WELCOME MODERATOR

 ELLIE SMART 

CANDIDATE NUMBER 1859

CLAREMONT FAN COURT SCHOOL 64680

My production team included: Charlotte Coppellotti 1812, Jess Foster 1820 and Millie Wyatt 

My brief was the film opening task: to create the titles and opening of a new fiction film, lasting a maximum of 2 minutes. 

The title of our film is 'Camera-Shy'. It is a psychological thriller exploring the ways in which a stalker infiltrates into Sarah's life, and how the toxic obsession of capturing photographs impacts our protagonist. The ominous feeling that her every move is being captured invades Sarah's anxious thoughts until the threat to her safety becomes very real when she received text messages and notices a camera flash at her bedroom window, highlighting the invasion of privacy. We wanted to combine the typical conventions of a stalker film with star talent and genre difference with a female stalker to intrigue audiences. 

Our film opening can be accessed below:

Personally, I took responsibility for much of the camera work, and assisted with the editing process. 

Camera Work:

For the majority of time in production I was behind the camera. I enjoyed filming the lacrosse scene especially as it allowed me to experiment with different shot types and angles to create a really dynamic pace. I also filmed a lot of the dark room and singing scene, which I enjoyed as I could experiment with different shot types and also utilise lighting to create atmosphere and compliment the angles. 

Editing:

Myself and Millie took the roles of the main editors, we decided that we would have Millie as our primary editor, as it was something she had a talent for. I worked with her, offering advice on different cuts, sound effects and the order of our narrative - making sure the editing process and final outcome ran smoothly. We found it useful to have more than one person editing at a time, as it allowed us to combine creative ideas to reach the best potential result. One challenge was adding a pre-recorded audio of our protagonist singing over the top of the table top sequence, with patience however and a good practise in editing we were pleased with the smooth and professional sounding result. We completed all of our editing on Final Cut Pro, as well as editing in the intertitles. 

Directing:

When it came to directing our performance, it was largely a group effort as we were all present for the  filming of each scene. This worked well for us, as we found we worked well collectively as a group and listened to each others creative ideas, collating them effectively to reach the best end product. We often had a group discussion prior to our filming, however we found the best inspiration when we were actually on set. This was particularly relevant in the filming of the final scene, where the stalker is lingering in the dark outside Sarah's house, as the street light positioning inspired shots with sinister lighting. I loved this as I felt really involved in the process and found it amazing to see the scenes all coming together.

Design:

We used Charlotte's art skills for the planning and designing of the production company logo and film poster. As both were important elements of the production process, we were grateful to be able to use her skills to sketch rough designs and then apply these to applications like photoshop.

In terms of set design and props we worked collaboratively. For example, the photographs used in the dark room scene. Millie shot the photographs, using a cannon camera, and we all helped to print and laminate them as protection against the developing liquid (water). In the filming of that scene, I positioned the props for the table-top sequence, creating a smooth route for the camera, and Charlotte positioned and taped the photographs on the wall.

EDITS: Stalker's photographs

Using Final Cut Pro, we made made final edits to each scene to create a more professional.

In the scenes in which the stalker had taken photographs of Sarah, we neatly edited in the resulting photographs into the scene - showing the stalker's results. To illustrate a clear difference between the narrative perspective and the stalker's perspective we used the greyscale tool to make the photographs black and white. These also contributed to the sinister visual codes associated with the stalker, providing stereotypes for the audiences.

When filming our final scene, in the dark outdoor lighting, we had to play around with lighting and exposure in order to make the quality of the shots good. Especially when we were filming Sarah from the stalker's perspective through the window, we had to manage the exposure to create an evident contrast between the light room and dark outside of the house - making Sarah visible to to both stalker and camera.

For the table top sequence in the dark room, we found that the red light was insufficient to film in, but the white light from flash was too harsh and not realistic for a dark room. We therefore had to adapt and create red filters over the camera lenses to make a red glow. It was also helpful to edit in a red filter on Final Cut Pro in the later stages. 

CHANGES: Narrative

Our narrative largely changed and developed overtime, from our original treatment to our final outcome. 

We found that when planning and creating shot lists, we had developed our narrative to the extent that it was much like a short film - rather than a film opening. This would have limited the storyline of the wider film as well as audience anticipation. 

We overcame this by changing our plot, placing a bigger focus on building suspense through short snippets of the stalker's work and moments of Sarah's personal life that the stalker had captured on camera. Our main aim was to create enigma, a typical convention of film openings, and found we could not do this if we revealed too much about Sarah or too much about the stalker. So instead we focused on the process of stalking, engaging audiences as they wonder who the stalker is, and why they are so obsessed with Sarah.

An example of a change we made to do this was in the filming of the final scene. We had originally planned to reveal the stalker's identity as Sarah's best friend, however to maintain suspense and tension throughout the wider film agreed to change the final shot from a close-up of the stalker's face, to a close up of the camera, concealing the face. 

A second major change we made, was to the positioning of the lacrosse scene within our narrative. Initially, we were going to have the lacrosse scene as our first scene - to introduce the talented Sarah (and star talent) and a potential motive for the stalking. It was only during the last stages of the editing process when we decided to change the sequence's position to further back, when Sarah had already noticed an unsettling presence in her life. By doing this, we positioned lacrosse as her character's escape but then proved in the following scene that the stalker even has even invaded her personal life. 

When editing, we had to make a slight refinement when we listened to the audio of the clips. We found that wind presented an issue as it interfered with the sound quality. As the actual shots were successful, we decided to change the sound codes for that scene, by adding in non-diegetic music that was playing through her headphones.

We reshot the entirety of the conversation between Sarah and her best friend, due to finding that the lighting could have been better and the sound quality was not sufficient, due to being filmed in a noisy setting. This challenge was actually for the better, as we ended up reshooting in a new location with a much more successful outcome.

REFLECTIONS: Singing scene 11th March

A key scene in our production is the table-top sequence, where the Stalker is developing and arranging a series of pictures captured of Sarah. We knew that this scene had to be as sinister as possible, to heighten the sense of threat towards the end of the opening, fuelling intrigue and investment in the narrative. 

To do this, we included a short scene before the sequence, of Sarah (our protagonist) singing Hallelujah which had been recorded by the Stalker, hiding in the curtains. We used specific mise-en-scene, such as the microphone, to add to the sense of realism and authenticity, as well as developing our use of different camera angles to achieve diversity and keep audiences engaged.

To infer that it was the stalker recording Sarah, we purposely used a hand held shot, moving it around to create the idea it had been taken by someone who was trying not to be seen -moving in and out from behind the curtains. 

We had Jess record a voice memo of the song before hand, using sophisticated recording software, to increase the audio quality to create a more immersive experience. We then had to edit this over the top of the singing shots and then continue it as non-diegetic sound over the title sequence, using Final Cut Pro. This took time as patience, as we had to exactly line up the visual codes with the audio codes so they were synchronous - so that it was realistic. 

The scene begins with a close-up shot of the stalker's phone, as they press play on the video. A hard cut then leads to the same video, from the exact point the last shot ended - creating a clean transition. This makes it easy for the audience to differentiate between the stalkers footage and actual scene. It also makes the link between the following dark room table top sequence and the singing clear - as the stalker is playing Sarah's voice as they work. This exaggerates the extent of their toxic obsession.

Our chosen song, 'Hallelujah' we felt complimented the sinister atmosphere through its religious connotations of purity. We found that through these we could connote Sarah's vulnerability, as her beautiful singing is being taken advantage of and manipulated to satisfy the obsessive traits of the stalker. We hoped this would evoke feelings of sympathy towards her character, increasing audience engagement. The fact that we used the star talent of Jess singing also made our production as captivating as possible, increasing production values.  We thought the slow pace of the song matched the slow panning shot over the table top in the dark room, emphasising the Stalkers creepy precision and successfully built up to our final scene.

Reflecting on the scene as a whole, I am proud of what we achieved through our use of props, lighting, varying camera shots and angles, editing and star talent.

REFINEMENTS: Filming 20th March

On the 20th of March, my production team and I filmed our final scene. The scene involves Sarah's sinister concerns become rational as she catches a glimpse of a camera flash outside of her bedroom window. We wanted to capture the stalker's process and the invasion into Sarah's personal life. 

To begin with, we had to time and plan our session so that it was dark, low lighting when we filmed - creating the right ominous atmosphere. I was behind the camera for much of the session, using shots ranging from wide-shots to long-shots, pans and tracking shots.

Although we had an idea of what shots we wanted to film, we had to make a few alterations and refinements depending on the situational context of filming. For example, we had expected to film Sarah in a room at the top of the house to imply the extent of the stalkers reach. However, due to the dark lighting and angle of the camera outside we found that Sarah was actually too high up to be seen clearly - especially in two-shots from the stalker's perspective (had to include stalker and Sarah). We made a slight alteration to solve this, positioning her a floor lower. This actually worked out better as there was a window seat so we could film her carrying out activities such as brushing her hair and reading.

Secondly, we had to adjust to the available light from the street lights. The lack of daylight was an issue at first, however we actually utilised us by refining our positioning. For example, in the establishing shot the stalker walks into and then out of the light - which was successful as it represented the threat which is her ability not to be seen. We then found that the street lights often reflected onto the camera lenses, creating a glare in the shot - altering our positioning and camera angles quickly solved this.

As we were filming in the street, we encountered several cars driving past as we were in the middle of shots. This was unfortunate as it meant we had to reshoot, however we soon learnt that to avoid the headlights and sound of the engine we waited until the cars had passed. Through refining our preparation process for shooting, we preserved the eerie quiet ambience, enhancing the thrill.