Filming Blog: Final Day- Search and Garage Scenes

    Our last day of filming was finally here! Today is the day we film Marissa looking for Riley and Riley being found in the garage. For this, Marissa and Riley had gone out and bought some supplies we would need for this day. The supplies included fake blood and rope. The previous day, I had gone out to Party City in search of a fake kitchen knife, but all they had in stock were medieval daggers and pirate swords, so I went to the baking section instead and bought a plastic cake knife which I painted grey and black and sealed it with mod podge when I got home. 

We all moved to the bathroom where Marissa would look for Riley behind the shower door. I wanted to film this scene in a certain way, where the camera would be inside the shower, slightly showing what is past the door of the shower, and then Marissa would open the shower door. To do this, I gave my phone to Riley since I didn’t feel right standing in their shower. I definitely wouldn’t want anyone but myself standing inside my personal shower at home. I realized that it was a bit difficult to make it obvious that it was the bathroom, so I had Riley additionally film a short clip of Marissa walking into the bathroom from behind that would then switch to the clip that Riley filmed of her opening the shower curtain. I had Marissa stand slightly to the side so that I would have room to put a title card next to her. 

We then moved to Mackena’s room where I laid on the ground to film from under the bed. For this shot, I wanted the camera to already be under the bed, showing a title card as Marissa’s head pokes out from the top when she looks for Riley. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, and we had to move some things out of the way, but we got the shot of Marissa walking in, getting down on her knees, and looking under the bed. 

    To add some variety, the next scene was to be of Marissa looking for Riley outside. We all we outside onto her patio to have Marissa walk around and yell out for her, since we wanted to add more digetic sound. I originally didn't like the idea of having her put her hand on her head like a visor as a gesture for searching around because I thought it was a bit stereotypical and cheesy, but without it, I felt like she just looked lost, so we decided to keep it in. This was filmed from the front as Marissa did a spin and called out Riley's name. 

    Back inside, I then filmed Marissa entering through the door, shutting the door behind her and saying her line, “Riley where are you? Its been half an hour this isn't funny anymore.” The following scene was the scene everyone was anxious to film. For this scene, we wanted there to be a scream and a bang off-screen, but we weren't sure if we wanted to add those as sound effects or have Riley actually scream. Riley ended up actually screaming and we created the bang by dropping a backpack on the ground in the garage so that it sounded far away. We were initially considering clapping our hands or banging a pot and spoon together, but we thought that bag would sound more realistic and more specific to the situation.  

    Next, I filmed Marissa running around the corner to the garage door and looking into the open laundry room door. I stood right outside the door in the hallway to catch Marissa running into frame, then twisting the track her looking into the open door. This is where I will then put the flashback of Riley and Mackena playing hide and seek in the room. Prior to this is when we had set up the bloody door by putting a towel over the garage floor and flinging the fake blood all over it.

    We then had to prepare for the next scenes which would use the garage. Riley had to go outside and move her car out of the driveway so that Mackena could get in her car and move it out of the garage. While they were doing this, Marissa and I got the rope and moved a chair from inside the house to the garage. We had Riley sit down in the chair once she was back, and loosely tied her up and put some blood here and there. We then went and retrieved the fake knife that I had painted to eliminate the risk of using a real one. 

    To pick up where this scene left off, Marissa stopped outside of the garage door, and I walked over behind her to get another over-the-shoulder shot as she slowly opens the door. I made sure again to leave some space on the screen to put the title card. In our storyboard, we were planning to have Marissa go up to the attic door and pull it open, but we quickly realized this wouldn’t work since their attic was in their garage, and it wouldn’t look right if she was shown going up the attic ladder only for the next scene to be her back in the garage where Riley was tied up and waiting. 

    I then stepped to the other side of the door and filmed Marissa as she opened up the door and put on a shocked face and screamed. 

    Next was the bottom-to-top reveal of Mackena. I had her stand a bit far to the left, so she had room to walk forwards. I started really low filming at her feet and followed her, moving the camera up, as she walked behind Riley’s chair, and I moved backward a bit to expand the frame and show both Riley and Mackena. 

    I then positioned myself for a close up shot of Mackena holding the knife saying “Now it’s your turn,” just below her nose, and then had her walk right towards me and into the camera. My goal with this was to have a smooth and dramatic transition to the black screen showing “directed by” by having her walk into the camera so that it goes black. 

And just like that, we were done! I’m so excited to edit this all together and get to see the final product. Hopefully, it’s close to the vision in my head!