Saturday 21st January
Canary Wharf
We filmed our own action-thriller teaser trailer as part of our Media Studies A2 coursework. Our group decided that this sub-genre was our favourite and our skills were more developed in this field and so it was in our best interests to produce something exciting for our audience to watch.
On Saturday, we decided to travel to Canary Wharf to really set the scene of the setting that we needed to achieve as we wanted an urban city type area as this is typical for an action thriller. We had to take into account the weather and the time we got there which was dependant on the light and the dark of the surroundings, as we arrived at the location at 3pm. We then thought it was sensible to sit down somewhere and plan out our shots before we started filming them.
Me, Mansib, Shakil and Leon had to set up the camera and the tripod in the right location in which we needed to record the shots and kept the shotlist with us so we were organised and knew which shot needed to be filmed next. For example, we had to get establishing shots of buildings around to set the scene in the very beginning of our trailer. We found a small area by a river which was perfect for the shot we needed for the 'police department' building.
We had to make sure we got the shots we needed to in the light before it was too dark. Then we re-set up the tripod and camera when it became darker for the rest of the shots we needed, so it appeared that it was a different setting and time of the day in the next scenes of our trailer.
Wednesday 25th January
Media Room
It had been four days after our last session of filming. We began to film for the interrogation scene between Tommy and Mansib, where Mansib needed to question Tommy and place files/pictures in front of him and see whether or not he knew the people and whether he was telling the truth or not. We needed an 'office' type environment to set the scene and fit the location we were trying to achieve, so this worked in our favour. The shots were always from over the shoulder from the point of view of Tommy as throughout the trailer we don't see his face as his identity is purposely kept hidden leaving more questions for the audience to ask in regards to the trailer, and made everything more mysterious. This location was effective as it was dark and with the lights we had we could create the right look and right proportion of shade and light against their faces to give the trailer more of a thriller feel.
After we finished filming for this scene, we had to record the scene where Shakil aggressively flips the table over, making sure we captured the intensity properly. First off we tried filming this shot in the editing room, but soon after realised it wasn't dark enough and you could see posters in the background in which we didn't want to be there, so we moved location.
Saturday 4th February
Individual Homes
On this session of filming, Shakil and me had to film the various different scenes establishing our individual characters in small cuts. Shakil filmed himself doing up his tie, putting on his jacket, and finally placing sunglasses on. I did similar things, but from my characters perspective in what she would have done, so for example I filmed myself putting lipstick on in the mirror from various different angles, placing a knife into my boot and putting sunglasses on. This last shot of both of us placing sunglasses on is significant as it tells the audience that even though we are separate people doing different things, in the end we still have the same purpose and objective.
Monday 6th February
Stratford City Centre/Olympic Park
This was the final day that me and my group went filming in the Stratford area. This was the perfect location for the last section of our thriller trailer, which was the fight scene between Mansib, who is the detective, and Shakil who is a hitman. We wanted to make sure this was done in a light enough place to really capture the integrity of the scene and make sure everything was clear from every angle. We went out to the area during school time as this is when we knew it would be quietest and we would be able to effectively get everything completed in the time period. We found a spot under a bridge deep inside the park which was right for the scene.
After this session and the recording for this scene were done, we decided to walk back towards the entrance of the park and find a spot suitable for the next scene which was the face off between myself and Shakil. We had to position the camera to the side so that we didn't see either of our arms, as we could not use gun props in a public area and so we needed to create the illusion that we still had them in our hands.
Tuesday 7th February
Media Editing Room
This was the last session we needed to record the final pieces of our thriller trailer. All that was left to film were the detective scenes of information about the assassins on the board, discussing plans and prospects between each other. These shots were quick and easy to film as they were only medium shots and nothing else hindered our recording time.
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