Wednesday, 20 November 2013

Settings Board

In our short film there are many different locations that we have used to make the story flow well and to make it look a lot more realistic than just having it in one setting. Also by using different settings we were able to show a time difference between the first half of the short film to the second half after there long drive.


The first setting that came up was the kitchen (as seen above) that 'Simon' who is played by Harry owns. We decided to use this as our first shot because we wanted to show the audience that the character has just come back from a day at work or from being out with his friends so by walking into a kitchen doesn't make it look like it is out of the ordinary. Also another reason that we used it was because it has got lots of light so we wouldn't have to worry about either brigthtening it on the computer or trying to find extra light from somewhere. Another good reason is that it has a lot of room so we could film Harry from many different angles when he walks into the room and we can also sue different techniques such as the tracking shot that we did. For this we needed a long flat place so that we would be able to wheel the skateboard along it so that we could get the decent looking tracking shot that we have now got on our short film. It was also very easily accessible because it is in Harry's house so we could use this whenever we wanted to.


Another setting that we used was the one on the side of the road where we filmed the part when the driver picks up the hitchhiker. For this scene we needed a place that had somewhere safe that Harry would be able to pull up at for the hitchhiker and somewhere that wasn't too secluded because then it would look strange that the hitchhiker was just randomly stood there. So we decided that this spot with the parking at the side of the road was ideal. This is because my character was then able to stand by the parking spot so that he wasn't on the road and Harry had somewhere that was open and easy to stop in. Also we chose this because it is a quiet road so there wasn't to many people that were driving past which would then affect the sound of the clip so we wouldn't be able to here the actors talking. Another reason is that we wanted a lot of space so that we could film without standing in the middle of the road. So by having the parking spot that we stopped in we were able to film both sides of the car while having a safe distance from any cars that may have driven past. We completed a risk assessment for this location as we thought this is one of the most dangerous settings that have used. However the only downfall of this location is that there is no artificial lighting around that we could have used for when it was getting dark so we had to come down here first in order to get a decent shot with the camera before it was too dark to film.


The main part of film is obviously the murder that 'Simon' Harry's character commits. For this we decided that we wanted a very secluded spot which would give off a very creepy feel and possibly make the audience think that something bad was going to happen. Also this would then also stop the hitchhiker who was sat in the car able to see what was happening which then makes it more of a surprise for him when he gets down there and finds the body. We eventually decided on this part in the woods. Harry chose this as he has know this place from previously driving past it on a day out. Another big advantage is that it is a very open space for use to be able to film a lot and for use to act out all of the stuff that we wanted to do. This is good as our short film wont feel as if we have been confined to one place the whole time and that we have been able to spread out and use what we had at hand. This woodland area and the road that leads up to it was also ideal for our ancillary tasks that we have created. For the poster we have used the road that leads up to it with the trees that are all hanging in around it. We put Harry into the middle of the road holding the hammer which is the murder weapon that we decided to use. I think it looked really effective as it makes it feel like the victim had nowhere to go. The magazine cover that we made we had Harry stood there again holding the hammer above the ditch that we have used for the actual murder scene. In the part of the woods that we were in we found a slight ditch that we thought would be perfect to do the actually murder scene in. This is because it is quite a stereotypical thing to find a dead body hidden away in a ditch and also it would be good because then again the hitchhiker wouldn't be able to see the murder when it actually happens because it is down behind the edge of the ditch. Another good thing about this location is that it had another pull in part where Harry could safely stop the car and we would be able to do some filming where we had level ground and we weren't in the middle of the road.

No comments:

Post a Comment