Task 9. Filming

Second filming day, Sunday 19th February

When we came together this day, we had the plan ready. We were going to film scene three, our very last scene, where our second character, Tanya, played by Sophie Ravenscroft, was going to get brutally killed.

Picture from the scene

The location is Tamworth, and the setting is outside Chloe Ravenscroft's house. 

We chose this setting because we wanted a place with large towering trees that were leafless. This is beacause it gives a sense of isolation, by this we hoped to create a very eerie feeling, as nobody is around to call for, if you need help. This is something that is highly associated with the horror genre. 

Picture from the scene

Another reason for why we wanted an isolated place, was for us to shoot our film undisturbed. It was crucial for us that nobody was in the background at any time, as Tanya was suppose to be all alone while she gets killed. When Tanya gets killed, she is laying on her own doorsteep. We decided that we wanted her to die there to add a sense of sadness to the scene as she was so close to be safe. Being killed at your own doorsteep is also very wrong and twisted, as it is your home area, and the connotations for home is usually safety and warmth. By letting Tanya die there, we challenged a convention in order to corrospond with the horror genre.

In this scene we used a various different camera angles, amongst them: a normal medium shot, to show Tanya walking past the camera whilst talking in the phone, filmed from a tripod.

A close up at Tanyas face, to show her feelings after she gets the sense that someone is following her, it shows that she is scared, and a bit confused. This shot is also filmed from a tripod.

We also used a high angle whilst filming Tanya, this was to make her look weaker, and more powerless. This shot was also filmed from a tripod.

In one shot we used the technique by holding the camera ourself, giving a sense of uneasiness. This was also because it was from a subjective point of view. To be more accurate it was from Dolly's point of view, where she is watching Tanya from behind some branches.

We used another hand held, point of view shot from Dolly when she is running up to Tanya, this shot stops by Tanya screaming in a close up. 

When Tanya has been murdered by Dolly, we get a medium close up of Tanya laying on the ground, with the murder weapon next to her: the knife. As this shot goes on, a hand streches for the knife and grabs it. This is foreshaddowing that nothing is over yet.Which gives a horrifying feeling as it indicates that more people is about to die. 

The props used for this scene is a mobile phone, which Tanya uses in the beginning of the scene. 

One plastic knife, and one real knife. We used the plastic knife when Dolly Pocket is pretending to stab Tanya, as you can see on the picture to the right. This was to ensure that nobody would get injured if Dolly Pocket should have dropped the knife by accident. In the medium close up of Tanya laying dead on the ground with a knife next to her, we had switched the plastic knife out with a real knife. This was to make it look more real, and scary. If the audience saw that it was only a plastic knife that had been used, we would not get that horrifying effect we wanted.  

We also had to make fake blood, as Dolly would stab Tanya, and it would only be natural that it would come some blood out of it. 

The costumes used for this scene is a pair of blue trousers, a purple t-shirt and a white jacket for Tanya. This indicates that she is just a normal person, as the connotations to the white jacket is peacefulness and safety. 

The costume used to Dolly Pocket is the same as in scene one. She still have the green doll dress on, with white circles on it. This dress still gives a eerie feeling, as we think it is wrong for a grown up person to use such a dress, especially on this way.

Task 9. Filming

First filming day, thursday 9th February. 

On our first filming day we were all set to go to Chloe Ravenscroft's house, to get started. We had to make some changes from the production scheduale, but overall, the filming day turned out to be a great success, where we were able to finish both the opening scene, and the ending scene of our film.

The location for both the scenes was Tamworth, and the setting was inside of Chloe Ravenscroft's house, which in the film was suppose to be Dolly Pocket's house. The reason for why we chose this setting was because it was a standard middle class house, which would give a sense of realism to the film. The fact that both the opening scene and the ending scene were going to take place inside of the house, made it convenient for us to film it both on the same day.

Scene 1.

We were very eager to start filming, using the tripod and the camera that our school had provided us with. Before we could do that however, we had to decorate what which was suppose to be Dolly Pocket's living room, before she lost her child. We made the made the room very light, turning on every lamp in the room. We also had white curtains in the background. On this way we wanted to create a sense of safety, and make a typical home-feeling.

Dolly Pocket, in her home, holding her baby.

As we were filming we chose to film it in a 'home-made-video', were the character Dolly Pocket is looking into the camera, telling her 'husband' how beautiful their new born baby is. To make it more believeable that it was her husband she was talking to, we decided that she was going to ask her him this "Oh, isn't she beautiful Nigel?". On this way we could get a voiceover later on, of a grown up man saying "oh yes darling, she is", so it would seem like he had been there the whole time. 

The whole scene was filmed in a hand held camera, as this would give a sense of realism.

The costume used in this scene, are as you may can see on the picture above, a comfortable white sweater and some normal blue trousers. We chose the white sweater, as the connotations to white is pureness and innocence, this indicates that she is just a normal mother, where nothing dramatically has happened to her. The scene ends with the 'husband' throwing the camera down in a chair, so the audience can not really see what happens, as he is running over to his child, were Dolly Pocket is crying, because the baby is no longer breathing.

Scene 4.

As we were finished with filming scene one, we immediately started to get ready to film the ending scene. Before we could start filming, we had to do the make up, needed for Dolly Pocket's face after she lost her baby. In this scene, she is no longer a loving mother, but an insane and brutal murderer, which is obsessed by her dead child. 

Before the filming day, we had already looked up on the internet, using google, on how to put on make up so it would look like a creepy doll. After finding the make up needed, we started to do the makeover in Dolly Pocket's face, played by Chloe Ravenscroft. 

Pictures from the transition:

The first thing we did, was painting her face all white, on this way we took away all the natural and good colour a human usually have in its face, and made it more ghostly. We did this as stereotypically ghosts are horror creatures. After this, she got some black eyeshaddow, both over and under her eyes. By adding these two effects, we made her look more scary and dead, and she was now closer to reveal her true nature.

After this we added big pink cheeks to her face. This was to create the image of a porcelain doll, to show how far Dolly Pockets obsession has gone. This indicates a very bad mental state

When the pale white skin, the black eyes and the red cheeks were all finished, we had to make her even more scary to get the horrifying effect we longed for. We therefore, as planned, gave her creepy black lips. The black lips gave the missing effect we wanted, and after them she looked like a mix of a half dead demon and a terrifying doll in her fac. We felt this truly revealed her true nature.

This is a picture of the ending result of Dolly Pocket after she has become an insane murderer.
As you can see we also chose to put her hair into pigtail. This was to reinforce the idea of Dolly's doll image as it is a very childish hairstyle, which adult generally do not wear.

As we started to film the ending scene of our film, we had to do something with the living room she was in. In the first scene it was very white and pure, now however, we wanted it to be more dark and eerie, but at the same time show that it was the same living room she was in. We wanted this change because the character had gone through a huge change in personality and in the way she looked. 

We therefore turned the light down, so the whole room was darker, this gave an immediate effect, however, we both knew that we needed to edit these shots in an editing program when we came back to school. This was because we both wanted the room to be even darker, wich would create a bigger sense of scariness and danger.  It will therefore not be natural lighting in any of the shots from the ending scene.

The props used in this scene is one knife with blood one. This is suppose to be the knife Dolly Pocket killed Tanya with. We can see her comming in with it, in a long shot, filmed in a low angle. The low angle gives Dolly more dominance. 

We also used a numerous toys, which Dolly sits on, with her dead baby. This is filmed in a long shot, as we can see her whole body.

We also had to use a blanket, where the 'baby' is laying in. In a over the shoulder shot filmed in a high angle, however we can see that there is no baby. This is the shot which reveals that Dolly Pocket really is insane, as she is singing to a blank blanket, believing her baby really lies there.

The costume for this scene, is, as you can see on the picture, very different from Dolly Pocket's costume from scene one. In this scene she uses a green doll dress, with white circles all over it. We thought this costume would give a creepy feeling, because it is suppose to be used in a cute way, possible young children using it, while they are happy and out with friends.In our film however, it is used while she is killing other people and is obsessed by her own dead child. This challenges people view over a doll costume.

Scene 2.

As we had finished up both scene one, and the ending scene we figured we had good time on us, so we started filming scene two. This is a very short scene we only needed to film Dolly Pocket in her doll costume taking up her knife and walking out the door, foreshaddowing she was going to kill someone. This was all done from the tripod, were we used medium shots. Because the room was still to light, we figured we also had to edit this in an editing program when we came back to school. Therefore it will not be natural lighting, but the location, setting and costume are still the same. The only prop we used for this scene, was the knife.

Task 9. Filming

Before we start to film, my group made a production schedule, where we planned out when, where, what, etc we were going to film, to make it easier for us on the actual filming day.

Our production schedule:

Task 7 and 8: Role allocation and casting

Task 7: Role allocation


In my group we have split the different tasks between each other like this:


Cameraperson: Frida

Writer: Frida and Chloe

Editor: Frida and Chloe

Director: Frida and Chloe

make up and costume artist: Liz Ravenscroft

Actors: Chloe Ravenscroft as Dolly Pocket

              Sophie Ravenscroft as Tanya

Task 8. Casting

In our film we need two actors. One actor to play Dolly Pocket, the antagonist in the film, and one actor to play Tanya, which is the victim in the opening sequence of Peek-A-Boo.
The props Tanya need for the film is a baby pram and formal clothes, this character is going to be played by Sophie Ravenscroft.
The props Dolly Pocket will need is toys, doll costume, bones and a plastic knife. This character has been decided to be played by Chloe Ravenscroft.

We choosed the name Tanya to the victim as it is just a casual working/middle class name, with no linking to anything special. On this way it shows that Tanya is just a regular woman, with no special qualifications. In the film as a whole, she does not have much to say, except from showing, by her death, that Dolly Pocket is a brutal murderer.

We also choosed the name Dolly Pocket because this is more unusual. This indicates that there is something special and different about her. We specifically choosed the name 'Dolly' because in the film she is obsessed by her dead baby, and we often find her sitting amongst many dolls and other toys. The connotations to a doll, and therefore maybe 'Dolly' as well, are happy, children playing, light and safe enviroment. Since this is not the case in our film, it makes it even more twisted and disturbed. On this way we are also crossing people's expectations related to the name.

Storyboard

The purpose of a storyboard in general is to photograph (draw/digitalised) each and every shot that is going to appear in the film which involves a list of key information written underneath each shot. Storyboards allow the director of a film to visualise the whole film even before they have started filming and the storyboard allows the cameraman shooting the film to understand how the film should be shot. The befits of this is it allows you to change elements of the film and its shots if they don't seem to work visually before the expensive filming  process has begun. the frame of a storyboard shout contain -
The shot number- each shot must be numbered so the intended sequence of shots can be followed.


Framing- Whether the shot will be a close up for example or a medium long shot.


Drawing- So there is a visual image of what is happening in the shot.


Action- This is a brief description of whats happening in the shot.


Dialogue - Single lines may be written in order to understand in what shots dialogue is needed.


Sound effect- This is if their is any specific sounds diegetic and non diegetic.


Abbreviations can be used.
Therefore before making the opening of our horror film we have storyboarded the opening sequence in order to make the filming process as easy as possible and so we are organised and know what is needed when it comes to collecting/filming our footage


Our storyboard for Peek-A-Boo