Mise en Scene of Killer's Den

In Hayley's shed, we placed candles on some of the shelves to add a romantic ambience which is ironic because he is going to kill her. cut her open and take her foetus. Also, the candles add additional lighting, but it was not a lot so we used other lighting to aid the filming process. We used a lamp because it had an orange undertone, adding to the ambience of the scene. 

 We placed plastic on the floor because, firstly it would help keep the floor clean from any fake blood, and secondly because our group is trying to emphasize the killer's obsession with death and gore. He is a doctor and likes everything to be neat and orderly. As well, we did this because we were inspired by Dexter's Room from a previous post. When we film the rest of the opening, we are going to put plastic on the garage door and along the walls, as seen in Dexter's room.

Also, we put black bin bags on the windows to block out any natural lighting, but some still came through which was beneficial so we could film and see what we were doing. However, these bags will not be shown in the film opening.

 In the room, the shelves still had all the garden tools and bags on them because we did not put any books or chairs by it as this section will not be shown in the flashbacks. However, when we film the second part of the opening, we will take off these items and put on health and pregnancy books and the foetus jars.

This is where the killer will sit and we are going to put a chair there. We are going to change the stickers on this small cabinet so it says things such as:

• "nails"
• "hair"
• "teeth"
• "fingers"

However, we will not make the killer open these drawers, it is only suggestive to make the audience squirm and to stress his obsession with human bodies.

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.

Practical Investigation of Wooded Area & Lighting of Garage

I am investigating wooded area because the questionnaire's feedback suggested the audience wanted a death scene in a wooded area. So, I went to Frank's Park and took pictures:

 In the park there were many 'clearings' in the middle of a patch of green and this could easily be acsessed. So, we could kill our victim in one of the spaces because it is surrounded by trees and bushes so it would seem more secretive.

There were many oddly shaped trees, including the biggest tree in the park. < This tree with its thick, spurted branches resembles the tree in 'Don't Let Him In' where the killer hung the victims' limbs from

Here is another strange looking tree, and the patch of grass underneath it had been worn away. This would be a perfect place to corner victim, especially with the branches enveloping that area so, again, the death scene in that spot would be secret.

 Here, there are bushes and trees and a dark spot under some bushes and this could be, perhaps, where the victims tries to hide if we were to do that in the project.











In the park, there are many pathways between large bushes and you cannot see much further because it becomes dark. This would be a very good place for when the victim is trying to run away from the killer at the beginning of our opening because it incorporates the wooded area suggestion from the questionnaire and ties in with the slasher and horror conventions of the death scene taking place in a dark and secluded area.

Here is another pathway, near the large tree. It does not have a prominent pathway like the one above so it looks more discreet, and would seem more mysterious to the audience as to where the victim is running to. However, if we were to use one of these two pathways, I would suggest the one above because it does have a visible pathway and the end curves round so you cannot see where the path will lead the victim. This will scare the audience because they will begin to wonder if the victim does manage to run away from the killer.

There are 2 light bulbs in the garage so I took a picture of them turned on individually, and then together. The second one is brighter than the first and if we were to put the desk underneath this one, the light would be able to illuminate the diary and the killer well, unlike the first light (we would bring additional lighting for filming). The first light is dimmer than the second however low key lighting is a very common convention in slasher films as it prevents the victim from seeing where the killer is - scaring the audience more as they do not know when they will attack.

Both the lights on together illuminates the entire garage and you can see everything clearly. However, high key lighting is not a typical slasher convention and also, it would not terrify the audience.

 

 

 

I changed the settings of my camera so the lighting was more enhanced. This illuminates the room very well, even the dimmest light bulb appears to be very bright. This light would make the killer's actions very visible to the audience however high key lighting is not a slasher convention so this would not be appropriate for our final project.

In conclusion, the lights which are already there would be good for the final project because a single light bulb (not both on at the same time - too bright) produces low key lighting and darkness is a typical slasher convention. We would place the desk under the dimmest bulb so the garage would be in low key lighting so to make the scene more intense.

Also, Frank's Park would be a good place to film a death scene because of the pathways leading to the unknown - this scaring the audience as they are not in the know and would wonder where the victim will end up. Also, the strangely shaped trees would create an eerie and slightly disturbing atmosphere which is what we are aiming for, as this is a slasher.

 

Practical Investigation of Lighting & Camera Angles on Killer's Hands

This was one of my hands and Annie had made it look like it had been burnt and these are the scars. This burnt hand reminds me of Freddy Krueger's face in Nightmare on Elms Street because he was also burned.

 This was my other hand and this was made to look bruised and bloody. The palm of my hand was covered in fake blood to make it look like I had just killed someone, and the back of my hand had scars, blood and bruises on it.

Both of these hands could potentially be what the killer's hands look like. The burnt hand was the most gruesome judging from other people's reactions so we could make both of his hands look burnt. However, if so, then we would have to bring the element of fire into how the killer kills his victims. From my research on victim's bodies I found the convention of slasher films was that most were left bloody so the scarred and bloodied hand could be used for our final project.