Second day filming

Today was our second day of filming on location in Croydon at Shannen’s house where we were filming our Paranormal Activity spoof trailer. This section was going to be the highlight and most humours part out of our sketch show so we had to make it as silly and alike to Paranormal Activity as we could.

Props for the filming included:

-       - Black sheet- this was to stop the daylight from coming through the windows

-       - Superman pyjama bottoms- This was part of the costume for the ghost which were purposely        being shown

-      - White sheet- iconic white sheet for the ghost with drawn on eyes

-      - Daisy the Dog

As it was all going to be filmed in night vision mode we had to take into consideration the natural day light that was coming into the room we were filming in as it was going to affect the lighting of the footage.  To prevent this we bought a black sheet to cover the windows with, it looked quite messy but as it was a spoof things like this didn’t matter and took the seriousness of the trailer away. 

Scene one:

Our first scene we filmed was where the door slowly opens, suspense for 5 seconds and Daisy the dog was lifted up to the camera in a close up.  It took around six takes to get Daisy to look directly into the camera which was the problem working with animals.  The camera angle we used was tilted just like the trailer. We took this idea from the original trailer where a face appears, not a dog. To slowly open the door we used a dressing gown rope which we attached to the handle and made it obvious to the audience it was being used. As this is the first scene the audience will see it instantly gives them a sense of humour and sets the atmosphere for the rest of the trailer as they can compare it to the original Paranormal trailer and see the connections.  To make the suspense even more gripping before we reveal the dog, music will be added in the editing suite.  

 

This is the doorway image from the Paranormal film. This is what we wanted to achieve and we did. To build suspense music will be added to then reveal Daisy.

Scene two:

Originally we were going to have Shannen on Skype talking to Lucy asking her to come over as she’s hearing strange noises however we couldn’t find a way of filming this as Lucy wasn’t actually going to be acting in this scene. I came up with the solution of Lucy calling the house phone and them having the conversation, this helped Shannen know her queues of her lines and worked well.  We filmed Shannen’s conversation in a close-up (CU) shot where the audience will be able to connect with her thought process and ‘fear’ in the scene which is central to the narrative.  We took two shots of her leaving the room-  One with the camera still filming the empty bed she was sat on as she left to call her mum and another where we filmed her leaving the room. Looking back on the footage the lighting in the second shot is a lot darker. We will have to find a solution to this when editing. 

This is an image from the Paranormal Activity 4 film. She is talking on webcam, this was the style we were aiming for. We achieved this close up shot with Shannen talking on the phone. 

Scene three:

I had this idea from the Paranormal film where the characters are literally thrown around by the poltergeists. This is one of my favourite clips as it really does mock the film. We have Shannen sleeping in bed where the ghost appears from the side of the bed and lightly pushes her so she rolls off the side of the bed. This was one of the scenes we had to concentrate on doing as quickly and as good as possible as we were losing day light which was evident on camera as the clip was a lot darker compared to the rest. We filmed it on a medium long shot (MLS) where we captured both characters and the surroundings in full view. 

 This is the image where the poltergeists throw/move people around the room in the film. This is a similar idea to what we did where the ghost pushes Shannen off the bed. Again ours is supposed to look unrealistic as it is a spoof. 

Scene four:

This scene wasn’t planned but worked so well we are including it into our spoof. Shannen hand held the camera as she hurried through the house with it directly in her face in a close up. We wanted to have it handheld so it gave the effect she was scared and needed to talk to someone- the camera/audience.  It also gave the scene a spooky feel to it as it was so unsteady, just like in the film, until the ghost is ‘accidently’ caught sitting behind her in the shot when she’s asking where her dog is. This went really well and had it in one shot. 

Following on from this we have a medium shot (MS) of the ghost walking into the room to crouch down and tickle the dog’s belly. This worked so well and looks really humorous. Hopefully it will come across that way to the audience.

To have as much footage as possible we filmed extra clips which will eventually break up the scene’s in the trailer. These included: 

-       -Establishing shots of the empty house. Hall way, stairs.

-       -The ghost waving on CCTV outside

-       -The ghost knocking on the window 

Luckily Shannen has CCTV in her house, we used this to our advantage as a lot of CCTV point of view shots (POVS) are used in the original film.