Risk assesment

This is the busy road that was mentioned in our risk assessment.  At the top of the road, there are more cars and it is busier, this was when we began to film through rush area and how dangerous the road was changed.  As a group, we were aware of the changing situation and adapted our filming because of this.  This involved moving all our equipment to one side of the road so we would not have to keep crossing whilst there was moving traffic.

This picture shows a small area of densely compacted twigs near the pavement.  Some of these were sticking up, and across the pavement so we made our actors aware of this and moved any twigs and sticks out of the way of each filming area before we started.  We also kept looking at whether any had moved once members of the general public had walked past as they could have moved the twigs which may have caused injury to our actors if they went unnoticed.                    

Tester Film

This was just me testing out shots and angles that would be useful for our film, this is a clip of the very first shot of the film. It was filmed on the camera built in on an iPhone 4 for easy upload to YouTube.

Pitch of The Existence

Day 2 Of Filming

Alex is ready to be filmed; she is wearing the costume that we have designed for her to wear which we have put blood on and dirt. I have done her make-up with is black eye shadow and blood on her eye.

This is the make-up that I have used, it a black SBC brand that I used for her eyes; this will make her look scary and freaky.

The tri-pod is ready waiting if we need to use it.

Charlotte has to straddle Tabi for a certain shot that we needed. This was fun filming and we got the shot which was good.

Charlotte filming at the location.

Tabi acting and practising what she needs to do for the role.

Dairy of a day shooting

We planned to film on Saturday 19^th March 2011 at 6pm. We all met in Ongar high street to film on the street for the first scene. The first scene had been filmed and we wanted to watch it back but found out the camera had broken and the head needed cleaning which means it won’t let us watch any footage back and we were unable to tell if anything had actually recorded. As one of our group members (Charlotte Mackenzie) had an iPhone 4 we decided to film a scene on that to see how it turned out. The quality of the recording was good but we would not have been able to edit on there and this would have been a massive problem later on. We then went to our second location, which was the public toilets but they were locked. Our third location was a bedroom and one of our members (Alex Fresco) lived very near the locations, so that scene was easy to film. As the rest of the filming did not work we didn’t want to film one scene as we are going to use other actors if we did not get all the filming done that day as the actors we used cannot get any time off school.    

We have planned to next try and film Wednesday 23^rd March 2011 after school in the original location in King Georges in Brentwood.  This worked successfully, with each scene being shot a few times so we could choose the best one when it came to editing, we did not have any major interruptions either.  However with our main actor having to go at half 5 for college we could not complete all of our filming on this day, therefore we kept and uploaded the footage onto the school system, and completed the rest of the scenes needed on Tuesday 28th March 2011 straight after school. 

Here, on Wednesday 23rd March 2011.  Rachel is completing Alex's make-up ready for filming, and in order to complete filming to a high standard.  Black make-up around the eyes was used to show abnormality.


I needed to make Alex look messed up and to make her look weak and basically dead. I used black eye shadow to make her eyes look deeper and i put white powder over he face to make her like ghostly and ill. I also put blood on her top to make it look like she had been cut and that she still has the wounds that killed her. I also put black make up round her face and on her arms to make her look dirty. This look was important to the shooting because we needed her not to look 'normal' or real.

Textual Analysis: Donnie Darko

During the opening credits you can hear the sound of a storm, which acts as contrapuntal sound when you realise that it is not in fact raining, the sound stops within the first few seconds of the scene starting. The titles are on a simple black background with bold white writing, the gothic style font gives away the genre. The use of an establishing shot gives an idea of location; here it is a shot into a valley where it pans across to reveal a long shot of Donnie laying in the road, although it is not yet clear that it is Donnie.

 The ambient sounds of birds reflect the time and place; it is shown to be dawn. As the camera moves closer it sparks an enigma, making the audience ask “what is it?” this is key to creating suspense in a thriller. You can begin to make out that it is a person in the road, and laying on a bend on the road – a very dangerous place to be, this could symbolise the danger of Donnie’s condition, which is schizophrenia, intertwined with the big open space around him showing that with this mental illness, he is alone. A non-diegetic soundtrack begins to play matching a classical genre with choral singing, tying in very much with the psychological thriller genre. As the camera moves around Donnie, it makes it clear to the audience that he is the main protagonist, this leads to the first cut of the movie, the use of this first long take creates suspense and possibly representing that Donnie is currently calm. You then see another pan of the location and when the camera stops, Donnie stand up and the back of his is revealed in the shot, this suggests he is in the middle of it all.

                When Donnie turns his head and we see him smirk and laugh it gives the impression he is unstable interlocking with his mental illness. We can see that he is wearing pyjamas, giving viewers an idea of the time again but also symbolising that what he does is out of his control, it’s not classified as a social norm to cycle to an unknown place and sleep in the road.

After the shot of Donnie laughing and walking out of shot, the title of the movie appears in the same gothic font but what’s really affective is the sun getting brighter and creating a blank screen to move on to the first cut of the movie, the use of this first long take creates suspense and possibly representing that Donnie is currently calm. Donnie begins riding his bike and the editing becomes more rapid, fitting in with the different non-diegetic soundtrack that has begun to play fitting in more with a rock genre but still creepy. Some of the shots are from Donnie’s perspective going along the road; this represents the journey he has to go on to get home or to be ‘normal’.

Many of the takes throughout the opening are shot with a handheld camera, this makes it feel more real, and like you’re there with him or observing him, this makes the audience feel more involved. I chose to analyse this film because it’s a psychological thriller which is what our film will be, I also like the story and the soundtrack throughout.

Script

The Existence: Script

Written by Charlotte Mackenzie & Alex Fresco

Scene 1

Lucy walks down the lane with her iPod in, she looks down at the ground as she walks

Georgia enters and the two meet, Lucy begins to engage in conversation

Lucy: …Are you okay?

Only looks up when she finishes her sentence

Once Georgia is recognised, she begins to run away, tripping over she cuts herself

Scene 2

Lucy walks into the public toilets and begins to wash her wound

Georgia is already behind

Lucy looks up and sees Georgia in the mirror, she moves frantically looking around

Lucy: *breathes heavily*

Georgia is removed from the scene as if she has disappeared

Scene 3

Lucy wakes up

Lucy: *breathes heavily*

Georgia: Shhhhhhhhhh

Lucy turns to see Georgia sat in a chair, staring at Lucy