CH - Rekkie evaluation

On Saturday night, Rosie and I completed a rekkie. After near-finalizing some of our concept ideas, we decided to try a couple for feasability reasons; should they prove to be impossible or not create the prefferred aesthetic we will have to change our concept.
One of the main problems with our concept was the car scenes. Rosie completed some earlier research on scenes shot in cars, and concluded that POV shots worked well. As a result of this we also decided to focus specifically on POV shots during our rekkie.

Rekkie Aims

1. To assess the feasibility of a car scene.
2. To compile a list of useful camera shots specific to a car scene
3. To assess whether a car scene would fit our concept
4. To experiment with camera shots/concept ideas/acting plans
5. To have a wealth of footage to use in the event of an emergency (technical problems meaning we lost portions of our main footage, we could attempt an interchange)

Conditions
The weather was cloudy and overcast, with intermittant rain throughout the 2 hour rekkie; this was both an advantage and a disadvantage because the weather provided a darker aesthetic in juxtaposition to the brightly lit, colourful scenes we have planned to accompany it; in retrospect, this could be useful. A disadvantage however was the use of cameras became significantly limited as it was dangerous to risk such equipment in these conditions: we were unable to complete/redo certain shots as the weather had become impossible.
Method
For our rekkie we had three people in the car; Rosie, our colleague Martje and I. Rosie was the driver, as she has planned to be in our film; Martje and I both played acting roles, although I spent the majority of the time filming. Rosie and I both directed this rekkie, with previous planned help from Josh (such as the input of specific shots he wanted us to try).
As Rosie drove, I filmed the three of us in many different shot-types, locations and angles. Below is a basic list of a couple of the shots we completed;

• CU of all actors involved (profile)
• CU of actors involved bar Rosie (face on)
• MS of all actors involved (profile)
• MS of all actors involved (face on, camera placed on the dashboard)
• CU of specific components (eyes in the wing mirror, hand on the gearstick)
• Over the shoulder mid shot of the road
• MS of the road from the POV of a passenger
• CU of the driver/passenger from the profile (camera positioned parrallel to the car)
• MS of actors in different lighting/positions (eg. leaning out the window, looking out the back window)

Conclusion
I thoroughly enjoyed this rekkie. The atmosphere was happy, excited, giving exactly the aesthetic of a 'good night out' which would appeal to our target audience (teenagers/young adults).

From this rekkie we have decided that a car scene would be entirely feasable, and would definitely fit our concept. Even though it was time consuming and difficult at moments, it was enjoyable and gave the results we were hoping for.
From this rekkie we have compiled a workable list of shots and have an example of how these shots will appear. We also know which shots will not work well. An example of this is the POV shot; it was extremely difficult to achieve a believable POV shot, and when it was achieved the aesthetic was tacky and amateurish. However, some of the POV shots from different angles (for instance, the camera positioned to film the reflection of an actor) worked reasonably well, save for some technical difficulties that would by solved by the presence of other actors in the car.
From this rekkie we have gained nearly 50 shots of usable footage over the course of 2 hours. As soon as possible, we shall edit these rekkie shots into a video to aid our research and (eventually) our pitch.