Shoot Day Write Up

The day before the shoot we ensured that we had all our props ready for the next day and that in some cases we had backups, simply to replace those that could potentially have been damaged during our shooting such as the pill pot for the poison. Mariella went to the the local shop and bought soup, a pack of playing cards and a pack of three envelopes, whilst i went to collect the chefs whites from the reception that we had ordered of the internet earlier in the week. We felt that it was extremely important that we had all of our props and backups sorted out for the shooting day as it would only disrupt our schedule and we would loose valuable time if we had to find a prop on the day.

The morning of the shoot on Thursday 17th January i felt excited about the prospect of filming as it was a good feeling knowing that we were to finally shoot our idea that we had spent a long time creating and preparing for this. I felt confident that as a group we were as prepared as we could have been and ready to take on the day. I got to school, had breakfast and imediately after went to the studio to pick up the camera, stand, the two lights (with the blondes, the red heads and clips). I loaded up the van with Chessie whilst the other two in our group went to gather the actors that were taking part in the thriller. The actors, teachers, and our group all met in the editing swete and i began to explain the plot of our title sequence and what roles the actors were to play in the thriller. When everyone was clear what they had to do we headed to the van and off to out first location.

We arrived at our first location at the william bray restaurant in Shere at quarter past ten. I unloaded the van with some of the actors. Mariellas dad, the owner of the restaurant greeted us and we discussed where we were going to shoot first. We decided that it would be best to shoot in the kitchen earlier rather than later as we would not want to be shooting when customers began to come in as we did not want to be agregating the staff. Before we could start shooting we took the camera into the kitchen and established where in the kitchen would be best to film. I then ensured that all of the actors that we were using in the kitchen scene were dressed and ready to go and that the other actors we were not using yet were out of the way of the staff. We then did some run throughs in the kitchen and began to shoot.

We divided the roles systematically on the day. We split the day into four parts: The William Bray kitchen, the restaurant, the cafe and peaslake house. We ensured that in each of these four parts each member of the group was doing something and after that part we would swap round to different roles, ensuring that we all were getting a chance to do everything. It was decided that i was to be the director of our groups title sequence. I began by being camera man in the kitchen scene in the William Bray, Mariella was using the boom mic to pick up clear sound, Liv was in charge of lighting and Chessie was preparing the next scene in the restaurant to ensure that we could be as quick as possible filming in the restaurant so as not to disrupt the business.

At the beginning i was a bit unsure about using the camera and i felt under pressure to capture everything perfect. However as the day progressed i gained confidence using the camera and learnt alot about the camera itself and i thought that i began to use it pretty well towards the end of the day.
I also thought that i was good at the directing role, i felt that i organised things well and i ensured that we were filming as quickly and efficiently as possible so that we could fit all our plans into one day which we succeded doing.

Time was a significant issue at the beginning of the day as our storyboard had a number of locations and a large number of shots that we had to get done before it got dark. As a result we ended up condensing the storyline a little to ensure that we would finish in the day and begin editing our footage as soon as possible. We also had an issue with getting a motorbike for one of the passover scenes, we had originally organised for one of the teachers at the school to use his motorbike for this scene however complications meant that we couldnt use him. As a result we cut out this motorbike scene and made it more simple, this ended up working to our advantage as if we hadve filmed the motorbike footage we would not have finished in the days filming time we were given.

During the day filming i thought we had captured most of what we wanted to do successfully. Personally i think that the kitchen scene was the most successful. Having real working chefs and cleaners on set working at their daily routines when we were filming made it all much more realistic which is beginning to show as we begin to put the footage together whilst editing. We were also very efficient when filming as we had to be out of the kitchen as soon as possible as the staff had to begin preparing for people coming in for lunch. We shot what we had too, quickly and we had no problems whilst doing so. I also think that filming at peaslake had gone well as it was the last location we filmed on the day and we had got the hang of using the cameras and the lights etc. as a group and everyone knew what role they had to play in whilst filming in terms of recording sound and the camera work.

I think that the restaurant scene could have gone better. We could have got a few more extras to feature in the poisoning scene as the restaurant looked relatively empty in the background which didnt seem particularly realistic. However aside from that i think that we shot everything well. I most enjoyed shooting at peaslake house, despite it being the last shoot of the day, the actors and my group and i were in good spirits. Overall i think that our group worked well together as a production rules and everyone worked really hard to get the best out of the day. I am looking forward to seeing all of our footage put together by half term.