Filming Our Thriller Opening - Day 03

Recruiting Extras, Working with Extras and Filming the Majority of the Piece
This day was our most successful day of filming as we gathered the majority of footage, which is just as well because we only had commitment from extras for just 3 hours, I enjoyed the atmosphere of everyone working together, because not only was it a professional environment but i believe each one of us enjoyed ourselves while producing the film, which is admittedly an important aspect of filming, because, by keeping everyone happy, I think we found a higher quality performance because our extras actually desired to be in it. 
   We came to gather many extras  by simply advertising a need for some on the social networking site 'Facebook'. Ben (our director) simply sent out a private message to people we believed to be the most trustworthy and professional individuals, that would listen to what we said instead of taking the situation for granted. This is the message that was dispatched; 

''Hello people, Me, Jake Hipwell, Sam Askey and Alex Hyden need some people to be in a thriller opening we have to make for media, just to be extras at a halloween party doing party stuff, you wont need to say any lines but might need to act a tiny bit, we really need some people though so it would be great if you could help :)'

If everything works out right we should be filming this saturday afternoon, at Jakes house, should take 2 or 3 hours at the most. let me know if you can or not or have any questions, thankyou!''

However, we did not receive many replies to this message, so ended up asking people personally whether they would be able to help out. We ended up gathering a group of about 10 people, which seemed enough. Furthermore we requested they bring halloween masks, and/or costumes to authenticate the party somewhat and add to the mise en scene, this request did not go ignored but the turn out seemed slightly half hearted from some extras.

       As the shoot got underway we discovered that a lot of it ended up being spontaneous ideas that improved the outcome of the film, I personally believe we did not plan the film enough, so we were searching for extra features to insert in to the final edit. I found producing the film relatively easier than expected but i believe this to be down to everyones cooperation and enthusiasm.
      However, a lot of the shots we did plan, we did use. For example the occasional low angle and the random party shots ended up being quite effective, just as planned.
     Overall, the entire filming process took about 2 hours 30 minutes, with occasional breaks for the extras, to ensure there attention and cooperation whilst we actually did film. All extras have been thanked many times and know that they were a credit to themselves, I believe everyone involved was proud of the final article.