Filming

We did filming for our production on 2 separate occasions – Saturday 7th November and Thursday 26th November. The filming took place at Sophie’s house. This was to make sure that we had everything we needed at hand. Also, we needed to have a setting that would be believable as the son’s bedroom, and this was possible at Sophie’s house.
As we only did two days of filming, we needed to make sure that we used our time effectively. When filming different shots, we repeated them a couple of times – and sometimes from different angles – so that we had more footage to edit, or in case there were any mistakes made. Also, if we would have needed to film shots again, there would be no guarantee that the lighting would be the same.
We tried to film most of the shots as chronologically as we could. However, Gavin was only available to film on one of the days. This meant that we could leave some of the shots without him in them out and film them separately.
Although we had an idea of how we wanted the shots to be framed prior to filming, on the days of filming, we changed our minds. We found that being in the actual situation/setting of the shots of the film changed our perception of different shots and how they should be filmed.
A lot of the shots in the production were filmed using a tripod to keep the frame steady and looking more professional. This being said, there were some shots in the film, e.g. when Gavin is walking down the stairs, which we decided needed to be shot with the handheld camera without the tripod. We thought that this would give the audience the feeling of being more involved in the film, as if they were following Gavin themselves.
For most of the film, the audience are more aware of what has happened than the character of the Mom, in the sense that they see Gavin leaving for the army. Whilst filming, we had to keep this in mind, so that we could make the audience feel like they have the upper hand over the Mom.
Also, whilst scripting and filming the production, we wanted to ensure that the audience connected with the Mom. To do this, we emphasized the isolation of the two characters whilst having the Mom talk to the audience through the voiceover.
All of the shots in the film are set in the daytime, apart from one. To get the effect of daytime progressing into night time without having to film at night, we set the camera up so that we had the shot that we wanted. Then, whilst recording, I slowly pulled the blinds down so that is slowly got darker and darker. We did the same in reverse when we wanted the shot to get lighter.
We made a conscious decision to film in as few different places as possible, so that the audience get the feeling that the Mom is trapped in her own thoughts.