Practice Shots

To make sure our ideas would go to plan on both our shooting days, we thought it necessary to visit our location and take some practice shots of the most challenging ideas we had thought of previously. We focused on the hanging scene and how we would go about portraying this realistically in our opening sequence, so we visited the woods where our filming would take place and set up a small step ladder under some low branches in order to give the impression the girl was high up in the trees and that she was swinging from a rope. Overall, our shots were successful and gave us a confidence boost in our work.



Our first attempt is shown here to the left, which we thought correctly portrayed the girl hanging herself and gave the right assumptions due to the height and background scenery with all the trees and branches. However, we realised this location would not be successful because the branch was too high up and so it wouldn't be possible for us to film the shot where her feet were swinging, which would require her to cling onto the branch for a few seconds. We had to pick a much safer location.

Here, we can see a full photograph of how we went about shooting this part of our opening sequence. We took a step ladder and placed it underneath the branch we wanted to use and then Amanda acted as the girl for the practice shots to see how accurate it would look. Even though this is a successful shot, we continued searching for an area that was much safer for our actors.

We decided to use this tree shown on the left, because the branches were much lower and it would involve less climbing and also was surrounded in grass rather than stinging nettles. This tree enabled us to take some practice shots of the feet swinging to give the impression the girl is dead and literally hanging, and we could also use the small step ladder to show the girl being literally hung around the neck.

Amanda acted as the girl again so that we could position her in different ways and find out which angle would gain the most realism whilst also picking a tree that wasn't too high up and would cause any accidents.

To the left is a shot we aim to use to show her feet dangling, although we then agreed it might be better if we ask our actress to hang onto the branch and lift her feet up for a few seconds, enabling us to film her feet properly and not to give away the fact she is so close to the ground, so we would aim to remove the very bottom of the tree out of the shot.

Here is a practice shot using the same tree as before, which is very effective because we can see she is high up due to the branches and the forest much lower down in the shot. The fact we can see lots of branches behind the girl (Emma Winn) gives an effect of it looking more realistic and busy. 

Also, we have chosen this certain area in Pickhurst Recreation Grounds as it secluded and quite empty, but shows the mass of trees behind it. It shows that when the victim (Izzie Latimore) runs away from the girl (Emma Winn), she will be running into the trees and have no means of escaping. From the rope we used, we found out we needed a dark colour to contrast with the white sky and be more visible. We also want our rope to be thicker to make our shot more effective. The colour of the sky is perfect against the trees as it will bring out the colour of the girls face and make it stand out. The thick rope will also be the first thing seen by the audience, creating the correct atmosphere, shocking them and drawing them in to our opening sequence.