Location Reccie Wilderness Woods

Where and When?

On the 8th of February 2011 our group conducted a location reccie in the Wilderness Woods with the aim of trying new shots and testing the camera and it's capabilities. This would later allow us to distinguish what shots would be achievable and of high caliber.

What was the purpose?

The main purpose of the reccie was to allow the group to test shots and comprehend what we would be able to use for 2 minute opening sequence. It also gave us an opportunity to accustom ourselves to the configurations and tools that the camera did and did not provide.

What did we do and what worked?

We tested out a series of shots that could be applicable to our 2 minute shots. We first of all had a series of basic shots that we needed to accomplish. These were the basic shots that would be expected to be able to be provided by the cameraman and still maintain interest from the audience watching the shots.

Consequently, we incorporated our knowledge, such as: the rule of thirds, cropping or overtly breaking these rules. Most of these shots were easily accomplished, however, I felt that some of the shots could be improved by considering more attentively the framing.

Adding to this, I discovered that a prolonged use of a point of view shot was unsuitable for our opening sequence. The next thing we did was choose three interesting shots. One of these worked especially well. This consisted of a low angle shot of which a person was dragged slowly out of the shot. This was especially suitable for our opening sequence as it was part of the psychological horror genre.

Another shot that we created was taking a close-up shot of someone walking from the side seeing their boots and the ground. This was good as it could be used more subtly used to engage the audience or simply to conceal someone's identity. Easily creating tension in the sequence.

What did not work?

We were generally pleased with the majority of the shots, although, i felt that the conversation shots could be improved. The continuity between the different shots and moving of the camera meant that the acting and imagery looked staggered.

Another attempt to create continuity i felt was unsuccessful because the circling of the characters during the conversation could have created tension but the timing between the different passages of dialogue was too difficult to create an effective sequence of shots.