Today I did the final shots of the movie, quite quick and mostly done improvised. We went to the Rhettham Nature Reserve, I took Andy Heard, whom I was employing the services of to play Geoffrey; Jason's latest victim. The name isn't really important, it was more of a joke than anything. If the film was made, Andy's name would be beside Geoffrey just as a little in joke, but if anything the character is more of a device to get the audience to be more feared of Jason.
As you can see, Andy is another great addition to the crazy people in this movie. Andy didn't have that much acting experience other than primary school plays, but now? That is an entirely different blogpost. The acting required for today's shoot wasn't much more than running and looking tired, which isn't exactly hard to do at the same time. Andy's input into the shoot today was unexpected, he helped with producing more shots and additions to the shots I had planned to shoot. With the style I have tried with directing which involves not saying very much and letting the actors produce their own interpretations of what I want them to do. Even though the acting on Andy's part wasn't very much, I still felt that it was very good with what the shots are going to be in the context of the two minutes.
The shots I got were great. We did the same shot of the side of Andy's face whilst running in 4 different backgrounds at Rhettham. The first shot was a bit edgy but it was only the first one to get an idea of how everything worked and how to get the best results. I'm happy with the shots I got, and I think are going to really add to the energy of the two minutes. I plan to use the shots of Andy in a way that will give a jump.
Today I finished the majority of my shooting. In the great school's conference room, which looks a lot like a large bland cupboard with a big table in it. With the paintings taken down it would look more like a bland room that could possibly harbor a murderer being interviewed by a detective.
The room was really good, we had to get rid of some paintings on the walls, but after that it looked really great. As bland as it could be, with nothing more than wall nails to disrupt the bland-ocity. The chairs in the room were a bit annoying, but we got past them without any trouble. Only having to move them to the opposite side of the room that we were shooting in. A trophy cupboard in the corner of the room was a big obstacle for shooting as it meant I couldn't shoot towards that side of the room. Although the one shot that does have the trophy cupboard in is out of focus, which I'll got into why when I've finished it and given my reasons for why I set the shots up.
This was what Jake's face looked like. The blood we made was a lot better than yesterday's batch. It actually looked red this time and didn't crystallize when it got heated up by my arm. I really liked the way that the make-up looked after it had dried up a bit. It kept it's redness, and also because of it having constant heating it gradually moved down Jake's face until it dried up. I got the kind of splattery effect by using a spoon and just splattering the fake blood at Jake's left side. I pretty much did the same thing to get the shirt a bit bloody aswell. I thought the look was quite realistic, which was pretty lucky for how little preparation I'd put in to getting the blood looking good.
The shots have turned out great, all the shots I wanted to get; I got. Plus some extra ones on top. My only worries are that the smooth panning shots that I have got, aren't as smooth as they seem to be. Even if this is the case, I have shot everything in 1080p, which will still be able to be in HD after I have stabilised the shots in After Effects.
Overall the majority shoot was brill. Got everything needed, and some extras. The make-up was great, the room was great, the acting was great (even though most of the audio will be done in overdubs.
For the location of the interview scenes, I wanted somewhere that seemed very cramp, unwelcoming and artificial. I also wanted somewhere that was authentic, both me and Jake Brownbill wanted to use somewhere like this, and seeing as we were both actors in each others' productions, it made sense that we should have just one session between us that we could both get our shots.
We got in contact with Norfolk Constabulary by first asking at the reception of the Wymondham Police Station, I gave them my details and a couple days later I got an email from the Communications Officer of Norfolk Constabulary. I called him up and he took down some basic information of who I was and why wanted to use the interview rooms. They also called up my Media teacher to confirm that I was a Media Studies student. The Communication Officer was very helpful, he sent along with some other emails a link for a short film which basically showed off the facilities they have at the police station for interviewing suspects.
This is the video here;
Around 3 minutes in, there is a short 10 second clip of the interview rooms that they have at the station. Although this does not give a great view of the room, it did immediately put me off using it as it has virtually no room to one side and behind either side of the desk. This would mean that if I wanted to use this room, I would have to completely change the shot list and therefore the interpretation of Jason. I talked with Jake and he also had the same views. We then tried to think of any other place that we could use for the location. Even though we won't end up using the official police interview room, the Communication Officer did say that we would have to wait for around a week for the Chief Inspector to come back from a trip, and until then he couldn't get any idea of whether we could use the facilities.
Both me and Jake asked our Media teacher if he had any idea of somewhere where we could use that would be suitable under being bland, artificial and still have enough room for a tripod and camera. He suggested the school's conference room, which is quite small, but if paintings and photos are removed from the walls, would provide that artificial and bland look. We have booked the use of the room for a couple hours tomorrow, and if it is too short a time for both us to shoot, we can still book it for another day in the next week.
For another location I have to shoot in, it would be a wood/forest in the near area. I've got an actor lined up who is going to play Jason's latest victim; 'Geoffrey'. The shots I wanted to get would show to the audience what Jason is capable of, without showing him doing it, which will help to provide the fear in the audience. The forest will help to provide a feeling that the character has had to run miles on end to try and get away from Jason. What I plan on doing is going to a few forests so that I can choose the best one what suits the rest of the shots, and also it can't be any harm to have the same shots in different locations.
