Test Shoot and Real Shoot (Friday 28th and 29th November)

Reflections Both shoots took place at Mia’s house, as this is now the location for all of our opening sequence. We tried out plenty of different shots on Friday and did some planning. We got a lot of planning done on the real shoot on Saturday. We did all the planning and decided on the actual shot order in the first two hours and then filmed all of this in the next two hours. All in all it was very productive and loads of fun…I can’t wait to see the footage and actually edit it! Good work guys! - Bhavika xx

Mise-en-scène

Good grief, that room is cold! No wonder she's a killer.

[I don't know why the toilet roll thing is there... ignore it..]

Before we started filming yesterday, we took some time to make sure the mise-en-scène was right...

...so we had a think about what kind of person our killer character is.

Because we're going to have a housemate in it later, she couldn't be too obviously psycho so we tried to construct something...

...that would convey the idea that she is very vain and cares a lot about the way she looks...

...that perhaps she's not happy with the way she looks...

...and aspires to be like the models she sees and envies in magazines.

In fact, she is so envious of these beautiful women that she kills them.

To do this, we cut out some pictures of models from some magazines...

...and stuck them around this fabulous mirror sitting on the desk...

...which is scattered with all sorts of makeup & hair products.

Some of it is in a rather pretty little pot, because that's obviously what girls do...

You can also see a mug in the reflection (it's not in all the shots because my mum had moved it and I had to put it back) because, well, she is human...

Our shock shot is a pan across this very drawer (filled with innocent girly things that also fit the character) to a knife!

Apart from nail varnish and an ipod, there is the Complete Beauty Book...

...and a reading book, because you might keep one in your desk drawer, with a lovely fluffy bear bookmark and some nail scissors on top...

...in case you didn't see before, the book is Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, which we thought was rather fitting. This is where the knife is meant to be, but alas it was needed in the kitchen :( However, I will take a pic of it at some point, although we may be using Bisma's instead, because it wasn't shining properly... unlike the scissors!

This is that darned window with its silly reflection...

...which you can't see in this one! Apart from the camera's flash.

The windchimes which we use for our opening shot (the bottom window will be open too).

Yeah Bhavika, it's a man.

Favour from Mia Please :$

heyyy mia
Sorry to ask, but i think our blog is lacking some pictures showing off our efforts :P
I was wondering if you could put up some pics of our INCREDIBLE mise-en-scene? I didn't take any yesterday, so if you have a cam..could you take a few?
Thanks,
Bis x

Mia's Response to Bisma's Response to me..

Oh wicked :D Okay, so for next shoot if you could bring the killer heels (lol) & the pretty knife, that would be woooonderful. And some PJs! Preferably really cute ones if you have some, I reckon, what d'you think?
And yeah, that's a good point, we'll see what it looks like then. About the reflections, it might not have been in all the shots, I really can't remember - tbh I might have dreamt it... like that other thing :P which I may not have. Again, we'll see when we're editing! Hopefully there will be something we can do in that stage about reflections if there are any.
I agree about editing and script-writing - it'll be quite good to see how much time what we have so far takes up as well. What do Bhavika and Mary think?
Mia xx

Bisma's Response to Mia

Heyyy Mia
:P lol glad to hear it was just your mum! Yeah, it was really bugging me as well that the knife was gleaming. I have quite a 'pretty' knife. I shall bring it to te next shoot, i swear! LOL
About the emptiness of the drawer..i like the idea of laying the paper down, but maybe we should wait and see how everything looks once we've done some editing?
Also, the reflections! noooooo!!! :( are you serious? I really want to double check that there's nothing we can do in terms of editing.
Finally, i think Monday should be editing and script-writing, ready for the next shoot. Yes? No?
Let me know, and well done again for yesterday, everyone. :D
Bisma
x

Sound

Mia, I think I know what you mean. When there is a song playing in the background that you think is non-diegetic but then it sort of becomes diegetic and is playing on the radio, which someone is listening to or something like that.

I can’t think of any examples of where it is the other way round, so it goes from diegetic to non-diegetic. I remember seeing a scene on Neighbours where somebody is singing and then you continue to hear them sing while they show clips of other characters but I don’t think that’s the same thing. It’s the closest thing I can think of.

We could try it out but I think there is a big chance our audience what necessarily understand unless we make it really obvious. If it doesn’t work and isn’t clear, it might seem a bit amateur. If the others want to I’m up for trying it because you never know, it might look really cool!

- Bhavika xx

Actual Shoot

Well, I've posted my reflections and stuff on my own blog. I still think the drawer looks a little too empty, like you can see a bit too much of the wood? If we just put some random paper in the bottom it might be a bit better, possibly paper that's been written on? I dunnoooo, and also, I really want the knife to gleam properly & I think you agree. There was another shot where you could see the reflection in the window - I think it was the bit where I get up and turn on the radio? I can't remember but there was one :s We'll see on Monday anyway.
Oh yeahhh when you'd all gone I was watching CSI while I was blogging so I wouldn't hear anyone breaking in, and at about half ten there was this tapping on the window, but it was just my mum. Phew. Yesterday was a brilliant day guys, well done :)
Mia

THE REAL SHOOT - Bisma's Thoughts

Helloo all! I just returned from the REAL SHOOT! WOOHOOO
I'm so pleased to tell you, it went AMAZINGLY. As soon as Mia, Bhavika and I came together, we began writing out a shooting script and arranging our mise-en-scene. By the time Mary arrived a few hours after, we were ready to shoot and everything was going smoothly!
We worked together incredibly well and the mise-en-scene looked SOOOO convincing! Luckily, as aimed for, we managed to finish shooting everything from this scene. I just hope the footage is as good as I'm expecting!
Well done guys! Great job!!

Bisma

Second Test Shoot

Here are a few pics from our second test shoot at mine yesterday, which went so much better than last weekend's!

It was so helpful and I think we all have a better idea of how it will look now we've done some filming in a location we've decided on and have tested out some shots and props.



They're a bit blurry... but I'm sure you can see that we had loads of fun setting everything up!

Sound

Okay, I just spent a while on youtube trying to find a clip of the beginning of an episode of Hollyoaks, because quite often the song in the background becomes diegetic, playing on the radio or something, but I couldn't... I'll have a look again later and see if I can find it, so expect this post to change! Hopefully..
But yeah, I don't think any of you watch it, but basically they start a lot of episodes with some crazy style things & music playing in the background (non-diegetic), and then all the crazy things stop and it'll be like, someone's house and they'll be eating breakfast, and the song will be on the radio.. I thought it might be helpful for our thing with the whole song playing, possibly becomes non-diegetic, even though it's the other way around. Anyway, I'll have another look and try and find an example - or just try and see an episode this week or something.

Second Test Shoot

Bisma, if you could bring the heels that would be brilliant! And also, has anyone got red lipstick/know where we could get some red lipstick that's cheap but has a nice tube thingy?
I just looked through some of the test footage - and I thought I'd say now in case I forget later, but you know the bit with the wind chime pan? You can see you three and the camera reflected in the window! So we need to think of a way to get around that.
I think that was it, I'll see you guys later!
-Mia xx

Second Test Shoot -REFLECTIONS :D

heyy guys :)
Just thought i'd do a quick update having just finished our second test shoot. I have to say, we made a lot more progress this time around.
I also think we successfully used everything we learned from the first shoot and helped it to develop and improve today's footage.
I hope every one is excited and prepared for tomorrow's REAL SHOOT!!! Please do let me know if you guys need anything at all in terms of props or costume. I have a pair of high heels which could be used btw?

Also, i really think we made a smart move in changing the location. The predominantly indoor setting makes our jobs much easier!
See you tomorrow, everyone.
Bisma Xxx

Meeting Notes: Friday 28th November

During this meeting we made a joint decision to drop the location of the alleyway/carpark and instead stick to the killer getting ready in her room. We thought this would be a good idea as the idea was quite complicated and we thought having two scenes might be too much for the audience to take in in 2 minutes. We wanted to have some dialogue in the sequence and decided to have the killer's housemate come into her room at one point and then have them both exchange a few lines of dialogue.

We also came up with an idea which was inspired by the opening sequence of Seven. We are going to use loads of ECUs and CUs and add in effects such as flashes. We are also going to make the shots move/jig about. In between these shots we are going to have the credits as well as some pans of the beauty products and pictures of models. Now that the idea is simpler, we can now focus on building the mood and atmosphere through the mise-en-scene etc. Things are heating up...

- Bhavika :) xx

Idea Development

We've decided to alter our original idea a bit, and scrap the outside shooting because there's so much to think about with it, & we can focus a lot more on character if we just have the getting ready bit. Mary's going to use her superfantastic mad skillz to storyboard this before we shoot it, and we're going to test it out tonight. Wooh!
posted by the group xx

Test Shoot

I think we can book out the equipment tomorrow…well we’ve got no other choice!
Not to worry - I’ll print off the equipment forms now. Doing it as we speak!
Looking forward to the test shoot guys!

- Bhavika xx

'Halloween'

I thought it would be a good idea to post up some notes on other film openings - like John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), the opening of which is all shot as subjective POV shots.

Soundtrack
-ticking background
-high pitched piano
-starts with creepy children chanting Halloween rhyme
-has high pitched, sustained, clashing/dissonant notes; also quite childish
-diegetic sound; crickets, owls etc., clock striking 12?
-sudden noises when something changes e.g. seeing his sister, stabbing her...

Credits/Text
-orange, capital letters for names of actors etc. on black - turn red before fading away; connotations with blood, violence, danger, passion...
-sans serif, bold
-white text for setting
-black background
-glowing pumpkin on the left getting closer and closer; orange links to Halloween & pumpkin
-text to set up location & setting (time)

Transitions/Filters
-fades
-cuts
-slow-paced; builds suspense that way
-not many as it's subjective

Camera Work (position, perspective, framing, composition)
-subjective POV shots: when he puts on the mask we see through the eyeholes (changes the frame)
-handheld camera, looking through windows etc.
-end of opening switches to objective shot
-shot of house at start is slightly Dutch angled
-low-key lighting
-long takes (because it's subjective)

Character(s)
Position/Dress/Gesture/Representation
-child (Michael Myers) dressed up as a clown for Halloween
-boy & girl in normal teenage clothing of '60s

Action/Enigma Codes
-Michael picks up knife, there's scary music, it's dark, he goes upstairs - action code; we know he is going to stab his sister (except we don't know it's Michael yet)
-enigma code: we don't know it's Michael until the end of the opening
-sister says "Michael's around someplace" - who is Michael and where is he? (enigma code)

Dialogue/Narration
-boy and girl; couple, go upstairs together; there's no one else in the house so when he leaves she will be alone
-"Michael's around someplace"

Location
-big house
-Halloween
-dark
-empty after boyfriend leaves
-nice neighbourhood

Iconography
-pumpkin
-rocking chair in house
-low-key lighting

Subversion of Convention
-the killer is a young child

Juxtaposition
-little boy dressed up in a clown costume on Halloween holding a knife & killing his sister

GROUP TREATMENT

This treatment is designed to check the practicality of our idea and whether it needs re-thinking or changing. Here goes...
1.) Is it practical?
Yes. Set indoors meaning we have easy access to equipment and fewer problems with lighting, sound or weather.
2.) Is it an idea that will work to the strengths of the group?
Most definitely. As a group we all love horror and know quite a lot of horror conventions. We only require female actors for the opening, meaning we can use good quality acting directly from the group!
3.) Will it show off the skills you have learnt so far on the course?
Yes. We plan to use a variety of shot types including; shot-reverse-shots, crane-shots, montages and pans. Also, we plan to adhere to most opening sequence and horror conventions, and think carefully about when we can challenge them.
4.) Is it something you can reasonably shoot and edit in the given time?
Yes. We have thought about how much of the plot we want to reveal, and how much action to include. We think that we can get an excellent two-minute sequence, edited to perfection within the time that we have.
5.)Can you get permission to shoot in the chosen location at the chosen times?
Yes. Mia very helpfully let us use her house. This means we have permission to use it whenever we need it.
6.) Can you organise lighting to use in that location?
Yes. It should already be well lit as it is a house. We also have access to pag lights and a studio lighting kit from the school's equipment store.
7.) Have you included dialougue? If so, will it work to shoot a conversation in that loaction?
Yes and yes. We are shooting in a quiet, closed environment and therefore, won't suffer any technical, sound-related problems.
8.)Do you have guaranteed high quality, reliable actors to play the characters?
Yes. Using actors from within the group definitely gives us the upper hand! In any emergency situations, the actors will always be present.

Bisma

Test Shoot

Guys we need to book out the equipment for tomorrow!

We can do it tomorrow right?

It would be good if we all printed off equipment release forms beforehand I think,

to make it a bit quicker

And nooow m'off!

Byee my lovelies!

Mia xx

Meeting Notes for Tuesday 25th November

• Discussed Enfield cinema car park as possible location. Too many obstacles and problems found when shooting there for the test shoot.
• Discussed alleyway near Southgate station. Everyone liked pictures taken by Mia of the alleyway. Decided we need to test out alleyway.
• Arranged a second test shoot for Friday 28th November after school.
• Use of car park as location means we do not extra actors.
• Discussed possible actors and actresses.

Individual targets to be achieved by Monday 1st December:

Mary
Focus on storyboard which is to be completed
Bisma
The Treatment,
Asking possible actors/actresses if they are willing to act in it
Bhavika
Update group blog with meeting notes etc
Research
Mia
Research

- Bhavika

Props

Heyy! I just thought I would make a list of the little props we are going to need so that we can start preparing for the shoots. We might not need them all but I've them up in case.

• Black gloves
• A weapon (knife?)
• Red lipstick
• Heels/boots possibly red
• Hair brush
• A photograph of the killer with her ex boyfriend

And I looked at Mia's slide show and really like the dressing table. Plus there is a long mirror which we wanted to use so it could work!

- Bhavika xx

My House

btw guys I put loads of pictures of the beds and stuff in cos I sort of imagined her sitting on the bed lol I don't really know why? But obviously we're probably not gonna do that, but yeah. Hope this helps!

love Mia xx

Characters

V I C T I M S

Ok guys, I tried to make a moodboard of victims in horror films to look at dress codes and stuff - bearing in mind I've not seen most of these! Yeah, it might be a bit small, sorry about that. As you can see there's always a lot of gore, and disturbing imagery - and often the characters are portrayed as being more vulnerable at the time, e.g. not wearing many clothes.... They're all familiar settings, but with horrific situations for the characters, which makes it all the more scary because the audience can relate to it, and it makes it seem more likely to happen to them. You'll notice a lot of the victims are female - I thought that would be good seeing as our killer's victims are girls, and they always tend to have a lot of females to kill off in horrors anyways. There are a couple of zombies in there - victim or villain, take your pic, but I'd go with victim... normal people turned into killing dead things. So yeah, hope this is helpful. :)

V I L L A I N S

... and this is a moodboard of villains from horrors (Dark Knight isn't really a horror but the Joker is the most amaaazing villain and it would just be wrong not to put him here). A lot of them have masks - and we know all about masks and disguise etc. etc. from Lord of the Flies and Jack and his painted face... But yeah, for whatever reason they have the masks as characters, for the audience it can be a whole lot scarier, and really really iconic. On the other hand, Norman Bates just uses his face (well, Anthony Perkins who played him in Hitchcock's Psycho), and it's so incredibly creepy, but just brilliant. The costume/dress codes of the villain is really really important, and because ours is really more thrillerish atm, it's a bit different, but we can still do other things to make our killer memorable and scary. Look at the ghost girl thing from The Grudge, and again, Norman Bates. But yeah, hopefully this will be inspirational =]

- love Mia xx

The Killer

Hey guys, I was just thinking a bit more about costume and horror and all that jazz, and it's not really whole-post-worthy, but d'you think it would be a good idea to have the killer wearing some kind of mask to make it a bit more horror? I dunno it doesn't necessarily have to be a scary mask though... je ne sais pas, but then it would be easier to not show it's a girl straight away? Thoughts?
Mia xxx

BLK feedback

Glad you enjoyed the test shoot girls - you clearly learnt a lot (and it's great to read your posts that focus on the learning experience), but I have to say it sounds like you are making life awfully difficult for yourselves with all the complicated factors you have to consider. Are you sure there isn't an easier way??

Looking forward to seeing the footage, I must say!

can we have a group photo please . . .

Music AND Test Shoot

Hey guys! Music I really think The Tender Trap could work. I listened to all the ones suggested and like them all but think this one would work best. So unless we find anything else, a definite yes to this one from me! Test Shoot – What Did We Learn?? Although it was loads of fun J we have all realized there is a load of stuff we have to take into consideration/prepare for when we do the actual shoot. I know Mary has already covered some of this, I just thought I’d add my thoughts too and kinda summarize it. Firstly, next time we need to check the weather forecasts and prepare for the shoot according to this. We also need to think about the lighting and need to bring extra sources. Linking to that, we need to decide an appropriate time to film (when it is dark enough) and also when there will be less people and cars around so that we don’t have to keep stop filming. That is if we actually use this location. I liked the car park as our location but if someone finds something better I’m all for it. To sum up, it was all in all a very interesting and fun test shoot. And Finally, I think we all need to make sure we have set our alarms for the right time the night before and haven’t gone to sleep ridiculously late so that we only get like an hour of sleep!! (not naming names you know who you are) Bhavika xx

Location recces

They're posted on my blog. I did the park and the forest. Go check 'em out.

Mary

TEST SHOOT WOOOP!!

Okay, so, Mary's already done her little (or not-so-little) re-cap. Very biased i must say!
Overall i have to say i was very pleased with the test shoot and the final creases we managed to iron out in terms of story boarding. so GO US!
Despite numerous interruptions, snowy showers, strange cleaning staff and a very smelly car park, we managed to get everything we'd planned to shoot in the can!
We now have some set aims each, to be completed by our next meeting date, so, hopefully we're on the way to being the most organised group of Media-loving Latymarians!

Last reminder guys..sorry. If we could all possibly upload some stills of any location ideas for the first part of the shoot, that would be fantastic.
Other than that, happy planning guys! Let me know if you need me for anything...
Bisma
:)

Things we learned from the test shoot

1) Never trust alarm clocks. Ever. Always set at least three. If possible, construct a device to pour water over you or hit you with a heavy object at a certain time. NB: Not TOO heavy, you'll knock yourself out.
2) Listen to the weather report, and prepare for all eventualities. Everyone was freezing their socks off, and I got fairly soaked in the rain later on. From now on, we bring an umbrella, three pairs of socks, two scarves, a warm hat, two pairs of gloves, and handwarmers.
3) Lighting doesn't always stay the same within an interior location. Even underground, we were too exposed to outside light, and it didn't look like dusk. Also, for when we film later in the day, we ought to bring torches and stuff. =3
4) People have never seen cameras before, particularly little children. They always want to come over and have a snoop, and generally get in the way. I suggest getting some of that "Police Line, Do Not Cross" tape as a solution to this.
5) Not everybody in a suit is the manager. Sometimes they really are just cleaning staff.
6) If we act like we know what we're doing, people leave us alone. OK, this might not prove true in all occasions, but we got away with it today.
7) Just because you feel colder, doesn't mean it actually is. Which probably explains why we could no longer feel our toes, but why the snow had turned to rain.
8) We ought to THOROUGHLY double-check locations first. Why a church service is being held in a cinema, I don't know...but we ought to know beforehand.
9) It is difficult to disguise three people as one, particularly regarding footsteps. I can only hope there's something editing can do about that, but...it shouldn't be getting this desperate.
10) Test shoots are just test shoots. At the end of the day, we deserve a warm, comfy seat and a mug of hot chocolate, and it doesn't even matter if everything goes wrong. That's what test shoots are for, to reveal problem areas and give us time to consider how to fix them. Great job guys, and keep up the great work.

Mary

Miaaa's Music

Heyyy guys!
Mia i heard the song i think its great! I could really see that working. I've been looking up some others in case Bhavika and Mary don't agree. I know that we liked The Unchained Melody and i found an early version of that which we may be able to use...?
Anyway, that's just a back up, i think Sinatra is great! :D so yay!
Also, We are meeting outside the cinema tomorrow for our test shoot. So be an early bird and meet at 7.00 am if possible please: there'll be less public getting in our way! I'll bring an extra digital camera for some still shots which we can show off on this blog!
So keep your eyes peeled guys.
love, Bisma xxxx

Music

Hey guys, I was looking up more Frank Sinatra songs and I reckon The Tender Trap could possibly work? Here are the lyrics, I think the first verse is particularly good?

Ya see a pair of laughing eyes,

And suddenly you're sighing sighs.

You're thinkin' nothin's wrong,

You string along, boy, then SNAP!

Those eyes, those sighs -

They're part of the tender trap.

What d'ya think, yay or nay? Obviously there are a lot of other options and this is just a suggestion for our list of possibilities kinda thing... This is along the lines of Frank Sinatra stuff. Alternatively there's also Strangers in the Night which could work quite well. Or Something Stupid... This might also be rather useful : ) We shall see..

- Mia xx

More Pics

Ok, I realise this is a lot of pictures... and you can only put 50 on a slide.. and it might take a while.. so here's a link to my photobucket page with all the photos which should work. But yeah, it took a while to upload them all so I'm posting these! And the TV thing is quite cool - well the fact that there are 4 kinda ruins it but oh well. Yeahh, so these were just me checking out the locations near me and they could help us decide whether or not to go with them, because it's easier to visualise with the photos (I hope!). So enjoy! Sorry there are so many

Mia xx

Meeting Notes - 20/11/08

- set deadline (Wednesday) for individual tasks

• Bisma - group treatment
• Bhavika - shooting script
• Mia - blogging
• Mary - storyboarding

- details of shots for storyboarding

- shooting script & script

Idea Development

- killer getting ready - radio in background, news for backstory

- OTS MS - camera behind girl standing before mirror - focus & reverse zoom from blurry ECU of brushing hair

- girl turns towards radio, profile shot

- motivated shot to radio, CU of her pressing the button - sound changes to CD (mellow, slow, surreal)

- pan back across to LS of girl sitting down at dresser

- glance across to photograph, zoom out

- tilt down to putting on heels (LS)

- cut to ECU of lips - red lipstick

- glance across to photograph, motivated cutaway, (zoom out?)

- tilt down to killer putting on heels (LS)

- or CU of putting on heels, tilt upwards as she gets up

Location Recce!

Locations Locations Locations!
we thought good places to use for our sequence would be:

• Trent Park
• Epping Forest
• Other parks - the playgrounds, forests, paths, lakes etc.
• Houses (any of ours really)
• A random alleyway
• Alexandra Palace
• Cineworld Enfield car park

Anyways, I thought it would be a plan to go out and take loads of photos to see what they turn out like and for some inspiration, as we've gone with an alleyway and house as main locations - also it was gonna have to be dark and I didn't want to be hanging around any of those other places on my own with a camera! So, I've ended up with 167 photos... which is rather a lot to post them all on here, so I've picked out the best 15:

This is one of the shots I took on my road - it's a bit blurry - I blame the camera, it's pretty old and has fewer megapixels than most mobile phones... and it was kinda dark... and ok, I do have quite shaky hands. BUT anyway. Not particularly scary, the sky's a bit too pretty for that, but I like the lighting and the shadows, particularly the way the trees are all silhouetted against the [very very pretty] sky. Also, just as I was taking the photo, a car was pulling out and driving downt he road, so you get those crazy beams of light which are a bit strange - but quite cool, à mon avis.

This is on my road again, and I was trying out different effects - this one's in black and white (clearly). I like it 'cause there's the postbox in the foreground which makes it a bit more interesting. The light's also reflecting nicely from the street lamps - the effect of which I love - in black and white they look like little baby moons! But yeah, it's dark - bad things happen at night etc...



Again, this one's in black and white, and is the same place as the previous one, but more over to the right. In this one the focus is more on the pavement and you can see less of the road and cars, and you can see the houses, lights on in some windows, which I think has a good effect. It's a long road - long corridors/roads etc. are things I found to be conventional in the genre of horrors and thrillers (click here for more), and so I've got quite a few like this. You get that sense of ambiguity and that you can keep running but you won't escape..

Yep, black and white again. And again, long road, (that postbox again.. haha), darkness, nice street lamps. It's kinda blurry - although I quite like the effect of it in the photo (if you don't look too closely!). The postbox in the foreground is in sharper focus. I like the trees and blurry lights.

This is an alleyway I thought we could use for our opening - it's convenient because it's literally just down the road from my house but is fairly interesting-looking.. I like the lighting and how you can see it's dark - there's the whole section on the left that isn't lit up (there is in fact a gate there 'cause there's some kind of generator or something so it's quite scary to be taking pictures around in the night). There's a street lamp, a corner, lots of trees... I love it! However, the garage might be a problem if we're doing the whole night club thingy...

This one is the same alley without the corner, and I think from the other end. I can't really remember to be honest. I think it gives quite a good sense of perspective (as in getting narrower, not like on the 'bigger picture' or something like that) - that's good for that being pursued thing, and it's just nice for framing (yeah, I know this isn't particularly well framed but hey..)

This is just the same as the above but in BLACK AND WHITE!!

Yes, I am rather a fan of the black and white in photos :D So in this one, I've taken a shot of the alley with a bit of wall in the foreground - we're going to be making use of a subjective point of view (POV) shot in our opening, so I thought this was quite in the spirit of that - it's as though someone's peering from behind the wall, waiting for an unsuspecting victiiim, of darkness in the alleeeey...

You know what I like about this one? It's not all blurry!! :D Yeah, there's barbed wire and sort of scratchy-twiggy-wiry tree/bush things at the top of the walls on either side of the alley, and I thought it might be good to get a picture... I like the colours and lighting, especially on the tree branch on the right.

Other view of this end - just good because it's a different perspective. Also, there's the corner out of the alley too, and the street lamp an bollard make it a bit more interesting.

This is the alley BUT from the ground - not at a particular angle, but just at a different level which is quite interesting, as though it could be something/someone creeping along on the ground.

This one is interesting because what you can see of the alley is framed within the shot by a bit of the lamp post and the darkness of the wall - again you get that stalkerish, someone hiding/watching/waiting in the dark. Also, I took it at a canted angle, which makes it a bit scarier, helping to build tension and giving a sense of 'psychological uneasiness'.

I love this shot!! It's not blurry!! [Probably because I was resting the camera on that bollardy thing.] I really like the lighting in it, and the way the trees sort of lean over the wall, and they look kinda claw-like, as though they're gonna reach down and take a swipe at you... And again, you don't know what's around the corner - and whether you're in the POV of the victim or the villain. I just love the location to be honest - but obviously it might not work so I don't mind either way.

This is just outside my house, and although the shot itself is really blurry etc. I really like it. The shadow of the tree is really foreboding and sort of reaches out to you, and the lights have a nice effect. It's very dark and you just don't know what might be lurking in those shadows!! It's also kind of pretty though.. I like how in these shots you have an ordinary setting that you see everyday, but it can look quite scary.

This is just a shot taken inside my house at the top of the stairs, looking down between the banister posty thingies, so it's high angle, and the little bit of banister posty thing that you can see makes it kind of POV. It's looking down into the hallway to an open door with nothing but darkness inside. The effect is kind of ruined by the kitchen light being on but hey... maybe it emphasises it? :D haha.. Again, everyday setting taken and made look a little bit scarier.

So yeah, that's that. Please bear in mind I wasn't using anything other than a [really old] camera... They'd be better with people in them, to get more of an idea about them as locations for things actually happening... But what the hey.

: )

- Posted by Mia