Location: Office Building

Office Entrance

Although the shots in this location will be brief, we still wanted them to look authentic and match the locations that will go before it. These areas could be quite noisy but we could be remove the sound and put ambient music over the shots if the noise level is a problem as there will probably be music linking these few shots together anyway to make the scene flow.

David's Office

When deciding what room to use as David's Office, we had a number of options to choose from. In order to achieve the shots we wanted, the office door preferably needed to be located on a long, wide corridor, and have no glass windows looking into the room, unless that room was ideal to be used for his actual Office.
Essential props for this location: Computers, pens, mugs, badges, miscellaneous office supplies eg. staplers, hole punches, photocopiers, printers (it is not essential that we should use these exact props but if we did then they would increase the verisimilitude of our film.)

After filming in this location, we realised a fault in our footage and decided to re-film the whole scene.  Coming back to this office became difficult, resulting in a change of scene. In order for it to become easier to film quickly, and still gain a clear and decent shot, we chose a smaller room on the corridor of our editing suite.

Corridor

This corridor is exactly what we were looking for our film as it has a generic office feel and also has added bonuses like the water dispenser. It is quite out of the way which means that the noise will hopefully be minimal and we won't be getting in people's way when we film. We will have to cover up any signs that indicate that it is a college building but this can easily be done but printing off some sort of poster, which would be suitable for the office that David works in, as putting it over the top. The corridor is also quite wide so we will have maneuverability in the space, which will make it more safe and efficient. In order to keep our film realistic, we will need to either remove the poster placed behind the water dispenser or make sure it isn't visible in the scenes we shoot there.

Lift

Using the floor with a yellow wall was perfect in giving off a certain mood to the audience. When seeing yellow, our audience are more likely to feel happy and 'normal', just as David himself seems to be. Unfortunately, we were unable to use this floor due to difficulty in filming in the lift itself. The footage we used was taken in another lift, one used less often, and in a short space of time, in order to gain a usable shot, however the limited time meant our footage was very short.

Location: Bus Stop

 

When deciding on a bus stop to use for this shot, we had to consider what restrictions would cause a problem for us. When following the shot list, we noticed a wide shot was used during this scene, and therefore had to ensure we had enough room away from the bus stop to gain a clear shot. Having this in mind, we chose against using a stop close to our home location, one we originally planned to use, as it was near a busier and inconvenient road, so the final location ended up being an unsheltered stand outside of college, the building used for David's Office. Although this location change made no major difference to our film, we had hoped to use a sheltered stop, giving the audience a place to focus on.

 

Using a bus stop with a larger road between where the camera would be compared to the stop itself meant we had more leverage when it came to gaining the perfect shot. The road was lucky enough to give us enough room for the shot we wanted, but it still had a large amount of space in which we could maneuver the camera, just had we had hoped.

Essential props for this location: Bus, bag.

Location Change: David's Office

After filming in this location, we realised a fault in our footage and decided to re-film the whole scene.  Coming back to this office became difficult, resulting in a change of scene. In order for it to become easier to film quickly, and still gain a clear and decent shot, we chose a smaller room on the corridor of our editing suite.

Location Change: The Lift

Using the floor with a yellow wall was perfect in giving off a certain mood to the audience. When seeing yellow, our audience are more likely to feel happy and 'normal', just as David himself seems to be. Unfortunately, we were unable to use this floor due to difficulty in filming in the lift itself. The footage we used was taken in another lift, one used less often, and in a short space of time, in order to gain a usable shot, however the limited time meant our footage was very short.

Influences On Our Film

The Stanley Parable:

The idea of watching and controlling someones life is a heavy influence in this video game, as it is in our film. Where our film hides the fact the protagonist is trapped in a fictional world, this game plays off of this idea. Stanley, like David, leads an ordinarily repetitive life, and the plot follows how he deals with change, similarly to Davids near discovery of his fictional home.

Jack and Dean's Sketch "The Last Supper"

Jack and Dean are two popular film makers, who focus mainly on comedy sketches. Their cinematography inspired some of our film's shots, such as the crane shot and the use of simple special effects.

Pj Liguori's Short Film "Office Space"

Again, Pj Liguori's film influenced our plot and storyline. His main character is tired of doing the same job everyday, and tries to escape the boredom he encounters. The repetitive nature of this characters life, working in an office building and encountering only a few people gave us the a main outline of where to set our story, as well as solidifying our choice to use a limited number of characters.

Final Questionnaire

Post Film Questionnaire Results

To see the post film results then please use this link: