Setting, Lighting, Acting, Go!

    We chose Mary’s house to film because of the surrounding location. For scene 2 it would be better to film it on the street that the house is on because it is eerily wide with no markings and we want that unsettling feeling to the scene. It would also make sense for a murder to happen on an abandoned looking road than a nice one with traffic. The road next to Elena’s house isn’t as wide, is very brightly lit, and has a lot of car traffic. Mary’s backyard is also on a canal, therefore has a clear view of the horizon, whereas Elena’s apartment complex does not. We need this horizon view for the last scene’s pan down. It then makes sense to do the inside filming in the house to keep it all in one spot.  


    Since the opening scene takes place at sundown, we will have to make sure that the lighting is dark. One way we will do this is by doing all of the filming after 6:00 p.m. to ensure that the sky, if not completely dark by then, will be dark enough to look like it’s night. For the inside shot we can film a bit earlier but close the blinds so you can’t tell how bright it is. We will also use candlelight as a light source for the first scene to give it that stereotypical vampire movie feel. For the outside scenes we will ensure that the sky is dark but will all in all rely on the streetlights to be sufficient for the shots. We will have to position ourselves so that the light is not directly behind the camera so that there’s a shadow, and not directly behind the actors so that you can’t see them.  


    An important part of the acting is the accents for Mara and Aurelia. We will have to do a “Romanian” accent resembling those of the vampires from What We Do in the Shadows as they sound the most authentic for fictional creatures. We already know how to do a Russian accent which is very monotone, deep, and in the front of the mouth. To make it more “vampire-y” we will loosen it up, raise the pitch, and say things slower. We will practice these accents when reading our lines to each other. Mary has more lines so she will have to nail it more than Elena. The acting for the role of Yaga will also require weird creature sounds, a hunched over walk, and a curious nature. The acting for the role of vampire hunter will require serious commitment in being as scary and threatening as possible. We know the acting for this will be harder since it’s hard to stay serious when 3 teenagers get together.


 

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