Health and Safety

Planned location

The planned location of the filming location is EN5 2BQ, outside the Barnet football ground stadium. The filming shot will be in the alleyway behind the football stadium in order to avoid noise from cars and passing by people.

Identified Risk

The identified risk of the location is namely the road width as the cars can only go up the road one way, making filming an issue as it  would need to be stopped in order to let the cars pass.

Another health and safety issue is that the area has a lot of smashed glass on the floor and a lot of foliage at the bottom of the road, although it is unlikely we will film that far down. The other potential risk in needles on the floor.

Health and safety officer: Jess Achempong

Action plan to avoid risk: To avoid infection or injury on any of the cast and crew, none of the glass or needles will be touched and all cast members will wear shoes they feel comfortable moving in so they are less likely to hurt themselves.

The location is close to a medical facility, the St John's Ambulance building, allowing easy access to Barnet Hospital, should it be needed,

Location

The location  is outside Barnet football stadium at EN5 2BQ, these are some pictures of the filming location.  Though I may use further down the road if needed in order to give a heightened sense of suspense through longer shots.

Casting choice

Casting choice

Characters

The two characters of my film opening is the mugger, who is silent, though receives more screen time, and the mysterious woman who defends herself against the man in a surprising turnaround. She is the only character with speaking lines at the end and is given much more of a character through her unseen phone conversation with the other speaker on the phone.

The mugger is given the most screen time through his role as apparent protagonist, though this is revoked through his lack of personality and hidden facial features paired with aggressive body language.

Cast

I have decided to have Ayushi playing the woman as she is able to kick properly given her experience in martial arts and her reliability. I have also decided t give her creative freedom in her costume for health and safety reasons so that she feels comfortable when kicking out.

I have casted Rachel Smith as the mugger as she is reliable and a taller height to Ayushi, allowing the action to look as though it has more impact and to make the character more intimidating.

Both were ideal for the roles as they have drama experience at GCSE and are currently doing it at A level.

Opening title sequence Storyboard and costume

Here is the storyboard for my opening sequence, it currently depicts the two characters and does not give too much narrative to the story, although adds in the theme of subverting from stereotypes, as shown by how the opening ends. Despite the lack of narrative being used as a criticism, I feel as though it will add to the mysterious nature of the main character.

As a side note, though it is important to get across the feminine stereotype, I have decided to let the actress playing my lead to choose the footwear as I want her to be comfortable kicking. Also, a bandanna or balaclava will be used to partially cover the muggers face, although I feel it would be more appropriate to use the bandanna as it will look less threatening as we are filming in a public area and will also allow for key expressions to come across.

Experience filming

Experience Filming

Difficult Aspects

One of the most difficult aspects of the filming process was giving clear direction to the actresses as I found it hard to clearly explain what I wanted them to do. This resulted in multiple retakes, though the excess footage can be manipulated into the title sequence as separate shots that I may use to incorporate the more important titles.  A drawback on the rainy weather was that I had to have my health and safety officer Jess hold an umbrella over the camera to avoid any water damage.

Easy Aspects

The location surprised me as despite having lots of cars in some shots, the lack of people made the shots feel more ominous and helped to emphasise the lonely aspects of the alleyway, making the scene feel much more isolated.  Another thing that I felt was a success was the light rain that had fallen on the location that day as it made the ground outdoors more reflective in some areas, making the lighting look a higher quality in some areas.  I also felt as though the slight rain made the opening have a much heavier atmosphere, helping to link in to the idea of subversion.