Filming my Opening Scene

This scene took a while to film just because of using a younger child however, I'm glad I persisted because I really like the final result. I started by auditioning a few children from the drama class who were old enough to remember the lines. I only got them to say two of the four lines to make the audition process more efficient. Then I watched the clips back and eventually decided on Alannah because of her acting, her ability to remember lines well and because she looked enough like Lucy to be able to play her sister.
Here are the audition tapes:

Once I'd cast Alannah I needed to get permission from her parents to use her on film so, as she's part of Articulate Casting Agency, I asked her agent to email her parents explaining the role and what she's be a part of. They replied saying she was ok to be filmed and used in my media project so the next week we shot the opening scene.

On the day the room I'd initially though of using was too dark and I actually didn't like how it looked on camera. Therefore I used another room in the school I'd had in the back of my mind and it looked so much better on camera. I decided to position Lucy and Alannah next to a blue door against a white wall to get the cool toned colours to connote sadness and loss. We then wrote out Alannah's lines on a piece of paper so she could remember them when we were filming. I asked Lucy to sit with her knees up cradling Alannah for support. This shows their closeness and Emma's desire to protect her sister, a key feature of her personality. The fact that Lucy had her knees up also allowed us to hide Alannah's lines in her lap so she could glance at them if she couldn't remember what to say next.
I wanted the scene to be drawn out and quite slow but initially Alannah was saying her lines very quickly even when I told her to slow down. To prevent this I sat behind the camera doing the manual focus and gave her a thumbs up every time I wanted her to say her line. This took a few attempts because my split concentration sometimes prevented me doing the focus as I'd liked and sometimes Alannah wasn't looking at me to see my signal. However, with a bit of practice we managed to get the shot as I wanted it.

I'd practised doing the manual focus at home before I took it to school to film. To make sure I got it right I first focussed the camera and put a mark on the front so I could see where to twist it to. Then I put it severely out of focus and slowly twisted the focus wheel until I reached the mark where the screen was in focus. I also looked at the screen where things in focus are highlighted in red so I could ensure their faces were in focus by the end of the shot.
I wanted this to happen very slowly as it builds tension and it's frustrating for the audience when they can't see what's going on. It also means they'll have to concentrate hard on the screen to try and figure out what's happening so the gunshot will be more of a shock as they're fully engaged in the action.

I was very happy with the final take, the focus worked well and Alannah's voice sounded very young and innocent which was exactly what I was after. I  am slightly concerned about the background noise because, although the room was totally silent, I still have a background layer of sound which I'm hoping I'll be able to reduce in the editing process.
I like the light and colours in the shot and I tested my white balance against a piece of white paper to ensure my colouring was right. Therefore the shot should look exactly how I'd imagined it which is a very good outcome of the filming.

I filmed this using a tripod to make the shot completely still and clinical and to draw more attention to the action the scene. The static camera allows the audience to completely focus on what's on the screen therefore engaging them and bringing them into the action.