R+P Post 18: Our Test Shoot

For our test shoot, we encountered many issues whilst filming. Some of these issues were due to our own failures and others were completely out of our control. It almost became a running joke during our test shoot and I kept a list on my phone, just so that we didn't forget anything that did go wrong.

Probably the biggest issue that faced us was in the evening, where a plug in my house blew causing all power in the house to go out, even when the fuse box was reset. As we had planned to shoot at my house in the late afternoon (between 3pm and 5pm) there was little natural light, but we had to make do with what we could get. This meant rearranging furniture and the placement of our camera, just to maximize the number of windows behind the camera providing natural light. This consequently meant that alot of the shots filmed in my house ended up being a little too dark.

Another major issue we encountered was the fact that we all forgot to bring a paper copy of the script. Thankfully, we had already uploaded a copy of the script to the internet for our blogs, so it was relatively easy to get on our phones for the actors to look at before we took our shots.

One page from our Test Shoot's Shootboard

Another issue we were able to fix for our actual shoot was, we had two shooting locations, one at my house and one in a park about an hour away on public transport. Getting to the park early in the morning was difficult as we were relying on train lines which only one member of the group was used to travelling on, which meant everyone ended up at different train stations, all within a few miles of each other. However, this overall was good as it helped us all get to the shoot in good time during our main shoot.

However, the test shoot as a whole was a very useful learning experience.

Shooting Craig's Desk in my Bedroom During the Test Shoot