After finishing writing the script, I
knew that I needed some help filming the project and to act as Daniel and The
Wolf. I found help with two of my fellow students, Ian Gardener and James Dunn,
whom I have worked with before on such projects as Fatale and A Better Place.
We all work really well together, playing on each other’s strengths and helping
with our shortcomings. After agreeing to help with one another’s projects we
chose a couple of days to film, hired out some equipment and got started.
Normally on a project, I usually stick
with simple equipment, such as a camera, video mic and a tripod. However due to
the style of this project and the level of my skills, I planned on using more
cinematic equipment for my production. For all of the scenes of Sandman, I used
three lights to light the scene and to create a particular mood in different
spaces. For example, the first dreams are bright and fun; hardly any shadows
are seen in shot. While the suitcase dream and the final confrontation with The
Wolf has shadows everywhere in shot, leaving only the characters and certain
objects lit up in what appears to be a spotlight. Normally this sudden change
in lighting style would be too extreme for a film, but it works for Sandman as
it allows the user to feel like they are in a dream, where scenes and certain
situations change. For the scenes where Daniel finds himself in a dark space,
or the space between dreams, I used a led light to try and keep James lit, but
still very dark. It was only in the edit did I found that the shot was too
dark, so I had to put the brightness up.
Originally when I asked James and Ian to
act in my film, I wanted James to play the wolf, as I felt he could pull off a
menacing voice for the dialogue. However after talking with Ian, who felt that
he would not be able to react well as Daniel, I let Ian play the wolf. I was
not disappointed; Ian played The Wolf brilliantly by keeping his voice deadpan,
empty of emotion, which left an disturbing feeling while listening to him.
James was great as Daniel, acting the right emotion at the right time and
letting him feel slightly unnerved with the scenes he played in. Even though
having actual actors would increase the performance, I feel that James and Ian’s
acting let the characters come alive.
The hardest scene to film and work out
was the suitcase scene, as I had to make sure there was no chance of creating
dead ends for the user when they make Daniel place one item at a time into the
suitcase. Evening more difficult was editing the scene, making sure that every
shot and possibility was available to the user. Naturally it took the longest
to edit, to go over and make sure everything worked. The other scenes were
quite simple to edit, as they worked like little films, lacking the level of
interactivity from the suitcase scene. However when it came to create the
annotations, I found that there was not enough shots in the edit to make the
player pack the suitcase twice before activating the final sequence of that
scene, so I had to resort to one attempt then the final sequence was played.
However despite this slight set back, the annotations worked and were quite
simple to assemble. If you would like to experience Program Sandman, simply
click on the link below and enjoy.
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