Sunday, 18 November 2007

A day at Chatsworth

On the tuesday the day before our film was shot we spent the day trapsing around Chatsworth. Here are some photographs I took to give an idea of the scenary of our location. I especially like my photo of the cow as it gives it a real sense of being in the country.





When considering a location for a single shot film, we wanted it to be origional and as far from any aspect of student life as possible. Somewhere remote and quiet, a place one would feel at peace with their surroundings. We went to check out the grounds of Chatsworth House on Tuesday the 13th of november and it seemed perfect for what we wanted from the film. Whilst walking through the countryside around Chatsworth it reminded me of the BBC production of Jane Eyre I had watched a year or so ago which is a romance novel by Charlotte Bronte. I thought of a specific scene where Jane has come to discover that Mr Rochester (her soon to be husband) is already married and has hidden his mentally ill wife from her until now. In her confusion and emotional state she runs away from Thornfield Manor and becomes lost and begins to hallucinate, loosing grip of who she really is. The scene is one of destress and I feel we can cooperate this into our short film.
Obviously there was alot of different locations we could have chosen around Chatsworths many aches, but we specifically decided upon an open area of ground away from any woodland that would cast shadow into our shot. We have decided that we want to film during sunrise so it will intensify the atmosphere of the landscape and will show more emotion. During the day we really came together as a group and I feel we have all contributed and hopefully the shoot will be successful tomorrow morning.



On Wednesday morning at 5.00 am after an eventful night out at oceana we all clambered into the car half asleep and began our second journey to Chatsworth to shoot our film. We arrived an hour or so later and trecked to our filming location, however in the dark we were unsure as to where exactly that was but eventually we found it. It went from pitched black to light quicker than I would have imagined it to and we had to get into gear quickly if we were going to catch our sunset on camera, The first few attempts fell through due to obvious problems accuring, for example the clumsiness of myself running through the hillside knee high in shrubs and thistles. It was very amusing at first as I wouldn't really say Im a natural on camera but I soon got into the role. We shot from a number of angles but found that it was best if I ran directly towards the camera with the sun rising in the background. It meant our figures became silhouettes and I think it works more effectively as the sunrise appears more intense. Also when the audience see the figures appearing as silhouettes without an identity it will resemble a sense of confusion which is what we wanted to portray.







This is a short clip I found on utube that I thought would give a idea of the relationship between Jane and Mr Rochester that eventually leads to her abandoning thornield manor. Athough it does not have the specific scene that I took inspiration from it still helps in our perception of the storyline.



We also gathered inspiration for our film from the last scene in Pride and Prejudice, where the couple meet together, confessing their love for one another as the day breaks and the sun rises in the background. It a stunningly beautiful scene.

1 comment:

scotty said...

arrrr jane eyre :)))))))) x x x