Filming Our Thriller Opening - Day 01 (choosing different shots)

On our first day of filming we as a group had high hopes and were nothing but enthusiastic to make a promising start, and get the initial ideas and shot variations planned, also scout out positions where, and deliberate on how we would create our film in the chosen sets. After all, we failed to make a start, as we were enthused on finding and creating the perfect environments in which we would film.
        
Our first shot involved Jake (the protagonist) being sick in to the toilet at a house party. Obviously the bathroom was chosen for this shot and the perfect positioning for the camera involved Ben (the director) positioning himself in the bath. Here is the subsequent angle we used.

                     

Another interesting position we discovered was an alleyway around the side of Jake's house, which is the chosen house for our thriller.

        

                  

The alley in this shot on the left, is lengthy, and narrows towards the end, distorting the view somewhat and i imagined the killer walking through the gate, with a loud piercing creaking sound, that would be horror-esque. The shot on the right is the same alley from the other side and gives a different perspective. If we were to utilise the alley effectively the killer could travel clearly down this pathway, on his way to murder the unsuspecting protagonist

The above shot (lower of the two) will prove quite interesting to work with, the multi-layered landscape can be developed and experimented with. It allows us to lower a character, or heighten them creating different power possession, and the jagged rocks can symbolise danger. This terrain enabled us to experiment with many different shots which we would go on to deliberate further within the extended planning process. The shot (highest of the two) illustrates the low angle effect of bestowing power to the person in the frame. I hoped to including a couple instances of this in our thriller


                                

Establishing the setting of the thriller is important, we chose Jakes house as we believed it to have the most un-tapped potential, and gratefully, it was the most convenient for all involved to get to it, with it being less than 2 minutes away from school. With many interesting settings for a party, we looked forward to experimenting with different shots and techniques to employ.

Overall, I believe our first day on the project was fruitful, even though we did not film anything, planning is detrimental to the outcome of your thriller. Without it, your vision may not be realised.