Production Diary

1. Production
Diary
Thriller Opening Sequence
Day 1

2. Location: Conservatory/kitchen
Date: 29/11/15
Time: 9:30am
 During the production stage, we began filming
the shots within our first location, this being shots
1-24, featuring within the conservatory/kitchen.
 During this stage my personal contribution was
mainly that of a director. Due to my knowledge of
the shot list (as it had been written by myself), it
seemed that I was most suited to this task, in
collaboration with my fellow team members
Grace (also taking a producer/director role) and
Danielle, (focusing on managing the camera
equipment), this worked considerably well.
 Due to the need for only one actor within this
scene, my contribution focused greatly upon
guiding the actor through each shot, reminding
them of lines and directing their actions
throughout the piece.
 During some of the later scenes, I also
contributed to filming, mostly taking charge of the
hand-held camera footage or the close ups
required of our actor. This was effective in
allowing our responsibilities to vary throughout
the production process, helping to build up my
experience in each element of production.
Within this image Danielle is managing the camera equipment and
I am directing our actor in preparation for the next shot.

3. Location: Conservatory/kitchen
Date: 29/11/15
Time: 11:30am
 By the time we had completed all of the shots
within this location the time was 11:30. This
proved effect in meeting with our planned
finishing time and allowed for a small 30
minute break for our production team and
actors.
 However, it was found that not all shots for
this location were able to be filmed, this was
due to our requirement of a newspaper prop
which required an image of our establishing
shot for our next location (this being
Caddington Woods), therefore, due to this we
planned to direct our concentration towards
completing the shots for our next location,
before continuing any further with our first
location.
 This lead to a deviation of our shooting
schedule as we discovered that in order to
achieve this we would need to arrange
another filming date in order to finish off these
scenes.
For many of the shots we used Danielle's own camera,
which allowed for higher quality footage and focus to be
achieved. As well as providing a back-up for the cameras
that we already possessed.

4. Overall…
 During our production we found that filming within the conservatory was a
considerably easy task. This is because there was a very low level of
disturbance and we were able to effectively meet the start and finishing times of
our planned shooting schedule.
 However, we find that we were unable to film some shots due to needing an
image for our establishing shot within our second location for the newspaper
article that needed to feature within this scene. Therefore this reveals that
perhaps we should have arranged our times so that, some of the shots within
our second location, Caddington Woods, were filmed first in order to avoid such
an issue.
 In terms of our teamwork, this was exceptional. Our production team was highly
efficient in taking on each of their roles. In terms of my own contribution, I
mostly acted as a director as well as an assistant camera manager when
filming in this location. I believe that I was able to effectively fulfil my role, which
was successful due to the great co-operation of both our actors and the team
who followed our teams representational wishes, as well as contributed their
own ideas, resulting in a brilliantly varied and original piece. As well as a greatly
professional, yet friendly atmosphere during filming.

5. Location: Caddington Woods
Date: 29/11/15
Time: 12:00pm
 By 12:00am we then moved onto travelling and
setting up our production team within our second,
and more challenging, location (Caddington
Woods).
 It took us approximately 10-15 minutes to travel to
our location and around 10 more to set up the
equipment.
 During this stage I mostly played the part of an
actor, as did my fellow team member Grace,
alongside two of our contributing actors. During
this stage Danielle played a dominant role in
filming the footage, however, when explaining
each scene, I still played the role of a director,
helping to guide our actors, as to the actions and
expression they should be presenting.
 During this stage, myself and grace also took part
in areas of filming. For example when creating the
high angle shot of Grace walking through the
woods, I assisted Danielle in holding up the tripod
in order to achieve an effect high angle, largely
emphasising the characters vulnerability in this
moment. Therefore, during such stages in
particular, teamwork played a key role in our
project's success.
Contributing actor, Ellie, also provided a camera, which
acted as both a back-up for our equipment as well as a prop
within our piece.

6. Location: Caddington Woods
Date: 29/11/15
Time: 2:30pm
 During filming due to a technical issue, as the
cameras we were using had run our of charge,
we were required to travel back to my house in
order to recharge our equipment. This did
result in taking up some of our time, and
created a deviation from our original shooting
schedule, revealing that within our planning
perhaps we should have been more
considerate pf the potential issues with our
equipment.
 Never the less, after around 30 minutes we
were bale to return top the woods and continue
shooting for as long as we were able.
 However, although we may have been
unprepared in this sense, we did make sure to
have access to a number of cameras and SD
cards, those allowed us to prolong the time it
would take before needing to recharge our
equipment, as well as ensuring that we didn’t
run out of any storage space for our footage.
Therefore, this advance in equipment planning
allowed us to film for longer, with less technical
interruptions.
I and Grace discussing the next scene, as well as the placement of the
equipment and actors. We both took on the role of director and
collaborated well together as a team.

7. Location: Caddington Woods
Date: 29/11/15
Time: 3:15pm
 As our production progressed it became
increasingly apparent that we were going to be
unable to complete al 145 shots within a single
day. Therefore, after taking a break to discuss this
issue (signalled to us by the progression of time as
well as our clearly decreasing daylight) we decided
that we would need to arrange another day in
which we could finish off all remaining footage.
 Due to our desire to avoid inconveniencing our
actors by taking up more of their time we aimed to
complete as many shots as possible, this resulted
in 70 shots being completed overall.
 When filming we were able to film all shots which
featured our contributing actor; Anastasiya W. This
was a well informed decision from our group as
this mean that she would not need to attend
another session of filming which may have
interfered with her other responsibilities.
 By the time we had filmed all we could there was
little remaining daylight. Therefore, we decided to
finish filming at 4;00pm and travel back to my
home, as my team members departed home for
the day.

8. Overall…
 When filming within this location I found that our teamwork again went brilliantly. Everyone within our
group remained focused and each of our members varied in the roles they decided to take on.
 My own contribution during this stage was largely upon acting, directing and filming. As although
Danielle was the main team member when it came to filming, sometimes I would assist her, if a shot
required more the none person to take, or if there was a scene in which I was no longer needed.
Therefore, I believe that my roles varied throughout production, however whilst always pertaining my
director role, alongside team member Grace as we worked towards guiding our actors.
 Our actors were also brilliant, and high co-operative during shooting. Within this location we were
able to film up to shot 70 before we were forced to stop, due to the loss in daylight.
 This was a good accomplishment for the day, however did reveal to our group that a second day of
filming would be required in order to complete all remaining footage. This therefore highlights
perhaps our over ambitious attitude when creating the shooting schedule, as we had originally
planned to complete all filming within a single day.
 Never the less, this was of no fault of the team, and was merely a result of the time it took us to move
around our location, as well as setting up each scene (which required help from most of our team,
due to the rather large amount of props that we possessed.
 Therefore, filming went very smoothly during this stage, and many effective and high quality shots
were achieved.