An account of our film day

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 On Wednesday 19th January our production team, ‘Cryptic Productions’ commenced a film day.

9:00am  The team and cast met

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9.15am   Left Hurtwood house , making sure we had all the film equipment, storyboards and other items we would need throughout the day.

•9:45am   We then arrived at Adam Grants house at Leith hill were we would record the nursery room scene. We set the nursery up how we would want it, putting toys in the cot and ruffling the blanket to enhance a deserted feel.

•When we white balanced and looked at the view through the lens we realised the light in the room wasn’t bright enough or the right quality. We then added extra light beside the window and put a blue gel filter in front, to make sure it matched the incoming outdoor light.

•Whilst this was happening I went through the story board with Emma (our main character) and directed her on what we wanted her to do. We then filmed her running towards the cot and reacting several times. Firstly we filmed it with a long shot then with close up reaction shots.

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• 11.15am we left and headed for Cranliegh to proceed filming the exiting from the house and the deserted street scene. For this we used a dolly track for a smooth pan shot to keep a fluent exit from Emma leaving the house to walking out toward the street. This was a bit of a challenge to do successfully, as we were pushing the camera on the dolly ourselves, and it was hard to keep the pace consistent with Emma walking.

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•12.45pm In the afternoon we continued with filming at the main house also in Cranleigh, where we would film all the interior shots. We decided to now go in chronological order through the storyboard. We went through each shot starting in the bedroom. With the day progressing it started to get darker and we realised we were losing some of the light in the house. We left shots that we could use our own light for until the end (for example the shower running) and filmed our shots needing incoming light (for example the corridor scenes).

For this revealing shot we previously asked permission form neighbours and put the empty cars open, showing abandonment, in the middle of the road. Two of us had to stand at each end of the street in case any cars came during filming. After a while planning we managed to get the right shot we needed in just a couple of takes. we checked we had all the right shots and made sure Emma kept the exact same appearance, for continuity.