Filming Our Final Piece

Once we had planned our piece fully and we all knew exactly what we had to do to create a successful media piece, we began the filming process.

Preparation

For our initial preparation, we needed to collect all the props and costumes that we already had and then we wrote a list of the extra items that we didn’t have but needed to get. This meant that we had to buy some primary objects which would help us to set up the location for the filming; in the attic. For this, we had to buy ingredients to create the fake blood, blu-tack to stick up the newspaper cuttings to a wardrobe in the attic and matches which would be used for a prop in one of the scenes.

Once we had all the items we needed, we began preparing the attic. Firstly, we stuck up the many newspaper cuttings we had cut previously all over the wardrobe. Hannah and Jess then collected April, who played the child in the piece so she was ready to film. April brought with her a selection of clothes so we could change her if appropriate and also so we could use some of the clothes for props in the piece.

Once April was back at the house, we took her up to the attic and took a few pictures of her in the wardrobe. We then had to set up the child’s blanket and fairy lights on the floor and took additional photographs of her. After we had taken the photographs, we had to size them correctly on the computer and print them off, ensuring that there was enough space to cut around them. We left space at the bottom of the photographs when printing them off so they would look like they were pictures taken from the Polaroid camera which will be used in the piece. Once the pictures looked like authentic Polaroid pictures, we stuck them on some of the wooden panes in the attic.

After this, we made the blood which would be used in our piece. We got a recipe to make fake blood which made authentic blood! Firstly we used a few packets of angel delight mix, mixed with water and added red food colouring. To improve the texture we added some strawberry sauce. We thought that it looked too red, so we added some brown sauce into the mix to make it look more realistic. Once it was made, we left it to set a little until we were ready to use the blood later in filming. After we had done this, we were fully prepared and could go ahead with the filming.

Filming

The first part we filmed was the footage we needed to get from

the park. We had to film this section first because of the unpredictability of the weather! Fortunately, it was sunny and bright so it was an ideal time to film the section of the piece with the swing. For this section we filmed April swinging on a swing, with a teddy bear burning in the foreground. We positioned the camera steadily on the ground so we had the desired view of the teddy bear in the shot. However, the burning of the teddy encountered some problems! We thought that the teddy would be easy to burn using matches, but when the match was lit and touching the teddy bear it only created a tiny mark, which is ineffective. Then when we eventually got the match to start lighting the teddy, the wind affected the powerfulness of the flame! So after a team effort of all holding matches and trying to light the teddy, it began

to burn. As soon as the teddy was slightly alight, we began filming the burning and the laughing of the child. Once we felt we had enough material for an appropriate shot, Hannah had to quickly help April off the swing and push it so it swung by itself. We left the camera running throughout this whole process so we can plenty of film, so we could cut and edit the appropriate sections which we could choose from a variety. After we had stopped filming, we put out the flames of the teddy bear and carried it with us for use with later filming.