We took the setting of our deputy head's office (of Shenfield High School) for our psychiatrist scene. Mr Huddlestone gave permission, and we managed hour of Lunchtime, as it would not be in use at this time. this is very common within Production shoots. '28 Days Later...' Danny 
Boyle had to use London at early hours of the morning to give an impression that has been deserted.
We choose that location because it's claustrophobic Manner, the blinds create a dark atmosphere, a lot of mise-en-secene was there with the modern computer, and office stationery setting up the psychiatrist as a wealthy respected member of society, this comfortable background is at odds to our shabbily drest protagonist.
The Location raised a few problems however we had planned for this and therefore confidently dealt with them to satisfying degrees.
Firstly we took down any posters with the school logo, this would be the most obvious conflicting mise-en-scene, it was a concern in our mind whether the audience could tell this was shot in a school.
This was concerning when the blinds in the office were not closing fully, meaning that half of the room revealed the playground. The running children would make it blindingly obvious of the true setting, ruining the illusion. It would also be distracting to the viewer, then continuity would be destroyed. Luckily we worked a system where from the right angles and from one side of the room the background is completely covered by the blinds.
The second was sound, being restricted to work at lunchtimes meant unwanted ambient sound could have been a problem. However we solved this on the most part by filming in a part of the school which is not used regularly. We kept all windows closed and when an issue of people talking, they were happily complicate to whisper once we told them of the situation.
We moved chairs around to keep to one side of the room, we gave the psychiatrist the taller office, chair, we had his jacket hung on the back of it. The office chair gave us the idea of the Psychiatrist swinging on his chair, showing the character’s boredom of the rarely-responsive patient.
Our two cast members, we chosen specifically chosen. Peter Mclaughlin played our Patient, being in our group he was aware of the necessary performance. We’d also seen him in a recent production of ‘The Woman who Cooked her Husband’ in which he played a character with psychopathic tendencies, it was at this point we decided Peter would be perfect for the role.
The Psychiatrist was actually a teacher within the school. We wanted to avoid having just sixth formers within the video as the roles are either limited or unconvincing to have 16-18 year olds playing them. Our teacher, Mr Marshall, was at the right age to play an experienced psychologist, the character needed an upper-middle class accent to distinct him from our protagonist. Glasses immediately signify the character as intellectual, academic and experienced.
With five people, and half the room difficult to film in (as mentioned above because of the blinds) much of the storyboard simply didn’t work. The angles were either too tight, or the frame was too crowded with mise-en-scene it would appear “cluttered”, too distracting from characters. We made sure we kept to what we wanted from the piece, a mixture of mid shots and close ups we get this impression of the conversation and intensity expressed through anxiety. We didn’t have nay two shots at the time, as we thought it would show the separation between the two (an example of this is David Fincher’s ‘Seven’ where a dinner
scene is shot where Detective William Somerset is shot in a different frame than Detective David Mills and his wife. The two shot between them two shows their bond and with the other character not being involved it emulates the socially awkward tone of the meeting. This tone of angst is what we’re striving for in this scene).
In conclusion we our content with what we have shot (all lines, and reaction shots from the Psychiatrist, this was because we could only use our Teacher for a limited amount of time.) However we’ve planned to shoot later this week in this location to gain a few more shots.
Boyle had to use London at early hours of the morning to give an impression that has been deserted.We choose that location because it's claustrophobic Manner, the blinds create a dark atmosphere, a lot of mise-en-secene was there with the modern computer, and office stationery setting up the psychiatrist as a wealthy respected member of society, this comfortable background is at odds to our shabbily drest protagonist.
The Location raised a few problems however we had planned for this and therefore confidently dealt with them to satisfying degrees.
Firstly we took down any posters with the school logo, this would be the most obvious conflicting mise-en-scene, it was a concern in our mind whether the audience could tell this was shot in a school.
This was concerning when the blinds in the office were not closing fully, meaning that half of the room revealed the playground. The running children would make it blindingly obvious of the true setting, ruining the illusion. It would also be distracting to the viewer, then continuity would be destroyed. Luckily we worked a system where from the right angles and from one side of the room the background is completely covered by the blinds.
The second was sound, being restricted to work at lunchtimes meant unwanted ambient sound could have been a problem. However we solved this on the most part by filming in a part of the school which is not used regularly. We kept all windows closed and when an issue of people talking, they were happily complicate to whisper once we told them of the situation.
We moved chairs around to keep to one side of the room, we gave the psychiatrist the taller office, chair, we had his jacket hung on the back of it. The office chair gave us the idea of the Psychiatrist swinging on his chair, showing the character’s boredom of the rarely-responsive patient.
Our two cast members, we chosen specifically chosen. Peter Mclaughlin played our Patient, being in our group he was aware of the necessary performance. We’d also seen him in a recent production of ‘The Woman who Cooked her Husband’ in which he played a character with psychopathic tendencies, it was at this point we decided Peter would be perfect for the role.
The Psychiatrist was actually a teacher within the school. We wanted to avoid having just sixth formers within the video as the roles are either limited or unconvincing to have 16-18 year olds playing them. Our teacher, Mr Marshall, was at the right age to play an experienced psychologist, the character needed an upper-middle class accent to distinct him from our protagonist. Glasses immediately signify the character as intellectual, academic and experienced.
With five people, and half the room difficult to film in (as mentioned above because of the blinds) much of the storyboard simply didn’t work. The angles were either too tight, or the frame was too crowded with mise-en-scene it would appear “cluttered”, too distracting from characters. We made sure we kept to what we wanted from the piece, a mixture of mid shots and close ups we get this impression of the conversation and intensity expressed through anxiety. We didn’t have nay two shots at the time, as we thought it would show the separation between the two (an example of this is David Fincher’s ‘Seven’ where a dinner
scene is shot where Detective William Somerset is shot in a different frame than Detective David Mills and his wife. The two shot between them two shows their bond and with the other character not being involved it emulates the socially awkward tone of the meeting. This tone of angst is what we’re striving for in this scene).In conclusion we our content with what we have shot (all lines, and reaction shots from the Psychiatrist, this was because we could only use our Teacher for a limited amount of time.) However we’ve planned to shoot later this week in this location to gain a few more shots.
Tim McNiven
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