Evaluation question 7

M.H.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Practical skills that I have learnt:

1. Casting

• We had to cast our friends as they would have a similar schedule to ours (as we are all at school etc.), meaning we had to be careful to cast friends who look older than their age. This is because our characters are young adults (early twenties), and in order for our film to feel genuine we had to make sure the characters looked legitimate.
• We also had to ensure that our friends matched the character profiles that we had created in planning; to make sure they suited the costume that they wore and that their attitude fitted the character’s personal outlook and attributes.
• We decided to cast Sonia as our protagonist, who looks different to our protagonist’s character profile (as Sonia is black and we originally planned to cast someone who is white), but we realised that her race could be used to our advantage in portraying social representations.

2. Scheduling filming and managing light conditions

• The majority of our film is set at night, so this was easy to work with as we filmed in winter - this meant it got dark early (around 5pm), so we could be out on the streets in the dark without it being too dangerous.
• However, we also needed a daylight scene in which the sun was low in the sky. This meant we had to schedule to film on a weekend, as we are at school in the week and we would have not been able to travel to the location in time for the correct light.
• We chose to film on three different days. We did this for three reasons.

1. It got dark before we began filming on the first day, meaning we could not film the cafe flashback scene.
2. We filmed the red flashback scene at a lunchtime in the school’s darkroom.
3. We chose to break up the filming to prevent us from getting too tired/fed up which would then affect the quality of our work.

3. Organising filming on location

• We had to organise with people to film in both the house and the cafe. This meant we had to work around the times that they were available.
• We liaised with Jonah with when he was free and at home so we were able to film in his house.
• I went to the cafe and got the manager’s email - I then got in contact with him and asked for permission to film on his premises. After he happily gave me his permission, he then passed me onto another woman with whom I arranged a time and date for filming. I gave them details of mine and Frankie’s reasons for filming, and thanked them for allowing us to use their cafe.
• I made sure to tell the actors that it was very important that they turn up, and on time. Everyone managed to be on location on time for filming.

4. Teamwork, meeting deadlines and time management

• Frankie and I have been organised and have made sure that our assignments have been handed in on time. 
• We managed to communicate well with each other and used both our lessons and free periods to edit our film.
• We split the responsibilities of the film making depending on our strengths - for example, I did the majority of the filming and Frankie did all of the sound. 
• We also split the responsibilities in the editing process - for example, Frankie fit the soundtrack together and I placed the shots together.
• We evenly split the tasks and made sure that we were fair with the amount of work that we gave each other to do.

5. Technical

I learnt how to...

• Use a manually focusing camera while filming.
• Place the camera on the tripod and level it straight.
• Use a sound recorder.
• Use a handheld camera for shots that require movement.

Talking about the technical skills and techniques that I have learnt:

Evaluation question 6

F.L.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In this video I have summarised what we have learnt from all of the technologies from the process of constructing our opening. These include:

• Using Final Cut Pro
• Editing sound, constructing a soundtrack using stems and ensuring that it flows well throughout the opening, reflecting the tone of each scene
• Editing colour in our first flashback, making the colour palette more golden to distinguish between the present and the past.
• Using titles from dafont.com, and why we chose them
• Using a tripod, and why we used it certain scenes and not in others
• Using a Canon 550D with an F1.4 lens, the difficulties and benefits of it, and how the way our film was shot reflects other scenes from thrillers.

Evaluation question 5

M.H.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Our aims

As a whole:

• Achieve a sense of tension, suspense and mystery in order to entice the audience and make them want to carry on watching the film to find out what is truly happening.
• Using the social realism to build a stronger relationship with the audience as they are able to relate to the content of the film further.
• Use modern aspects of cinema (e.g. inter-racial relationships) to address a young adult audience as it is a realistic representation of today’s society.

Camerawork and editing:

• Using a shallow depth of field (so the protagonist is in focus and the background blurred/out of focus) in order for our cinematography to look aesthetically pleasing, and to help the audience build an intimacy with the protagonist as she is the centre of focus.
• Using a combination of lengthy shots and fast paced editing/quick jump cuts, as the contrast between the two enhances the tension at the end of the opening - the fast pace is juxtaposed with the poignance at the start which emphasises the suspense of the red flashback and the phone call.
• Using a combination of handheld and tripod shots. The handheld shots helps to build intimacy between the audience and the protagonist as it gives the feeling of a personal insight. The tripod shots help to frame the shots and improve the cinematography.

The flashbacks:

• Helps to break the opening up into sections which adds another level of depth to the film and adds further intrigue and complexity.
• This also allows further emotions to be conveyed which will help the audience to connect further with the film.

The use of red and ambiguity:

• The red colouring gives semiotics and colour connotations to the film; red usually signifies danger, blood, death and threat. This will give the audience to an insight to the themes of the film, and also help them to understand what is going on in the scene.
• However, the use of ambiguity prevents the audience from knowing what is fully happening. This helps to entice the audience as they want to carry on watching to find out more.
• Both the red colouring and the ambiguity masks the person in the flashback, which heightens the mystery and suspense. This is good as it keeps the audience guessing.

Music and sound:

• We chose to use an emotive soundtrack rather than using dialogue. We did this for a number of reasons.

1. The protagonist appears alone for most of the opening, so dialogue is not necessary.
2. We wanted to give the cafe flashback a hazed/distant feel, and the lack of dialogue gives this distance.
3. Soundtrack can intensely build an atmosphere and emotion. This helped us convey sentiment and the start of the story in the street scenes even though the protagonist was doing nothing but walking. This keeps the audience engaged and allows them to build ideas in their heads
4. Most importantly, we decided to use soundtrack instead of dialogue as it aids to build the mystery and suspense, as the audience are revealed much less about both the story and the characters, and will therefore leave them guessing and wanting to watch more. It also hides what is truly going on as the audience do not have the clarification through the use of dialogue.

• We used ambient sound in order to ground the film and help build the atmosphere.

1. We used it for sound bridges and soft background noise - helping to enhance the street scene and to give an immediate feel for the location. This places the audience in the film and helps them to engage.
2. Sound matches - helping to blend the memories of the past with the present. These sounds are enhanced and louder than they would normally be, so the audience acknowledges the sounds.

• For a little part of the opening we used no soundtrack at all, which helps to break up the scenes and allows a new atmosphere to begin. This helps the audience notice and understand the change in mood.

These are some responses from our target audience. In the video they talk about aspects of the film that they enjoyed, and why they were drawn to them.

Evaluation question 4

F.L.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product? 

We had a screening of our film to an audience of 14 people, 7 men and 7 women, all in the age range of 15-25, and asked them to fill out a questionnaire about our film. Having this audience worked really well as this was our target audience anyway, so their feedback would likely represent how our demographic may also feel as a whole.

Summary of feedback:

When asking about gender of protagonists, 3 prefer female protagonists, and the rest don’t mind. It was useful to know that for most people it didn’t matter either way, but it was also clear to see that people would like to see more women in lead roles.

It was good that the majority of our audience recognised that our film is part of the thriller genre, with the opening also developing some of the tropes of psychological and crime thrillers, and horror movies.

When asking about what the plot of the opening was, most people understood the dynamic of the relationship between two characters, and most recognising that the coffee scene and the scene with the knife was in the past. All of the viewers knew that the man getting coffee with the female protagonist was the man that she later calls.

We asked our audience what their favourite part of the opening was to see what really drew people to our film. 7 people preferred the way the film was shot, the bus stop scene in particular, with the stylised mood shown through the lights. 1 person said that the clarity of our shots made our work look very professional, and not cliché, which our social-realism themes contributed to. 3 people said the flashback scenes were their favourite, as they brought a lot to the mood of the opening. 1 person thought the casting stood out too. 3 people liked the sound the most, as it added to the general tone of the opening, with 1 person specifically mentioning how the unanswered call tone at the end was especially creepy.