For our very first day of filming, we decided to do some of our shots, including the final ones in our video, in Dartford. We chose to do this since weather reports indicated that there was a very high chance of rain, and it would be a waste of a day if we went up to London and it rained whilst we were filming. This was our first time using the camera so it would be much more convenient if we filmed close to home, as well as being easier for our actors to join us without having to travel up to London. Furthermore, this meant that Luke's father (the owner and user of the camera) was able to come along with us and help us with using the camera. It should also be noted that throughout the day it was mostly Luke filming since he knew the camera best (it was an old and expensive one James and I were not used to unlike simple, camera based video we had used before) however, James and I did do some filming during the later stages of filming as we progressively learned how to properly use the camcorder.
Below is us (left to right: Myself, Luke and James) filming one of our first shots, with the thief and the pursuers bursting out of an alleyway.
I am holding up the clapperboard with the scene and take number, Luke is filming with the panning shot with the camera and tripod whilst James directing Dan, Phil and Ryan.
Below are the resulting pictures from the shot.
Our next shot was a closeup of their faces as they ran past; this was a short shot and did not pan across at all.
We felt this shot did well at creating the sense of a quick paced chase since the characters rushed past very quick, faces blurred and not in shot for long.
Moving down the high street, we decided to film in a alleyway, using a low angle shot of the characters' feet. The picture below is of us filming and the characters running down the alleyway.
Below the camera position can be seen, with Luke filming, and James and I directing.
The picture below shows us discussing what shots to use in this underground passage. This was where our last scene would be and we wanted to get it right straight away. All of these shots took a while to get right since we were being very particular about each shot; if a detail was slightly wrong, e.g. James noticed Ryan's tie wasn't fully done up at the collar so we shot it again. We went over these shots many times in very fine detail since they were calmer, longer shots in which there was a larger focus on the fine details of the shots instead of the faster paced ones during the chase. We talked about what kind of shots would be suitable for such a tight space and decided on filming from either ends and inside the tunnel, using eye-line shots to enable the audience to emphasise with the thief after having been trapped in the passage.
Below is one of the shots of the pursuers; here you can see Ryan slowly walking out into the sight of the thief with his arms behind his back.
The shot below took a particularly long time to get as it was quite a difficult one to film; Luke had to shoot from a low angle and capture Dan's face as he walks backwards, as well as get Phil and Ryan taking off their masks in the shot. We had to make sure the focus was right and wasn't out of focus for either part of the shot.
The shot below is of Dan and Ryan as Ryan walks past Dan, bumping into him slightly. Luke is filming, James is filming the 'Making-of Video' and I am using the clapperboard and directing. We have decided to film this shot again as we noticed that Dan smiled slightly as Ryan bumped into him.
The next show we did (below) is a P.O.V from Dan of Ryan and Phil as they close in on him. James is again filming the making-of video, Luke is directing and using the clapperboard and I am filming.
Below are two photos from another scene which took a while to capture; the camera would pan across capturing Dan as he ran from left to right and down towards the passageway. Ryan and Phil would chase him until they reached a certain point, at which they would stop, look at each other, then Phil would chase after Dan whilst Ryan ran the other way in order to head Dan off at the other end of the passage. This took a long time to get as there were a lot of people going by when we wanted to film, as well as the acting from Phil and Ryan being different from the other shots. We had to pick out the right spot for them to stop and look at each other, show them how we wanted them to do it and at what speed. This was also quite a long take and a lot could go wrong in that time so we made sure it was perfect.
We all directed on this scene since it was such a difficult shot, we needed all of our input. There is a making-of video which lasts about 5 minutes of us discussing how to do the shot. In the end when we actually filmed the shot, Luke filmed the making-of video whilst James filmed and I used the clapperboard.
The last shot we did that day was a long, panning one of our characters running across the opposing side of the river seen in the picture. Yet another difficult scene to shoot as seen from the picture, Luke had to actually place the tripod in the river to see past the tree on the other side of the river. James and I went over what we wanted from our actors during this scene; they had to run for about 10 seconds along the path on the other side of the river.
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