Filming - Last Minute Mise en Scene

Research
Initially I looked at basements from horror films, including from The Conjuring. I also looked at lighting often used in these films, e.g. The Devil Inside.

Both of these images show a basement-like environment. The first is quite woody and the second brick, which is like the location we used. The lighting in the first is quite low key with one light illuminating the whole set, much like our own set. The second appears to be quite bright but in the actual sequence it seems much darker. 

Different types of restraint I saw from different films included rope, sheet like material and none at all. We decided to use sheet like material, pillow cases specifically.
I also looked at 'The Last Exorcism' for last minute ideas for how the possessed girl should act:

Practical
For our first day of filming we got our props ready which are vital for our opening. Initially we wanted to use a bed with posts so we could tie the arms and legs of the girl, to make it seem like she was dangerous. However, we decided against getting a whole bed as we wanted it to seem like she was living in the basement of a family home, so instead we just used a mattress, as if she suddenly moved there. Plus, we felt it was less conventional for such a young girl to be tied up to bed posts, as this is usually seen in teenagers/older girls. For the restraints we used pillow cases tied together, to make it seem like it was a last minute thing, like she was getting too dangerous. Luckily the mattress we got was already very dirty so we didn't have to add anything to it, as seen below.





We also found pallets in Mia's garage which we thought we could tie the restraints to, to make it look makeshift and temporary.

Here are some images from filming:

We also had to paint over some smiley faces on the wall which were already painted on from a party. We used a magnolia coloured paint and quickly covered the markings:

The set was easily transformed just through the lights, as seen below:

 

 

Evaluation 

I think our set, although simplistic, is quite effective as it looks thrown-together suddenly. Also, the mattress was a good find as it was already dirty and looks as if something has definitely gone on. The restraints also are quite conventional and so work well for the genre. Costume-wise, Neve wore a grey t shirt, although it looked fine, we could have searched further for a simple nightie which would have been more conventional. Also, we could have taken greater care in hair and make up for the shots.