Filming the Experimental Film

When Alex and I had our one-on-one tutorials with Debbie we were advised not to film our locations in a student accommodation as this was a generic setting many people have used in the past. We agreed that it would be better to find a more suitable location that represented the idyllic kitchen scene in our piece; to signify that the character was in his mid 20s-mid 30s rather than a student character appearing in a student film.

 

Shooting the morning routine in the kitchen - Harrogate 

After thinking a lot about who we could possibly ask to film in their kitchen we found that the most accessible location would be my mum's house in Harrogate. As this is only an hour train journey away we decided to choose a day to travel to film the required scenes. I was aware that the kitchen was a well-lit and spacious environment therefore satisfied with filming here rather than finding a location that we were not as familiar with. From the feedback we received from Debbie in the one-on-one tutorials we realised that our scenes needed to be filmed in a location with some bright colours and lighting in order to signify an optimistic and perfect life; yet hiding a dark secret similarly to the connotation of the bright colours represented in Blue Velvet. 

We didn’t have any technical problems while filming our morning routine in Harrogate and both shared the role for different scenes. For the scene where the character washes his face; yet still hiding his identity with his hands, Alex suggested we film through a close up shot so that the running water is the main object while the hands are only seen in the middle and the top of the frame. Later in the day, I suggested to Alex that we attempt to film the scene with the mug being pulled from the cupboard at a different angle. We placed the camera behind the mug inside the cupboard so that the audience view the scene while still hiding the character’s identity. Although our train home had been delayed by 30 minutes during rush hour, we experienced a smooth day filming for our morning routine.

 

Alleyway in Sheffield

For the scenes focussing on the argument we decided to film back in Sheffield as we were more aware of where abandoned alleyways were nearby the university rather than venturing around Leeds or Harrogate unsure of our surroundings. We filmed the dramatic scenes within a day without any technical difficulties. We were lucky to film while the weather was cloudy and not affecting our shots. We were satisfied with the smooth process of the filming, with Alex and Oliver Guy acting as the two characters, as the scenes we had filmed were similar to the initial ideas we created within our storyboards.