06/05/2025 Blog

SHOOT WEEK!

Alongside coming back to university after the holidays, this week I filmed the scenes and recorded the audio for Whispering Walls.

The start of the week (Monday 6th January) was the first day of filming. Filming commenced at 1pm, however, myself and crew members arrived onsite 3 hours early to begin setting up equipment, make notices of filming and a refreshment station for all cast and crew. While setting up equipment, I made sure to show the runners how to assemble and level all pieces safely and correctly, should I need an extra set of hands while filming and/or moving equipment around. For the refreshments, hot drinks (tea, coffee etc) and cold drinks (water) were provided. No additional drinks with high sugar factors or carbonation, such as fizzy drinks and energy drinks, were not alloweed while filming. I made this decision, because I wanted actors to have clear speed, when speaking their lines, and crew members to have understandable communication. In addition to refeshments, only light snacks, such as biscuits etc, were provided. This is because more catering would be provided the following shoot day and , unlike if more carbohydrates like sandwiches and crips were available, actors will not be bloated for costume changes. Filming for this day was 13:00pm till 19:00pm, with an hour and a half break in between. The leading actor, Abbie, had certain scenes, that only required her acting present, filmed prior to the arrival of other actors (between 13:00pm and 16:00pm).

The locations in which we shot on, at University Centre Grimsby, were the Open Access Study area, 1st floor corridor, one of the main classrooms and the 1st floor female toilets. Although, due to the timings of the public access and education usage to this building, certain rooms and areas could not be used straight away - hence why the filming extended to 19:00pm. One thing that, unfortunately, wasn't very succesful on this shoot day, was the use of the DIY fake blood. While using it towards the end of the shoot, it didnt not replicate the consistency of blood, but more of a neon red syrup. Additionally, it stained the actor's hands red - which was luckily rescued by using hand sanisizer (rubbing alcohol), soap and warm water. Learning from this mistake abruptly, we decided to use the purchased fake blood, which was more beneficial, for cleaning the set and actors special effects, and realistic.

Overall for this shoot day, I would say it was successful, in achieving the beginniung and ending scenes to the Whispering Walls script. However, the use of makeup and costumes could have been drasticly improved in quality.

The following and final filming date was Tuesday 7th January, on two filming locations! The first location was Regal Activity Centre, Grimsby. This location is modernly used as a retro arcade and airsofting venue. However, the majority of the building is an abandoned cinema, datingh back a few decades. With this being the first location of the day, actors and crew had to arrive on site for 10:00am, so makeup could be done, catering could be set up and equipment could be transported assembled. One large query about this location, was not only the age and derelict features but also, the temperature/lack of heating. Therefore, actors and crew were advised to bring warm clothing (such as jackets, coats and thick layered tops and bottoms), for while they are not required. However, crew members has to make sure that the hi-vis' provided would go over their layers, for safety reasons. Similar to the previous day, catering and refreshments were provided, at a bigger capacity. Sandwiches, snacks and small sweet treats were given out on the hour lunch break, alongside hot drinks to keep actors and crew warm.

An advantage to this location was the buildings personality. Due to the age and abandonment, the location was evident in ageing, dust, cobwebbs and lack in vibrant colour - allowing me to save on set design props. Also, certain areas of the building did lack lighting from the ceiling. This allowed me to use the LED lighting kits more and/or take advantage of the low exposure and experiment with the lenses.

The third and final location for filming Whispering Walls, was at my own residence. Once again, this not only saved on hiring another venue to film, but, it also had a set design identical to what I had envisined for my script. Over the two days, this location shoot was the shortest, due to the minimal scenes in the script and unnecessary need for all actors and all crew. This shoot began at 17:00pm and was completed by 18:30pm. The small space, in comparison to the earlier locations, allowed myself, one actor and one crew member to work calmly and safely.

Looking back at those two shoot days and all the footage and audio gained, compared to my previous projects, I am very happy with what I achived in such a short time frame and, I believe, I have taken footage that is excellent, but can be improved (through colour, lighting and shot size) during post-production.