Audience feeback

This is Rosie's feedback for our film. In response to what she said, In regard to her critisism of the 'trip' looking stage, we realised this when we had put the film together and were unable to re-shoot it. As the actor, i was also reluctant to fall over properly, so i take full blame for it not looking at its best!

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I also posted a link of facebook to our final cut of 'Blackout'. I got a mix of positive and negative respones including...

'Maybe that the music cuts could be slightly more blurry rather than cut offs to make it a smoother transition?' - quoted by Sian Angell age 20.

In response to this critisism, the reasoning behind the sharp cuts was to create a stronger differentiation between the two scenes.

Another positive response was.. 'your acting was superb sophie' - Jess Smith age 16.

The final negative response i recieved was.. 'On The Contrary, I Believe The Quick Transitions Grab your Attention, Especially The 1st one Although A Black Fade In Would Of Been Useful, Could Of Done A Slower Transition Out To Establish The Difference Between The Fast Pace Of the Club To Solitude Of The Woods! Could Of Pottentialy Had More Of A Build Up 2wards The Whole Drink Being Spiked Etc! Builds More Of A Storyline! Also Some Shorts Were Good i.e The 360 Handheld Shot Around You However It Pottentially Drags Out A Bit 2 Long!' -Jack Thomas age 20

We could have had more of a build up towards the drink being spiked, but considering we only had two minutes of film to prouduce, we had to keep the film moving so we could show everything we wanted in the time we had. I agree with the 360 shot around Rose being a little too long, but this is one of our main shots, and tells alot about the story of how Rose is so confused to where she is, so we figured it should be a longer shot than most of the others.

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

I feel I have learnt a lot since our preliminary task in terms of organisation, and wanting the best quality end finish we possibly could achieve. In our preliminary, we only drew a storyboard, which we didn’t really keep too, and filmed it straight away with not much thought going into it. Whereas this time round, we drew our story board, then developed it into a digital story board, thought about potential shots and then filmed it. We found ourselves being very picky with our shots. For example, we filmed in the woods on a very cold and rainy day, which made everything very muddy and unpleasant. I had to play the part of Rose who was dressed in a short dress with no coat on, in minus temperatures, and I was not happy. But we had to act professional, and every time we shot a scene, and we decided it wasn’t good enough, we would re-shoot until we had exactly what we wanted. Everyone was freezing cold but we wanted the best we could possibly achieve. As we had to do this in our free time, we found it hard to arrange a certain day to film, because it would always turn out one of use would be busy, so this was one of the things we could improve on in the future; to organise specific days in advance, or even stick directly to our shooting schedule.

We also found ourselves taking on board criticisms from other people, and amending things over and over to get the best we could. For example we found the credits hard to place because we had decided to show them over the film as it played, so we found ourselves moving them about over and over until they fitted somewhere where it looked right.

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

I have learnt a lot about using imovie since we started making our film. Before, I had never even been onto the editing suite, so by having to use the programme for my media coursework took a lot of time learning and getting used too. We used the method of trial and error to get us through editing our film, so we found ourselves pressing “edit, undo” many of times. Firstly, we cut the film to how we wanted it, and then we added transitions and extra effects such as soft focus in our flashbacks to the rave Rose was at so it would look like it was vague memories flooding back to her. Lastly we added the music. Because we used two different songs; a song from the Prodigy for the flashback scenes and ‘Closer’ by the Kings of Leon for the scenes in the woods, we found it difficult to stop and start them so they wouldn’t run over each other. Trial and error of cutting the scenes here and there made this even more difficult, because every time we changed the sequence of the film, the music would then be out of time with the film. So we found ourselves constantly re- applying the music. By the end of it, I was confident with how imovie works and how to cut, edit and add effects into our film.

When we were filming the actual thing, we found the use of the video camera very easy to use. It was very basic and easy to just stop and start as we were filming. We decided not to use the zoom because we had been advised it would look unprofessional because the camera wasn’t brilliant, and if we had of zoomed, it may have looked a little like a home video. When we came to editing it, we were pleased we had just filmed it with no effects because now we had lots to work with on imovie to make it as good as we possibly could have. An example of a shot sequence we used, was where Rose was stood up, stumbling around and the camera was shooting her from a tree (a high angle shot), then it cut to a close up of her ripped tights, and then cut back to her stumbling around again. We thought this looked good because it showed how much of a state she was in physically and mentally, and then showed her tights which were ripped, which was evidence of how she got taken there and why.
( the close up of the ripped tights)

How did you attract/ address your audience?

We like to think we attract our audience by confusion and the idea of wanting to find out whom or what bought Rose to the woods. At first, we decided to shoot an over the shoulder shot of Rose, so you could see the man’s figure. We then figured it would be more exciting for the audience if they didn’t know what was watching her, so we decided to cut this shot out; not revealing the person’s identity. Hopefully this will make the audience want to carry on watching the film.
We also use a number of point of view shots, including one when Rose is lying on the floor when she wakes up, and she looks up at the trees, and around the woods to show she is trying to figure out where she is. This works well because it lets the audience in on how the character is feeling and their emotional state. For example, we jolt the camera when she is looking to see where she is, the audience can tell she is feeling scared and vulnerable.
As our target audience is the younger generation of the population, we use a dance song from the Prodigy, in our rave scene. The audience will be able to relate to this song because it is a well known and successful. We chose ‘Closer’, by the Kings of Leon because it is quite a chilling song, and is also from a popular band, which the younger generation know a lot about. Another factor of our target audience being on the younger end of the scale is the age of Rose and her appearance. The clothes she is wearing are of modern and vibrant colours, which is how young adults dress when they go out clubbing. Also, Rose being the age she is, a lot of older teenagers can relate to her situation of being bought up in a strict family who don’t really allow time for socialising and things that normal 19 year olds aspire to do (party). It could also be a hit with a younger audience also, because they aspire to the lifestyle of older teenagers. We would then have to think about maybe the negative effects of younger audiences watching it though, because it might influence them to drink ect…
When we showed our first draft of the film to the rest of our class, we asked them to give us feedback on what they thought was good and what they thought needed improving. We decided this would be helpful because our fellow students were of the ages of 16, 17 and 18. This was perfect because they were in the group of our target audience. Some positive feedback we had included: “point of view shots are very effective”, “good use of flashbacks and music ties in well”
(flashback printscreen)

and “good continuity”. We were pleased with these points because this shows it became clear to the audience why we used flashbacks. Some negative comments we received were as follows.. “More distressed central character”, “needs a steadier camera” and “Not sure if music with lyrics helps tell the story or is a distraction, makes me think of a music video”. We did find these helpful, but came to the conclusion that most of the criticisms were from our teacher, who is a little older and mature than maybe the people in our target audience. For example, “needs a steadier camera” wasn’t necessary for our film in particular because the whole idea was that the shots that were taken of Rose were from the predator’s point of view, and needed to look sketchy, so there was no need for a steady camera. ‘ the unsteady camera looked good because it showed how somebody was following her and making her feel scared and confused’ – quoted by my sister, aged 15.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

We have decided the target age group for our film would be between the ages of 15 and 30. People over the age of 30 may be interested, but we figured because it was about drink, drugs and teenager rebalances, the older generation may not be interested in this. We also did some research, looking at surveys taken out to see the age range of people going to see horror/thrillers at the certificate of 18, such as ‘SAW’, ‘28 days later’ and ‘The Grudge’, the results came out at 18-30 year olds watching these films. We also did some research on the internet to see how we could certify our film, either to be a 12 or a 15. Personally, I would have thought it should have been a 12, but due to drug use, this pushed it up to be an automatic 15. Although the first 2 minutes of our film has no speech, or actual abuse which is shown in the first 2 minutes of the film, this will come later on in the film, so the audience may be slightly confused to begin with to why it is a 15, but I would presume they’d read the reviews and know the films content, so this wouldn’t be an issue.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I don’t think our film would meet Hollywood institution’s expectations, so I doubt very much they would be interested in our film. This is because most Hollywood films have hundreds of thousands of pounds spent on set design, and film equipment to make their film, so I don’t think we would be up to their high standards on that front. I think it would suit a channel 4 movie because it would be a budget film and quite reasonable to make. For example there is no extravagant setting, special effects or costume, so could maybe be a Cult movie, with a small target audience, which would hopefully make cinema and DVD releases. On the other hand, if a big production company liked the basic storyline of our film, for example, ‘Twisted pictures production company’, who made films such as ‘Saw’ and ‘Mothers day’, decided to distribute our film, they could put money into developing our set and special effects and make it into a big time film, like most of the horror films they have created.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our film is in the horror/ thriller genre so can be aimed at any age category. It is ideally aimed at the younger adults between the age of 15 and 30, because there is a lot of action, drink and drug use, and wouldn’t be suitable for anyone under the age of 15 and maybe wouldn’t be of interest to the more mature adults. This is because they may have less of a vivid imagination, and are less knowledgeable of today’s youth culture of partying, drink and drugs. ‘Blackout’ is about a 19 year old girl who gets abducted from a night out of which she cannot remember and finds herself in the middle of the woods the next morning, having no memory of how or why she is there. It turns out her drink was spiked, and a man took advantage of her whilst she was under the influence of drugs. This could represent the tragedy we have in this day and age of young girls being unaware of the dangers of binge drinking and getting into states where they cannot fend for themselves, resulting in events where they are abducted and abused, like in ‘Blackout’. In recent news, Melanie Hall’s body was found on the side of the road from when she went on a night out with her friends, just over ten years ago. She was obviously abducted, with reasons that are still unfound. But it could be the same situation as the character from our film was in. She may have got her drink spiked, and things turned out for the worse. From knowing about the whole film and the whole story line, Rose is from a wealthy and well balanced background, where her parents give her the best of everything, including a private education and expensive luxuries. She has led quite a sheltered life, thanks to her parents. At the age of 19, she decided to rebel against her parents wishes of studying constantly and not drinking or going to clubs because they disapprove. She found a new group of friends, who were bought up differently to herself in working class families; who then influenced her to attend a local rave on the night of her attack. This shows the audience the issue of rebelling against parents wishes, and that sometimes a little freedom is what is needed for a ‘balanced’ upbringing. You can also tell she is from a higher class family and background because of what she is wearing. She has on a purple dress, which is embroided with sequins, and she is wearing high heeled shoes. Her hair and makeup are also done to perfection. In the club scene, you can see the others there are not dressed as smartly, and they are a lower class status. For example one of her friends is wearing a hooded jumper at what is supposed to be a rave. Stereotypically, when people go out to a nightclub, they do not wear casual wear, they wear something more formal. Also, it could prove that Rose is hanging around with ‘hoodies’, who are stereotypically thought to be of lower class, and ‘rough’. I think we have decided to portray upper middle class families in a negative way, because the film shows, although they may have money to help their children get the best things and education out of life, it needs to be balanced with a social life and fun time with friends.