Final Costume

During the filming process, our original costume plan was altered due to issues with filming and availability.

• Originally we had planned to include a dark suit for the antagonist of red and black to connote both danger and the spilling of blood but due to filming difficulties we chose to opt for a white and black outfit with red elements. This worked better for us due to it's visibility, enabling the clown to be seen more easily in the dark due to the lack of lighting available on location.
• We also planned to spray the clown's hair green but due to the dark lighting of our location and the use of black and white CCTV filter in the tunnel, the colouring would have been barely visible and so therefore we chose not to include this colouring. 
• The original face paint chosen was also altered for filming purposes, blood was added dripping from the eyes and the black around them was made larger, drawing attention towards the darkness and the unnatural features of the clowns face as to make it appear more sinister.
• Also, we originally intended to use red contact lenses to convey supernatural inhuman elements but found again, like the hair colouring, it would have very little impact on overall shots. We also made this decision as the large quantity of red already intended in each of our shots would have caused the majority of the mise en scene to suggest bloodshed, which isn't used within this particular scene. The contrast of the pale blue eyes against the dark black and red features of the face paint also created a more startling affect, as they seem far more prominent and chilling as they stare into the camera in close up shots.

Changes to Filming

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.

Name Choices

 The Naming Process

 To begin progress within deciding on a name for our film, I began with making a list of the main components of our scene, a technique that would allow names to be thought up due to what is included within our piece. 
However, it is difficult to decide upon a definitive name due to certain features of our opening (such as location) due to the following plot not to have been decided in depth. For example, as we are only producing the opening scene in which a murder takes part in a tunnel we could in theory title it around this feature but if the film were to continue and be produced following on from this scene, it is not initially intended for the majority of the setting to be placed in that tunnel.

Whilst brainstorming choices, I included all possible titles I came up with despite a number of them being useless due to sounding terrible and having other issues so that when shown to the rest of the group presenting the ideas, it can allow us to critique different choices and possibly come up with more ideas related to them.

At the current stage of process, the three most effective choice (in my opinion) would be; 'Grin.', 'Whiteface' and 'Smile, Please.' as having as few syllables as possible allows the name to be short and memorable .

• Grin refers to the clown's face itself and also towards the lipstick mark they leave upon their victim acting as a calling card.
• Whiteface is the name of the type of clown we are using within our scene as the antagonist, a comedy grotesque whiteface. (Allows us to enforce to the audience that the clown itself is the focus, not the victim or location.)
• 'Smile, please' also refers to the calling card mark left upon the victim's body after the murder has taken place. (Conveys a sinister tone, typically a possible title choice for a comedy film.) 

Evaluation of Practical Progress So Far

Our Visit to Location

• When we took our first visit as a group to visit our location and started test shooting to ensure when it came to post-production, we would not be faced with having to refilm sections due to lighting and other issues that may occur.
• We established in which order and when we would film certain shots, scheduling them in sections and in order of importance.
• Also, we blocked out where and how the camera/actors would move, altering our original decisions due to what was more easily achievable and effective within our choice of location.
• One of our changes made was to attach our camera onto the top of a bicycle to enable smooth, steady movement when the camera follows the actor's path.
• We were also able to establish where we would chose to film our opening shots to establish the region and background to our plot.
• In terms of costume, our visits also confirmed to us that the antagonist being dressed in white and red would be far more affective in terms of visibility due to the lighting available to us (allowing us to choose a final costume).
• By the finish of our first visit, we'd made effecient progress in determining exactly how we would film and also it enabled us to discover what we would need to negotiate and compromise in future, therefore allowing us to plan our next visit.

Opening shot of London - Testing

Stop Motion

We had difficulty with the camera focusing when its quite far away from the centre of London due to the zoom not being able to go that far and therefore we had to try another method of creating the opening shot of the sky line of London. Therefore we came up with the idea of having multiple shots being taken on a camera and then sped up in order to make it look like it was filmed rather than individual shots. They looked really interesting and had a great affect with the lights trailing as the camera panned across the skyline in front of us. However on photo setting the camera took images lighter than if it was being filmed and therefore looks more like sunset than dark. That is the only issue in which we found with it and most likely with a little bit of changing done to the video it could be edited in order to make it look darker or a setting changed manually on the camera. We all really liked this idea and will experiment it more by putting it into iMovie and speeding it up in order to see whether or not it is as good as we first thought it may have been.

Video

We also filmed it after we found what setting it was in order to change the lightness of the camera in order to reveal more of the lights coming from the skyline. We liked the idea of panning the shot across so that we got the Shard in it as well which has now become another iconic land mark from its height and building material. The panning did work and you get more detail from the filming however it is extremely dark in the picture which is something I will have to investigate on the camera in order to see whether or not I change that or not. Also another issue is the distance away from the skyline as the camera cannot zoom in far enough to gain relevant detail which would define the city more however for the zoom it has the quality is at its best. Therefore we may need to investigate more before deciding whether or not filming is entirely the best option overall.

Balloons

Balloons 

A quite stereotypical idea is the clown holding the balloon at a circus or as a symbol for the clown, this therefore gave us the idea of using the balloon as a breadcrumb for our protagonist and also create tension for the audience as the balloons begin to multiply as they walk on further through the location which we are filming at.

We have decided to use a mixture of different coloured balloons in order to show the confusion within the clowns character and therefore it isn't settled within a connotation and instead spreads over the a vast majority of them instead. We thought that the idea of YELLOW and GREEN possibly being the stand out colours along with RED would connote the idea of a prominent child like figure, with an element of consumption and danger all combined within the characters. There would be less of the other colours however they would be there in order to show that vast colour contrast within the cluster of balloons which the clown is holding. 

The balloons will be Helium to enable them to float within the tunnel and also when Lily is holding them outside. This then poses the problem that if it is windy then the balloons will not stay still and this is a problem which would have to be addressed when on location and also planning in advance what day would be most suitable for us to film with the balloons depending on the weather. When inside the tunnel, the problem is making sure that they float and don't pop on the ceiling and also don't cause any problems for passers by. 

We will attach ribbons to the balloons in order to make them more fairground like and therefore the ribbons could be black as although they may not stand out as much outside, once inside they will stand out more against the camera and also connote the idea that the clown is a threat primarily but coming from the threat are many other aspects about the character that the audience may not at first understand. 

The main idea with the balloons though is to be a tension building bread crumb for the audience to notice before the protagonist notices it.

Examples of our balloons below:

My Evaluation of the Visit to Location

Inside The Tunnel 

Outside The Tunnel

On this visit to the location we looked at the tunnel as a group and also looked around outside at the lighting around the area to see whether or not it was possible to film in certain locations or not. We found that the camera filmed really nicely in the tunnel with the focus going in and out creating a really interesting effect which would look good in our credits or whilst filming the fighting sequences. The grainy effect also was good as it had that CCTV camera feel when we played it back on the computer as it wasn't crisp clear and neither is CCTV footage when it is played back. Therefore it will work well with the static as it will follow up on one scene to the next and that is what we really wanted. We therefore decided that we wanted to film in the black and white to again conform with the ideas that it is like real CCTV footage rather than keeping it in colour. We also thought that, that would conform with the terror and tension for the scene and also with the black and white of the static as well.

When we went outside we looked around at the lighting and different places which we could film depending on how strong the lighting really was and therefore make it easier for when we went back in the dark another day. We found and really nice fountain which has three lights above it and also a part in the pathway and then track behind them with different camera shots to follow them to the tunnel. We also found a winding pathway which cuts out the restaurants that are around the area, however that could be quite interesting with the ambience that other people can't see the clown and therefore brings in the supernatural element. However without the lights actually being turned on that means that we couldn't film under any of the lights and therefore it made it difficult to judge whether or not it would bright enough for the camera in order to pick up the person or even the balloons and therefore we planned another visit in order to see the location in the dark. 

We took pictures whilst doing the test shots as well on another camera and this helps us track our progress and also is the proof of us filming the test shots on the location. It also means that we have more material on the blog in order to show our progress over time with more pictures later on. When we where in the tunnel the flash on the other camera was on and when we watched the video back we saw that it created a sort of strobe lighting effect which looks like flashes of light coming across the screen and this means that it could be used again in our filming later on.