Director’s Journal

Day 1

On day one before we started filming we had minor delays due to the change of
weather so we had to set the filming forward to a later time at approximately 1
hour later, otherwise it would had interfered with the concepts of our filming.
Then after that we went back to the set location, and then we got out all the
necessary equipments needed for our filming and followed the risk assessments
in order to prevent any casualties towards the cast crew and other members of
the public. Before we started then filming, As the director it was my duty to get
the actress (Emma Worby) ready in the right position, and try to follow the shots
used for the storyboard, although because the location was very intriguing, new
ideas where developed e.g. the Bird eye view shot was used to follow the actress,
which the result would give the idea that she is being watched which worked
really well.

Emma Worby the main character was portrayed as the protagonists I thought of
a brief idea to shoot her coming from a work building where a low angle shot
was used to trace her as she starts running, this was suggested because the
audience could perhaps not follow it clearly in terms of where she is coming
from, however I decided to not let the audience know where she’s coming from
and to show just the protagonists running straight into the subway, which adds
to the curiosity and tension we hope to create in order to represent and convent
our thriller genre.

Trying to link the subway to the next scene (The Park) was very challenging but
hopefully it should work well. Then we also tired different point of view shots
(POV) which was in our story board, however it wasn’t the same positions we
had. I also told the camera person to add breathing whilst she ran with the
camera down the tunnel just so we decide to add this to the sequence in the
editing suite.

We had many other barriers to our filming on Day 1, because we used a subway
tunnel, different people was walking past which would had broken the continuity
rule, so we had to keep stopping which wasted time. The weather was really
harsh on this day, which made filming hard, but overall we made good use of the
day. The sounds we picked up was from the subway were ambient noises such as
the buses going past, the harsh wind, which in told the editor to make good use of
for the overall sequence. I also showed our actress Emma Worby to work on her
facial expressions as someone who looks defencelessly , which was our concept
of “tricking” the audience, she had different runs at it , but overall it came
together brilliantly. Also we did not visit the location previously, to plan ahead of
how we wanted to shoot the scenes, so that also took our time. However for the
next day we will visit the next location and decide what shots to use and what the
actress to need to do for the entire scene.
Day 2

On day two we went to the next location to film our park scene, we had a choice
to use a jump cut for the overall results between the subway and the park scene
linking them both together as we thought we was shooting things in the right
order but when we got to Raphael’s park the subway tunnel scene did not link
with the park scene. Me and Laura was aware of another location at Harold wood
Which was a “Crooked” looking bridge which would go perfectly well for our
sequence, hence we decided to use it. The editor was made aware that she would
need to put the bridge scene first as it linked with the subway scene.

On arriving at Raphael’s park the weather was cruel, as it started to rain,

however we decided to shoot Exterior extreme shot and long shot angles. Also
the actress was very corporative, when I would direct her in terms of the types of
facial expressions to make, and also for the long shot we had to shoot it from far,
so she was running for a very lengthy time, and we had to repeat the same
running scene three to four times because either she was carrying the bag the
wrong way round, or something else like sounds was interfering with the
continuity of the filming. We filmed at the park location very quickly because the
weather continuously changed. Hence we had decided to come back another day,
to shoot the close ups and to implement the shots on our storyboard.

Day 3

We went to our third location, which was the bridge scene. This location was
how I imagined as it was very alluring. My plan for this location was different to
our sequence analysis I wanted to have the protagonists (Emma Worby) running
pass the bridge and as she is , an unknown actor portrayed as a stranger almost
who runs her over which would create a gratifying tension, then the character
would come out and ask if she was okay, and she would had shrugged him off by
saying “get off me” , this was the scene where a diegetic dialogue was intended,
however flaws arose with the actor who was unreliable and was unable to attend
on this day as we was short of time, we decided to scrap the idea and just go with
something simple.

I had an inform consent from the people around there to film, and we made sure
we stopped filming when there were passers by. There were also too many noise
picked up from the sounds of cars driving pass so time was wasted yet again. My
initial plan for this location is that the scene from the subway will transit to the
bridge scene, and I intended to make this scene shown very briefly as a location
where she passes fairly quickly to her actual destination. However we played
around with different points where she could run from to Raphael’s park. So we
could later on pick the point was that would work well. An interesting High angle
was shot which was agreed to be used for our sequence, where the protagonists
would be perceived as to be very small which connotates inferiority weak etc.
We also got a worm eye view of her face to show her facial expressions, because
if most of our filming throughout the sequence was a long shot medium shot of
her running, it would not captivate the audience attention as much as we
intended hence this was a good shot.

The next day would be back to the park location where we would film, close up
and extreme close up Exterior and Interior shots, we have already visited
Raphael’s park on the second day, hence I have already planned what the actress
need to do for that scene which would save more time.

Day 4

On day four, the weather allowed us to work effectively; hopefully it is of benefit

for our overall piece of film. We set up our equipments ready for use. As the first
time we visited Raphael’s park, we shot extreme long shots, from distance in
transition from the bridge scene to the Park. I told the actress (Emma Worby) to
just start from the slope that leads to her destination; this is where we decided to
make good use of extreme close up shots. I had to remind the actress her
positioning the way she carried her bag to not break the continuity rule.

My initial plan was to use distinctive heightened circumstances to create tension,

which was her nearly getting run over and her falling down. So we decided to
shoot were she falls at this location, which was even better because where she
was running to was a slope, so it would preferably make sense to have her fall at
that point. For this scene a stuntman would had been a better choice, however
we did not have one so in order to prevent the actress injuring herself , we laid
Jackets on the floor where she would land from a medium shot of her. I
instructed her to run slow but act as if she hurt herself by having her legs flying
out in the air, with this technique she could fall gently so the falling is not brutal
causing casualties. When we went further to shoot the close up I told her to show
that she is been badly hurt and has sprayed her ankle and take her time whilst
she tries to get up, this lowers the heightened effect for a reason, because
throughout the sequence we have seen her just running so it could be perceived
as the protagonists is at peace and perhaps gotten away from what she was
running from. Then also when she gets up, I instructed the actress to limp so as it
links with her falling and the fact that she has probably escaped.

We had slight problems at this location where the first time we visited the
Raphael’s park, the building we intended to use which was the park public toilet,
had an entrance door we wanted to use as to show her going inside. But today
the door to the female’s toilet was locked and we did not find anyone who could
open it for us. Hence we decided to use the Male’s toilet door with permission
from the public cleaners we saw at the park they were very supportive. So I had
to think of a spontaneous idea, which was that the protagonists would try to
open the locked door with the keys, but fails then she goes round the corner,
where we spotted a caged toilet window, and she tries to enter through there but
fails, then she goes round still limping, then this is now where the audience will
start to change there opinions who she was imposed to be. Then when she goes
to the second door, I told her to try different approaches into opening the door,
whether a kick with her foot or just push it open. Then she tried both and was
successful however we have to decide which one to use at the editing suite.
This was the last footage we would have of Emma Worby, the next day would be
to shoot the final scene with Aaron the Antagonists where the real essence of the
sequence starts to unveil.

Day 5

Day 5 our last day of filming, our Actor (Aaron) informed us he was unable to
attend today’s shooting. However we already planned ahead of this
circumstances we had a reserved actor (Robin) who is now playing our
Antagonists.

On our previous location, as the actor was not there on the day, we shot Emma
scene as she pushes the door opened, as if there was someone in the room. To
link this two together with today filming, we already decided to use a blue screen
and create an artificial environment for the background.

The cast crew team had different roles to play and not just one role allocated, for
example I was the make up artists who made an artificial bruising on the
antagonists face, and also tied the cloth to his face, and tapes to his hands. I
instructed him to just look straight at camera, as if he was looking at the
protagonists, in the editing suite a shot reverse shot would be used.

The overall results would be brilliant, and come out just how we wanted it.
Acknowledgements to the crew and the Actor and Actress they worked
extremely well.