Entry #5: Filming Fun

Mood: Exhausted 

Hey! Spring break just started and lasts for two weeks, so Srishti and I decided to film some scenes for our opening. She's leaving for almost the entire break, so we wanted to get as much done as we could last night.

As I think I've previously mentioned (or not), the premise of our opening is that an intruder is breaking into the main character's house while she is working on a group project with a girl from her school. The unsuspecting girls are busy talking when the intruder enters the house and leaves an object inside of the house. All of these scenes take place at Srishti's house at night. We were super scared about having to film at night because we know how unreliable flash can be with our phones, but we hoped for the best. One of my favorite shots from our 5 hour (yes, FIVE HOUR LONG) filming session was when the intruder opens the gate to enter the backyard of the main character's house. It came out super creepy, which is definitely the vibe we're going for. Here it is:

It was pretty interesting getting this shot. We were playing with a few different angles and lighting "techniques" (aka me holding a bunch of flashlights up while Srishti filmed) until this shot came to life. The creaking of the gate also added to the overall suspenseful mood, which is super convenient; that way, we don't have to add random sound effects to make the scene come together. 

This is the object left behind by the intruder.

For our opening, we needed to find an object that we could draw a special symbol on from the intruder (reminder: the intruder leaves an object with a symbol in the house). The symbol is something we found online at this website and knew that it fit our film. We were walking around her house and, alas, found an old medicine bottle that we could use as the object to place the symbol. Another thing we had to do in order to film was create an ideal "set" to do a mugshot of the main character's friend (we can call her character #2), a shot that we thought would be fun to add since these two characters are busy working on their own film project, how coincidental. ;) Overall, we created a few items to film, and we learned how to make everyday objects work for us to create a cool product.

***Side note: Filming was an absolute blast. Not only did I get to dress up as a crazy intruder since our recruited actress could not stay for the whole time, but Srishti's neighbors found us lying in the street, filming, and dressed as intruders at 1 o'clock in the morning. What an unforgettable moment!

"The Magick of Candles." HubPages. HubPages, 7 July 2011. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.  <http://hubpages.com/religion-philosophy/TOOLS-OF-THE-CRAFT-CANDLES>.