As I had mentioned in a few previous blogs, I ended up having to re-film a few clips that I just was not happy with from the original shoots. Of course, I didn’t HAVE to re-film anything but I didn’t want to put out some shots I wasn’t happy with whilst knowing I could do so much better than that. I filmed around 7 shots from my original shot list and also added a few more ‘filler’ shots of blood dripping down the walls etc to add a more disturbing element to my dream sequence. I filmed these new shots because I felt that, overall, my short film was feeling a little tame, and I didn’t want to make something tame and boring, I want to create something interesting, creepy and creative. Although this blog probably won’t be as detailed as my other filming blogs, as both of them (day 1 and 2) included much of the same information, I wanted to discuss some changes I may have made this time around to improve the shots I had originally.

Re-filmed shots: First of all, in terms of my equipment and resources, I used pretty much the same stuff this time as I did last time, the only difference between the first shoot and the re-shoot, was that I had to film during the day as this time I didn’t have the same luxury of time as I did before. However, I still used the same settings on my camera (night-mode and sometimes manual, I’m assuming thats what the big M stands for anyway) and I didn’t bother with the use of my ring light as I barley used it while filming at night so I knew I wouldn’t need it whilst filming during the day. Because I was filming during the day, I knew I would have to edit the clips quite a bit in post-production to make every shot and scene match and seem cohesive and as if they were all the same shoot. I will talk about this more in detail once I get round to writing my more detailed editing blogs, but I knew it would involve colour grading and/or some kind of filters, so I was prepared for the shots to look different and to have to spend a little more time on them in post.

Pretty much all of the shots I re-filmed, I re-filmed for the same reason, when I was first shooting them at night I found it really hard getting the camera to focus for a prolonged amount of time, I tried both auto and manual focus but it was difficult both ways. And, although, I am using some of the focus issues to my advantage and using them as if it was a stylistic choice, there were some shots where that ‘style’ just didn’t work. Since this time around I was filming in the day time and so had more light my camera seemed to be focusing a lot better, I don’t quite know why this happened as I am still not a professional on this camera but regardless it was an issue that was easily fixed and so it could have been a lot worse.

Brand new shots: There isn’t much interesting to say about this shoot other than if anyone ever goes in our cellar we’re f****d. I, again, switched between the same setting on my camera, didn’t use a ring light and just relied on the natural lighting in the cellar as well as the ONE light down there. I didn’t know quite what angles I wanted for these shots but I knew I wanted shots of blood being splattered on the walls and spilt on the floor, as well as a shot of one of my cult members, aka my lovely mummy, holding a knife dripping in blood. So, I went down to the cellar with a bottle of fake blood and made it look like a saw movie. I am honestly so so pleased with these clips and, although only short and not too many of them, I think they will add an element to my short films nightmare sequence that was definitely missing before.

Now, I could add in a screenshot or two of these shots, but I don’t believe in spoilers and since the deadline is only a week away and I am one editing session away from finished, I think I’ll leave it all to the imagination … or at least until my editing blog on Monday that will explain all the ins and outs of my short film and how I made such a masterpiece *fingers crossed*.