Location for Action Scene

We have chosen that the location for our action scene will in fact be the Premises Room. However, students are not allowed to enter the room because only the caretaker is allowed access to the CCTV equipment. However, we emailed the caretaker saying if that if it was okay for us to shoot our film. He replied back saying that it was okay however he would have to turn of thee CCTV equipment. This limited us as we intended to use the monitors to display footage of Mr Romanov's death as it would have looked like realistic CCTV footage. Despite this setback, it is still a great location to shoot this scene.

We overcame the setback by instead of using CCTV monitors in the room, we would instead use the central computer to display the CCTV footage. In order to do this, the footage of Mr Romanov's murder was loaded on the central computer and added a CCTV effect. This was a good substitute and we were able to capture everything that was needed.

Exterior

Interior

Preparation for the Action Scene

The action scene is the scene where Jamil removes the evidence of him killing Mr Romanov with the assistance from his friend, David, but then having a fight over disagreements. We label it the 'action scene' because it will be fast paced and includes a brief fight between the two characters. We have constructed the plan for this scene in our Step Outline but have not chosen where our location will be. Our most likely location would be the Premises Room within our school which would be good to shoot this scene because the CCTV monitor screens will make the room look like a surveillance room. If this location is to be our location, this is where we will place the camera...

Editing Inspiration

As you may have realised by now, we usually edit footage we have just filmed rather than filming all our scenes and editing once all the footage was collected. This is because we usually finish filming sooner than expected leaving us a lot of spare time so we usually just edit the footage. While we were editing the scene where Jamil hides Mr Romanov's body, we had one shot where the CCTV catches Jamil killing Mr Romanov. However, the shot with the CCTV looked very plain. A person who was peeping over our shoulder while editing said that it looked like it was a point-of-view shot from a person in the distance.

We wanted our film to feel realistic to allow the audience to be connected. For this reason, we decided to watch random police interception videos on YouTube to see how they present the appearance of CCTV. After watching a few videos, we realised that the common convention was that the screen:

• had a slight green tone with lower contrast levels
• A fuzzier look including less sharpness within the shot
• An indication in the corner that a CCTV camera is filming

Re-filming Hiding The Body

What we were planning to do is film the part where Jamil hides Mr Romanov's dead body. However, when the actors arrived we immediately noticed that Jamil had a haircut over the weekend. We presumed that this was just a minor issue and proceeded to film this little scene. It was short meaning that there wasn't much to film.

However, after watching back all our footage, we found it very weird on-screen that Jamil had cut his hair as it changes between two scenes despite the time-frame being continuous within the film. Although the acting was superb, we had to re-shoot the next week. When we re-filmed this scene, we found it difficult as Jamil's hair didn't miraculously grow back. What we decided to do in the end was to use slightly lower camera angles in this scene so less of Jamil's hair was seen on-screen. This worked and, surprisingly, it was win-win situation as the new variety of camera angles complimented the fact that Jamil was empowered as Mr Romanov's presence was eliminated.

Technicalities with Sound

We had just completed filming the second scene. We had in fact finished an hour early so thus decided to edit what we had shot. We stuck together all the clips and trimmed down parts to maintain continuity. Then we edited everything off-screen, such as sound. Unfortunately, we encountered our first dilemma. We did not have sound for when Mr Romanov fell down the stairs. This left behind a very awkward feeling as there was no sound for when Mr Romanov fell down the stairs making it very unrealistic. Our Media Studies teacher, Mr McManus, referred to this conundrum as 'digital silence' which often happens for first-time film makers.

We decided that we should insert an artificial sound behind the footage as we had not recorded audio. After surfing on the internet, we found a video on YouTube which had audio for a person falling down the stairs which sounded very realistic. It was open-source and uncopyrighted meaning that anyone can use it for their projects thus allowing us to use it for our film. This made Mr Romanov falling down the stairs seem more realistic and made it less jarring for the audience.

Filming the Second Scene

We so far have been on schedule with our filming timetable. We were now ready to film the second scene in the film where Jamil accidentally kills Mr Romanov. Yet again we remained disciplined and stuck to the script. This allowed everyone to know what exactly need to be done. We managed to film everything perfectly. However, it was quite difficult filming a particular shot: the exact moment where Jamil trips up Mr Romanov. We planned to use the shoulder rig to film Mr Romanov falling down the stairs but the effect just looked too unrealistic. Instead we  decided to use an extreme close up of Jamil and Mr Romanov's feet legs colliding into each other on the staircase to make it look like Mr Romanov fell down the stairs. This was successful and made editing easier.

Changing the Opening Credits Sequence

We had previously planned that our credits sequence will contain Jamil in his getting ready to attend his Saturday detention while the opening credits play through. However, this was not possible as we drafted that our opening credits sequence would run for approximately 26 seconds. Trying to film Jamil getting ready in the morning would take around 45 seconds meaning that we couldn't fit the whole thing in such a short space of time. Therefore, we decided to completely change the opening credits sequence.

After confirming the precise details, we decided that we should include Jamil making his way to school rather than getting ready in the morning as it would create more mystery in the story and allow the audience to engage with the film by creating their own interpretations. This is because the first thing the audience sees is Jamil on an empty bus and are not given much information about what will happen next. What we show on-screen is Jamil on the bus on his way to school as he receives a text saying that what time his detention is.

Going 'Off Script'

Despite our strict following of the Step Outline, we did use our improvisation for a specific shot in the intro. We did this because we needed more footage for the edit, otherwise the scene would lack pace and would not be interesting for the viewers.

Our first piece of dialogue included Timur saying:
"Oi, it's a Saturday detention and you're still late! Where's your school uniform? Monday detention for you after school!".

Our new shot

The script originally stated that this shot was going to be just one shot. This was meant to be a high angle two shot to show how Jamil has become inferior in this situation. However, our movie is a thriller and we wanted to keep a quick tempo in our film suggesting that shots should be short and snappy. In spite of this, the proposed shot would have lasted nine seconds on screen due to the long line of dialogue. For this reason we decided to split the shot into two 4.5 seconds shots with a new shot from Timur's shoulder. A screenshot of this is included in the picture above, and the result of this is brilliant because the audience can really understand Jamil's emotion and reaction.

First Filming Session: The Intro

Today was the first day we began shooting our film. It was exciting as we are fully prepared and the actors were looking forward to contribute in our project. Things began very well; we stayed disciplined and stuck to what we had instructed in the Step Outline. However, we occasionally added a few more camera angles for certain shots as the lighting outside wasn't enough for some spots in our location.

An example of this was filming the ending of the first scene. The shot where the two characters leave the setting included them having to walk outside in the broad sunlight. However, it was quite a sunny day and there was too much light.

We used our Step Outline to film an angled mid-shot but changed the camera brightness when filming. As you can see, the screen gets darkier towards the right. The imbalance of lighting was jarring when playing the clip back.

We re-filmed the same shot but using a mid shot looking straight at the characters (rather than at a slant) and placing the camera higher up. This means that the lighting was symmetrical in the shot and less shadow.

Naming The Film

Both of us had a very informal conversation away from our Media Studies lessons as we were randomly just speaking about our film. We thought that we needed to name our film as it may be very tedious to do so after all our production as all the content may give us too many option. For this reason, we believed it was essential for us to name it before we really got down and started to film.

We both threw in a load of suggestions; the best one we came up with is 'Scelestus'. It is a Latin word for 'nemesis/rival'. This would be appropriate as our two main characters, Jamil and Mr Romanov, are both rivalling each other to show who is boss. However, it did feel quite silly to name a film after a Latin word as not many films do that. Also, we did not want to risk being too different as our audience may not know what the film is about prior to watching it.

We eventually decided to name the film 'Always Here'. This is because Mr Romanov is stuck in school due to Jamil's inconveniences. Also, his 'ghost' remained in the school after he died which means he never leaves the school and he's always there. In addition, it was a  coincidence that Mr Romanov references the film name twice in his dialogue.