Costume

We picked muted colours in our costume because we wanted a very drab feel to the opening- that is, bright colours would have conveyed a positive emotion, which wasn't the statement we wanted to make at the beggining of the film- the muted colours set the atmosphere of the rest of the film.

Ripped jeans were a choice we made to make it abundantly clear that this is a normal teenager, not an agent or a spy, as ripped jeans are an item of clothing stereotypically worn exclusively by teenagers.

The coat was to accentuate the drab colours, and also because the setting of our film is late November, early December.

The attacker is wearing black to highlight his anonymity, and the gloves were a stereotypically villainous symbol to convey quickly who was the protagonist and who was the antagonist.

Props

We only had two props, the phone that the protagonist uses and the metal bar the attacker uses to knock her out. we were considering having the phone crack after it drops,  but decided that it would be too hard to read the completed downloading bar. We also briefly considered having the metal rod swapped out with a baseball bat, but realised that a hint metal rod was more realistic, as it is more easily concealed.

Actors

We were always going to have a teenage girl cast as the protagonist, but we had a few different ideas before we settled on Kira. But we finally felt that Kira had the right look of panic on her face when she shot the scenes that lent itself towards realism.

Originally the attacker was gong to be seen, before we decided to include POV shots in our opening, and we were going to cast a teenage boy as the attacker (at that point in planning it was an age appropriate casting decision). Unfortunately, those plans fell through and we then reworked the antagonists age, and included POV shots for effect, making it unnecessary to find a middle aged man to cast in the role, as the face of the attacker is not seen in our film.

Our filming experience

Meet the rest of my group. Although we've never made a vlog together, they do exist! This is them talking about our filming experience, and some of the compromises and changes we decided to make during filming, and post-production.

 

Re-filming

In the original filming the central character of our opening had her hair in plaits. However, when we looked over the footage, we fount that this appearance did not quite have the effect we were looking for, so we re-filmed the shots where Kira had loose hair, and felt that her panic came through better than in the previous shots. It also helped the character seem as though she is running from something, as she has less make-up and less hair-styling.

Breaking the 180 degree rule

We break the 180 degree rule multiple times in our opening. Whilst not something we had initially planned, this was a calculated choice on our part. The break comes during the P.O.V shots. It was done to show that the attacker was other to the girl, that the camera was showing a different viewpoint, and it was therefore necessary to break the 180 degree rule to show.

Downloading bar

We had some difficulty in finding images of a single downloading bar at one percent, and then that same downloading bar at a hundred percent; especially ones without copyright. This was one of the reasons that filming was delayed. Eventually we had to take existing pictures and edit them to create our idea, and we ended up with two bars that looked perfect for our opening.

Keeping shots the same

Because we filmed during many separate days, we had to be meticulous in the location of our filming, making sure that we had the exact same point in the path for all the different shots. It was also difficult as we had to re-film the shot where Kira is knocked out many times, and we had to make sure that there was continuity with the close up shot that preceded it.

Location

We decided to film our opening at Oakwood Park as it had the sense of remoteness that was crucial for our idea, but it also had fairly flat paths for Kira to run down, so there was less danger of accidents. The long path gave the perfect background for our long shot, and the park is not that busy, so we weren't often interrupted by members of the public.

POV shots and Luther

When we were editing our opening, we realised that the girl getting attacked was very out of the blue, so we decided to have a counterpoint by having some shots from the attackers POV, which would hopefully help to build tension. This is an idea that was inspired heavily by an opening of an episode of Luther that we watched and used early in the course for storyboarding practice.

Downloading

We have run into a slight problem when filming, as our opening includes shots of something downloading, and it is proving extremely difficult to find pictures of a 1% download and a complete download that have identical download bars, which we need for the continuity of our opening.

Revised Film Schedule

Unfortunately, unforeseen circumstances meant that we had to revise our filming schedule, but we should complete filming in the near future, weather permitting.

Making of

Video of my group during filming

Updated filming schedule

Due to scheduling conflicts we were not able to meet for one of the dates planned, however on  the 1st of November we managed to film for around two hours before the sun began setting, meaning we had to stop.

We will not be able to meet again until the 9th of November, when hopefully we will be able to conclude the filming.

Film Scedule

My group and I are planning to film at Oakwood park during the day on the 27th of October, and if necessary on the 29th.