Audience Feedback

We asked a group of 6 students what they thought about our opening sequence for 'The Contract'. They made the following judgements:

Camera Work

Most people thought that our production had some great camera work, particularly saying they liked the reflection in the sunshades at the graveyard scene, the reflection in the Hilton Hotel window of one of the assasins and the reflection of the other assassin in the red bus.

Editing

There were mixed views regarding the editing. Generally everyone could follow the plot, but didn't know if the protagonists were assassins, terrorists or spies. This was an attempt for us to create a sense of intrigue for them. A couple of people thought that the pace could have been faster.

Soundtrack

Again there were mixed views about this with some people saying that they really liked it and that it worked well following the assassins until they were caught in the trap. Others thought that it too needed to be upbeat.

Locations

Everyone liked the locations, particularly the Hilton Hotel and using local locations such as Westbourne Grove tube station.

Mis-en-scene

The use of iconic London images such as the red phone box, the red buses, the tube symbols and so on worked really well. They though that the costumes were appropriate for two hit men, as we were both wearing suits and sunglasses.

FILMING- DAY 1

The first day of filming was about familiarising with the capabilities of our equipment and the settings we were going to use. We went to hilton as soon as we could and set up our tripod ready to film Ali's (the first hit man's) bathroom part. Before the words "ACTION" were uttered security were onto us and immediatly haulted the filming. One started explaining why we could not film on premises without permission and the other asked us what we were filming for .Because we complied kindly and spoke respectfully they said we could book an appointment which we did not expect and we were pleased with. The next day at 10pm he was free, this was a difficult time for us as everyday we had school but we knew we had to put in a few late nights to achieve the grades we wanted and so we did. The rest of that day we filmed my (hit man 2's) part exiting the london landmark located on the harrow road near Marleybone. After much debate on how to film this we agreed that we would begin with a low angle shot of the top of the building which looked iconic and consisted of a affluent looking clock . The camera would then descend until I came out the door. This was very  challenging as Ali was filiming from across a busy main road which made it difficult to get me in the shot without a few traffic in the way, in addition I was inside the building and the only signal I had was Ali's thumbs up from 100 metres away. We attempted this many times and ultimatly completed it to a good standard. Next Ali filmed a close up of me putting my glasses on (which he had to cross the road for), this came our very well. We know this because the great Canon XM2 DV allowed us to play back and view our recordings on its little screen which was very neat and convenient. One minute later my light bulb lighted and I had an idea. This was to film me in the circular traffic mirror which would conform with the urban setting . Next We did another angle of me walking down a road, we continued to do many other shots we knew would be vital when it came to editing and this would give us more liberty in changing the storyline or improving it.