Bloodshot - Filming

On the day of filming, we went to James' house as it was the main place for the scenes and was close to Toton sidings where we needed to film. We spent around two hours running through our storyboards and plans for filming so that all of us were clear on what we were filming and where. This way all of our scenes could be filmed efficiently and we wouldn't lose the light outside and we wouldn't waste time on filming when it's not needed.

It took us around an hour to then film everything outside on Toton sidings before it got to dark to film. We made sure we did the same shots a few times incase some were better than others this way when it came to editing we had footage to choose from instead of only one shot.

After filming the outdoor scenes, we moved back to James' house to film all the scenes inside his house, this wasn't as vital as it's not like we needed the daylight. We did change a few of the settings from the storyboard because we decided they looked better and were more effective for the shot itself.

We had finished filming by around 4 and had checked through our footage to check we had it all filmed and sorted ready for editing in one day.

Bloodshot - Props & Costume

Props:

We only had a few important props that were crucial to keeping the storyline of our thriller, and only for the opening.

The cat box was important for Lindsey to find in the woods which included the bio hazard sign, these are important because they show were the infection running throughout the film actually comes from. The fact that the cat box is bright blue helps because it makes it noticeable to the audience and that it is something out of the ordinary.

The bio hazard sign is to go on the back of the cat box so that the audience knows the cat is dangerous and letting it out could become a big issue. We tried to make it as realistic as possible to that it didn't look stupid.

Costumes:

When choosing what to wear we chose simple, casual and warm clothes so that it showed well we were students and weren't particularly bother by what we were wearing because we wanted comfort. It also shows we're just going on with our everyday lives so that it seems as its no different from any other day. We also wore natural make up so that it didn't look like anything special. Make up was used by Sam to create the cut on the main characters hand so that the audience could see that she had been scratched by the cat that was in the bio hazard box.

Bloodshot - Characters & Location

Location
We had three main locations for our opening scene all around the same are so that we didn't need to take all our equipment too far.

The first location that we used was toton sidings near the park and near james' house. It was used for the main character walking up through the path as if it were a normal day. We used the forest type look because it looked slightly creepy and adds to the effect of the thriller genre. The weather on the day was very gloomy and dull which I think added to the effect of being eerie, so the atmosphere on the day worked well and we were very lucky it did not rain. Pathetic fallacy is used because of the weather to foreshadow everything bad that happens later.

A second location we used was the outside of James' house, used for the main character to walk into a home and make it look like a normal everyday scene. It was useful that James' house was close to Toton sidings because it made our filming quicker as we did not have far to travel from the two locations. It was also easier to use James' house because we used his living room as a main part of the opening, this gave it good continuity.

Finally we used James' front room as a main part for the main character coming home from a long day out shopping.

It is cosy and homey room that looks perfect for the characters house because it's nothing fancy.

Characters

Name: Lindsey Thomas

Age: 19-20

Character facts:

• Young woman who studies Biology at University and has a passion for it.
• Best friends with Lindsey, met in secondary school, go to the same uni and now lives with her.
• Very curious person, wants to know about things, which explains why in the opening sequence he wonders whats in the box and even puts his hand in it.
  
• Quite cool and relaxed, doesn't like to make a deal out of something that maybe really she is worried/panicked about.

What their actual role is: Finds a cat in the woods that scratches her, starts out as the main character and carrier of infection.

Costume: Casual clothing that is not too old fashioned as she is just a normal late teenager but maybe a jacket or scarf, nothing too fancy as she is walking through a wooded area.

Actor/Actress playing the role: I, myself agreed to play the role as Lindsay and I hop e I will be okay with portraying the role. I haven't had too much drama experience but I think I can cleverly show the characteristics that have to come through within the acting for the character of Sarah Davis.

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Name: Sarah Davis
Age: 19-20

Character facts:

• Young woman who studies Medicine at University
  
• Best friends
  with Sarah, met in secondary school, go to the same uni and now lives with her.
• Caring and hard working person, likes to help people.
  

What their actual role is: The secondry character that worries about Sarah when she comes back scratched, she knows that it doesn't look right but Sarah doesnt make a fuss so she lets it go.

Costume: Casual clothing that is not too old fashioned as she is just a normal late teenager e.g. jeans, top and cardigan.

Actor/Actress playing the role: Sam Milne agreed to portray the character of Sarah Davis, she has lot of experience through drama, but wanted to mainly focus on the directing for the opening sequence instead of playing the main character.

Bloodshot - Schedule and Risk Assesment

Schedule

We are doing all our filming in half term because it is the only day that we are all free and we will have the whole day set aside to film all the footage.

Date for Filming: 25th February 2011, arriving at the first location (James' house at 11am)
Location: Toton - James' house and 'Sidings'
Order of shots: We plan to film the indoor shots first in James' house and then go to the 'sidings' to film to outisde shots in the wooded area.
Actors needed: Sam Milne (Me) and Brad Evans
Props needed: Cat, Cat box, Red contacts, Shopping bags, Phone, iPod or portable music player of somesort and Make up to create the scratches on hand.

Risk Assesment

Safety was important because we don't want any actors or equipment to become damaged. This could ruin footatge and all our plans for filming the thriller and editing our final piece.

	What is the risk?	Who/What is at risk?	Risk Level	What we are going to do to avoid risk?
	Breaking/damaging the cameras when filming.	The Camera	Medium/High	To avoid dropping the camera, it will be screwed onto the tripod at all times and when it is not in use it will be protective bag. We are planning on using a few cameras to shoot and to take stills so we have to make sure all cameras are protected.
	Breaking the tripod	The Tripod	Low	The tripod will always be in use and this will hopefully prevent it being damaged. We will make sure that all screws on the tripod will be tightened and not loose as that could cause damage. When the tripod isn't in use, it'll be laid down on a flat surface to prevent it from tumbling over.
	Losing any equipment/props	Any props/equipment that are being used.	Low	The only valuable props that is at a risk of being lost are the mobile phone and portable music player. These will be in the actors pocket when filming is not taking place. We will make sure that all props and equipment are safe and make sure nothing is missing after the filming.
	Damaging the environment when we film outside	The environment	Low	We haven't got any equipment that could possibly damage any of the environment but we will consider where we shoot our outside shots to prevent any damages to the environment. We will also make sure the plastic bags that we use in our filming will not be left anywhere.
	Actors eye's become irritated by the red contacts	Cast/Crew	Medium	The contacts could cause some irritation for the actor wearing them. If this happens then the contacts will be remove and eyes will be washed but if the actor feels as though he cannot place them in the eye, we will apply to red eye effect when we get to the editing stage.
	Cat not co-operating/needing a lot of looking after in case it runs off.	Cat	High	We might be using a cat in our opening sequence and this could cause a bit of trouble. If this does happen we will make sure that James or James' mum is on hand to help if the cat becomes un co-operative or run away from the scene, if we don't use the cat then we will be can easily change the shot.

Thriller Storyboard - BLOODSHOT

Our storyboards helped us to plan our each individual scene so we could present it's shots, timings, settings and angles. Without these it would make filming difficult as we would have no idea what scenes we would need to be filming and where. These are vital as our idea is quite complicated and we have spent a lot of time thinking out each seem so it reaches our limit of 2 minutes.

We firstly did a draft storyboard which layed out each scene in basic with no timings, then we went back through everything and changed it to make it more detailed and a lot easier to sort out when it came to filming the final footage.

Scene by scene we have planned out the timings so that we can keep the opening scene plot into the time limit of 2 minutes and not too much over.

They show shot by shot what each angle will be, whether there is a zoom or any kind of camera effect to make the film keep to the thriller genre.

Thriller Ideas

Before strating to plan a plot and storyboard we wrote down all our ideas and thoughts on the genre of thriller and the ideas that we wanted to use.
Firstly we brainstormed all the sub-genres of a thriller, including:

• Action
• Fantasy/Sci-fi
• Psycho
• Crime
• Medical

These are the sub-genres that we prefered to use for our own thriller project, then branched off into ideas for each. For Action we came up with:

• Fast pace
• Weapons
• Cars

Fantasy/Sci-fi:

• Supernatural
• Lots of effects
• Unusal
• Confusing

Psycho:

• Stalker
• Murder/mass murder
• Religion
• Hostage/Kidnap

Medical

• Virus/infection/disease
• Hospital
• Murder of patients

Crime

• Police/detective
• Murder
• Escape
• Stealing/hostages

All of these ideas helped us to decide on our final project which will be based around a medical drama. Using an infection theme, but only introducing the thought of blood shot eyes as part of the infection into our opening scene project.

We made a filming plan for when we start filming in the half term and who is doing what in our group. Also decided on our props, characters and location for all filming so that we are prepared and can get it sorted it quickly when it comes to filming making it easier in the long run.

Audience Questionnaire & Analysis

I wrote up a questionaire to discover what my target audience liked in their films and that would appeal to them if they wanted to watch a thriller film.

What age group are you in?

0-10 (1)

11-15 (2)

16-26 (6)

27-37 (0)

38-50 (1)

50+ (0)

I asked more 16-26 year olds because they are more of my target audience and are the kind of target audience that would watch a thriller film.

What film genre do you prefer? (2 choices)

Thriller (7)

Romantic (4)
Comedy (5)
Crime (3)
Action/Adventure (1)

I had asked 20 people to pick two of their favourites genres of film to contribute to my thriller research. The thriller genre got the most votes out of the five genres, thus proving that it is most popular for 16-26 year olds in this case.

What sub genre of thriller films do you particularly enjoy?
Crime Thriller- (2)
Action Thriller- (3)
Medical Thriller-(7)
Sci Fi Thriller-(3)
Psychological Thriller- (3)
Other- (2)

The research shows that a medical thriller is most popular, this means maybe including disease or infection in the film. This could possibly help our ideas for the opening scene of the thriller we make.

How often do you watch films?
Daily (1)

Weekly (11)
Monthly (8)
Yearly (0)

What was the last film you saw at the cinema, out of these films? (as many as you’ve seen)

The King’s Speech (6)

Love and other drugs (4)

Tangled (3)

True Grit (2)

Black Swan (14)

The Fighter (12)

Black Swan is the highest picked film with 14 votes, Black Swan could be classed as a thriller which proves it is the genre of film people will want to go and watch.