Progress Update- Re-filming the execution of Frank Myers (9th October 2012)

Today I re-filmed the shots of the execution of Frank Myers, the main suspect in my 5 minute short film (played by Lewis Pickering, as before, the scene was filmed in the drama studio at De Aston. However, as the actress who previously played the executioner (Sophie Clarke) becoming unavailable at the last minute, I chose a new executioner from among the members of our class (Kane Guichard). I chose Kane because he, like Sophie before him, was enthusiastic about the role and already had a suitable costume, (a black hooded jacket) which enabled us to start filming as promptly as possible. I decided to make a few adjustments to the various shots that I had decided to re-take. The first major change was the lighting used. In the initial footage, the light stayed at it's highest setting, however, in this shoot I decided to make the lights flicker. This increases tension, and as tension is a typical convention of film noir style/detective films, I think this works well. I had to ask a volunteer (Will Davidson) to help me with this as I was operating the camera and could not perform both tasks at once. (I also required help with the shooting of the second scene as it required a low-angle hand held shot, and, due to the fat that I use a wheelchair, I was unable to perform this task, and as such, I required the assistance of another volunteer-James Quinlan. I did however, direct James as to where I wanted the camera to be positioned and how I wanted the scene to be framed etc.)

Another change I made in the re-shooting of the execution scenes is the positioning of the camera. Initially the camera was positioned to Lewis' right in the first scene and his left in the second. In this shoot, the camera stayed to the right of the suspect (played by Lewis) for both scenes. This was because in the initial shooting of the scenes, the camera, there was some modern artwork on the walls which was accidentally brought into shot, also there is a modern aesthetic patch on the left sleeve of Lewis' jacket which was shown in the second shot when the camera is to his left side.

Overall, I think the filming went very well, and I am especially fond of the lighting effects used in both scenes as they greatly increase the tension of the scenes, and as such keep the audience 'on the edge of their seats'.

The executioner, played by Kane Guichard