Test Footage | Review

We filmed the entire opening sequence to our thriller to see what it would look like with the camera angles we choose before when we did our storyboard. The main idea we were filming was two men who are drug dealers are on there way to the pub to collect some money from the barmen who owes them a decent sum.

In the sequence we had to substitute some things because we didn't have all the resources, for instance using a female actor instead of a male actor and rubber ducks for bags of cocaine. We also had to use a classroom for the set of the apartment and a canteen instead of a pub. The beer you see getting poured in the photo is actually apple juice. The bar was also set outside when in reality it should be inside a pub.

We tested many camera angles to see what looked good and what looked bad. The main angles and movements we tested were tracking shots, we wanted to test these the most because we were fascinated that if you didn't cut the shot and let it play out if it would increase the tension.
Another shot that we liked was the birds eye view of the beer filling up. we liked this shot because it looked interesting and was different than just watching a barman fill up a beer.

I found doing this task helped our group a huge amount because it let us realise what worked and what needs to be changed. It also let us see if the actually idea was fleshed out and worked on camera, as well as realise what sort of things we might need in the actual sequence so the mise en scene is correct.

The things that went well were the few camera shots such as the birds eye view of the beer but we won't be using that shot anymore because one of the the problems we came across was that it seemed like we had two stories, one being the them getting ready in the apartment and the other them in the pub collecting the money. so we decided not to carry on with the idea and split it up and develop the apartment scene. Other reasons why we did this was that it was hard to create tension with the two locations, instead it just made the narrative more confusing. We also had camera angles which just looked force and out of place such as the one when the guy is putting the drugs inside of the bag. Another major problem we came across was that we lost some footage that made the edit look really confusing, for example at 0.30 instead of the beer there was suppose to be a shot of the one of the characters entering the pub and ordering a beer. this also happened at 0.35 after the beer is pored it is put on the bar as well as the sum of of money that the barmen owes them. This and also the story was just a mess and was to confusing to carry on using as our idea.

Our idea as completely changed and is now set in the apartment in the beginning of this opening sequence except it revolves around a son and his criminal father. The synopsis of the film is a single Dad involved in a criminal empire is trying to back out to protect his son but is unaware that he is being heavily influenced by his actions. As he grows older he starts becoming more involved in drugs, robberies and violence. His dad tries his best to protect him by desperately trying to leave his past behind but ends up being killed by his own gang members.

The opening sequence is going to be the son waking up but then also the dad robbing a bank, we are going to link the scene together using the things the son is doing in his morning routine to what the dad his doing to rob the bank. An example is as the son slams his alarm clock the shot cuts straight to the dad turning the code of on a alarm, another is the son drops his cereal on the floor the robbers then drop the money on the floor. We prefer this a idea much more because we believe it creates tension much more as well as leaves the audience asking questions.