Test shots for opening piano scene.

In order to film the final product of what we had planned out on our storyboards, we went through a series of test shoots and practices before we could get to that stage. Here are the videos, explaining what we did and why we decided not to use them in our final stages.


The first video was a series of tests continuing over and over. This was the scene where I was sending a text to Jacob asking him to meet up. The scene required a still camera and no reflections into the phone, which was very difficult as Taz was filming from above at an awkward angle to avoid these reflections, meaning her balance was slightly off and she began to shake. We decided not to use these tests for that reason, as she could not find a way to stop the camera from shaking so much. There were also problems with the synchronization of the buttons on the phone, meaning we had to keep practising the amount of time allowed to shoot and finish typing the rest of the text. After realizing that this was a more difficult task, we decided that I would only add the last letter of the last word on with a question mark and then go to press send to save time. Another thing that we noticed after this shoot was that there was the red light from the camera shining into the phone, therefore we planned to film slightly to one side in our next attempt to avoid this.


This was our second attempt at filming without getting the light in view, however there was still a clear shadow of us both in the reflection of the phone. We found it very difficult to position it right so that nothing could be seen except for the message on the screen. The camera was also still shakey in this, and I was still having trouble pressing the buttons intime to get the sequence done within the time limit.




This video was similar to the first two, except we managed to get a clear view of the phone without the light. This is the shot of the text that I received from Jacob confirming our meeting up. However, it was still extremely difficult for Taz to focus and keep the camera balanced. I suggested at this point that she rest her arm on the sofa behind me to steady the movement more, which we would try in our next shoot and see if it made improvement.


This was our first attempt at the scene where I place the phone down and wait for Jacob to reply after sending him a text asking to meet. We practiced this without filming a few times before this, and on success of this decided to film. However, Taz accidentally lost count as it was difficult to get the timing just right, therefore we had to shoot again.


This is our test shot of the point of view to show me looking up at the time. On our first attempt, however, it was very shakey as can be seen, as Taz found it very difficult to keep the camera steady when filming from such a low angle upwards. She then rested on the sofa for the next shoot of this to ensure it would be successful.