Preparation

There has been a lot of preparation for our film, that has made everything time-consuming and over complicated. However, this is to ensure the location and setting looks good in our film. For example, We have had to purchase toy snakes from IKEA and cut all the labels off. We have had to do a massive clean out of the bedroom being used, and fill it with child-like toys. We have had to make sure the living area is clean and tidy before and after filming, to make it look good for our film, and out of respect for the residents.

Deadline

Our teacher has set a filming deadline to make sure we are all on track and keeping to this projects tight schedule. Ideally, he would like all the filming finished for January, so we have the Christmas holidays to film. This ensures we have enough time to edit and enough time POST-production.

Camera's

We have borrowed a camera from college, but I also have a DV Tape cam-corder at home, and so we can set these up to make sure there is a complete match on action and continuity. We can also experiment with camera angles and compositions, especially in the dream sequence.

Filming Complications

We were planning to film on Sunday, but Curtis and Sam have work. I will be filming the scene on my own, which is fine, it needs to get done! It will be tricky, but there will be help at hand, and we need to get all the outside shots done today.

Filming With Alfie

Tonight, we got some shots of Alfie. We started filming the dream sequence indoors, so the lighting matched up. It was dark outside, so we couldn't film the establishing shot. We got a shot of Alfie reading a book, with all these snakes appearing around him, combining stop-motion, with real-life film. This was very time-consuming and needed two people. Our friend also helped slightly with filming, pressing record and little things to make sure things looked right. We are slowly but surely getting the filming done, it is tricky because we have to do the filming at a weekend when Alfie doesn't have school.

Filming

We filmed another lot of stop-motion with the snake today, as we have a break in college, but Sam had her lesson. Filming, ideally, shouldn't interrupt with other college work, and so far, we can manage with two, however filming will become trickier and we will need three people.

Filming

Today Curtis and I managed to get to the location for filming, and we started on the stop-motion snake in the dream sequence. This was very time-consuming and needed two people, to make sure the footage ran smoothly. However, we realised it wouldn't be a disaster if the footage didn't run too smoothly, as the dream sequence is preferably meant to be abstract.

Coursework Planning

We have now got everything set up for filming, but are trying to negotiate a time for us all to be available to film. We have different college timetables, and different work hours, so have to find a time we can all get together and start filming. We also have to negotiate a time we can use the location, as the house being used is a friends.

Location

We have established a set location for our filming; at a friend's house. This is because the house format is easiest for what we had in mind, and also midway between our homes. The location is perfect, as the bedroom is a boys one, tying in perfectly with our film.

Equilibrium Change

This is how we will use Equilibruim throughout the short film:

1. Equilibrium - Alfie gets home
2. Disequilibrium - Parents aren't there
3. Makes himself at home - turns on telly - 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' is playing, Alfie has underlying fear of snakes
4. Sleeps and dreams a scary dream of imaginary snake chasing him
5. At the end of the dream, Alfie befriends the snake
6. He wakes up and no longer has a fear of snakes