First day filming

We had planned to have our fist day of filming on Sunday 13th February, this was going to include the scenes outside the party where Katie gets into a random car. Therefore we collected all the equipment that was essential including the school's camera and tri-pod on the Friday, and we didn't need to carry much up to London, as our main props are used in the party scene such a strobe lights and the smoke machine, glasses and bottles of alcohol, and the party scene is going to be filmed at a later date. All weekend we were eager to get filming and after finally finishing all our planning we felt ready to begin creating the the two minute opening sequence. However we received very bad luck as when we woke up on Sunday morning it was pouring down with rain! We tried to stay positive and hopeful that the rain would die down and eventually stop completely. But to our dismay the rain persisted and got even heavier. An hour before leaving to go to our destination we contemplated even going at all as many new problems had arisen. One main one was that if we needed to re-film anything or get some different shots we would have to wait till it rained again, and obviously we couldn't do that as rain is unpredictable and then we wouldn't be sure if the cast were available, we could take the camera equipment out that day etc. It also meant that our shots may bit a bit blurry and we had a risk of damaging the equipment.

However in the end we decided to go up to London, Mayfair to see what we could do, and tried to stay positive, get all the shots possible, and if worse came to worse we would have to re-film it all again another day. But we agreed on seeing what we could get due to the circumstances, and in the end the effect of the rain worked for us and looked really good on camera/suited the scenes we were filming to a great extent. The dark dismal atmosphere the rain gave off suited our horror genre and plot well and we were very very pleased with the out come. We realised that because of the rain it gave more of a reason for Katie to escape the weather and get into a random persons car in the first place.

We left our houses at half five and met at Beckenham Junction to all get the train together up to where one of the cast live, (also the location we were filming with). It was important we got the timing right as we needed to make sure it looked dark enough to be late at night, so by the time we arrived at his flat, chose outfits for the cast and done their makeup, it was perfect lighting and we were ready to begin filming. Filming took a lot longer than expected as we wanted to make sure we had enough variety of shots to choose from and hopefully we wouldn't have to come back and re-film anything on another day as we all grew on the idea of it raining and it worked to a great advantage. We tried to film every shot three or more times using differ net angles, shots and movements each time and i think we accomplished a range of all three.

Some changes were made and we decided to not have to shots that look at the clock, and at some points we changed they way we filmed the shots. We had originally planned to film the whole thing on a tri-pod to ensure all the shots were steady and straight. However we realised that obviously it was impossible to fit the tri-pod into the car and therefore we changed some shots to handheld and if gave off a very good effect.

On our way to our location we got a train to Victoria, a bus, then walked under a subway for a short cut and walked about 5 minutes to our filming destination. However on the way when walking under the subway we were really drawn to the atmosphere and the quietness was in fact quite scary. There were also very bright lights so lighting conditions would be perfect. We all came to the agreement of ending the opening sequence with a birds eye shot of her running down the stairs into the subway, then collapsing in disbelief of what she has just experienced inside the subway, which looked much better than just running off down a street where it was busy and looked unrealistic.

Overall we had an extremely successful filming day and the problems we encountered actually gave us a great advantage and benefited our opening sequence. Our actors worked really well together and took directions extremely well, as well as adding in some suggestions and improvising parts themselves. I think we adapted well to the circumstances and acted maturely and professionally, giving us a great deal of footage to work with that we are all very pleased with.