Feedback from our audience

As an extra bit of help, and to gain advice from our peers, after filming and editing, we decided to do a film showcase. This was so we could all show our films to an audience and get feedback and helpful critism so we could further improve our work. We gave out 'Feedback Sheets' to several people in the room and asked them to fill them out whilst watching our opening.
The first question that was asked was;
What was especially good about the film?

• "Really good editing- (Red lipstick with black and white) shot and good camera work and use of sound."
• "The camera work was really good."
• "Good use of colour."
• "Lighting was very good."
• "Never see the face till the end."
• "Good shots of the knife."
• "Shots of make-up and nail varnish at the start were really good."
• "Lighting suits the genre"
• "Good acting."

These points gave us a general idea that we was on the right tracks, and that the reaction was fairly positive.

Some problems we faced throughout this project

Throughout this whole project, me and my group have faced various problems that we had to sort out.

• We started out quite slowly as i think we were all quite nervous to work amongst people we wernt so close to. After we put that all behind us, we actually all got on really well, and then found it much easier to start working.
• The next thing that slowed us down was the fact that all four of us lived quite far from eachother, so it was difficult to meet for filming. We decided to film mainly at Jessicas house, as this seemed the easiest for us all.
• After filming all quite well, we had to begin editing, Jess and Chloe wernt in for a lesson when we learnt how to edit on the software so Efosa decided to go through it with them, this caused us to be a lesson behind our class, but we soon caught up
• The last thing we needed to fix, was that after we got our feedback from the class after the showcase, our teacher informed us that the dialogue that i infact say, didnt fit the genre of the film, as my voice is quite high and not eery. We decided chloes voice would fit the genre better, so she re-recorded my dialogue, and it now looks much better!

A Rough Version of our Opening Sequence

Here is a rough version of what our Opening looks like so far, We are at the stage were we are tweeking little areas that arent tidy, and really focusing on getting all the sounds completed and exported. Miss explained to us that the dialogue used in this sequence kind of made our genre go off balance, so we decided to re-record that bit of dialogue. My voice didnt seem to fit the horror genre to well, so chloe decided to have a go, and her voice definatly connects more to the genre than mine, which has really improved the whole sequence.

Feedback After Media Showcase

This excersise was used to get some feedback for individual groups to improve and develop their work further. Our teacher decided to set up a showcase for us all to show what we had got up to on editing our opening sequence and to show the rest of the class to see the reaction. Noone had finished so we was all at ease as to why some of the feedback was negative, but this really helped us all. Our feedback shocked our group, as we were all thinking alot of work was needed to be added, but our audience had a different reaction and on evaluation sheets we handed out, came back very positive and the main negative point was some over editing, which can easily be changed.

What we had to do was stand at the front of the class in our small groups introduce our opening with the title and everyones roles and then play it to the class and some extra students and teachers. we then got some critism about there being no sound, which we already knew was a problem we needed to solve next.
Other than that the feedback really has help us to improve and make our opening that much better.

Research on other films

I decided to research some other films connected to the same genre as our film, to see what editing has been used, how the credits have been placed, sounds etc..
I firstly looked at when a stranger calls. This film starts with a blank black screen, where the opening credits begin to show one at a time. An effective device they used at the same time is a narrative voice-over, this works well in the horror genre as it adds suspense. In this case we here a phone call between a girl and a strange sounding man. Without seeing anything on the screen the viewers are already asking questions.

I then looked at the opening of 'hide and seek'. This also begins with a black screen but quickly cuts to the face of a young girl where there is eery music in the background. This is the sort of sound we will use for our opening. Difference is this opening lasts 10 minutes before the opening credits begin.

Looking at these two horror based films, gives me an idea of music and where our credits can be placed. Research definatly has helped alot during this editing process.