.
For Day 2 of filming I gathered myself, Leann and Scott together at Leann's house and began filming. For the opening I wanted subvert general film conventions (not specifically thriller conventions) by not showing my main characters in the film first. Firstly I show the Newsreader reading the news (Fig. 1) (slightly expositional but necessary for a short film with a need-to-know backstory) and then the first thing we see of a presumed protagonist is his thumb (Fig. 2), not even his face. Then the audience do see his face, but it is obscured by a balaclava, which he does then take off. If my film was feature length, I would draw these shots out in length to increase anticipation in the audience.
Fig. 1 & 2
Then the character of Ros is introduced, she is wearing a balaclava too (the same one actually) but she also takes it off to deliver her lines. The shot below (Fig. 3) is important because it features a subtly placed rose behind her, as she talks about using a rose for a calling card instead of a rat.
Fig. 3
The shots below are OTS (over the shoulder) shots of Smith watching television, the aforementioned Shallow Grave clips for intertexuality and foreshadowing.
Fig. 4 & 5
When shooting these shots, it was important that I shoot from a high angle to make Ros seem weak to enhance audience empathy later (Fig. 6). I tried to reshoot the CU of the mobile phone several times (Fig. 7) however every time I tried I still got the same glare from the phone so I decided to use this shot anyway, as even if you can't see that she's calling voicemail, the impending message makes it clear what she's doing anyway.
Fig. 6 & 7
Again the high angle is employed in this shot is used to imply how weak Ros feels right now but the reason I'm including it here is because to achieve these shots which make it appear as though Ros has dropped the phone from ear level to the ground which would most likely break it I had her drop the phone (my own phone actually) into a colander which was held just out of shot, and then dropped from just out of the frame's view to the floor.
Fig. 8 & 9
The following two shots (Fig. 10 & 11) are an example of an eyeline match and take place just after she notices the rat poison in the dish next to the dropped phone. I could have just assumed the audience would know that the little green pellets in the dish were rat poison but I needed to include this just to make absolutely sure the audience knew what she was dosing the tea with.
Fig. 10 & 11
This shot is an extremely low angle to make Ros seem highly powerful and dominant (Fig. 12), because in this scene she is. She's taking control and poisoning her deceitful partner. I also intend to make the shot slow motion in which Ros pours the poison into the tea to emphasise her actions to the audience.
Fig. 12 & 13
In this shot (Fig. 14 is at the beginning of this shot, Fig. 15 is at the end) I have placed the camera above the table and will keep returning to the table at this viewpoint. I originally wanted a round or square table because I wanted to make the table with the tea sitting on it seem like a game board, as after all, it is a very deadly game Ros and Smith end up playing with each other.
FIg. 14 & 15
For many of the following shots (Fig. 16 & 17) I drew upon Mr. and Mrs. Smith for influence during the dinner scene in which close ups and high/low angles are utilized almost constantly to indicate who has the upper hand in their subtle confrontation, a technique I have emulated here.
Fig. 16, 17, 18 & 19
I would've continued filming the scene and finishing the film however this was when my camera's battery ran out of charge so I was forced to call it a day and resume filming another time soon.
For Day 2 of filming I gathered myself, Leann and Scott together at Leann's house and began filming. For the opening I wanted subvert general film conventions (not specifically thriller conventions) by not showing my main characters in the film first. Firstly I show the Newsreader reading the news (Fig. 1) (slightly expositional but necessary for a short film with a need-to-know backstory) and then the first thing we see of a presumed protagonist is his thumb (Fig. 2), not even his face. Then the audience do see his face, but it is obscured by a balaclava, which he does then take off. If my film was feature length, I would draw these shots out in length to increase anticipation in the audience.
Fig. 1 & 2
Then the character of Ros is introduced, she is wearing a balaclava too (the same one actually) but she also takes it off to deliver her lines. The shot below (Fig. 3) is important because it features a subtly placed rose behind her, as she talks about using a rose for a calling card instead of a rat.
Fig. 3
The shots below are OTS (over the shoulder) shots of Smith watching television, the aforementioned Shallow Grave clips for intertexuality and foreshadowing.
Fig. 4 & 5
When shooting these shots, it was important that I shoot from a high angle to make Ros seem weak to enhance audience empathy later (Fig. 6). I tried to reshoot the CU of the mobile phone several times (Fig. 7) however every time I tried I still got the same glare from the phone so I decided to use this shot anyway, as even if you can't see that she's calling voicemail, the impending message makes it clear what she's doing anyway.
Fig. 6 & 7
Again the high angle is employed in this shot is used to imply how weak Ros feels right now but the reason I'm including it here is because to achieve these shots which make it appear as though Ros has dropped the phone from ear level to the ground which would most likely break it I had her drop the phone (my own phone actually) into a colander which was held just out of shot, and then dropped from just out of the frame's view to the floor.
Fig. 8 & 9
The following two shots (Fig. 10 & 11) are an example of an eyeline match and take place just after she notices the rat poison in the dish next to the dropped phone. I could have just assumed the audience would know that the little green pellets in the dish were rat poison but I needed to include this just to make absolutely sure the audience knew what she was dosing the tea with.
Fig. 10 & 11
This shot is an extremely low angle to make Ros seem highly powerful and dominant (Fig. 12), because in this scene she is. She's taking control and poisoning her deceitful partner. I also intend to make the shot slow motion in which Ros pours the poison into the tea to emphasise her actions to the audience.
Fig. 12 & 13
In this shot (Fig. 14 is at the beginning of this shot, Fig. 15 is at the end) I have placed the camera above the table and will keep returning to the table at this viewpoint. I originally wanted a round or square table because I wanted to make the table with the tea sitting on it seem like a game board, as after all, it is a very deadly game Ros and Smith end up playing with each other.
FIg. 14 & 15
For many of the following shots (Fig. 16 & 17) I drew upon Mr. and Mrs. Smith for influence during the dinner scene in which close ups and high/low angles are utilized almost constantly to indicate who has the upper hand in their subtle confrontation, a technique I have emulated here.
Fig. 16, 17, 18 & 19
I would've continued filming the scene and finishing the film however this was when my camera's battery ran out of charge so I was forced to call it a day and resume filming another time soon.