R&P Post 32: Test shoot and rough edit

Our test shoot schedule - our slots are in yellow

Myself and Will (my actor) on set 

A take of my solo

Us posing with our male actors - red flood lighting 

Our Test Edit

What we learnt from our test shoot and rough edit:

• It is important to be organised and follow a clear schedule. Occasionally we would make things up as we go along and not follow the shoot-board we had created. A coherent and concise layout of our planned shots and times would be better to have on set so we can ensure we are getting the shots we need. We should allocate time to put a good shoot-board together.  
• We must not waste time. In hindsight, we were probably not as productive as we could have been sometimes e.g. we would wait around for everyone to finish make up. Next time, if there is a similar situation, whoever is not doing anything should find something to do, whether it is sorting out the lighting for the following shoot or setting up the camera.
• We need to start deciding on/making our different backdrops. After watching the studio rushes from the test shoot and the rough edit, it was not hard to see that the majority of scenes had a white backdrop, making the video look slightly dull and less professional. Although we are planning on having a variety of backdrops for the real shoot, we did not have them ready for the test shoot. This was a reminder that we need to start making our backdrops and planning how we want our set to look for the real thing.
• We must communicate with our actors. The feedback from actors on set was that sometimes thy were not sure what they had to do. We need to give them clear instructions and better direction to avoid this next time.
• Punctuality. There was an instance where an actor was late and unfortunately it set back the shooting times a bit. For the real shoot we need to make sure as a group that we are always on time so that others are not waiting around and so it doesn't affect any production plans.
• We should work on our performance. Due to only having created the routine the previous week, our choreography was not perfect, and this is the same for our individual performances. Between now and the real shoot, we must work on synchronizing our choreography and individually work on our facial expressions.
• We need clear concepts for all our scenes. The rough edit showed that our dinner table scene was not up to scratch. We need to work out how to make this scene look better and more realistic and also what camera angles to use.