of the lesson was to record footage with the microphone, so that we can edit and mix the audio in Premiere Pro.

Premiere Pro Basics - 7th Feb

In todays lesson, we went to the editing suite and I was rein-formed how to use the basics of Premiere pro. The clips we where using where from a previous lesson where we where told how to use the BlackMagic cameras. Firstly, he made us create bins and to drag the the final clips we where going to use into it. From here he made us shorten the clips to the length we wanted to use. A shortcut to get to this position is just to click on I when you have dragged your cursor in the top left box. From here you drag the frame you see into your timeline. We had to do this for every clip we where using. 

In the timeline, we used the razor tool, or just use the shortcut C, to cut up the clips. From here we where told to place and cut the four clips so they smoothly linked with the motion. For one of the clips that went on for to long, I started time remapping it to make it shorter, and I also key framed text in for the end. 

Meeting Thursday 3rd February: Draft Casting

In todays meeting we started to talk about who would be appropriate to act in our opening sequence. We had to make sure they looked like who they where playing and that they possibly would have the ability to talk in a convincing way.

This is what we have come up with so far:

The Killer:

Tom

James

Stu

 

 

Murder victim:

Zoe Case 

Iside Montaldo 

 

Villager:

Adam

 

Villager 2:

Claire 

 

Priest:

Lee

Simon

This is only in the drafting stages and this can all change. 

Meeting Tuesday 1st of February: Shot by shot analysis

 In today's lesson we came up with the shot by shot analysis of the Opening sequence. It was written by Cornelius and displays everything we have discussed. 

-Black void with title card

-Sound of signal Knock 

-Cut to medium low angle shot of murder standing In front of the door 

-He knocks a second time 

-door slowly opens

-the camera follows them as they move into the room

-He kills her and she falls on the ground 

-He knells down and says some final words to her

-Black void with title card

- wide shot of empty rural road 

-The killer walks into frame still holding his bloody knife 

-he walks around a corner

-close up of dogs eyes 

-sounds of dog growling 

-Cut to the eyes of the killer

-wide shit of villager with dog walking towards the killer

-cut to medium shot of villager 

-the villager greets the killer

-they walk past each other 

-Extreme wide shot of church in a Dutch angle 

-murder walking down towards church

-he puts down his weapon  

-cut to closeup of cross

-cut to wide shot showing the seating area and the altar the sunlight spotlights a bible 

-cut to wide shot of priest and someone who confesses to him

-cut to wide shot of the church entrance 

-cut to medium shot of church entrance

-slow motion

-the door opens and beacons of lights shine through the room as the camera moves in to a low angle 

-The killer enters 

-normal motion

-cut to medium shot of Villager who confesses (she seems frightened)

-the villager looks at the killer 

-the villager stands up

-cut to medium shot of the villager and the murder 

-they have a nice little chat 

-the villager leaves 

-cut to over the shoulder shot as the killer walks towards the altar and kneels down 

-the camera moves around him and closes in on his face

-he looks up

-eyeline match and cut to Jesus’s face 

-The killer starts confessing 

-cut to close up of the killers face 

-cut to low angle close up of the priest who forgives and thanks him for his sins 

-cut to medium shot that slowly moves into a extreme wide shot of them standing/kneeling In front of the altar

-cut to title card

Meeting Wednesday 2nd of February: Location and Actors

 In today's meeting we started talking about the actors for the first time. At the moment we need around 6 people: The victim (F), The murderer (M), Dog Walker (M/F), Passerby (M/F), Priest (M)

In order to make the film as real as possible we need to cast people who will be realistic and act like a professional Priest, etc. So up to this point we haven't casted anyone except for Adam who will be the Dog Walker.

Meeting Monday 1st February: Getting the Story Together

 In todays session, we started working on individual scenes. I am currently under the process of story boarding the opening scene of the opening title sequence. 

In this scene there will be a family out on the road walking into their house. From a distance, there will be a view from a persons point of view of them coming into the house. It then switches to inside the house where there is a loud knock on the door. The camera angle goes really low so you can only see the legs of this mother going to answer the door. The camera follows her to the door, she opens the door and you can hear the sound of someone getting stabbed. You then proceed in hearing and seeing the mother fall to the floor. This mysterious figure walks over the body and over to the children, here they are stabbed. 

This is all I have come up with at the moment, Cornelius is working on another scene and so is Pablo. I also did some research on location. I have found a National Trust Property and I researched the necessary permissions needed to film. But it is too early to fully decide on where it will be based.