Our First Shoot

On the day of the shoot, our group all arrived at Alice's house for 10am, so we could prepare the lighting, the camera and make sure everything was ready for the actors arriving at 11am and the shoot to start at 12pm. Once the actors arrived, the priority was costume and make up and handing out scripts to make sure they could rehearse their lines and make sure they knew what they were doing.

We took a few photos of our different actors as evidence:



These first pictures show Rakhi, the girl who overdoses in our opening sequence. Her make up was the most difficult, as we had to make her look like she had taken drugs and was looking rough due to them. We used talcum powder to make her look pale and brushed it over her face and shoulders. We then also smudged her make up - eyeshadow and lipstick - to show that she was a bit 'out of it,' and also bought some contacts with dilated pupils for the effect of someone on drugs and to make it look more realistic. We also roughed her hair a bit, so she looked a little more messy and like she really had been at a party.


The top picture below is of our main character. Ella plays the main character and her make up was dark and shadowy to reflect her personality and role in our film/opening sequence. The dark lace dress also represents her personality as quite dark and mysterious, but still feminine.


 The other pictures below, on the right, are of other actors, all part of the party with their make up and general look. Everyone dresses slightly differently and has a different style in order to have a realistic representation of the different types of people who would be at a party.

To keep everyone happy on the day and to make sure they kept focused, so we could get our shoot done within 5/6 hours, we supplied food (pizza, pasta, snacks, etc. ) and drinks to keep them happy so that they could eat when they were not acting.













When actors were not needed for a scene, or few, we let them go and watch T.V. and have a break in order to keep them happy so the day ran as smoothly as possible. We also ensured that for the long point of view shot at the beginning that we practiced it a number of times at the beginning in order to make sure everyone knew exactly what to do and exactly how it was going to work. To make our actors feel more at ease dancing, on top of the dark lighting and the strobe, we also put on some background music, so they felt comfortable dancing and so that the party looked as realistic as possible.

Our opening sequence used a wide representation of teenagers in order to break the stereotype of teenagers that are often in 'cliques' in films. Ours is a mix of different type of people, all at the same party - a much more realistic representation. For example, we had a bit of a tomboy - hair up, no make up, boots on. We also had a rave girl - disco pants, vans, colourful make up and so on.

Overall the day ran smoothly, and we did not have to do a re-shoot involving everybody. Just an extra shoot to shoot the shots of Ella that we had not had time for on the day. Success!