Baby Steps - Shooting Location/Genre

I was able to quickly come up with a shooting location and genre for the new film opening. Due to the limited time available and the other obstacles in the way of our production, I had to think with a different mindset than the one I had when previously developing what would have been Showtime. As I mentioned in my last post, my thought process is now based on looking around what is available to me and going off of there.

Shooting Location

The first aspect that I considered was a shooting location. It might seem odd to start here first, but it was essential to specifically find one that is safe health-wise and does not require any lighting equipment or props since we cannot get any in time. The first location that popped into mind that met these requirements was a large recreational park nearby known as Markham Park. Lighting here would be excellent since the weather has consistently been nothing but sunshine, and seems like it is going to continue this pattern for the foreseeable future. Since we are filming in nature instead of an artificial set, no set design and decoration would be required. With the limitations we are facing, this would be a great choice to record in. 

A photograph I took a couple of weeks ago at Markham Park.

Genre

Since Markham Park has many woodlands within, there were two genres that seemed to fit perfectly with that setting: horror and adventure. Adventure films typically rely heavily on set design, large set pieces, intense action, and mystical props. All of these elements and the many more that go into the process of filmmaking would take too much time in this particular genre, so what was next was to consider horror. Horror is infamously known for being made under very small budgets, which perfectly matches our budget of zero dollars. Jokes aside though, making a horror opening can be done through unnerving sound design, suspenseful pacing, and creeping shot composition. These are elements that my group and I can successfully pull off even with the limitations we are facing. There are many other techniques used in horror films that I might not know, so I will be sure to write a brand new genre research post all about them. 

Everything aside, it is good to see this production find itself even through all of this mess. Stay safe everyone!