Evaluation of Filming Chase Scene - 02.01.2014

[ADD PIC] On the day we shot the chase scene, Annie, Hayley and the 2 actors came round my house because the park is up that road. Annie began doing Jordan's make-up first; she applied liquid latex and then baby powder and make-up on his hands to make them look old and as if he had beaten the victim before she ran away. Then she put "Adore + Endure Me" and "A+E" on his face.

 

Next, Annie started work on the victim's face, making it look bruised and bloody, as if the killer had beaten her. The victim also had smudged lipstick and mascara on her face, to make her look more superficial and emphasize the fact she is a prostitute.

Annie had made the pregnant belly using a pillowcase filled with stuffing and on the day, when our actor tried it on, it was too big for her. So after many attempts, I managed to take out enough stuffing so it was fitted her but still look large as if she was quite heavily pregnant.

 

 Also, Hayley put the actor's hair in a messy bun which had loosened and strands were coming out.

 This is what our 2 actors looked like at the end of hair and make-up. Overall, the preparation went successfully as our actors looked how we wanted them to, especially the special fx make-up on the killer which looked good after Annie had tried out so many variations of it.

After, we made our way to the park and we took up a ladder so we could film the high angle shots, special fx make-up to the victim's arm wound which comes half way in the chase scene, the story board to direct the actors and the camera and tripod to film with. When we got up there, luckily we found a trolley so we used that to put our stuff in, including actors coats as it was very cold. The trolley was greatly beneficial to us as we kept moving around in the wooded area.

 I filmed the first shot, the establishing shot of the victim running away, using the tripod and this was hard because I had to partly hold the tripod as the ground was slightly unstable because it was extremely muddy. The week we filmed, it had been raining a lot, so when we were all moving around the park, it was very difficult. However, luckily the rest of our opening will be inside Hayley's shed. As well, the path the victim was running down was a popular path for people to walk down with their dogs so there was a lot of waiting for us so that in the shot there was no one else apart from the victim.


 When we began filming (around 2pm), it was relatively bright; bright enough so we did not need to use additional artificial lighting. In many of the first scenes we used natural lighting, however at around 4pm it got very dark so when we filmed the last few shots where the killer catches the victim, we used artificial lighting to illuminate the actor's faces for the camera.

We were not expecting the sky to get as dark as it did within half an hour so our last shots are quite dark. My group and I decided to incorporate this into the story - that the length of the chase had been going on for quite long, so when the killer finally caught her, it was late. This will make surprise the audience that the killer is that determined to get the victim, and will also emphasize the killer's agility juxtaposing the victim and how she tired after a while.

Before it got dark, we filmed the scene where the victim got cut by a branch and we used the ladder for this. The ladder was placed on muddy ground and I was on it so Hayley had to hold the ladder while I filmed. The ladder was against a tree and the branches were blocking the camera so I had to break off a few, but I kept some in the way to make the scene seem more realistic. Being on the ladder was not a problem as it was actually quite stable without Hayley supporting it.
Also, Annie and Hayley poured some fake blood on the branch and the leaves underneath and I filmed the killer approaching this. Meanwhile, Annie was applying the victim's wound from the branch so we saved time and when that was done, we filmed her being cut by the branch.

After we finished filming that, it began to get very dark, as mentioned, so when we found a thick enough tree for the victim to hide behind, we needed artificial lighting. Annie filmed the last few shots and Hayley and I held the lights. While Hayley and Annie were setting up, I directed the actors on what they had to do. All this saved time as we knew it was getting dark quickly. The lights were small which meant they did not project masses of light onto the actors which was good because when we watched over the recordings, the surroundings were dark and only the victims faces were illuminated, making the scene more scary and fitting with horror and slasher conventions of darkness to reflect the killer's inner darkness.

Once we had finished filming we looked over the scenes to see if we needed to re-do any however we felt they had turned out well. The filming process took around 2 hours, and our chase scene will be about 1 minute long. The only complications during filming was the muddy ground, we wanted our victim to be barefoot, then we decided she would wear heels but when we saw the ground, we decided she would wear trainers to make her seem less dignified and careless about her image. Also, the dog strollers were a minor issue which, again, we could not help so we had to work with.

Actor Scouting:

Villain:

For our villain we knew the type of guy we wanted but it was quite difficult to find anyone who would be willing to participate with our filming.

Jordan (20)

He is around the appropriate age for our villain, and although he isn't that tall we can easily change the camera angles to make him appear taller. The main feature that is ideal for our villain are his eyes, he wears either glasses or contact lenses and they look creepy at times, which would be good if we decided to have an extreme close up shot of his eyes.

Victim:

For our victim, we want someone who looks particularly feminine and yet innocent and vulnerable. They also need to be available to film and if they are around our age, they could be busy with school work etc. All of our main choices are in our school year, which is a similar age to our villain, but we decided to go with Catherine as she is slim and has long hair which is a perfect fit for our character.

Catherine (16)

 Emily (16)

 Kayleigh (16)

Deconstruction: Actors

Deconstruction of actors in films:

Tobin Bell:

~ Tobin Bell (age 71 - born 1942) is an American film and television character actor who often plays the serial killer or general villain in the films he stars in. He is most well-known for playing John Kramer/Jigsaw in the Saw films and his trademark low raspy voice. Ironically he is not a fan of horror films, even though his portrayal of Jigsaw has made him one of the most famous villains of all time. 

~ Although he considers his role in Saw to have been a great blessing, he hopes to have the opportunity to be cast against type. In 2006 he won the 'Best Villain' Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Saw II and in 2009 he won the Chiller-Eyegore Award in the 'Best Villain in a Series' category for the Saw franchise. He was also nominated for 5 other 'Best Villain' awards for Saw II, Saw III and Saw IV.

Robert Englund:

~ Robert Englund (age 66 - born 1947) is an American leading actor of a number of horror films, who is probably best known for his portrayal of the serial killer Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street and all of it's sequels. Although being nominated for a few awards, Englund has not actually won any awards with his role of Krueger, he won 'Best Actor' for his character in The Mangler and also 'Lifetime Achievement' and 'Life' Career' awards. 

~ He is also one of only two actors to act out a horror character eight consecutive times although before being chosen to play Freddy Krueger, a lot of Englund's other roles were typical geeky or nerdy characters. He says that he enjoys the role of Freddy as it gives him a break from always acting out the nice guy.

Gunnar Hansen:

~ Gunnar Hansen (age 66 - born 1947) is an American actor and author, best known for playing the mentally impaired cannibal Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Interestingly, he was asked to reprise the role of Leatherface in the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre but declined, saying he was insulted by the idea of a remake. The majority of his films are of the horror genre and he uses a chainsaw in at least one movie every decade, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (1988), Mosquito (1995) and Chainsaw Sally (2004).