During production, many changes were made to our film opening in order to make it a higher quality product in the end.
Originally, the main location of the film opening was going to be on an empty abandoned pylon site; the ground was mossy and had weeds growing in it, which would have added a post-apocalyptic, dystopian mood to the sequence. There were also visible pylons and over-head cables nearby, which made the setting look more hostile.
| Flat, open landscape |
| Dead weeds growing on the hard ground |
| Moss suggested that the site had been long abandoned |
After visiting this site, we came across another potential location for our film opening. The location was further into some trees, off-path from the main pathway. Two discarded car tyres created the similar dystopian effect that we wanted for the sequence, and we discovered that the pylons and cables could be seen from the main pathway (the pathway which the victim would use for their journey). We also realised after finding this new location (and comparing it with the original) that the original location would seem somewhat unrealistic due to the idea that the site was so open; the victim would have been seen disposing of the package. The ground was also too hard to hide a package, and there were no leaves to use to hide the package even further. The new site would add a greater sense of realism to the narrative and keep the viewer interested.
We began filming with an iPhone 6S at 1080p HD at 30 fps. After a few shots were taken, we watched back over them and decided that the film quality was not quite what we were expecting. To make the film look more professional, we chose to reshoot what we had already completed in 4K film instead. The results were visibly sharper and clearer.
In our film opening, the victim is murdered by the antagonist who hopes to take the package for themselves. Originally, we wanted the victim to be killed by means of head injury (i.e. with a log). When we arrived at the location on the day of filming, there were no logs large enough to appear threatening and dangerous. Using a smaller log to kill the victim would appear unrealistic and silly, since a smaller stick would not necessarily kill the victim with one hit. Instead, there was a piece of orange rope, frayed and faded, that was available at the location of the filming. Being murdered by means of strangulation made the antagonist appear a lot more brutal and sinister due to the slowness of the death in comparison to a knock on the head. Grabbing a rope, the first thing that the antagonist can find as a murder weapon, makes the action seem a lot more natural (in terms of what would happen in real life). This change, we felt, was one of the most effective changes that we made during production.
Another one of our original ideas was for the victim to throw the real package into the trees just before they were murdered. The antagonist then would have been searching for the package when a dog starts to approach with its owner. Panicking, and without the package, the antagonist would flee the murder scene. When we asked some family and friends about what they thought of the narrative, a common response was that in reality, "the parcel would not have been thrown well enough for the murderer not to find it" and "there are no leaves around [the original filming location], so how could the package be thrown out of sight?". We decided to change the narrative slightly by adding a decoy package; an identical package that would be swapped on-screen to make it explicit and more convincing to the audience about how the package stayed out of the hands of the antagonist. Making this change also gave the package a greater sense of importance, since it seemed that this kind of situation was expected by the victim; the reason why a decoy was made. To add to this, the change added more of an insight into the character traits of the victim; the victim making a decoy showed that the victim was prepared for the situation, making them appear brave and focused (and breaking the stereotype that the female victim is usually helpless and scared).
Right from the start, we knew that a dog was going to be the reason why the murderer fled the scene because dog walking is common in suburban wooded areas. To add further tension, an important element in the thriller genre, the cross-cut editing technique was going to be used to show the desperation of the antagonist grew as the dog approached. The reason we chose not to go ahead with this editing technique was that there was also a sequence of cross-cutting during 'the chase'. We felt that adding even more cross-cutting to the opening titles would make the narrative more difficult and confusing to follow, especially at such a crucial point in the film when important messages had to be made clear to the audience (i.e. the decoy package). Instead, we kept the cross-cutting of 'the chase', especially since so far the audience would have sympathised more with the protagonist than the antagonist (the protagonist was followed from the start), so would feel more at threat than with an approaching dog.
In the first place, the opening shot was going to be of the victim walking into the woods towards the gate with package in hand. After editing, we felt that the audience was introduced to the character too soon, and there was no sense of location; the victim could be in any woods (not specifically a suburban woodland area). To further set the scene for the narrative, we modified it by following the victim from earlier on in their journey, and without revealing anything about the victim other than the package that they were holding in a gloved hand. Not only does this emphasise the package's importance, it also keeps the victim anonymous for longer which builds an enigma for the audience. We chose to follow the victim on their journey from the train station. The travelling through the suburban residential streets further reinforces the fact that the future action happens within reach of society (and this makes the death so much more tragic and disturbing). Showing the victim's exit of the train reinforces again that this package is extremely important; the victim has gone to extreme lengths and travelled so far to provide safe concealment of the package.
After filming at the train station, and before filming the journey along the residential streets with the package, it was realised that the victim was filmed without any gloves (since the prop was forgotten). At this point, returning to get the gloves for a re-shoot was not an option, since the light would have been lost before we would get back to the train station. So instead, we compromised by keeping the train station shots without the gloves, and showing the protagonist physically put on the gloves whilst on their journey through the streets. We used match-on-action editing to speed up the action of putting on the gloves. Overall, forgetting the gloves initially turned out to be a good thing because the new footage allowed us to display our good use of editing techniques. Also, the fact that the victim put on the gloves before handling the package emphasises the importance and secrecy of the package.
We began filming with an iPhone 6S at 1080p HD at 30 fps. After a few shots were taken, we watched back over them and decided that the film quality was not quite what we were expecting. To make the film look more professional, we chose to reshoot what we had already completed in 4K film instead. The results were visibly sharper and clearer.
In our film opening, the victim is murdered by the antagonist who hopes to take the package for themselves. Originally, we wanted the victim to be killed by means of head injury (i.e. with a log). When we arrived at the location on the day of filming, there were no logs large enough to appear threatening and dangerous. Using a smaller log to kill the victim would appear unrealistic and silly, since a smaller stick would not necessarily kill the victim with one hit. Instead, there was a piece of orange rope, frayed and faded, that was available at the location of the filming. Being murdered by means of strangulation made the antagonist appear a lot more brutal and sinister due to the slowness of the death in comparison to a knock on the head. Grabbing a rope, the first thing that the antagonist can find as a murder weapon, makes the action seem a lot more natural (in terms of what would happen in real life). This change, we felt, was one of the most effective changes that we made during production.
Another one of our original ideas was for the victim to throw the real package into the trees just before they were murdered. The antagonist then would have been searching for the package when a dog starts to approach with its owner. Panicking, and without the package, the antagonist would flee the murder scene. When we asked some family and friends about what they thought of the narrative, a common response was that in reality, "the parcel would not have been thrown well enough for the murderer not to find it" and "there are no leaves around [the original filming location], so how could the package be thrown out of sight?". We decided to change the narrative slightly by adding a decoy package; an identical package that would be swapped on-screen to make it explicit and more convincing to the audience about how the package stayed out of the hands of the antagonist. Making this change also gave the package a greater sense of importance, since it seemed that this kind of situation was expected by the victim; the reason why a decoy was made. To add to this, the change added more of an insight into the character traits of the victim; the victim making a decoy showed that the victim was prepared for the situation, making them appear brave and focused (and breaking the stereotype that the female victim is usually helpless and scared).
Right from the start, we knew that a dog was going to be the reason why the murderer fled the scene because dog walking is common in suburban wooded areas. To add further tension, an important element in the thriller genre, the cross-cut editing technique was going to be used to show the desperation of the antagonist grew as the dog approached. The reason we chose not to go ahead with this editing technique was that there was also a sequence of cross-cutting during 'the chase'. We felt that adding even more cross-cutting to the opening titles would make the narrative more difficult and confusing to follow, especially at such a crucial point in the film when important messages had to be made clear to the audience (i.e. the decoy package). Instead, we kept the cross-cutting of 'the chase', especially since so far the audience would have sympathised more with the protagonist than the antagonist (the protagonist was followed from the start), so would feel more at threat than with an approaching dog.
In the first place, the opening shot was going to be of the victim walking into the woods towards the gate with package in hand. After editing, we felt that the audience was introduced to the character too soon, and there was no sense of location; the victim could be in any woods (not specifically a suburban woodland area). To further set the scene for the narrative, we modified it by following the victim from earlier on in their journey, and without revealing anything about the victim other than the package that they were holding in a gloved hand. Not only does this emphasise the package's importance, it also keeps the victim anonymous for longer which builds an enigma for the audience. We chose to follow the victim on their journey from the train station. The travelling through the suburban residential streets further reinforces the fact that the future action happens within reach of society (and this makes the death so much more tragic and disturbing). Showing the victim's exit of the train reinforces again that this package is extremely important; the victim has gone to extreme lengths and travelled so far to provide safe concealment of the package.
After filming at the train station, and before filming the journey along the residential streets with the package, it was realised that the victim was filmed without any gloves (since the prop was forgotten). At this point, returning to get the gloves for a re-shoot was not an option, since the light would have been lost before we would get back to the train station. So instead, we compromised by keeping the train station shots without the gloves, and showing the protagonist physically put on the gloves whilst on their journey through the streets. We used match-on-action editing to speed up the action of putting on the gloves. Overall, forgetting the gloves initially turned out to be a good thing because the new footage allowed us to display our good use of editing techniques. Also, the fact that the victim put on the gloves before handling the package emphasises the importance and secrecy of the package.
