Producing the Short Film: Third Filming Session

After filming the main basis of our film in the first and second filming session we began to put our chosen clips into the editing package. However as we were doing this we realised we didn't have our planned 'Establishing shot' of the road panning to the houses (a strong convention within all films to establish the setting straight away). Also I personally felt the footage was missing a more scenic shot, something which could be used to build tension even more within the film, yet balancing through such a visually effective shot.We therefore decided to do our third filming session, something we did on the day of deciding as we didn't need to organise a date with actors. We only needed the tripod for the panning shot and second shot.

However doing the shot wasn't as easy as we thought. As I filmed the film, doing the establishing shot took a very long time. As we wanted to begin the film from the middle of the road point of view, to create an effective symmetry within the frame, then going on to pan to the house, this meant we had to constantly wait till the road was clear and try and take the shot as quick as possible. Which essentially took a very long time. The house we used as are setting is the only house with a front light on in our shots. This was really effective in engaging the viewer into our setting and making it the main focus. Below are some of our shots:

We then decided to use the bridge in our second shot, as it was interesting and ranged within our existing shots. However as we already had a shot of the train coming to the platform we had to take one of a train leaving it. As it was reaching mid-evening as the establishing shot took so long to do, the sky became a really nice colour as the sun set, creating the scenic shot I wanted in the film. We waited with the camera on stand by on the tripod until a train came. We only took one shot of this as we were happy immediately with what we had. The birds within the shot also were luck, however added to the beauty of the shot, of which contrasted to the eree situation going on. Below is the recording of the shot:

Overall this was a successful filming session as we got the two shots we aimed for, however was definitely the most difficult shot to take so far!