Production

18th December:
Today was the first day of filming, the scenes of the family playing the game around the table were first to be filmed along with scenes of them fleeing the house and the daughter crying. However a few scenes will need to be re-filmed as they did not come out how they were planned too. Working with small children does make it difficult to get the right effect.

18th-21st December (roughly):
These scenes are of the trees and the fog and the empty roads however they were not all filmed in one day, they were filmed when the best opportunity arrived, for example when the weather was bad. However this did obviously cause problems such as rain drops on the camera lens and unsteady footage. However the unsteady footage can be used as the plot of our movie is of some form of unnerving disaster. I feel the best scenes that were shot were the ones of the trees with the mysterious fog. Below is an image of the trees we filmed however I did not take a photo when there was fog.

7th January:
Today me and Jennifer went to film the park for a second time, as well as the wind in the trees and the scenes that occur within Sainsburys of the abandoned basket. To do these shots we had to first get permission and then try our best to frame them in a way that it would look like nobody was around. The scenes within Sainsburys proved to be the most difficult. It was difficult for us to prevent customers walking down the aisles that we were attempting to film. Also when filming the scene of the basket at the till point we had to be careful as to not capture people paying at other tills and also people through the windows. After filming we had to return everything that we had placed in our shopping basket back to where we had got it from, this was rather embarrassing. The park scenes were not as difficult to film as it was early in the morning and also a rather cold and damp day. This was a bonus for us as the weather looked glum but also the park space was free for us to film from a high angle. We climbed onto both slides and filmed both the trees and the park from a high angle.

8th January:
On this date we filmed the car scene as I had the opportunity to do so. The car doors were left flung open with the lights flashing. Over this we plan to edit a car alarm sound. This scene will allows again to emphasize the level of desertion and the seriousness of the disaster.

15th January:
Today I re-filmed the scenes at home that I originally did on the 18th. These shots have come out much better as i had a working tripod. Also my little sisters were much better at acting and the shots worked out more conveniently. Originally the shot of the 'family' fleeing the house did not work as when lifting my little sister and running at the same time turned out to be a struggle. Therefore we changed the shot to the 'family' fleeing the house however the I (the mother ) already had my sister in my arms rather than picking her up as I was running. when framing the shot of the game we had some problems as the tripod was not high enough to achieve the desired angle. Therefore I had to place piles of DVD's under the tripod to higher it. Also the table being by the window caused the shots to be dark and so my mother who helped me film these scenes held a lamp near the camera to brighten them up. Also when filming the outdoor scenes it began to rain slightly to overcome this I gave my mother a big golf umbrella. This way not only could she keep herself dry but also the camera.

16th January
Today I took some of the photos ready for our magazine and posters. I first had to make sure my sister was wearing the same outfit in the scene of us fleeing the house and also my costume. I chose to wear more natural colours such as the green trousers as i felt that they would fit nicely with the whole idea of a natural disaster. Rachel also wore white and a very pale blue pair of bottoms. Then I did our makeup and hair. My hair was still tied up but slightly more messy as well as Rachel's. I put some dark makeup under Rachel's eyes and gave her a paler complexion. I then did my make up the same. I also used make up to crater bruises on my body and face as well as dirt. I ripped my top slightly and made it look grubby with make up. I done this to help convey that something bad has happened to me and Rachel. I also made sure Rachel had the same toy in her hand which she had at the table and also in her hands as we ran from the house. I then set up the camera and the background. I attempted to put up a white bed sheet over my wardrobe to make photo shop a little bit easier. Below are some images of our costume. It may be that we will need to take a few more images.

This is how Rachel looked. She had very messy hair, her doll and eyes that looked very tired.

Here we can see the bruise marks on my chest and the dirt on my face.

This is how my costume looked. The top i wore was ripped and stained.

17th January

Today both me and Jenifer went over to Caterina's house. Caterina kindly offered to not just be in our film but to also film the scenes in her house as her kitchen is the perfect size. Before going to Caterina's I first got all of our props together. This includes:

1. A mug (to smash)
2. A tin of tomato soup
3. A radio
4. A cloth

Today's filming was rather successful. We managed to achieve all of the shots which involved Caterina. The setting was perfect however we did have some problems when filming particular scenes. For example when fi,ing a scene where Caterina smashes a mug by accident proved to be more difficult than expected. Due to there only being one mug we had to be extra careful as to not mess up the scene otherwise the mug would have smashed without us filming it. To do so we placed out coats on the floor near the work surface and I sat on the floor just next to Caterina, I was out of the shot. Caterina cleaned the side and knocked the mug down where i was ready to catch it. Fortunately it did not smash. However when filming the next part of the scene, a shot of the mug smashing onto the floor, proved to be even more difficult. We placed the camera in the correct position and lined up as to where the glass would land when we dropped it. I threw the mug onto the floor into the shot however instead of smashing the cup bounced. This happened on numerous occasions so our final decision was the put the mug in a plastic bag smash it with a hammer then film the broken pieces. Also filming the mug shaking was difficult as we needed to frame the shot right, shake the table but also avoid any shadowing. However eventually this shot was achieved. We filmed the shots of Caterina cooking, eating, serving, cleaning and the shots of the mug, the radio and the utensils. Today was a successful day of filming.