The idea of having a young toymaker go through a surreal obstacle course started with a Location Shooting assignment. The group I was with was scouting a location at an abandoned building in Salem, Oregon. We were stopped by security guards, but not before the vision of The Test was born. The obstacle featured in the story could easily be stand-ins for some of the projects we were assigned as film students. The biggest inspiration from the abandoned building was a door that was built in the middle an upper storey with no support to protect someone from falling down a considerable height to the ground.

 

For my senior piece, I wanted to create a story that stood out from the pack. Sure some of the symbolism may go over some of the viewers heads', but I believe that some of the greatest movies of all time don't give you a straight answer to a question. One of the greatest things about film is being able to debate with friends and family the meaning of films and even better when the filmmaker crafts in story in which views can be somewhat right in their own interpretations. I also strongly feel that in art, an artist loses ownership of his or her work of art. It is now something that can be a part of the viewer. 

 

One thing that I find missing in most contemporary film is the ability of a film to have multiple, and sometimes conflicting, possible interpretations. Moviegoers are being spoon fed the same recycled story constantly. There's a lack of adventure in so many new movies. Perhaps I have been spoiled by films such 'L'age D'or', 'La Dolce Vita', '2001: A Space Odyssey', 'Persona', 'My Own Private Idaho','Mulholland Drive', and 'Bad Education.' 

 

What I really hope to achiece with 'The Test' is to provoke the viewers to start paying attention to movies again and maybe even have the story stuck in their head like an annoying pop song. If you like it; great, if you hate it; awesome. Even if you hate, just remember what Alfred Hitchcock once said:

"It's only a movie."