R+P Post 18: Our test shoot

Our test shoot was a shoot designed to uncover any flaws that we may have missed in previous stages and allow us time to make necessary changes in order to make out final film opening as good as it could possibly be. Therefore, we treated this as a main shoot as we felt it would be closest to the actual thing and therefore allow us to effectively analyse and amend our ideas. Therefore, we still created an official shootboard for the test shoot to effectively simulate the real thing.

Our shootboard

There was little to no deviation from our original plan and from the shot order set out on the shoot board which was credit to good preparation and decision making within the group, as well as excellent engagement from our actors. However, we underestimated how much time to allocate to some shots, particularly the outdoor shots and as a result we were unable to completely stick to the shootboard guidelines. This proved not be an issue in the long run however as we caught up time elsewhere and ended finishing on time.

The test shoot served it's purpose very well as it gave us a clear idea of what was well though out and works well whilst also highlighted areas of concern where amendments were necessary.

Example of a good shot:

I particularly like this shot as it achieved all the goals we set for this shot. The dim lighting works really well with the the character having his hood down to create an atmosphere of suspense and mystery. Furthermore, the dialogue enhances said atmosphere thus keeping the audience engaged and asking questions.

Example of a bad shot:

This scene overall didn't turn out too bad, but it fell a bit short of what we were trying to achieve. The threat isn't obvious for two reasons, it isn't made obvious in the script and we have since revised the script to resolve this issue. The second reason is that the scene happens too fast and the audience don't have enough time to register what's going on, therefore, in the main shoot we will have to take this scene much slower. Additionally, our idea was to have two unknown feet walk past the camera after it fell to create a sense of mystery and danger, however the intended effect was not there due to poor framing as you couldn't see the feet. Therefore, we will have to be more diligent about our framing in the main shoot.

Finally, having shot everything and edited it, we, along with our teachers, technician and friends sat down and discussed what went well and what we need to improve from both shooting and editing standpoints for the final film opening. The document below summarises the main areas of improvement from a shooting standpoint: