My Shoot Day Reflection

 

My Shoot Day Reflection

After we shot our opening scene and began editing the scene, I reflected on our shoot day. 

The day before was key in creating our opening scene. Ollie and I created many of the props that were going to be included in the scene on this day ensuring they were ready to be transported to the set the following day. First, we revised how pentagrams were meant to look, then placed the sticks and branches to form the correct shape before tying them together with elastic bands. After the pentagrams had been created, we spray painted the various props both silver and red. We chose these colours as they would look alien to the landscape we would be shooting in the next day. Along with the pentagrams, we made crosses that we intended to turn upside down the next day on set which linked back to our personal research on satanic rituals. 

Later that evening, I used powder we had ordered and mixed it with water to create the fake blood we needed in our scene.  I then took the fake blood and poured it into numerous bottles so I could easily transport it to the set the next day. 

Once I arrived at school the next morning, we met as a group by the classroom where we were storing our props. We went inside and took all the crosses and pentagrams we had made down to the buses which we were going to be travelling in to the set a mile away along with the camera equipment. Finally, once all the props had been placed in the bus, we went to the kitchens to collect the 20kg worth of meat and guts we had ordered from the butchers. We placed the meat in bags to make it easier for us to carry, met with the cast and began travelling to the set. We parked and collectively brought the blood, camera, tripod and props to the set about 100 metres away. Then we began shooting. It took us a little while to get the first few shots, but once we had completed them we gathered a rhythm and quickly completed each section of our shot list. One issue we encountered was the weather. It rained heavily all day and was a far lower temperature than we had been expecting. It was highly important the equipment stayed dry, so we covered the camera and microphone with an umbrella. Along with shooting our opening scene, we decided it would be a good idea to document the day and film a behind the scenes video.  So, when any member of the group had a spare moment they were capturing footage for the video. We had learned in our workshops that we should not review our footage whilst filming as it wasted time and this made the day very productive. I learned a new skill during the filming process which I was pleased about. There was no electricity so we used other methods for our lighting on the close up shots. I learned how to use a light reflector and this helped us get the shots we required. Before our shoot day, we had created a schedule we intended to follow to give us structure on the day. However, we were working at a fast pace and finished our shoot at 1pm with 3 hours to spare. Our success, was entirely down to our preparation and communication before and on the day of filming.