Although the shooting successively encountered difficulties with props and sets, compared to the initial two weeks when the shooting started, the crew was running much smoother, and after a period of time, the various trades gradually found a rhythm of cooperation.
Most importantly, Murphy, the inexperienced director, was progressing at a very fast pace.
During the third week of filming in the San Fernando Valley Basin, another teenage actress joined the cast, an extra named Emily, paid a mere one hundred dollars a day, which is now the bottom line of the Screen Actors Guild.
This actress had only one scene, the beginning of the movie where she is abused by Jeff, a cameraman played by James Franco.
The crew also left indoor filming for the first time, with Murphy placing the set by a small lake not far from the front of the house, choosing a brush-fringed lawn as the location.
The set was too spartan to even think about equipment like a dedicated makeup trailer, and the actors had to do their makeup over at the house and then come back over here.
Also, Murphy wanted to use an overhead shot in the opening scene, and a boom shot would undoubtedly be the best, but renting a boom truck would require an exorbitant amount of money, so he simply had someone bring in a Ford sedan, intending to climb into the car and shoot it manually himself.
The last two weeks of filming, consumed a lot of money, in order to achieve the effect of filming at the same time, Murphy must consider more practical expenses.
Today's weather was very good, the sky was blue, there was plenty of light, and from time to time a breeze with moisture would blow on the small lake nearby, bringing a bit of coolness to the otherwise dry air.
Under Murphy's direction, the crew of nearly ten people were busy with their own work, led by Paul Wilson, the three interns, acting as porters, transporting film, equipment and other equipment from the house side of the set one after another.
The black Ford sedan was easily modified by props master Mia Sucre, and a shooting platform made of wood and plastic was added to the roof of the car, on which Murphy stood, directing the work of the crew.
With the actors still in makeup over at the houses, he focused more on setting up the temporary set.
There were also two extra viewers on this shoot, Carey Mulligan's agent Bill Rossis brought a friend over, who was also the agent of the extras actress, Murphy had just chatted with them and allowed the other party to watch the shoot, anyway, small crews and projects like his weren't afraid of spoilers and other troubles.
Compared to that, no one paying attention was even worse.
"Well?"
Standing by the bushes at the very edge of the set, Bill Rossis looked at Murphy and asked the middle-aged man next to him, "Mike, that's the guy I told you about a while ago."
The man called Mike slowly shook his head, "How can I tell now? But ..."
He considered for a moment and said, "Very young, and young often means inexperienced."
"He's very inexperienced." Bill Rossis had initially been on the set with Carey Mulligan, so naturally he could see all the trouble that had been encountered on the shoot, "A novice, no less, and made quite a few basic mistakes when he first started filming."
Mike hooked the corner of his mouth and shook his head again, seemingly not too interested in someone like Murphy.
"But his progress has been phenomenal!" Bill Rosyth was still looking at Murphy's side, "He's always the first to find out what's wrong, find a solution as fast as he can, summarize the lessons learned, and after that, he almost never makes the same mistakes again."
"Let's see." Mike wouldn't jump to conclusions, "We'll see."
The set was set up and after a short wait, makeup artist Jack Watson walked over with a bag on his back, accompanying James Franco and extras Emily, James Franco was still dressed in his gray costume with glasses, while Emily looked incredibly miserable, with bruises all over her face, her mouth crooked, and a few places dotted with specks of blood.
Emily's makeup was excellent, and of the few behind-the-scenes workers hired, Murphy was most pleased with Jack Watson, a man who, unlike the others of mediocre ability, fell into the category of those who hadn't met the right opportunity.
James Franco and Emily called over a few brief instructions, and asked the preparation of each department, Murphy began the test shoot, due to the two actors rehearsal times are limited, the test shoot is not smooth, and Murphy also have to adjust the appropriate angle of overlooking, and finally the Ford sedan parked in the left front of the Jeff violence location, from which can be adequately captured lying in the grass in Emily's miserable condition.
Unlike before, Murphy shooting using all black and white film, after all, the abused is a minor, some too sensitive, black and white images can better control the scale of the shooting.
Situations like bruises and blood have a completely different feel when presented on black and white film than on color film.
This Emily was younger than Carey Mulligan, and Murphy also wanted to avoid the movie becoming NC-17 as a result.
"Jack, touch up Emily's makeup."
After one test shot, Murphy called the extras over and took the time to touch up the makeup, and delivered, "Amy, you have to plead a little more miserably."
"Uh-huh!" Because of the inconvenience of touching up her makeup, she just grunted.
James Franco had only one frontal shot in this scene, and after all this time, his condition was assured.
After Jack Watson finished touching up Emily's makeup, Murphy shouldered the camera and shouted, "Attention all departments! Shooting will begin in five minutes."
When the actors were in place and the departments were ready, Murphy adjusted the camera and shouted directly to start.
He stood on top of the platform on top of the Ford sedan as the camera lens tilted down at a forty-five angle, first giving Emily a close-up of her pig-headed face.
Her face hung with blood, everywhere is injured, even so, vaguely still can see the original clean and lovely appearance, have to say Jack Watson in the make-up is really very good, such a shot, but also can convey a message, who will be such a lovely girl beaten into such a way? And how could he bear to beat her into this kind of appearance?
"Help ... help ..." The girl shouted out a weak voice, seems to be broken at any time, only that pair of bright eyes prayed at the front, the "Please ... please please ... please let me go ..."
A large fist broke into the camera, ruthlessly "hit" the girl's face, and then a man's figure, he turned his head, to the camera this side, the gentleman's face with a strange ferocity, "This is the punishment for not accepting my pursuit!"
After saying that, he took out a wallpaper knife and stared at the girl's throat ...
"Cut!" shouted Murphy and stopped, snapping his fingers towards the driver's seat of the Ford, saying to the driving Jessica Chastain, "Switch to the right front shot, I want a couple more."