On location, we discovered that there were problems with some of the original decided features of our scene:
When filming our test shots, it became apparent that the path we had originally chosen for the victim to follow around the Royal Naval College into the foot-tunnel would cause difficulties. We had to block out a separate route through the grounds ensuring that no restaurants, passing visitors, sign posts for the gift shop or shots in which the glass casing of the Cutty Sark were visible. This proved difficult due to the lack of lighting upon the foot-paths in the area and the obvious commercialisation of the location.
On our original storyboard, no filming was included from the individual view of the victim as we decided to film the majority in CCTV format due to no intended empathy being felt towards the victim as an emotional bond between them and the audience as their character is insignificant as part of the plot.
The skyline shots we are using within our scene originally were not planned and were added as a decision during filming. We had planned to include establishing shots to determine the importance of our location as an anonymous city (London) but originally of the college and Cutty Sark itself but on location, we found the brighter and more definitive example of London as a location would have been better represented using the skyline shot of the City buildings across the Thames as a universal symbol.
Our first plan depicted the entirity of the scene filmed in the tunnel to be produced in black and white as CCTV footage but due to the supernaturality of our plot and our intention to emphasise this, we can now chosen to switch between colour during these shots to distort the image.
During our location selection process as we began to consider the use of a tunnel, we decided for sources of inspiration to look outside of only the horror genre and began looking at projects outside of film.
The concept of a music video introduced the possibility of using sound overlay to mimic diegetic sound whilst removing all other extraneous background sound.
We have chosen to adapt this and use it within our scenes outside of the tunnel, with our victim listening to music, allowing us to dismiss any interrupting background sounds and to place the audience in a empathic position over the victim, understanding how oblivious they are to danger around them.
Another advantage the video made apparent to us was lighting within a tunnel, the prominent circles of light within the tunnel causing different parts of the tunnel to be far more brightly lit than others.
For our scene, the darker sections can be used to show the antagonist as they approach the victim in stop motion, as the victim disappears from light into dark, their lack of hope becoming apparent.
The lighting here looks like it is coming from a camera source or from a ver large torch light. This helps to create a lot of dark spots in the shot, adding tension to the scene.
The way that the light is so strong also helps to completely black out the windows. By blacking out the windows, it gives the impression that there will be no way out.
Here, the lighting is illuminating quite a lot of the wall, especially on the right of the shot. However, this does not make the shot any less eerie.
The way that this shot is pretty much balck and white adds to our sense of insecurity because it makes it harder to distinguish between shadows and the dark.
At the every end of the corridor, the lighting makes it look like there is a shadow, implying that there may be something/someone there.
Seen as we cannot see whatever it is that is there, we are put on the edge of our seat, just waiting for something.
In this shot, there is quite a bit of lighting, which seems odd as it is meant to be a horror. However, I do think that the lighting here makes the shot even more eerie because the camera image is quite distorted.
The lighting here also helps to eliminate any shadows in the shot. This adds to the suspense because we are just expecting something to jump out of nowhere.
This shot is different because it shows the lighting coming from a light on top of the camera. I think that this is different because it adds the, almost, circular effect to the light. This acts like a spotlight.
Another interesting thing about this shot is that it is slightly green. This green tint connotes that something is not right as it is an 'off' colour that we usually associate with someone being ill.
I found this shot really interesting because it is a close up of a man, but the light only illuminates one side of his face.
This shows that, although he may be talking to the camera and saying one thing, one half of him is concentrated on something else. Something darker maybe?
It also helps to show the flaws on this mans face. It highlights the bags under his eyes and the worry lines on his forehead. This all brings us closer to the character as we are at quite a personal, though quite uncomfortable, distance.
These two shots both have the same colour tint to them. I found this quite interesting as it links the two shots together, even though they are in different parts of the trailer.
The slightly green tint, that looks a bit like night vision cameras, adds to the tension of the trailer overall as the places that the light isn't hitting are really quite dark.
This first shot uses lighting really well to make us uncomfortable.
The way that the main source of light is coming from the door next to the crib suggests to us that this is where we should be concentrating.
But because we cannot see anything in the doorway, we expect something to change quickly and make us jump.
The way the lighting is here, clearly shows the doorway as the dominant, again promoting it's importance to us.
The mirror on the wall reflects how dark the back of the room is, this makes the room more eerie because we can't see what is there.
There is another light source coming from, what looks like, a small light above the cot. But this is not illuminating anything in the room and is not making the room much lighter.
This suggests that this light is irrelevant to us.
This shot is very dark and this makes things a lot more suspenseful because we can't see if anything is moving.
The light on the wall of the house illuminates the patio only.
It also creates a lot of shadows, adding to the overall darkness of the shot.
There is also no natural light at all in this shot as we cannot even see the moon. This suggests that whatever is going on in this film, may not be natural.
This shot follows on from the first shot.
Though the lighting has changed a bit.
The door by the cot is now wide open, instead of ajar, this tells us that whatever is standing by the door has come from inside.
The way that the character has it's back to the light, makes it look very dark. This adds mystery to the character.
All of these shots use lighting to create an atmosphere for the audience.
This one in particular is good because the door way is almost completely black, giving us no idea what may be there.
Also, the space behind the door is also very dark and this does exactly the same thing. It adds suspense and a sense of mystery.
The person laying on the floor is not illuminated at all. This takes away the importance of the person as they are quite difficult to see.
Why is this trailer a good source of inspiration?
This trailer is very good because it uses darkness very well and darkness is key within horror films as it adds a huge amount of mystery. It also uses what light there is very well. It uses this light to increase the importance of certain things around the room, drawing our attention to them and making us think why they are important.
