We had planned to meet our actors at the studio at 9.30 so before hand we went to fetch all the props we would need to prepare the set (e.g chemistry set, police costumes, police props, cardboard boxes, curry powder and flour). We moved all the props up to the containers we used for a set and started unloading them of their contents. Unfortunately, this took longer than expected and we couldn't actually start setting up the table with the lab gear until around 9.30 so we couldn't start shooting on schedule.
We put some time into making the drug table looking good because we decided that a realistic and on-the-go picture of drug production would be visually pleasing for an audience with an interest in the gritty grimy side of criminal business. We had originally planned to have the entire criminal gang leaving the car and entering the containers but found that the lab set wouldn't make sense without someone working there. We therefore had Ollie stitting in the container at the table already when Ted and Theo come in.
In terms of costume, we had originally planned to have Ted wearing a black shirt with a red tie to make him seem dangerous by evoking the idea of blood and violence, a common feature in action thrillers. However, we found that the shade of red wasn't quite right and didn't make him look as dangerous as we thought it would. We decided that less was more and got him to just wear the black shirt with the top button undone, which ultimately was far more affective.
We started shooting at around 10.40. Our first shot was of Ted and Theo driving up to the container in the Land Rover, getting out of the car and carrying the boxes to the container all in one wide shot. We decided to take another shot of just the Land Rover staying still but with the engine running so that we could use the sound if needs be. While we had originally wanted close ups of the car doors opening and generally faster cuts, we decided to keep this shot running smooth to show how this is habitual for them. We also wanted to create a contrast with the police scene which would have more energy from faster cuts.
We got a shot of Theo and Ted opening the container in order to make our thriller a little more interesting. Then, we turned the camera toward Ollie working at the table and had a medium wide shot of him looking up at the doors opening. In the same shot we had Theo coming in and placing his box on the floor, Ted walking towards Ollie and smack him around the back of the head, Ted leaving and Ollie looking up at Theo saying, 'Again?' and Theo then following Ted out of the container before Ollie resuming his work at the table. We then experimented with different types of shots because we didn't think the medium wide shot alone would be enough to let the audience engage with the characters. We took a closer medium shot, followed by a close up on the table with the hat falling on it, a closer shot of Ted hitting Ollie. We then went outside to take a low shot of Ted and Theo's feet as they got out of the container. We thought this shot would be good to use after the scene where the police fail to catch them to show their power.
We then called the two actors playing 'lazy' police and showed them to their BMW. We set the car up with a coffee flask and a tin of biscuits. We took the first shot of them from a difference for an establishing shot. We asked the actors to add lib and just chat. We then took a middle shot of the actor who was meant to be signalling the other police to go, asking them to add lib again but for the closer police to shout 'go go go' on into a walkie talkie when signalled. We then took another shot of the same action sequence from the other side of the car. The only problem we sometimes encountered was that the car was on gravel so whenever someone walked on it we'd have to wait for them to go by because we didn't want to catch the sound. Finally, we took a few close ups of the flask being picked up and the biscuits being picked up because we thought these could be useful in the thriller to create tension.
After a lunch break, we went on to prepare the other container and film the last few shots of police breaking into the 'wrong' container. The first shot we had was a wide shot facing the container with the three raiding police sneaking in from different side of the camera towards the container. In the same shot we had one policemen open the door and then hitting the door in anger at not finding the criminals before walking away. We wanted a medium shot of the same action sequence but we encountered difficulties in continuity because we needed to make sure the police all ended up in the same places when they stopped. It was also a struggle to get them to stop in the right places so that they could all be clearly seen in the shot without blocking any of the action. We solved the problem by marking the floor with leaves so they knew where to go. We then did another shot of the same action sequence from inside the container, much like the previous seen with the criminals.
Finally, we took a few shot in other locations of each of those policemen sneaking. We experimented with different places around the school. We first shot a policeman sneaking around a hedge from a low angle to give the police force a sense of authority. This superiority will hopefully make the audience think the policeman will definitely catch them so that when they don't, it will create a greater impact.
We then took a shot of the head of police (wearing the black uniform) running up the stairs from a high angle. We hoped we would be able to use this shot to add to the fast-moving action of the thriller. We decided to take as many shots as possible so that we would plenty of opportunity to create fast cuts in the final thriller so that we could have a fast-moving and exciting thriller. We took a medium wide of the head of police creeping out from behind an oil tankard and a close up of his face while he creeped past a gate so we could use the shot to create tension. We finished with a shot from behind of the head of police hearing the signal to go on his earpiece before taking a few steps forward, before calling it a wrap.
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