Final Edit

I am really pleased with how my final edit turned out, here it is:

From my audience feedback I have very few changes I have to make in fact, I only had to make one change:

• Moved the title 'Bloody Nightmare' to a central position to show its importance. 

Audience feedback - first edit - Question 6

15 out of 20 people said that yes they would definitely continue watching, this is a fantastic result! It means that I have successfully created an engaging, intriguing opening sequence. Some comments given were:

"I want to know what Heidi saw..."
"Want to see what was outside the door"
and
"Yes! The suspense would kill me!"


Still there was a minority of people who would only maybe continue watching, and one that would definitely not watch any more. But, when you look at the comment it soon becomes apparent why:

"I don't really watch horror films, they scare me"
and
"Because don't like horrors but the tension is gripping enough and makes me curious"


Looking back to improve my feedback I probably have only asked people who actually enjoy watching horror films. But overall I am very, very pleased with the feedback given and I don't need make any noticeable changes. 

Audience feedback - first edit - Question 4 & 5

I was incredibly happy to see that the feedback was so positive as me and Arabella spent so long on it, perfecting it and really thinking about how it matches and enhances the action. From the comments given it is clear that I don't need to change the music.

"It was suitable and dramatic"
"It enhances the film"
and
"Build up the tension"


Are the characters what you would expect from a horror film?


Every single member of the audience I asked answered 'yes' to this question. This shows that I have managed to identify and follow the conventions of horror regarding characters. No changes needed to be made here.

Comments included:
"Yes - the girl suggests vulnerability"
"Pretty much - dim teen who backs themselves into the corner"

Peer assesment

Today we carried out peer assessments on each other’s opening sequences. We judged them of four main areas and scoring them out of 25 for each:

•          Titles
•          Cinematography/editing
•          Introduction of (this included characters, locations, storylines…)
•          Sound

I was really pleased with the feedback I received. I was given two lots of feedback, one final score being 87/100, the other was 91/100.

Here is some general feedback:

• "Clear characters and the relationship between them too -Protagonist (girl) and Antagonist (masked man)"
• "Good range of shot types (extreme close ups etc.) keep audience hooked"
• "I like how the titles appear  to the side/left/come in rather than just in the middle or top of the screen. The range of placements is very good"
• "The point of view movements were amazing and I felt like I was in the film with her"

The main area I lacked in was titles. This is what I aim to change and improve on before my final edit. Here are the specific comments I was given and what I intend to do about it:

“For the ‘ Bloody Nightmare’ title isn’t in the centre of the screen which I feel it should be to emphasise it” – I agree with this. All of the other titles are off centre but ‘Bloody Nightmare’ should stand out to show that it is the film title, not just someone that contributed to it.

Before: 

After:

It is a small change but one I feel is worth making.

It was also commented that the order my actor’s names appeared in was a bit unusual. At the minute ‘Dom Read’ comes up first, but Heidi is the main character. 

“You should make ‘Heidi Green’ appear before ‘Dom Clarke’ comes onto the screen” – This is something I hadn’t thought of but it makes perfect sense. It also follows the conventions of most films (how main characters actors appear first and then the lesser roles appear afterwards). So I have also changed this.

Audience feedback - first edit - Question 3

How could the titles be improved?

75% of people commented that they did not have any suggestions on how the titles could be improved, only 5 people had suggestions on how they could be improved. These were:

Make them Darker
Make them spookier
Continue using the typewriter
More stop motion
Make them larger

Seeing as the majority were happy with the titles Im not going to make any changes. Here is how I have justified the decisions.

Darker - I need them to stand out, if they were darker they may not show up
Spookier - I'm afraid this was a bit vague, I'm not sure how to make them 'spookier'. Also I like the subtlety, I don't want them to be to over the top.
Use the type writer/more stop motion - As these were part of my production cards and not the film I want to keep it separate rather than to continue these techniques through out. I am a big fan of stop motion and plan to use it more in future projects but due to its comic nature it isn't really appropriate for the horror genre.
Larger - The title of the film ('Bloody Nightmare') is larger than the names and it needs to be to show its importance and that it is different.


Comments included:
"I like them how they are"
"They were already good"
and
"Very good, I like the flashing of them"

Audience feedback - first edit - Question 2

     Analysis of audience feedback of my first edit.
         
      What is your opinion of the sound effects?

I asked this as the sound effects are something that would be relatively easy for me to change and could make a big difference. So I thought it is a very relevant and worthwhile question to ask.

I was incredibly happy to see that the majority of my audience liked the sound effects! Comments I received included:

“The birds, although ordinary, make it even more sinister”

“Brilliant”

And

“High quality, build suspense”

Quite a few people commented on the phone ringing being too loud.  But, I have decided to keep it as it is because whilst watching it I saw it made them jump, which is exactly the effect I am trying to create. It abruptly interrupts the silence, as this is unexpected it catches the audience by surprise.

So I'm not going to change any of the sound effects because I am really happy with them and the feedback received. 

Audience feedback - first edit - Question 1

Analysis of audience feedback of my first edit.

I showed my first edit of the opening sequence to 20 people in the target audience to see what they thought of it, would they watch it and how could I improve it.  Here are the results to my questionnaire.

1.       What genre do you think this film belongs to?

I asked this very general question to see straight off if my sequence is clearly belonging to the horror genre, as this was the affect I was trying to achieve. Here are the results:

Luckily the majority of my audience could tell easily that my opening sequence belongs to the horror genre, with 9% thinking it was horror or thriller and only 5% getting the genre wrong with thriller. I can see where the confusion might lie, the sequence could be mistaken for a thriller but as only minute sample of people thought it was (1 person out of 2 questioned) I do not think It matters too much. And thriller is a similar genre to horror, is say 30% thought it would be a romantic comedy, then I would have a problem and changes would need to be made.

I also asked them why they thought this so I could identify what mainly contributed to the tone of the film:

I was very pleased to see that the build-up of tension was so effective. I was worried that it wouldn’t come through but it is a vital part of setting the tone and I am thrilled that so many people appreciated it. Other important things my audience said contributed to the genre were costume, props, characters and storyline. This was reassuring to see that I correctly identified conventions of the horror genre and portrayed them effectively.

Quite a few people gave comments such as “It was scary”. These comments were not very helpful as they didn’t tell me what made it scary but still, they were positive and nice to hear.

First Edit

After much time spent deliberating over minor details my first edit is done! Here it is:

A few people including some students from the year above viewed it and they all said that they really like it and gave me some pointers. 

It was suggested that I remove certain shots including this one:

It reveals more information than is needed. But now it could be leading on to more action (which it would be, as it is an opening sequence). It poses certain enigma codes such as What Happened? What was on the other side of the door? Why did she scream?

I also had to juggle around the audio a bit after taking out this shot as the timings were slightly off. But, as this shot was fairly close to end it didn't matter too much and wasn't too hard to correct.

Next I will get some feedback from my target audience. I plan to show the sequence to a few people then ask them to fill in a questionnaire about it.

Music - Done!

Me and Arabella spent yesterday afternoon in front of the keyboard tweaking the composition for my sequence. I didn't think we had much to do to it but creating the exact effect I wanted was harder than expected.

What we stared with compared to what we ended up with is quite different. Mainly the ending when building suspense whilst Heidi is walking towards the door. It is now much more subtle than it was before and the intensity builds as she gets closer and closer.

After around an hour of changing the pace, adding and removing notes so it didn't sound to overworked it was finished. I am so pleased with the way it has turned out and it compliments the visual brilliantly.

You will be able to hear the composition with the visual in my next post which contains my first edit!

Sound Effects

Today I added the sound effects to my sequence.

These include ambience sounds in the forrest section of bird song. I like this as it adds a very innocent feel to what is a stressful, sinister situation, it is slightly disorientating for the audience as it challenges their expectations. Also I have added in the door knock in the bedroom. This is vital to the story as without it the action doesn't make sense. It is the prompt for Heidi to look and walk towards the door.

I took these sound effects straight off of the garageband track I did for the animatic. I took the the complete track and in garage band removed any part of the track that I didn't need, leaving only the bird song and the door knock.

 Next after exporting the file and loading it into Final Cut Express I cut it up to place the audio at the correct places in the sequence. Funnily enough this didn't take as long as I thought it would. It turns I am getting to grips with FInal Cut Express.

It went from looking like this.

To something like this.

Changes to the titles

I have decided to change my titles. I wasn't happy with how 'Bloody Nightmare' looked on the screen. I liked how it squirmed into the shot giving an uncomfortable feel but the font looks to friendly and is not in keeping with the horror genre.

Before

I want it to look more threatening. So, I spent todays lesson playing about on livetype trying to create a scarier effect. It took me quite a while as I am not very good at navigating the program. Here is my result:

After

Changes:

• The font is more sinister, it is more fitting to the tone of the film. I think the first font looks too friendly and doesn't suit a horror film.
• The action - although I liked the way it squirmed onto the screen before I decided to change it. Now it is stationary at the start and motion builds up. At the end it is jumping all over the screen, this conveys distress.

I'm really happy with how it looks now. I am not changing the other titles as I still think they look good and don't need to be changed.

Music - Day 1

Today I sat down with Arabella and listened to the music she has composed for the sequence. She has chosen to use predominantly the key board because it is a very versatile instrument and she can play it amazingly well.

This is also good as I do not have to rely on anyone else for recording. This means it is less likely that I will be let down by people and recording can all be done at once. I'm going to be completely honest, she pretty much hit the nail on the head. It really good at exactly the affect I wanted. There are only a few changes we need to make to it.

• Building suspense - the chase section is really good, it conveys the tone and the pace well. The section where Heidi is approaching the door is not yet right. At the minute it is all chase music but I need this bit to be slower and build more and more suspense as she gets closer to the door and what waits for her behind it.

• Timings - The overall piece is effective, we just need to make sure it matches the action. It might be a case of recording several bits of audio then cutting them up and placing them where needed.

Other than these few points it is amazing. I am so grateful to my friend for doing this,I am so lucky to have such a talented musician composing my music for me!

Editing: First edit completed!

Today I finished my first edit of my horror opening sequence! All I had to do since the last day of editing was alter the sound. I have reviewed all of the sound effects to make sure they sound coherent and realistic. I also had to remove some repeated dialogue as Heidi said "Hello?" twice when she picked up the phone. All of this took me much longer than it should have done because I am not very well accommodated with Final Cut Express, but I got it done and I am very happy with the result.

Things I still need to do before the final edit is completed:

• Get my actors to record some dialogue for me - Doms (who plays the antagonist) dialogue was in audible at times, he had trouble being loud enough for the camera to pick up due to him wearing the mask. Because of this I said some of his lines in his place, therefore in the current edit his character has 2 voices. This must be changed.
• Music! - I still have yet to sit down with Arabella and listen to the music she has composed. As I have stressed before it is imperative that I get the music right at is contributes to the tone greatly.