CDM 348
Recreating Movie Scenes
Shaun of the dead
In this unit, we were tasked with planning and carrying out a single camera shoot in the form of a scene recreated from an actual film/tv series. For our recreating scenes unit of our course for boom satsuma, we all decided to choose "The plan" from "shaun of the dead", as there are a variety of unique shots and camera movements. these will be challenging to film, but we can achieve this by breaking down each shot on to a shot list, which details every element. We were also intrigued by Edgar Wright's reason that he directed Shaun of The Dead and how he wanted to show the power of friendship in a zombie apocalypse film, with the added humour embedded in a romantic genre. In addition to Edgar Wright's idea behind the film, generally he likes to use quick cuts as you will see and he typically uses a montage, which is what we will be having to use in our recreation, as the whole of the plan scene is basically a montage of how the plan will go ahead and as there are voice overs, the plan is playing, showing what they will do, like "save mum" or "kill Phillip".
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What we will be recreating:
The Brief
For our brief, we have been asked to create a recreation of a scene from a popular film/series. We have watched many examples of different recreations and my group have decided on filming a section from "Shaun of the dead" as the film has a really entertaining part, where they go over "The plan" and in this section, there are loads of different shots and camera movements, which really give this film a complicated side to film. Additionally, we would need to film a lot of acting as well, so i opted to cast as Ed(nick frost) and harry wilton as shaun, the protagonist, which is ironic as wilton wouldn't need to act that much in this scene, To make sure we say the right lines, i have printed off a copy from the exact scene and a shooting script for exact camera movements with a detailed description.
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we also need to make sure that we put a lot of time into pre-production as we need a lot of preparation, ready for acting. So an example of how we would go about doing this, would be to do some blocking/rehearsing the scene. We are filming 13-17th of November, so we need to get pre-production done as much as we possibly can in a week. for part of our pre-production we have been asked to publish a shot list individually, where we list: what camera shot type we would include, movements of actors and handheld camera movements. So that we are ready on the filming days, we have created a kit list, which details things that we require, such as: cameras, SD cards, tripods etc. Last time for our advertisement, we missed out a tripod for the kit list(luckily wilton had one at home), so this time for our kit list, we made sure to include every bit of equipment needed for the days that we film. We have multiple locations for shoot, so our shooting script will come in handy for an efficient way of filming. To make sure that our filming schedule is effective, we have presented out each shot into a shooting script, which works really well as our first couple of shots are based in one location and the next few shots are based somewhere completely different, such as Wilton's house, rather than Panter's house.
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recreating movie scenes involves watching other people's work, so that we can get an idea of how we should go about filming a swede for example. Swedes are quite helpful in situations where you can't really recreate a certain shot. For example, there is a shot for the scene we want to recreate, where there is a car, that is travelling to Phillip's house. So instead of thinking of multiple ways of going about filming this shot, we could just print off a photo of a car and stick it onto a stick and move it around. This is obviously super odd, but people have a laugh watching this type of stuff, as it is cheesy.
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for the production aspect of this unit, we will follow on from our shooting script to see the order of each shot for when we start filming. However, we shouldn't start filming straight away once we are on set as things could go wrong fast. We should start with blocking, in which we track our movements for when filming. Each actor would then understand where they should move and how they should react. This also benefits the camera operator as they would know what shot type to use and how the camera should pan/whip or tilt with the corresponding shot type.
Pre-Production
Shot List:
We all started with an individual shot list document. Look below for reference and click on the button - "Shot List", to view the whole original document.
Recreating scenes allows us to easily look at each shot from the actual scene from the film and decipher between all of the camera angles, shot types and camera movements. In my case, I went onto figuring out how we will go about recreating these shots and how they were initially structured, so I could then practise with those shots, ready for when we actually film this recreation.
Shooting Script:
Our shooting script allows us to shoot in an effective way, so we don't film over multiple days. From this example, we have included what shot it is for each section and a brief description which covers camera movements, actor movements and what shot type it would have to be. For the dialogue/blocking section, we have mentioned how the scene would look with each character. Each shot has been analysed from the original shot lists that my group have written out.
From this part of our shooting script, we have listed that for shot 8 and 33, we would want a wide-shot of the car driving away, as the camera slowly pans to the left. Additionally, for shot 1 we had to approach a more complicated outlook, as this shot has multiple shot types and movements. For example, I detailed that there would be handheld movements, where the camera starts with a close-up on Ed and then the camera pulls back slowly until it reaches an overhead shot from Shaun, which is facing directly towards Ed. As you can also see, we have typed, that this shot would take place at Harry Wilton's house because that is where we want to film the first few shots and possibly using his driveway.
Recces:
As per usual, a recce is needed, so that we know where each facility is, such as toilets and any nearby hospital in case of emergency. 2 recces are needed for my group as we would need to know 2 area's nearby accessibilities. For our group, that includes Harry Panter and Harry Wilton.
Risk Assessments:
Like for every unit, we have to complete a risk assessment that goes over what risks there are in the environment for filming. If there are any potential risks, we would type them up just like in the image above and give an index from 1 to 5, which is dependant on how much of a risk it is. Since we will be filming on a street, many cars will be going by and so risks like this are added to the risk assessments, especially as we will be going to two different places in and out.
Kit List:
Kit Lists are needed ready for the filming days, so we have informed that we would like cameras, batteries etc. As you can see from the props, we would use flour for a white face and this is needed for the shot where Phillip (Going to be played by Jordan) gets hit by a shovel and bat, but for a zombie effect, we need flour, which should work quite well.
Plans:
Click on the buttons to view the full presentation
Using a floor plan helps actors out when they want to know where they need to move or where the camera should move when it needs to pan or tilt for a certain shot. Using photoshop i generated a floor plan and overlayed some icons for each object that would match the scene from "the plan", such as where the camera should be positioned and where the chairs should be located. Floor plans also help our shoot to be efficient as we know before hand where we need to move with the camera and how each scene develops. I wouldn't do this for all of the scenes as it wouldn't really work for every shot as we would be able to quickly rehearse those shots and do them without looking at a plan.
Production
How did the day go? -
Our first day of filming was quite a disaster as we initially thought that the weather was going to be great as the forecast showed that it wouldn't be awful, but on the day it was raining so badly that we had to protect the camera with an umbrella, which was a bit annoying as we had to have someone holding the camera and someone else holding the umbrella, so that the camera wouldn't get water damaged. In the end, this worked pretty well, but my group decided that the shots would ultimately look more pleasing on a good weather day. So, for these first couple of shots, we filmed them two days later and there were no problems, as on that Friday, we got all of the other shots we needed in addition. However, another problem occurred on Friday, as Harry Wilton came to the shooting spot without a battery for the camera, which eventually wasn't a big problem as his house wasn't that far at all, especially as he went on Jordan's bike.
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Additionally, some shots actually took a few takes, as for example, I forgot to take my coat off for one shot otherwise, it would be a continuity error, or some takes would be tilted too slow and even camera unnecessary movements. After taking the shots correctly, they looked really well crafted, as when comparing them to the actual version from the film, the miming and camera movements/blocking, were all correct and even the lighting looked perfect. This all showed evident, when over looking all of the shots in post production. My team's co-ordination was efficient as we all knew what we were doing, such as setting up equipment, being a camera operator or rehearsing. Because of this, we managed to crack on immediately and get everything set up. Thanks to Jordan, we had a gimbal all set up, as Jordan was really only the person who knew about gimbals, as he was shown how to set it up by Simon.
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In my opinion, this scene was filmed very well in the end, as every shot is correctly filmed in link with the actual film and all of the miming was all in sync as well. Even though the first day of filming had a few issues, I think that we have that as an opportunity to future proof our next units.
The Final Version:
How did we recreate shots?:
Recreating shots was challenging and because we picked "The Plan" from "Shaun of the dead", it was inevitably going to be more challenging, as we would have to overcome the variety of: camera movements, pans, tilts and the use of lighting in different circumstances. The way we went about filming these shots proved accurate to the actual scene. For example, we needed to have blood on the shovel we needed to use and blood on Harry Wilton, who plays as Shaun. So, Harry Wilton brought in fake blood, which looked very real and we applied the fake blood onto the shovel and Wilton's shirt. There is a behind the scenes shot as well of Wilton applying the fake blood. Additionally, for the shots on the sofa, we needed a cup of tea to give off some steam, but we couldn't really get this shot that well, so the tea was vaped on an for some reason, it looked just as though the tea was really hot - giving off all that steam.
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Matching facial expressions with the actual scene was difficult as well, due to u failing to correct the camera movements - we did nail the expressions but we did get annoyed sometimes when the camera failed at recording us. To make sure that we were in sync for every shot, we brought an i-pad with us, in which we got up the actual scene from shaun of the dead and as we were miming the words, the i-pad was playing the footage in the background.
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The person who directed Shaun of the dead was Edgar wright and he thought that the zombie genre has the "capacity to support all genres". He said that the film "morphed into a romantic comedy" with zombies and this sub-genre is really unique a you would never find a film that is both a zombie related film that is a comedy and it's also romantic.
Behind The Scenes:
Whilst filming our rehearsal shots for the recreation of Shaun of the dead, we managed to film some behind the scenes, where we would show how we set up each shot and what people were doing to get in position for blocking. The video above showcases the behind the scenes for filming the exterior shots such as: Running to the door, running away from zombies and the waving shot. Some of these shots didn't really take that long due to our group's efficiency at rehearsing each shot.
My top 5 Favourite recreate shots:
1.) This shot surprisingly didn't take that long to shoot as we were all quick at getting set up and ready. We managed to perfectly sync this shot with the real one and my favourite part of this shot was the point where the camera zooms onto Harry Wilton and he winks at the camera, which breaks the fourth wall and makes the whole shot unique. It reflects the fact that Shaun is referring to the plan and directly showing the audience that his plan will work through his facial expression, which Harry perfectly pulled off.
2.) For the "killing Phillip" shot, Jordan was willing to actually get his face covered in flour, so that he could resemble a zombie and this worked really well, but the kitchen did get a little messy, as you will find out from the behind the scenes footage. Even filming this shot was excellent, as Jordan turned around as quick as the actual footage. The difficult part of this shot was the lighting, as the natural lighting was good, but we still needed a fill light, which was complicated to use with natural lighting as they were combatting each other.
3.) For my third favourite shot from the scene, I really like the "saving Mum and Liz" shot, as Harry Wilton was given the opportunity to carry Harry Panter and this was very amusing when filming an it's even more funny, when you remember that Harry Panter is playing as Liz. This shot was pretty difficult, since me and Tilly had to cross paths and let Wilton and Panter go first before us. In the end, this shot looked and worked to our expectations.
4.) When figuring out how we were going to get a shot of a no parking sign, we thought of getting a piece of cardboard from a cereal box and taping it to a post, but what accidentally occurred which was pretty funny, was the fact that we couldn't fit the "G" on the cardboard so we put an apostrophe instead, so it's a little easter egg for the audience. In addition to this, so that we could get the shot to look as though there is a car passing the sign, we quickly moved an umbrella across the camera, so nobody would know and this worked so well.
5.) My final favourite for my top 5 shots has to go to the handheld movements shot, which was filmed using a gimbal and this shot was filmed accurately and actually took a few tries as the camera had to pan and tilt at certain points. What is unique about this shot is the fact that Ed is sat in the chair and Shaun is stood up, which emphasises that Shaun is the leader and the one in control, whereas Ed is the one that is being lead by Shaun and the one who asks stupid questions that get nowhere.
Post Production
How Was The Editing?:
Overall, the editing was quite difficult than expected as we initially thought that all you would have to do was place our recreation shots over the original scene from the film, but this was not the case, as we eventually found that syncing the footage we filmed with the actual scene proved to be challenging sometimes and the way we would go about solving this issue, was by tediously cutting the original film scene and match the time frame and to then also grab other footage and put them back near the footage that was cut.
Some shots wouldn't be in sync because of the colour of some shots, as they wouldn't look the same colour-wise with the actual scene's footage/shots. To correct this, I went into the colour grading tab in Premiere Pro and clicked onto 'Comparison View', which allowed me to view both the actual scene from the film and our recreation. This was efficient in the fact that I could simply click on the Apply match button', when I had found our shots which needed corrected in Lumetri colour.
Screen Recording of Timeline:
As you can see here, I have uploaded a screen recording of my timeline and have went through the post-production aspect of this unit, in which I have stated the processes I have done to match clips together and get them synced, or how I have used colour correction to match the colour and make the shots exact. Overall, using a screen recording of my timeline is another great way to convey my post-production abilities and how I have improved on editing, with the use of colour correction in lumetri controls and using an adjustment layer to apply modifications to multiple shots.
Evaluation:
From looking at the final version of this remake from a scene from Shaun Of The Dead, I feel that we have learnt a lot from our Advertising unit and this is definitely evident. For example, last time when filming at The Mana House, we didn't really perform great at the blocking aspect before filming, so it wouldn't look as we would want it to look. In terms of the variety of our recreation compared to the advertisement, we have improved so much, as our shot types were excellent, with the tilts, pans and handheld movements. In addition to all of this, we have also learnt that each shot takes a long time to shoot, as we had took a lot of shots, so each one would look in sync exactly to the actual film scene. As you have read from my account of what the day was like, we had encountered a disaster on the first day of filming where it was raining constantly. To combat the rain, we persisted as we used an umbrella to protect the camera from water damage. This worked really well and the camera never picked up any rain. However, we later decided to re shoot this particular scene on Friday- our second day of filming.
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Next time from looking at the final version, I now understand that we need to focus on a better shooting schedule next time as we lacked efficiency for the aspect of shooting shots in the most effective way, without taking up too much time or going back and fourth. So, to improve for next time we should get together as a group and focus on which shots should go next to each other and make sure that they are placed in an appropriate order. Subsequently for our next unit, we should then be able to shoot every single shot that we require with much more time to spare.
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In the editing stage of my recreation, I found that getting all of the shots to sync up with the actual scene was quite challenging and I had to re upload the YouTube video, because at one shot I failed to sync the clip. After I went trough thoroughly and checked colour correction, I found that my editing skills were much improved as I could easily fix clips in seconds and my colour correction has improved as Harry Panter went through how to apply matches in the lumetri controls.
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To sum up, the reason that we chose Shaun of the dead was the fact that it was challenging to our skills and this really shows how we have improved from the advertising unit to now a full remake of a scene from an actual film, that has a variety of shot types and camera movements. I hope that our next unit will follow on from my improvements for next time.