Opening scene feedback and improvements

What went well

Our stab match on action scene was especially commented on, complimented by a lot of the audience. Many people said it looked very realistic and looked very professional. They also said they liked the look of the blood on the knife from the stab wound, which they also liked, and the blood in the water. A lot of people also liked our use of sound, particularly the distorted music and ringtone. They also liked the sound editing when the headphones fell out and the music cut out but was still playing very quietly. Overall, I think our sound was especially effective. People also positively commented on the location, saying it was suitable for the genre and concept and worked well.

Improvements

A common improvement we were given was overuse of the waterfall shot. The feedback suggested we remove a couple so give the same effect but not as overwhelming, so Josh did this. We were also told our title screen was too short for the audience to read, so Josh made this longer to make it easier to read. Another criticism made was on the lighting, saying that it was too bright and needed to be dimmer to give the effect that the scene is set in the early evening, and also they said the blood on the jumper was too pink. Both of these were fixed by Eve adjusting the exposure and saturation of the clips. There were some comments saying that the Blumhouse production company was unsuitable for our genre, and also that the logo that we did use was out of date. Chloe was given the job to research more into this, by looking at her blogs and also doing extra research. Finally, we were told to remove the wind sound in our opening to create a more professional finish, as well as to add in a sinister typical horror movie sound when the killer is shown to add drama and suspense to the scene for the audience, both of which I did. We were also told to add in a sound when the killer is scraping the knife on the fence to mimic whats happening on screen, again which I did. 

AS Media - Opening Scene Feedback and Improvements

The Brief:

- To consider the audience feedback and implement any changes necessary.

After reading the comments regarding improvements needed, there were significant consistencies such as the too repetitive nature of having a shot of a waterfall as a break between the main narrative. With this in mind I decided to remove the beginning waterfall as in the space of three clips there are two waterfall shots, making one unnecessary. Hence, below, I deleted one of them.

After this, we gained feedback on the length of the typography appearing being too short, therefore I had to change this, I started by deleting the original transition between the typography and the first scene as seen below.

After this I attempted to extend the length of the clip further to fill the time necessary, however this did not work.

Therefore, I had to re-import the text into final cut and select the 8 seconds of footage needed. Using CMD + I to import I then highlighted the text and dragged and dropped it into the correct position.

After this I re-applied a different effect that shakes the screen slightly with a blur as the original radial blur was seen as unconventional.

After this I addressed the improvement necessary of adding sound over the title, as seen below i created a fade out and fade in from the highlighted green audio clip of a stream running to the start of the film.

Opening Scene Evaluation and Improvements

After publishing our first draft onto YouTube, we showed it to an audience where they gave us feedback on things that they liked and constructive criticism.

What Went Well

One of the most common 'good/effective' comments that were made was for the match on action for the stab scene. A lot of people said that it looked very realistic and professionally done. As well as this, they like the use of the blood on the knife, stab wound and in the water.

A lot of people also liked the use of sound, especially the distorted music and ringtone and they also liked when the music was cut off when the headphones fell out. I believe that we were very effective with our sound. 

Another positive comment was on the location. This was seen to be suitable for the genre and concept and seemed to work well. 

Improvements

One of the most commented criticisms was that there was too many waterfall shots. To improve this, our audience suggested that we remove one or two of the shots.

Another comment was that the title screen was too short and needed to be much longer in order for audiences to be able to read it. This will be easy to fix.

Another criticism made was that the lighting was too bright and needed to be 'dimmed' and also that the blood on the jumper was too pink. This can easily be fixed by experimenting with the exposure and saturation.

Some members of the audience also commented that the Blumhouse production company was not suitable for our genre and that the logo that we used was out of date. To solve this problem we decided to look at Chloe's production company research blog and also to do some extra research.

The final comments made was to remove a 'wind' sound to make our opening scene seem more professional and also to add in a sinister sound when we see the killer to make it clear to the audience that something will happen and also to make it seem more dramatic. It was also suggested to include a sound effect when the killer is scraping the knife on the fence.


As a group, we split up the constrictive comments to help us improve our final piece. My job was to dim the lighting throughout the opening scene and to also adjust the colour of the blood on the jumper where the fake blood looked pink on camera.    

Improving the Opening Scene

Firs of all, I decided to change the exposure an saturation of all of the shots. I needed to make the lighting darker and seem more mysterious and scary as originally it was quite light and did not look scary enough. 

To do this,  I reduced the saturation down by -32% and also decreased the exposure down by -19%. As you can see from the screen shots down below, the lighting is much dimmer and the colour is much more washed out, giving a sinister and dusk effect. I applies these settings for most of the shots.  

The only shots that I did not apply the exposure to was the stream shot at the end and the blood dripping on the leaves. First of all, I edited the blood on the leaves. To do this, I reduced the global exposure down by -2%. Then I reduced the global saturation down by -32%. However, when I completed exiting this shot, it did not lo right so I then changed the global exposure to -19% and the highlight exposure to -10%. This looked much better.

The other shot that I did not apply the -32% saturation and the -19% exposure to was the end shot of the blood in the stream (the second shot).This was because it was quite dark anyway.  For this shot I reduced the saturation down by -10% and the exposure down by -10% as well.

When I looked back on the shot of the fake blood that looked pink, after I had changed the saturation and exposure to -32% and -19%, it looked more realistic. 

Here is the final draft of our opening scene:

AS Media - Camera Angle Evaluation

The Brief:

- To evaluate the camera angles to use for our final filmed piece

Camera angles we are using:

Close Up

- This will be used to show the close proximity that is gradually discovered and uncovered throughout the film between the killer and victim which will make the stalker element seen in the killer seem more prominent and more obvious. Thus adding to the suspense as the killer gets closer in proximity the camera gets closer in proximity and showing how uncomfortably close the killer gets making the audience see falsely through the perspective of the killer making the film seem more chilling realistic and distressing.

Extreme Close Up

- The effectiveness of these are to show minor details and able to show the reaction to something to propose a panic feeling to the piece. This conforms to the genre as in the frame there is no awareness of anyone else other than the person you are looking at adding suspense and making there be more anticipation to what happens next.
Establishing Shot

- This will be used to set the scene and enable us to add the title of the film in as it zooms in from the typography I have previously created making it zoom into the location to kick it off. Also this will enable us to get a creative and visually appealing shot of the start of the movie so that all is seemingly calm making the film gradually become more and more suspenseful.

Long Shot

- This will generally be used for continuity to show the setting as the story unfolds and will be used to show more of the setting so that it is clear where and what the film is set in. This will also be used in tandem with the medium shots to add in a stalking effect.

Medium Shot

- This will be used to portray the stalker element that the killer possesses through the film therefore making the film look more like a killer hunting his prey showing that he has predator like instincts and characteristics making the killer appeal more to the conformities of conventional killers in horror movies.

AS Media - Filming Evaluation

The Brief:
- To evaluate the time that we spent filming for out final piece

Prep:

Our preparation for filming was positive as we organised a shooting script which clearly stated what time we were supposed to meet and what we were supposed to bring equipment wise. We were able to equally share responsibility between the four of us, as we all had a relatively equal amount of equipment to bring and be responsible for. We fortunately all brought the correct equipment, props and costumes and had no problems arise due to this.

Meeting Time

We arranged our meeting time on our shooting script and all but one of us was on time due to traffic issues, this hindered the timings slightly as we were a bit late getting to the location although we did manage to finish filming that day partially due to the absent change in weather that day meaning that the lighting and setting looked very very similar throughout the entirety of the day.

Availability

We set a date that everyone was free and chose a location that is public and gives lenient guidelines about filming so that we were able to actually film in the area we wanted to film in. This eventually hindered filming due to the people around the area because we managed to chose a day on which a primary school carol service was taking place in a church nearby meaning that we couldnt do some of the scenes we wanted to do earlier because the children were there and we did not want to intimidate them with a knife or illegally film them without consent.

Time Management

As previously mentioned all but one of us were on time which did shift the time frames that we anticipated and hindered the time we arrived at the location to film however we acknowledged this and were more efficient with our shots managing to do many shots in the time we had before it began to rain. This again shifted all the time frames back and enabled us time to discuss what shots we had left and how much time we needed to film them in. However against all odds we still managed the time frames that we had changed and got everything completed.

Achieved?

Yes. We managed to do what we set out to do and complete our filming in one day. We got all the shots that we wanted and even more than we needed so that we have a plethora of footage to select from and create the best piece possible with that footage.

Timings

We got our timings near perfect per shot however we were hindered by rain, eventually went to film again and luckily the lighting didn't change making us able to stick with the original times just set back a bit further in the day.

If I did it again would I do it differently?

Yes I would because we didn't think about weather factors which cam to our detriment as it started raining mid way through filming. Also I would like to go into the day knowing what shots we were doing and when in more specifics because we never really mapped out which shots to film when and even when we did it was because we were forced in by rain and still wasn't as clear as it possibly should have been.

AS Media - Typography Evaluation

The Brief:
- To evaluate the different typographies created by me


Pros:

- The background picture behind the window pane is where the film starts
- can be added into the opening of the film
- the window pane and text is clear
- the font is somewhat conventional as it has some element of horror to it
- the streaks on the main body of text are realistic

Cons:

- unconventional
- not as intricate
- simple in design
- top of the image is a bit too bright
- font isn't the one I wanted to use

Pros:

- original design
- can be implemented into opening of the film
- smoke effect was successful
- highly conventional

Cons:

- Some of the text is not as visible (KILLER)
- Harder to implement in the opening of the film
- Would be less relevant to the film

Conclusion:

I have decide that the first piece of typography is the one to use as it is not only much easier to implement into the opening sequence but it is also more relevant as it contains a picture of the starting established setting. Alternatively there is a element of simplicity that makes it seem intricate which can attract audiences more so than the just extravagant 2nd piece of typography. Overall they both do serve their purposes as conventional and non conventional titles, and are both relevant in some way shape or form, however through the first being more suited and more tailored to our movie in specific it makes the title more relevant and significant. Where as the 2nd piece is almost universal to any movie with any setting and background.