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.