Filming Diary #4 - Elliott

Sunday 3rd

(post delayed as I was working on getting the film finished before doing BTS videos)

November problems: these shots were 10 minutes apart

Today we aimed to film the beginning (and therefore end) of our cyclic narrative, but unfortunately Keelan was otherwise 'occupied' and this meant that me and Ziaul had to film without a proper camera. Luckily I have a very good camera on my phone and we were able to film on that (I had brought a tripod adapter for this exact situation).

Although we only had a few shots planned for today the short winter nights left us with only a couple of hours to shoot (after someone arriving an hour late, of course) and unfortunately the light dropped with two shots left to take. This leaves me with more annoying work to fix in post-production or having to re-film another day.

Showing yet more 'dangers' that can befall any unsuspecting media student

This video shows the set-up used for the setpiece shot involving Ziaul getting blown back by a shockwave. I have researched the effect of explosions in real life in the hopes of making a more realistic scene and to show that the 'shockwave' is scientifically proven, not just a Hollywood trope, so that just left the filming.

Sneak preview of the (super complicated) fire effect

These last few shots are the most VFX laden of the whole project which gives me both: ample room to show what I can do, and, hours of tedious mind-numbing hard work while the rest of the group gets to relax. YAY!

Here we have the exploding house effect, which I will show in more detail in a VFX breakdown post.

Filming Diary #3 [Keelan]

During our filming at Location 2, we had to be very careful to not break anything or trip on any wires such as the wire for the red head lights.

To prepare for filming, we had to move several pieces of furniture out of the way, such as a sofa, a large wall painting and several other items. 

(Shot of mid-filming)

(The smoke machine)

-As seen in the picture, we used a smoke machine to create an atmosphere of a room in which there had been heavy smoking going on.

-When using the smoke machine it did become very hot after a prolonged period of time, therefore we placed it on a pair of heavy duty fireproof gloves to prevent the carpet being burnt of damaged. We also used gloves to move it when needed and was very careful when near it to prevent any damage to a member of the group.

(Overhead shot of recording freehand)

-As well as using the tripod to film, we recorded parts of it freehand to gain some angles that we would not be able to obtain that easily using a tripod.


This evening of shooting our film was rather a long one as we started at around 9pm, and finished just past midnight. The reason for this is because we needed there to be no natural light at all, allowing us to communicate to the audience that it is clearly the night time.

Filming Diary #2 - Elliott

Wednesday 30th

Today was the day we could finally start filming after the disruption last time. We made sure to film on a clear day (the first one we got) so that we would be able to use natural light in the scene, if needed. (I can always make a shot look darker but it's never good to make it lighter)

Natural light looks pimp, yo

The first scene we decided to film was the interior beginning scenes (after the flashback ending) because it was possibly the most convenient, in terms of props needed, and because we started early (at around 12) it left the rest of the day to film some of the night scenes. Because we are using amateur actors, except for Matt who has some experience, filming in the order of the story also helped them put on a more convincing performance (I hope.)

Filming diary and rundown of 'dangers'

More pictures and a risk assessment for this location

Filming Diary #1 - Elliott

Sunday 27th

Today is the first day we have scheduled to film our short film however, as is always expected, we have run into difficulties.

Hurricane 2K13 - we will rebuild!