Day one of filming - "Withdrawal"

During the first day of filming I met up with the new cast and talked through all my ideas and how I wanted the sequence to run. "Withdrawal" is based on a young boy who alienates himself from society due to an outbreak of disease. He keeps himself locked away and has flashbacks of events that have effected him in his day to day life. My opening title sequence doesnt give a lot away which allows the viewer to independantly form their own opinion. I came to the conclusion that I wanted the film to be shot in a derelict building with dark lighting and plain white walls to create a mysterious mis-en-scene in contrast to the flashback which appears in daylight. I explained this to the cast and one of them suggested I'd film in his new house which hadn't quite been refurbished. This was really useful as it was just what I was looking for. I then went on to thinking about costume and what my main character should wear to potray the theme of a psychlogoical thriller. I considered the boys feelings and personality and associated them with colours. For example his white T-shirt reperesnts purity in contrast to his black trousers which represnt darkness and fear. The actor that I chose isn't experienced when it comes to acting however he feels comfortable in front of the camera which I feel sets of a more realistic approach. Once arriving at the house to film I cleared away any unecessary props and replaced them with benificial props that would help to make the setting look authentic. I played around with the lighting, dimming the main lights and adding candles to create a more subtle mysterious feel to the room, furthermore the camera could pick up essential details within the shots. The first shot started with a conventional thrilling close up of the actor restlessly moving into different positions highlighting how uncomfortable and distreseed he feels. I used a variety of different shots of the actor in the same room behaving in an odd maner, using different angles so that I had a variety of shots to chose from. I manipulated his facial expressions, movements and emotions in order to make him look unstable. The second group of shots I filmed were in a different room to add a slight change; the second room was a lot bigger and had a balcany which enabled me to film a variety of long shots to mix with the close-ups. The lighting in the second room was a lot harder to play about with as the room was bigger I couldn't just use the candles as a form of light. As an alternative I bought a lamp along with me and placed it in different areas of the room to make the lighting look a lot more realistic as well as capturing shadows which added am interesing ghostly effect to the sequence. I had a slight problem with the camera but I resolved this problem but asking the teachers for a cassett cleaner. I learnt a lot about the camera during the first day of filming, I was able to play around the with the focus to create different effects and became a lot more comfortable tracking a shot. Overall the first day of filming was successful and I was able to record at least 20 minutes of footage. I also picked up on new skills which enabled me to feel a lot more comfortable when using the camera.

Robyn Bostock