1st Filming Day :Thursday 7th October 2010

Location: Ware, Hertfordshire
Date- Thursday 7th October
Camera Type- Canon Mini DV MD235
Tape Type- Panasonic Mini DV, 60 SP Mode, 90 LP Mode
Time Spent Filming- 1-1/2 hours

The first day of filming commenced at about 4:20pm, however we arrived at our destination about twenty minutes before and we began by finalising the position in which we will film and set up our equipment. The two locations within the household where we filmed was in the garden and in the front living room inside the house.
The first problem we encountered was when we were about to film our first shots of Matthew's mother and the lighting didn't seem to be on our side. As we framed the shot Matthew's mother was backlit which we did not want therefore we had to shut the curtains, however once we did this it was too dark in the room, therefore we had to interfere with the lighting setting on the camera to brighten it up a tad and we also added artificial lighting by turning on a lamp which was situated over the right shoulder of Matthew's mother.

Once we resolved the lighting situtation we began to film the shots of Matthew's mother, therefore we moved the camera to the position we thought was best and filmed the shots where the mother is talking about her son. We made it clear that we didnt want the mother to be looking near the camera therefore she was looking past it to the right. We filming this about four times to give us more variety to choose from and incase we noticed an error in one which we did not once filming. It was also good to have back up filming incase something went wrong.

We felt the shots of the mother went well and we also filmed a variety of shots which gives us more options when it comes to editing. As the Mrs Allison (the mother) had lines to say as she had to give an account of the night Matthew went missing, we had to be careful what she said, therefore we wrote out a script for her but then decided it would be better if it was spontaneous, therefore we showed her the script so she had an overall idea of what to say and then she put it into her own words which we feel work well and was successful.

Once the interview shots were complete we felt it would be good to get some other shots in the living room which consisted of shots of the mothers shakey hands and playing with a scrunched up tissue. We also used a photo of the missing person which was behind the mother by zooming into this however you could also still see a part of the arm of the mother which worked well. We also zoomed far into the mothers face to give us more options on what to use when editing therefore we have more shots to use and to work with which will be beneficial once we are editing.

As we finished filming inside the house we decided it would be best if we got some shots of the mother outside hanging up the washing which is an every day job, therefore it is realistic. The lighting again was a bit to bright so we toned it down a bit which worked in our favour. We varied up the distance away from the mother when filming these shots to give us more options yet again.

I feel our first day of filming was a success as we got the shots filmed which we wanted too, without any major problems.