Practical Investigation of Lighting in Shoreditch

 

In Shoreditch, there is a church and is in located in an alleyway. This means that at night, it is very dark here, and if used in our final project, the darkness would frighten the audience more. Religious references and symbolism is often used in horror and slasher films because religious contains an element of the unknown, something transcendent to humans, and this could be associated with the killer, he is mysterious and his thoughts and plans are unknown.

Annie and I came across a door which was made of wood and has been painted brown. The paint is worn out and the white painted bricks of the house are also worn out. This is on the side of a house, coming out of another road, and the lighting here was very dim, even in the afternoon when we went. This kind of house with its lighting would be good to use for our final project, if we were to include his house, because the worn out look and darkness would tell the audience of his oblivion to appearance - he is only interested in killing.

The lighting here, in a side road, is very dim, there are buildings and trees enveloping the road so not much light can sufficiently illuminate it.

This is a small sports ground, the natural lighting was good here. The houses and buildings blocked some slightly but it would still be fine to film there. However, there is nothing in our inital ideas that involves a sports ground. But still, there is graffiti on the houses closeby which adds to the authenticity and urban vibe.

 

 



There is a lot of graffiti here, especially on this wall. Naked women were painted on the doors with bars in front of them and we could have the killer walk past this to symbolize his obsession with women. However, this wall is in a dark road so we would have to illuminate this using artificial lighting (if her were to walk past at night).
This is another work of graffiti, "Let's Adore and Endure Each Other" is on a wall and this could be included in our opening by having the killer walk past it using an establishing shot to show the audience. The phrase is ironic because our opening will be a slasher, so the killer will not be adoring or enduring people - he will be mercilessly killing them.

Another street with graffiti on the walls, however this is colourful which would contrast with the darkness of the killer's mind and actions. This is disadvantageous because, again, there are building blocking a lot of natural sunlight so the graffiti nor the killer would be particularly visible walking down this street.

This car park is where the killer could catch his victim because the shape of it would trap her. It was fairly light there, and with the use of artifical lighting aiding filming, it would be a good place for him to corner the victim and catch her.

This is the road next to the car park which would be a good place for her to run down before he gets her. There is graffiti on the walls and rubbish on the ground which adds authenticity. However, the same issues as before, there are tall buildings surrounding the road so we would have to use artificial lighting which may look unnatural when we are filming and it is supposed to be dark.












Overall, I believe this was a beneficial trip because it has provided us with inspiration for our film opening. However, we will probably not film here due to the lighting issues and how many of the gloomy side roads which look ideal, in fact are not ideal because the buildings enveloping the road block off a lot of light. The main roads have street lights which would be beneficial when filming in the dark, however the roads are very busy and in our film opening we want the victim to be secluded to emphasize her frailty and isolation.

Practical Investigation into locations and inspirations found in Shoreditch

On Monday 17th October, our school had a teacher training day, giving my group and me the opportunity to do some practical location investigation. Raman and I went into London to look for some of the locations that Raman had found in her initial location research of which she has already written about.

We went up to Shoreditch in London with the plan being to find the Shoreditch Junk shop (as it looked like it had some good props and objects in there for us to take inspiration from and possibly buy), the old Shoreditch train station (which we hoped we could still be able to get into) and then also the Lets Adore & Endure Each Other wall (that we felt could be a nice contrast/link to our idea of a murderer, doing exactly the opposite of adoring and enduring someone, but killing them instead, subverting to the conventions of a murderers "catch phrase").

 Below shows the pictures that we took in the day- the inspirations and locations that we found on our outing with short explanations explaining our thoughts:

Outside of buildings

To the left shows an example of one of the buildings in an area of Shoreditch. There were quite a few of these type of  places, and I felt that it looked really cold and scary and perfect for a location of a killer because of the detached feeling it gave off.



Bars on windows and doors


Down alleyways and on a few scattered buildings, there were thick, strong bars on the windows and the doors. I really liked this as an idea, making it seem to the victim that they are trapped and hopeless, increasing the tension and the horror of the situation for the victim. It also gives the idea that the area is somewhere that a "killer" would be situated, making it necessary for people to have bars on their doors and windows.
 


Hanging chain and ropes

As we were walking down paths, there were a few hanging chains and ropes coming from the tops of buildings. A few are shown in the pictures to the left and right.

As we were looking for inspirations, building up ideas of what our killers back story could be, leading to what could be in the two minuet film opening, these hanging chains and ropes gave me the idea that the killer in our film opening could "strings up his pray" before killing his victims, using ropes and chains, like the ones we saw.



Graffiti Inspiration

We found a few graffiti pieces like the ones shown to the left and the right, and immediately, I had the idea that within the diary that the killer has, he could have photographs of his "work", but the end results could have the victims with worms and or maggots coming out of their face, or that their faces have been so badly carved into, they look something like these pieces.


Scary Shop


Even though we were not able to find the junk shop that Raman found, we did come across a shop that had rooms and rooms of things piled on top of each other. These "things" consisted of dolls, little statues, books, candles, record players and much more,  but the look of the place was really profound. It was quite scary, this shop, but what we found in it was a gold mine of inspiration into different things that we could use for our film opening, such as a book with the title being "Fear is the key", of which we bought to use as the killers diary, and different objects such as a record player, statues and a collection of clothes- making Raman think that the killer could collect the clothes or shoes or something specific of the victims that he murders them, putting in a basket, like the one that we saw in the shop.

Phrases


Another thing that we saw quite regularly on the day that we were at Shoreditch were quotes and phrases that were really appropriate to our needs.

The ones shown to the left and the right are the best ones that we found- "Violent Struggle", "Never Forget" and "Never Forgets". And we had the idea that these quotes could be written repeatedly, and carved into the book/ diary that the killer has.



Head on a Spike

On the wall going down one of the roads that we walked down, along with the hundreds of graffiti pieces all over it, there was also a "head" on a spike, mounted on top of the wall.

This, being really odd looking, gave me the idea that the killer could keep "trophies" of sorts- in this example, putting his victims heads on spikes, like in the photos to the left and right.

Locks on a fence

In one of the side roads, we came across a fence with loads of locks all over it. Looking closer at the locks, it became apparent that they were locks that couples had put on the fence, as one might carve into a tree. However, looking at the sight of the locks, it, again, gave me the idea that the locks could be in memory of the victims of the killer- with a name for each lock, for the killer to remember each of his individual victims, within his "den".

Lets Adore and Endure Each Other wall

One of the main reasons that we went to Shoreditch was to find the "Lets Adore and Endure Each Other" wall, of which we did find. It was really good being able to find it, quite easily in fact, and Raman and I both agreed that we would either want this wall, or the quotation within our film opening, having taken to it- both of us imagining the killer running in front of the wall, chasing his victim, as an example.

The Old Shoreditch Station 

We were not so happy when we finally found the Old Shoreditch Station, seeing that it had actually turned into a pub, the station being closed for construction, so unfortunately this location proved to be disappointing, however, after finding all so much more on the day, it didn't matter as much.
 
                                                               
The Gallery 

After looking around in this area, we met a lady who we were talking to, and she suggested that we go and ask the gallery that was just up the road if we could possibly get into contact with the owners, and use the building as our secluded location when it was not being used. We did go to the gallery, and we actually met the co-worker of the owner of it. He said that he would be happy to let us use it as a location, as long as we got into contact with him via email, and provided him with insurance from our school- Townley- along with how many people we would have in there and how long we would need to do the filming, and taking his card, I said that I would get into contact with him.

However, on talking to Raman about it later on, we realised that it would be a lot of hassle for the gallery, and us, to use that specific location, having to be supervised when there, and get all of our props, equipment and actors down to Shoreditch to do the filming, as well as needing insurance from the school etc. Emailing the man that I met after that day, I thanked him for the opportunity, but said that the location just wouldn't be convenient for either us or the gallery, should we need to re-film for example, and so we wouldn't be using it.

Overall, I feel the day to Shoreditch went really well, both Raman and me finding so much that we could use in our film opening, and getting so many ideas from what we saw- really adding to our knowledge and research base of locations, props and the storyline of our film opening.