The shoot - props, costumes, locations and filming

We prepared our requirements for the shoot two weeks beforehand whilst we were still planning what we were going to use.

Props
We had to carefully plan when and where we wanted to use our props as they were essential to the sequence, mainly because most of them had credits on. We did include more props than we expected and removed some that we realised weren't particularly necessary. To make our sequence more realistic, we decided to use a contemporary mobile phone as a prop in one of the establishing shots, as audiences recognise it easily. We also used a coffee cup momentarily in five of the shots to give this effect. The problem we had with our main props (posters with credits) was where to place them at Shad Thames. We soon decided on placing them on walls nearby to each other and we also spaced them evenly. Our other props were the two newspapers with credits. Matt and I used them for most scenes, covering the credits on the establishing shot and then holding them completely out so Jade could get a good view for the camera. We also had to be careful where we going to lob the newspapers as there were puddles and mud scattered across the street, this was for mainly continuity and in case we decided to scrap a shot.

Costumes
The costumes were easy for us to pick out as we already set on having the location of London and we wanted to fit in with the large public there. After researching and using our general knowledge of the area we decided on all of us to wear suits and smart wear to fit in with the commuters around London and to follow what would suit our main character: a man going off to work. Matt went for a different approach and wore a large beige coat with smart trousers as he wanted to subtlely give connotations with his costume that he was hiding something and wanted to look menacing.

Locations
We already had an idea which locations we wanted to use in our sequence as we wanted to give the audience understanding to where the film was set, by filming famous landmarks around London. We filmed at the Tower of London then Tower Bridge and the River Thames for this and also filmed the upcoming 2012 Olympic Stadium to give the audience a further understanding to when the film is set. The locations we needed were hard to find included the dead-end alley and a small street. Seeing as we didn't know our way around London properly, we weren't sure where we would find an alley. We decided to use Google Maps and find a suitable street that wasn't too crowded and had enough space to film the chase scene. Soon after searching, we decided on filming at Shad Thamesas it was perfect to place up our posters on plain walls and didn't have too many people in the area. When we were at Shad Thames, we found a nearby alley next to The Dean Swift that was desolate and small, which gives a claustrophobic feel to the scene.

Filming
The filming itself was quite easy as we all had previous experiences filming and took turns at filming scenes to see which of us captured it the best. Establishing and panning shots were relatively easy as we took a slow turn when panning and managed to capture a great deal of the location. We also used my own professional tripod when filming, which had great height and an in-built level meter which helped us to film scenes better. Whilst at location, we decided to take a more creative approach with filming, such as taking risks and capturing a moving shot of the 2012 stadium on the train. We also experimented with a quick pan when filming at the dead-end alley to give the audience a better view of the location and to keep with our current theme of constant live action and using no cuts.
The hardest part of filming for the sequence was the long shot track of the chase scene as we had to risk freehand filming to keep up with the live action and the realistic effect with our sequence. Thankfully, Jade managed to film it properly as she took extra care by filming the scene an extra twenty times to capture all the details and to remove the freehand effect. Another hard shot in our sequence was the mid shot track of the charatcers running. Matt and I took turns in filming this as it was hard to keep the camera steady whilst capturing the running. Again, we didn't want the freehand effect and we managed to refrain from this by holding tightly onto the tripod and camera.