Psycho Re-Revisited
Psycho Re-Revisited, - Making movies module.
THE FIRST TIME
As I have already recreated the shower scene previously in the Access to Higher Education course so I wanted to try a different approach. The first version I made had to be 10 seconds long and show panic somehow. I had the option to do anything I wanted and I chose to recreate Alfred Hitchcock's infamous shower scene. To me this scene fit perfectly with the brief that was given to me.
His editing style works really well with the fast cuts and obscure images shocking the viewer, making you feel as disorientated as you could imagine you would be in her shoes. The sound design is aggressive and calming at the right times whilst perfectly synced to the cuts, literally. The sound of the running water is quite relaxing and helps build up the anticipation acting like a white noise. Maybe it could represent the calm before the storm?
On the day of shooting the actress suddenly backed out. Luckily my brother was on standby, as a last resort. We had previously discussed this as a back up plan if anything was to change.
THIS TIME
This time around we worked as a group. Me, Ryan and Dante. We came to the agreement to recreate the scene from her falling out of the bath and Dante was to do it as the Location was his bathroom. Abiding to the current Coronavirus regulations it worked better with me and Ryan behind the camera anyway to minimise the risk of contamination, passing equipment etc.
Having only one day to plan and shoot was a bit of a struggle, but we managed to construct a simple storyboard (this is pretty much done for us) and dived straight into the filming. We hit a few problems instantly. Filming at floor level and turning to the bed and then to the window in one shot without some sort of stabiliser or cut proved impossible without a terrible shake like something out of The Blair Witch Project. Rafe pointed out to us that there is quite possibly a cut as the camera faces the door exiting the bathroom.
We watched it again and there is. You can see a slight change of tones. If I could change anything I’d cut on the door and reshoot to the newspaper and finally the window. Making the transition a lot smoother.
The shot of the plughole proved to be the hardest to do as it's right in the corner of Dante's bathroom. This meant no matter what angle we held the camera above it, it cast a shadow. I brought a little work light that I use as fill sometimes but it didn't look right in this situation. I think it's too cold plus it wasn't really fitting.
I tried to do the under the shower head shot with the GoPro here. As you can see it didn't really work (I would need to block the middle holes) plus the GoPro isn't a reliable source as it doesn't have anyway of monitoring what you're shooting. Worth a shot though I suppose. It may come in useful for back up POV shots in the future.
Props:
Coffee granules, Newspaper, Lamp.
The coffee granules worked really well as blood. We had to mix some in a cup first then pour it under the running water behind Dante so it would run to the plughole. As the clip is in black and white the fact the coffee was brown didn't matter.
WHAT I LEARNED
Lighting small enclosed spaces is hard to do without casting harsh shadows. (At this stage we didn't have access to equipment) so we had to make do with my Panasonic GH2 and £2.99 worklight.
Pack your equipment the day before and list what you're taking. I forgot the Steadicam and tripod.
Practice first. Take test shots
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