Filming

Well I got a digital camcorder out from the office as well as a tripod. I decided to try a range of shots, which followed the design that I showed as well as other types of shots, just In case I decided that that type of shot didn’t work out, therefore I could use different types. Also if I wanted to do more versions I could change the type of shot for variance.
The overall process went extremely well. Two friends who were living upstairs did the acting and I did the filming. One flat mate called Liam and the other called Craig. Liam was the bounty hunter and Craig was the victim. I asked Liam to dress up, and with that a white shirt, black jacket/ blazer and black trousers and shoes. Along with that I asked him to wear a gold chain around his neck and have the top button undone. This achieved the right expression as in a smart but seriously looking style. A look that means business and also a gangster /cool look, and I think it went well along with his hair also gelled up just to add to the look.
Craig I asked to dress like casual, wearing a t-shirt and casual trousers, as he’s meant to be in his home, relaxing and watching TV. This gave a look of a normal everyday person.

Liam

Craig

The actual filming went as follows. I decided to take a picture of the sheet on a desk of the victim, just filmed a blank sheet as I could add a photo later. I done three different views of the paper slighted different ways and then I could choose the better one later. I decided to take the next shot of the hunter outside for his intro by a door so that the light would shine out to give that slight look of importance, but also because it is dark outside! (As many scenes in the past use dark as murders, killings etc because black, darkness is related to evil, it’s where evil lies and therefore why I used the dark to portray this) I did a straight low angel shot looking up to portray power, a few shots of him with a serious face as well as a smile because at the moment I am not sure to go down the comedy look or to keep with a serious tone, I am doing both so that at the editing phase I could do both, or decide on the one to do. The last shot I did is a pan, which will be speedy up in the editing phase as after all it’s only ten seconds long. The movies such a The Matrix use this feature that works out very well; therefore this is why I am using it.
The next shot after this is the point of view of the hunter walking down the corridor and opening the door. I simply just did two shots of this as it is straight forward. All I did was to ask Liam to hold the camera and walk and make sure his hand was in the shot when opening the door so that it is clearly shown.
After this I then did a shot of Liam walking into the room from inside the room. I did a shot behind the door as he comes in, both a high angel as well as a low angle, however I then did a shot of him coming into the room while the camera is facing the door at a low angle, again portraying power, and decided then that this is the shot I will use, as it will only be a split second which will be a straight cut from this to the next.
The next shot is of the hunter seeing and moving towards the victim that he will have to kill, Again I did several shots of this, keeping with the normal eye level shot, a high angle shot and then a low angle shot. The directions that I took it from was behind the door so that the door behind him is closed so that the link between the last few shots flows as the door will be seen opening several times and look out of sink. But I did one with the shot with the door just to see how it would go when in the editing phase. All the type of different types of shots of the same scene is a two shot, so that both people are featured. Craig the victim was standing by the fridge getting some milk.
I then filmed the action shots, both people approach each other and Liam hit Craig in the stomach but no contact is made and I made sure that no one got hurt as a shot of the words “wack!!” will come up, just to break up the seriousness. This also keeps the audience at a distance, as in many films the audience is taken into the shot, but then distanced, to add to the tension, so I have done exactly the same, a shot bringing the audience closer and then a shot taking them away. I did several of the same shot so that I can choose the best.
I did exactly the same for the kick, however from taking different shots, I thought the one with kneeing the victim looked the best and therefore I think I will use this shot, again no contact a blackout with visual language used. I only did two more shots of the last scene, when both of them hit each other in the face. I was going to use a gun, but there was no toy guns lying around so I decided to make the decisions to just let them hit each other. I think it worked out better this way and people may just say that he could have used the gun in the first place so I will stick at it.

That’s the filming now done, and I thought it went particularly well. The next post will be of my editing, in which I have decided to use Adobe Premier 6.0 which is installed on the machines and don’t need dongles. But if I have enough time I will attempt to use avid as well to get used to it, but both programs are very well known programs and I have decide to use Premier.

Image of the sheet of paper.