Test Shoot reflection

After completing our first test shoot, and after we had edited it, we collectively realised that our idea had not translated well to film. After consulting with our Media teacher, he allowed us to film it again on Friday the 18th of November. This test shoot was harder to film, but conveyed the spirit of our idea much more effectively. What was happening in reality and what was happening in virtual reality, was a lot more clear in our second test shoot, and was significantly easier to follow than our previous test shoot. 

I think our idea translated well to film, in our second test shoot. I believe this because the story came through (almost too clearly, and obvious) easily, and the main concepts: VR, gaming, hacker were apparent throughout. I don't think it is a thriller yet, but it definitely has the potential to become a very gripping thriller.

I feel the pace was a little too slow for a thriller, and a little too fast to be ominous/mysterious. However, for a test shoot, I think the pace was at the right length, but with hindsight, it is obvious that some adjustments to the pace will need to be done with the real thriller. For example, the action sequences have to be heavily action based: quick cuts and fast paced action.

I think a rough basis of our original idea is quite clear to the viewer. After one viewing, it is pretty clear what happens, and why. Additionally, I feel that our future thriller will be clear to the audience, but will still retain a certain amount of opacity to get our audience wanting more.

I think tension was better created in the first test shoot. That said however, the final test shoot did have a certain extent of tension, but relied more heavily on obvious ‘in-your-face’ action. I think for our real thriller, we will definitely include more tension. For example when one of the players gets hurt, building tension to suggest that the player is actually hurt himself will engage our audience more, and make our thriller better, as a whole.

We used low angles, a high angle shot and one point of view shot. We used a close up of the hacker ‘hacking,’ into the video game. I think this angle worked as it helped convey to the audience that the hacker was in fact hacking. I think an extreme close up on certain keys, such as ‘delete,’ would add more tension to our piece- additionally, an extreme close up could be useful in showing the emotions of our characters. For example, when one of the players actually get hurt: in both the game and the real world, an extreme closeup of their wounds and face would expertly convey that they were in actual, real-life pain; which would shock the audience.

I definitely should have added significantly more to our test shoot. We hadn’t of shot enough footage, and the duration of that footage was minuscule: hardly seconds of each shot was useable. If I could go back, I would have taken twice as many shots, and at least tripled the duration of each shot. In addition to this, I feel like establishing shots were needed to help convey a change of location, so if I could try again, I would take an establishing shot and a panning establish shot of each location, regardless of if I thought I was going to need it. One valuable lesson I have learned from doing the test shoots is: there is no such thing as too much footage. I think this because it makes editing significantly easier. Editing with a large amount of footage is a lot easier than trying to tell a story with three shots; it also looks more natural and realistic if a variation of shots are used. 

The fighting-style game hasn’t worked, and has been scrapped now. We have chosen to go with a more ‘call of duty’-esque game, with guns and a set map, like a paintball course. I think we should develop the shots within the game a lot further: such as how do we convey the fantasy of the video game world, in the real world, and how do we make it believable? I think by thinking about this predominately, and making sure that our video game world is as artificial as possible will make it clear to the audience where the characters are: shocking them even more with the final reveal at the end of the thriller. 

I think what went the best was the overall communication and teamwork of the group. We all worked very well, and took in each other’s ideas. In addition to this, I think our scenes with the VR worked well, as the acting was effective, and the shots were not obtrusive, but let the audience know what was happening. 

My overall thoughts of the test shoots are that, on a whole, it was a very positive and nurturing experience. I think this because I learned the most about filming and editing, in the three days of working on the test shoots, than I had ever done. I also found problem areas, which has helped me begin to think may way around difficult shoots, and confusing sections of our piece. I now know that I need to film even more footage, and need to get more face paced action. I look forward to working on our actual thriller.