Reflections of watching test footage

After watching the footage in the lesson, we realised some important factors to consider when doing our actual shoot, and made some observations and changes to the piece.

1. It wasn't snappy enough (but we realised this towards the end of our takes after reviewing them).
2. We don't have enough continuity, so we need to change the action so that it involves continuity other than the conversation online.
3. We decided who would play the girl.
4. After watching the different shots of the murderer with the briefcase, we realised which lighting looked best, and discovered that a mixture of different shots and angles could look really effective. We can cut it up to make it SNAPPIER and show some more continuity by matching-on-action with sharpening knives etc.

Test Shoot Evaluation

We had our test shoot yesterday, so this is just a little review of how it went and what we still have to do..

We were all pretty much on time (not that Laura had far to go) which meant that we had a lot of time, however after eating lunch, it took us a while to get into the working mood. We started trying to develop our story more so that we could make our opening sequence better.

We hadn't planned the exact shots we were going to take, we had just planned which locations to use. This meant we had to make it up on the spot, which surprisingly worked quite well.. We managed to find some good props such as a briefcase, kitchen knives, a wooden mannequin thing etc, that were effective and quite chilling. We didn't have our male actors, so me and Amelia had to stand in for them. This meant that you couldn't really get a sense of the contrast between the "victim girl" and "scary murderous men" as both were played by us..

We realised the importance of 100% commitance, because it is nearly impossible to film and act with just two people. This was especially evident when using the boom microphone, as we had to prop it up against things to get it in the right place.

Possible Victim

We've decided that either Laura or Amelia, who both do drama and want to be in it, should play the girl in our sequence. This will make things much easier - we know they will turn up to shoots, will actually care and can be in constant contact with them.



Name: Amelia Conway

Age: 16

Height: 5 foot 7



Amelia looks like a typical quirky, pretty teenager, and would work well in this role. Her screen test will determine whether she gets the part or not.

Possible Victim

Name : Laura Allen

Age : 17

Height : 5"6 ish??

Possible Role : Victim Girl

I am one of the possibilities, as I do drama and wouldn't mind doing it. This should've been done before the screen test, but it doesn't really matter because everyone in my group knows my name, age and estimated height..

Screen test result

After looking at the footage of me and Amelia as the girl, we decided that Amelia should be the girl because she seemed to fit the role better. We need to get Holly's approval before going ahead with that but I'm sure she'll agree once she sees the scene.

Also, thanks Holly for the pic of your dad! We'll get Amelia to upload one of her dad too.

Possible Villain

Before we screen test the two men for our sequence, I thought I'd post a picture of my dad (a potential actor) just to mark the fact that we've thought of someone.



Name: Bill Thicknes
Age: 44
Height: 6 foot 1


We need the two men to be stocky, tall and menacing. Although this picture is friendly, when we screen test him we will try out different expressions, shot lengths and sample scripts. I think he will work well at this stage, and we know he will be reliable for the shoot.

Him in a leather jacket (potential outfit) pulling ridiculous, Jack-Nicholson-in-Shining face...

Full-body shot...

Possible script for girl - screen test

E-mail conversation between girl and men. This is the script that we used in the test shoot, but we won't necessarily use this during the actual thing. Maybe she should be sadder while talking to the agony aunt, and have more depressing lines.

Girl
I've been doing a lot better this week.

My mum didn't drink this evening.

You've really helped me.

Can I ask you a favour? (pause) Would you come over this evening?

Monday: Test Shoot

Monday is our first day to test out all our possible shots so we need to make sure everything is organised in advanced. We need to screen test myself, Holly and Laura, to see who would be best as the role of the girl. As we plan on using our dads as the killers, and they will have work on Monday, we will fill in for them and purely test out the different types of shots we will use.
Other things that need to be done before Monday is the first draft of the script (it can be perfected after this as adjustments may need to be made.) We will need to make a test shooting script, as well as think about sound, if we decide to have sound in the shots. Consider lighting in our locations and if we will need artificial light or not, and if so what lighting will we use? We need to make a detailed list of props and costume that we will need, and check if we have theseor not. It is not essential that we do for our test shooting but it will give us a clearer idea.

Generally our test shoot is a time to test out any possible shot type or angle, and get a feel for how the whole piece will look. We should experiment to find out what works and what doesn't but also be very critical, as this is a time for learning and analysing. But most importanatly we need to have fun ( be quick and professional or course but have fun.) This is after all a learning experience but that doesn't mean we shouldn't enjoy it.

So now we need to start some in depth planning to make sure we are prepared
Can't wait :)