Account of Shoot Day

We shot our media thriller sequence on January 20th 2011. We met as a group at 8.15 to check everything was in order before the day ahead. At 8.30 we met our young actress; Zoe, and showed her round the set. As she was only 8 we wanted to make sure that she felt comfotable around us and not nervous so we offerered her drinks and biscuits and gave her breaks everytime we stopped filming to make sure she wasn't bored. It was very important to us that she was happy and relaxed around us and the camera's.

 We were really well prepared for our shoot day and brought all our storyboards/ set drawings/ scripts/ planning ideas/ shot list etc with us. We had dressed our set the day before so in that sense we were perfectly prepared to start filming imediatley. We had collected our costumes from the theatre department a few days before so we able to adjust the nightdress to fit Zoe. We could have been better prepared by organising a modern costume for our archeologist. But other than that we had planned everything in advance. We planned all our shots and even focussed on little details like hair of our actors.

 When making choices about shots we planned these all out on storyboards and shot lists. We wanted to use a tracking shot to establish the set and also to set up the movie and create the war time era. We used a crane shot to establish that the bunker was underground. Then we used a tracking shot to show the set and era of the opening sequence and create a calm atmosphere so the audience would be more shocked towards the end when the ghost appeared. After the tracking shot we slowly dissolved from the tracking shot to a close up of Zoe writing in a diary, we then cut to a wide shot to show a shadow and door opening and Zoe's fright. After the bomb had hit we used shorter shots and used a lot of close up's and over the shoulder shots to create a more intimate atmosphere. Our tracking shot that we had planned out had to be changed slightly to fit the size of the set, instead of tracking round we just dollyed across the set and then back. My favourite shot was a close up of the wobbly clown toy as it was only lit by shadow and had a haunting effect that came from it's creepy face. A shot which we could have improved was the tracking shot as it was alittle wobbly and jerky. However with the equiptment we used we were very happy with the final outcome.

 We spent hours of preparation trying to find a perfect spot to film our sequence. This proved a difficult challange when we realised our budget did not stretch far enough to rent a location. We tried finding an abandoned tube station, a mental asylum and an exhibition at the Imperial War Museum. In the end we settled for the idea of building a set in our studio and making our location look like a bomb shelter. This worked really well and meant that we didnt have to spend much of our budget on hiring a location to film in. Instead we spent around £30 on replica props from the war then we also brought in props from home that our grandparents used when they lived in the 1940's. The only thing that was challenging about the studio set was the fact that we had to change our tracking shot as there was not enough space on our set to run a full circle tracking shot.

The costumes and props we used had to be fitting to our different time periods, so we had to look at these in great detail. Firstly we focussed on the archeologist and hist costume and props; we felt this would be an easier option to start with as we were dressing him the modern day. We found casual trousers a hoodie and coat were the best option to make him look modern. We fitted him out with a torch to complete the modern look. For our young girl we had a few options, at first we thought of placing her in a coat and hat, then in an old fashioned dress. Finally we decided on placing some of these clothes around the bunker while dressing her in a long white nightgown. This gave the 'ghostly' effect for our modern day sequence.


When it came to casting we immediatly had to think who would play Hattie; our 8 year old evacuee. We thought of family friends, cousins, neighbours until we thought about asking a teacher's daughter, Zoe. As soon as the thought poped into our heads we quickly emailed her mother and asked if she would be interested in being in our thriller. Zoe was very excited to spend the day filming. She fit the role perfectly, she looked innocent and nieve for the sequence in the 40's and after we added dark make up under her eyes she looked so ghost like. She was a perfect choice and acted like a true actor. We were worried at first about working with an 8 year old, seeing as our whole sequence revolved around her, but she proved to us that she was very mature and made our job easy. The next thought was to who to cast as our archeologist. We wanted someone in their 30's to play the role. At first we asked my housemaster but he wasn't available on our day of filming, so we asked another teacher who was more than happy to help us out. He fitted the role perfectly and we even added in a few close ups of his face as he was such a good actor. Our cast were very effective in making our film sequence look perfect.

 When it came to lighting we used blondes and redheads to light our studio set. One proplem we came across with these was the fact that the lights often refected into our photoframes that we placed on set. This mean that we had to move the placing of the frames so the lights wouldn't shine on them. The lights were very useful as it meant that we could adjust the level of light that we had shining on our set. We dimmed them in the 1940's sequence and completely turned them off in the modern day sequence where we lit the set purely by tourch light. These lights allowed us to create the perfect mood for our thriller.

For the sound we had a silent set, there was no sound that we could have played over as we filmed. The sound we plan on adding will be recorded from a raido broadcast from the 1940's, this will show the time period of our sequence. We will then compose a score to our sequence once we have finished the final cut. This will help enfore the thriller genre of the opening.

Over the filming period we all shared out the roles equally, so I wouldn't be able to say that i had one role in particular. At the start of the day I took the role of director whilst my other team members controlled the camera and the sound. I then swapped over to operating the camera along with Charlie in my group and we filmed a tracking shot which required both of us man the camera. Then I held the boom for another shot to capture the sound. We rotated this cycle throught the day so we all had equal time at each position. I would say that I was given the job of chaperone as well as we had a minor on set throughout the day.

As a team, Charlie, Catherine and myself worked together really well. We were able to put our idea's together and also compromise on contrasting idea's. We acted very maturely on the set and also in the editing process and planning process. We were aware of each other's weaknesses and strengths in the subject and were able to work around this. We worked very effectively and were able to gain a lot of knowlege from each other and ended up with a great reel of footage to begin editing with. We enjoyed working together and hope we can make more projects together.

The overall result at the end of the day was very good. The footage we got met our storyboards adequetly, we changed a few shots due to the set space and we also came up with a few on the day, they didn't drift from our storyboard though and our plot stayed exactly the same. Overall the day went perfectly. We didn't encounter any major problems and those which we did encounter, we were able to sort out quickly. I definitely learnt alot from the experience and hope i can use this knowlege later in the course. We came out with really good footage which is editing together nicely. It was very satisfying to see all our hard work of planning come to life in the shooting day and throughout editing.

Dressing Our Set

The day before our shoot day we went into the studio and dressed our set. We started off with a basic three wall brick set in which we created our under-ground war bunker. We dressed the set with items of clothing from the war, like shoes and coats, we also placed a lot of suitcases in our set to make it look as if they had just packed up their house and moved under-ground. Along with this we placed books, food and photographs on a shelf that we nailed into the back wall. This gave a homely effect to the shelter.

We managed to get hold of a small bed which we placed in the corner of the room and covered this with an old fashioned woollen blanket and pillow. This was where our young girl would spend most of her time in the sequence. Around the walls we placed propaganda posters in different sizes; some A3 some A4 and some leaflet sized; this was to show the era of our piece. On the floor we scattered around some war time toys and chlidrens magazines to show that this was where our little girl spent all of her time.

At the back of the set we placed a desk where we put a typewriter, a photo frame, a radio and newspapers and letters. Our final set looked very much like how we had planned it; the only difference is that it did not have a curved roof to create a tunnel effect.

Some of the props we found in our homes from our relatives who lived in the time of the war. Other props; like the newspapers and leaflets we brought from the Imperial War Museum, in a replica memoribilia pack. Our set plans and prop idea's turned out really well and created the atmosphere and era of our sequence.

Blitz filming photo's



This was a shot of the desk in our set





The monitor we used to see what the camera saw



Rehearsing our actress



Taking our opening shot up in the genie



Charlie capturing the sound



Shooting the tracking shot



Our set once the bomb had hit



Rehearsing our actor



Our actress writing the diary



Our actress who played Hattie



The propaganda posters

 

Shooting Hattie writing in her diary



A picture of the set



Some of the set



Rehearsing our actress



Rehearsing our actress/ destroying the set



Destroying the set after the bomb had hit



A shot of the ending of our sequence



Blitz: ageing our set

In the process of making our film sequence we had to age our set. This is a sequence of our group changing the set from World War Two to present day. We has a little help from our actress who was more than willing to share her idea's!

Blitz: test footage

This is a video clip of us rehearsing our actor. In this clip he is seen looking around the bomb shelter with the torch, this was the first time our actor had acted out the scene so most of his reactions were real. He was really interested in the props that we had brought in from our families who used them in the 1940's.

Blitz: door shot

This is a shot that we came up with on the day of filming. We decided that it wasn't really clear that someone was entering the bomb shelter so added this shot to tell the audience a bit morre about what was happening.

:

Blitz: filming the tracking shot

This shot was really difficult as seeing as we had never filmed anything like it before we needed a lot of practice. Here is a short clip of Charlie and I filming the tracking shot around the bunker.

Blitz Call Sheet

Production Team:
Sophie Greig
Charles Manton
Catherine Ward-Thomas



Cast List:
Hattie - Zoe Jackson
Archeologist: James Hartman

Studio Set Plan:

 Props and Wardrobe:
Props: Newspaper, bed, desk, 3 chairs, 3 suitcases, food jars, blanket, pillow, toys, propaganda posters, war time leaflets, duffle coat, shoes, diary, approx 10 books, shelf, typewriter, letters, pens, photographs and satchel.
Wardrobe: White nightdress, Casual trousers, t-shirt, hoodie, overcoat, trainers.



Schedule:
8.15am - Meet in school cafeteria
8.30am - Meet Zoe Jackson
8.45 - Get into costume/ set up camera
9.00am - Start filming
11.00am - Break
11.20pm - Filming
12.25pm - Lunch
13.25pm - Filming
15.30pm - break
15.45pm - Filming
16.30pm - Finnish filming
16.45pm - Check that we have everything we need
17.00pm - Pack up






Storyboard:




Script:

INT: Tracking shot: Dimly lit: The frame focuses on an underground cellar like bomb shelter in 1940. We track across various props from the era, for example, we see some shelves filled with tinned food, cereal boxes etc. We track across to propaganda posters on the wall; we pan across to a set of shelves where we track across boxes of food and tins. We pan down to a small table where we see a radio which we hear playing a speech of Churchill, some leaflets, ID cards, letters, ration books and newspapers. We track across the newspaper to see headlines of events that have happened in the war. We then track across to the bed where we see a little girl writing in her diary looking bored, but occupying herself.

Cut to a POV shot of her writing in her diary, this shows the audience the date. We then cut to a shot of the side of her diary showing her hand writing, lots of rough and sketchy pen movement is shown over laying each other to create a jagged and un-settling atmosphere.  We hear the sound of distant footsteps getting closer, and then the young girl is seen looking scared and shuffling to the end of her bed, hugging her knees screaming

Hattie:

‘No, No, please no’.

A bomb sound effect is heard. We then cut to black.

           

A few seconds pass until we hear the sound of someone breaking in to the shelter. A sliver of light is shown inside as the doorway breaks open.

INT: Tracking shot; Lit by torchlight. We see the bomb shelter from the previous sequence covered in cobwebs and some items have fallen off the wall. A man walks around the shelter his torch focussing on certain items. He starts off by looking at the shelves and the books on the shelves, then through the food and down onto the leaflets on the table. He leans over to a shelf to pick out a book and lets his torch hang by his side for a brief moment. In this moment we see the flash of a ghostly figure before he shines his torch around. He passes to her bed where he sees the diary she was writing in. He flicks through some pages before hearing a brief noise and shining the torch around the room. A book is seen to have fallen off the shelf and as he looks back to the diary the little girl appears right in front of his face.

Cut to black. White type writer letters of B L I T Z. Appear against the typing sound effect and some eerie music.

Shooting Order:
Morning: Film the tracking shot around the bunker and film the war time sequence.
Afternoon: Film archeologist looking around the bunker in present day.

Who would be the audience of 'Blitz'?

‘Blitz’ is a film based in Britain during the Second World War, therefore there would be a very niche British audience. Although the film may travel to the United States it is unlikely to get a long cinema release there, so it would mainly be focussing on a DVD release. Because of the era of the film there may be some people who lived in the time of the war that may wish to see our film. However it is a thriller therefore the main target audience would be one of 15-25 year olds. The secondary audience would be 26-37 year olds.

The primary audience is very likely to still be in full time education or further education therefore we would need to make the film interesting to them solely. Many young people are unable to afford a ticket to the cinema so the main audience would probably be on DVD purchase two months after the release in cinema.

The sole audience would definitely be British as the film centres around Britain and uses a British cast. Although the film would hopefully show in America we are not expecting the main audience to come from there. British children would have been taught about the Second World War from a very young age and probably even have close family members who were involved. This may encourage them to see the film as it puts a fun twist on history.

What institution would make BLITZ and why?

'Blitz' is a low budget, British made film of the 'thriller' genre. After looking at many film distributors like 'Lionsgate', 'Paramount', 'Film Four' and '20th Century Fox’ I decided that ‘Vertigo’ would be the best match for our film ‘Blitz’. We are looking for a low budget distributor as it is our first film and we are not likely to be in the cinema for a long time there for the company will focus on a DVD release. A British film distributor would be ideal as our film is aimed at a niche British audience.

Vertigo Films is a UK Media company founded by Allan Niblo, James Richardson, Nick Love, Rupert Preston and Rob Morgan in 2002 to create and distribute commercially driven independent cinema. Creating such films as ‘Street Dance 3D’, ‘Monsters’ and ‘The Cove’. ‘Vertigo’ films are often in the thriller genre and are made solely of British money. ‘Blitz’ seems to fit the idea of ‘Vertigo’ films perfectly.


We are going to use all British cast and crew, British money, even our idea centers around Britain during the Second World War. This film distributor is also known for not using 'big stars' or many special effects. As our film is low budget we would not use many special efects or be able to hire big stars. ‘Vertigo’ is also known for distributing documentaries. Although ‘Blitz’ isn’t classed as a documentary there will be many facts involved in the film as it is based around a true historical event.