Shooting Site
Since features three major environments that had to be accounted for when going in to film: The Downstairs Interior, The Upstairs Interior and the Exterior. Mapping these sets before the shoot allowed me to plan potential shots and how they'd be executed given the space limitations, the lighting and the maneuverability in regards to the camera.
The majority of the shoot utilizes the downstairs environment with the kitchen, the hallway and the sitting room each featuring wildly different looks, color pallets and shooting considerations. Part of the menace of the SYNTH killer is that he is invading somewhere though hallowed and safe and he's doing it to a group; number count for nothing as he murders his way from the front of the house to the ends of the garden, for this reason, the house had to feel reasonably lived in and domestic. The implication through the story is that Alex has some friends over for the night when she hears the news of her eviction and retreats upstairs to cry, in original versions of the script and story board , she retreats upstairs again once the killer has broken in and hides in her room only to be thrown from the upper story window. However, the day of the shoot limited this option and on the night, it was re-cut so that she is chased into the garden and beaten to death off-screen, the safety of our actors and crew as well as the trouble finding sugar glass to smash through causing huge issues. The floor plan above also shows the environments that were not used and for this reason, they mainly pulled duty as greenrooms should the actors need to get away for a bit when the cameras were rolling without causing a disturbance.
The upstairs set by contrast crammed a lot of different shots into a very small environment, as you'd expect, this area also affected the script but not as drastically as the finale mainly due to the layout of Alex's room not having a desk in the right corner as was intended, instead settling for her looking out the window and coming into frame on camera right. We mainly see the shot-reverse-shot in this scene and as was intended, this is the quieter, safer area of the OTS with a much stronger emphasis on warm orange colors than anywhere else. On the flip side of that however, the upstairs of this house did provide the capacity for an unplanned shot of our actor Callum coming up the stairs with the shot in extreme-closeup profile and the banister railings out of focus which does a nice job of changing up the wide and close up shots making up the majority of the run time.
Finally there was the exterior which doesn't have a layout plan due to it being determined on the night based on parking availability for Franks' car shots and the garden playing a much smaller role in the original script. However, what external shots we did have were also suited to Callum's house and the surrounding area luckily as a result of it being in a rather built up domestic area, the last few shots in particular where we see some foreboding cut aways to the local co-operative were shot by chance thanks to noticing it's beautiful aesthetic earlier that same night, the flickering light on the side being a particularly happy coincidence.
Finally there was the exterior which doesn't have a layout plan due to it being determined on the night based on parking availability for Franks' car shots and the garden playing a much smaller role in the original script. However, what external shots we did have were also suited to Callum's house and the surrounding area luckily as a result of it being in a rather built up domestic area, the last few shots in particular where we see some foreboding cut aways to the local co-operative were shot by chance thanks to noticing it's beautiful aesthetic earlier that same night, the flickering light on the side being a particularly happy coincidence.