Shooting Our Thriller!

Friday 25th our group set out to shoot our thriller. We had everything ready, all the props and costumes sorted and the day planned out. On the day of the shoot we went up to the studio and had a chat before we started. Sitting round the table with Matt and Adam we spoke about every aspect of the shoot so we knew exactly what we were going to do and how we were going to do it.

Our location for this shoot all took place at Peaslake House. The toilet scene was shot in the main toilet. This consisted of a number of toilet cubicles and a row of sinks with a long mirror. The lighting was quite dull however, we turned off the over head lights and used a hand-held light for the lighting. This was to make it appear more cold as the over head lighting gave more of a warmer atmosphere which is not what we wanted. We then shot the rest of the piece in the conservatory in Peaslake. This consisted of a big round table which chairs round it and off to the left of the room a row of computers. This was perfect because it had an office-type finish and we were able to use the natural lighting. Although this meant that we had to finish quickly because towards the end of the day the lighting started to disappear. This room was perfect and we were able to communicate our concept. 

We all took turns throughout the day being the camera man, continuity, calling 'stand by, rolling and action' and sound. This meant that we all were able to try each role and all participate equally. 

Personally i think as a whole the shoot went well. Although we took time to get started and we changed allot of our idea I feel it was for the better and we improved on our original idea. I think the first part of the sequence went really well and I hope it comes out just as affective once we have edited it. I am looking forwarding to the edit process and it will be interesting to see what has worked and what did not work. I am hoping that all the efforts and processes we went through on the day were worth it. I think the part where the main character bits the interviews arm will be very interesting the edit and i hope that it has come out effectively and worked well so it does not look fake. 


As a group I feel we worked well together, no one is left doing all the work and everyone was happy to help and do there part. There was no big disagrems and everyone seemed very happy with the new adapted version on the day. 

Confirming by Email

As a group we sent out an email to confirm with all the cast that we need in our thriller to make sure that everything was ok and so they know when they are needed and what for. 

As you can see we put the times and places that we will be needing the characters between so they know when exactly they are needed. This email was purely so everyone could see exactly what they are doing in writing so there was no confusion on the day 

Pre Shoot Talk

A few days before the shoot we sat round the table and went through our shooting schedule and we realised that we were trying to fit too much into the day.

We then decided to work on the idea further and experiment with different concept as we felt that our story board so far was a bit too much like a day to day process; as in the main character goes to work and what happens as she goes to work. It also came up that if it were a trial drug it would be very unlikely that she would pass three people on her way to work on the same trial drug. So we then started to think of ways in which we could adapt our idea. We changed it to a lady going to an interview. She is in the toilet kind of pep talking herself, we can see that she is feeling anxious, she splashes her face with water and then takes some pills. She then runs in late to the first part of the interview, this is a computer test and she is finding it hard to focus, she keeps looking up and down the row of people in the test. She puts her head into her hands and it cuts to her being in the interview room; as if she has blacked out. The interviewer is getting more and more aggravated with her as it seems as though she is not taking this seriously. It is clear that she does not feel well but the interviewer does not want to hear any of this. She leans forward and she has a major nose bleed, all hell is then let loose and she goes crazy attacks the girl sitting to the left of her and bites the interviewers arm. 

Shooting Schedule

9am – 11am * Meeting Room Shots:

1 – Shots walking outside the meeting room: shots – 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25

2 – Shots going in and in the meeting room: shots – 26, 27, 28, 29

11.30am – 1pm* Car Park Shots:

1 – Shots parking: Shot 2

2 – Shots in the car: Shot 3

3 – Shots getting out the car: Shots – 4, 7, 8

4 – Shots of man behind in the car: shots – 5, 6

1.30pm – 2.30p* Bus stop Shots:

1 – Walking past the bus stop: Shots – 9, 10, 11, 12

3pm – 4pm* High street Shots:

1 – Walking down the street: Shots – 13, 14, 15

Pre-Lim

Shooting our Pre-Lim

This task was designed to enable us to imagine what shots we need to use in our thriller and also so we could see generally what it would look like being put together. Xenia, Yvana and I used an iphone to do all the recording. Obviously we had none of the locations or props apart from the pills so we had to deal with what we had.

We just used students that were available at the time to be in our pre-lim because none of the main characters were available. The actual characters were not needed for this task because it was purely to see how our scene would look and the shots we needed. This really enabled us to see what we would be like as a group in the filming situation and think about how we are actually going to carry out this task. 

We did not have the correct locations but we found areas around the school that we could use instead. We could not go to the actual locations because they were off campus and this would take too long in the time constraints we had. Not having the right locations and the props and the right characters made us have to think very quickly and on the spot.

I stepped in as our main actor because we could not find anyone else who was able to do it. It was also very easy to use me because I new the outline of our story and what I was intended to do. This made it easier for the whole group and also made it a bit quicker to do.

I feel that this was a very good task to do because it made us think about a lot as a group and also we were able to make mistakes and learn from them so we did not make any of the day. It also make us thing a lot about the shots we wanted to do. By editing and watching it back we could then see what shots we would like to add and the shots and aspects which were not working. 

When we do the voice over it would be clearer and also would be more formal sounding more like a real life interview. Preferably a man's voice being used as the presenter.

I am very excited to go on with our thriller now and shoot the actual thing and am also very excited to see how it turns out.