Production: Crash Scene

 As we move into the moment where Audrey and Mathias collide, we wanted this part of the sequence to feel as chaotic and unexpected as possible. The goal was for the audience to feel like the crash comes out of nowhere, almost like it’s something that wasn’t planned or anticipated at all. This moment is important because it acts as the first real interaction between the two characters, so the impact of the scene needed to feel strong.

Performance:

However, during filming, we ran into an issue with the actors’ performances. Since they knew the crash was coming, their reactions unintentionally felt a bit too prepared. Instead of feeling natural and spontaneous, it sometimes looked like they were anticipating the moment, which took away from the authenticity of the scene. To fix this, we gave them more specific direction, asking them to try to act as if they didn’t expect the collision at all. We emphasized that they should appear more clueless and unaware leading up to the moment, even though they knew it was going to happen. This helped make their reactions feel more realistic, even if it was a bit difficult to perform. 

Setting:

At the same time, we also started thinking about the environment of the scene and how it contributed to the overall feeling. Originally, we were filming in a park, but the park itself wasn’t very visible in the background of some shots. We realized that this limited the sense of setting and made the scene feel a bit more generic than we wanted. To improve this, we made the decision to adjust the camera angle so that the park would be clearly visible in the background. This change helped ground the scene in a specific location and added more character to the environment, making the moment feel more connected to the world of the story.

Camera Movement:

We also experimented with different camera techniques to try and enhance the feeling of chaos during the collision. At first, we tested ideas like push ins, push outs, and more controlled camera movements during the moment of impact. The idea was that adding cinematic motion could make the crash feel more dramatic. However, when we reviewed the footage, these techniques actually made the scene feel a bit awkward and staged rather than chaotic. The added movement drew attention to the camera instead of the action itself, which worked against the effect we were trying to create.

Because of that, we ultimately decided to keep the camera movement more natural and less controlled during the crash. By allowing the moment to feel a bit more raw and unpolished, it better captured the unpredictability we were aiming for. The slight randomness in movement actually helped enhance the feeling that this collision was unexpected and not overly choreographed.