We didn’t want the walls to look flat and we wanted to keep the shot interesting for the audience. So we decided we would hang a doll from rope. I thought this was the most effective part of the shot for many reasons. We made the doll look damaged and bloody to have continuity with the other dolls. We then tied a rope around its neck in the same way a person would if they were hanging themselves. This did not only make the set look less flat and more 3D but also connoted her intentions of hanging herself. Our storyboard was quite similar to our final storyboard; however there were changes, which I thought we were right to change as the shot did turn out very effective in my opinion. In our storyboard it showed tracking of the pages of the diary. However, we felt that pages of the diary would be to flat and not very interesting. So we used the dolls and toys instead to track so the shoot would have more depth and be more eye catching for the audience. However, as the film in called ‘Elizabeth’s Diary’ we wanted to incorporate the diary in it. So the other difference between the storyboard and the final shoot because instead of ripping out the pages of the diary and scattering on the floor, we moved the pages of the diary at the beginning of the shot using a fan to turn the pages. We decided that we wanted our opening sequence to be one long tracking shot. This is because there is not much action in the sequence, as she is only walking onto a stool. So, in order to make the sequence 
a sensible length but also interesting we decided to track the interior of the building. We first used a tripod to practice where I would film and the direction I would follow. Then, we set up rubber tracks on the floor to follow this direction. This is so it makes it easier to make the shot perfect and follow the same direction every time. However, it was very challenging for me to shoot the sequence. This is because as there are no transitions the shot needs to be completely perfect. The beginning of the shot features pages of the dairy turning by wind from a fan. If the movement of the camera was good but the pages of the diary did not turn steadily we had to shoot it again. Also, as I moved the camera in the left direction of the tracks, I had to move the camera up and down to show the interior of the room which was challenging because I had to keep the action smooth and steady.
On the day of the shoot, we realised that the image was quite two dimensional. So, we had an idea that we use one of the dolls and some rope and tie it to the set. I felt this worked incredibly effectively because it showed that she tortures her childhood toys in horrific ways and could do this to herself.
I felt that a particular part of the shoot could have been improved. To show Petrie's feet hanging, she sat on a swing device that had been attached to the set. I thought this was very effective because you could clearly see her feet and it did look as though she had hung herself. However, this could have been improved. When we look back at the sequence, we realised that you can see shadow of the swing. It is only a faint shadow and we can hopefully we can improve it in after effects. We could have prevented this on the shoot by using a harness instead of a swing, or trying out different lighting effects. You would not see a shadow of a harness, however they are very complicated to set up and as we had limited time to shoot a swing was more practical.
We chose the television studio for the location of the shoot. We were originally going to shoot the sequence in an farm building in Peaslake village. However, we realised that the fact she was in a barn was not an important part of the film so we could film it anywhere. We decided we should film it in the studio because it is incredibly versatile. By choosing the television studio we could use different lighting effects, a set to our taste and a haze machine.
We set up the television studio to make it seem like an abandoned old room that was used by Elizabeth Carter to write her diary and reflect her mental state in privacy away from her parents. We used the set of a brick wall type room, which was already available for a theatre performance. This was made of plastic and was therefore very versatile and we could fit it to the space we needed. It also meant we could write on it in fake blood and put objects on the walls which we wouldn't have been able to do if it was someone else's property. Even though it wasn't real brick, I felt it still looked incredibly effective and like it was not plastic.
We chose certain costume and props to show how insane Elizabeth is, but also to keep the mise-en-scene interesting for the audience. We chose a plain black dress from a charity shop a few weeks before the shoot. This was a smock dress from Dorothy Perkins (a high street store) and we cut it up to make it shorter and like it had been attacked by Elizabeth. However, on the shooting day we only filmed our first idea which only involved her feet, so the dress was not shown in the sequence. We also used dolls, toys and other items a teenage girl may own or would have owned in the past. We then cut the doll's limbs off, burning them and covering them in fake blood. This was to connote how Elizabeth is still a young teenager but is letting go of her childhood in a non-conventional way as she is mentally unstable. We also used them to make the mise-en-scene more three dimensional and interesting for the audience.
Although Petrie was not used much in the sequence she did a very effective job of creating the atmosphere of the piece. We thought we might attempt our first idea if we had time on the shooting day however; we decided that our idea we had shot looked exactly how we wanted and it would have been a waste of time to do our first idea because we would not have used it as we felt the idea we had just done was far more tension building and creative. In the shoot only Petrie's feet were shown to the audience. This was to build tension and suspense of who Elizabeth Carter is because you do not see her face. We thought Petrie was worked really well as the character and followed direction effectively which was very helpful for the group.
We had lighting set up in the television studio, which was very effective and helpful to create the atmosphere we wanted. However, we wanted to keep the lighting very simple, to keep the scene as naturalistic as possible. However, we didn't want the lighting too bright because low key lighting gave it the sense of being in a dark unused room but to also build suspense and show it is of a horror/thriller genre. We used one white light above the set, to create the feeling of it being a room in or underneath her house. We also used a red and white light to shine through the door of the set so we could catch the shadow of Petries body entering the house. I thought the lighting looked really effective on camera. I think it portrayed perfectly a dark underground room in the day time.
After we shot the sequence, we recorded the sounds that we wanted to have higher in the mix in our final product. We recorded sound of the room, the noose being tied, Petrie choking, her feet twitching, the door opening, the door closing, her walking onto the stool and the stool falling over. The group found this challenging to keep completely silent and to have the perfect sound we wanted. However, I think we reached the effect we wanted for the sound. I think the sound of her walking to the to the stool, her feet twitching and the stool falling over were very effective because a good sound was sourced. However, the sound of the door wasn't as effective as we would have liked. This was because as the door was part of the set it did sound slightly fake and stiff and we would have preferred a bigger sound of possibly a barn door. However, to overcome this we can source sounds from the mac computers of a better door opening and closing. I think the sound did create tension and suspense, especially the sound of her tying the noose. This is because you can not see her tying the noose on the screen but the sound may make audience ask what she is doing and want to find out, which is explained further on in the sequence.
We stuck to the roles that we had initially in the pre-production of the horror sequence, which meant that I filmed the title sequence. Before we started filming, I had an overall job of helping get the set sorted out as well as everybody else in the group. I then put fake blood on them to make them look even more dismantled. I then helped arrange the toys in places that we wanted them. I also wrote on the walls in fake blood words such as 'die pretty' and helped set up the walls to make them look more attractive and exciting. This involved attaching the pictures to the wall and trying out different objects on the walla for example, knives and eyes to see what looked effective. I also helped set up the tracks, which was a hard task to do because it involved me trying out where the camera would go and putting the tracks where necessary. However, my main job was to shoot the sequence and I was very proud of what I accomplished. I had shot the preliminary task, however this was far more challenging because I could not stop and cut, I had to be smooth and not stop and start in order to create the long track effect. I think my role was very important because if I had not performed to my best ability the sequence would have looked unprofessional and we wouldn't have the track effect we wanted to create. My role involved moving the camera across the tracks, while moving the camera in the right direction to cover the entire mise-en-scene in an effective way. I found this challenging because I had to think of many different things at the same time and try not to have the shadow of the camera, the tracks or myself in the shot.
However, I think I overcame this challenge really well and the shot did come out really effectively, after several attempts. I feel that I shot the sequence in a smooth and controllable way without having to repeat the shot many times because of mistakes.
I thought our group worked really well on the day of the shoot and presented great teamwork. I think we divided up the tasks we had in an even and fair way which worked very effectively because we were organised throughout the day. For example, at the end of the shoot day, my job was to spray down the set and then we each had a section of the set to clean.
Overall I think the shoot day worked very well and as we planned. The shot didn't resemble our working storyboard, but was close to our final storyboard. We just improved it for example showing dolls on the floor and on the walls to give a more three dimensional effect and opening the door and showing Petrie's shadow to make the shot more interesting.
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