Final Version For Our Film Opening

This is our absolute final sequence for our film opening. I am very pleased with how it has turned out and many people have congratulated myself and the members of my group for doing a very good job. Considering it's our first time putting a film together and have had to rethink our ideas over half way through to completion date I am thrilled that it's turned out as well as it has done.

Feedback Reviews From Our Target Audience

My group and I shared our final film opening on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to get feedback.
The criticism returned was plentiful and very useful to both myself and my group. These ideas have been taken on board as it is important to get it just right for our target audience so that it fully attracts and addresses them to a high standard. These final amendments shall be dealt with very shortly.
The feedback received are as follows:

YOUTUBE:

"This has got to be.... THE BEST FREAKING THING EVER!

Everything is filmed to perfection and edited like an absolute boss.

The sound effects are the bomb, the angles are the best, and the storyline is spooky.

I think this should get top marks!

Well done to everyone involved in making this :D

10/10

5 Stars

WAHEY! :)" 

FACEBOOK

"WAHEEEY! :D"


"You've done a really great job! I love that it slowly builds up, not giving too much away, especially through the use of over the shoulder shots so that the stalkers identity isn't revealed. It isn't made clear what is definitely happening (kidnap/murder?! is the film going to be about him or the girls?) so you want to watch on and find out. The POV shots of the stalker are very effective and the music is very fitting! It's good to see you using stereotypes with the girly sleepover. Also, the fade out at 2:10 is a great idea! A few ideas: I think that you could possibly slow down the shot of Amara dialing the phone number, and maybe try a cross dissolve at 1:23 as the two shots don't seem to link so seamlessly as the rest of the scene in the bedroom. Also: if you've got the footage perhaps you could extend the phone call at the end slightly? It seems like it doesn't ring for that long.. or maybe if you don't have more footage, you could slow down the footage and just have the ringtone play again? I just watched the previous version on your YouTube and the development from it to this one is so clear, for instance in that one the conversation at the beginning was quite long and you didn't see much to suggest that someone is watching but now those things have been sorted. Overall a great job!"

"This is really good Amara Bullen! I found it quite spooky, and scary how easily that could be real life. Also found it very strange seeing my niece being kidnapped! Well done, think you and your friends did a great job xxx
P.S -you sound well posh in the opening!            "

" You decided on a name finally! I love it, it's great! Well done guys!"

"I though it was good too, with all those camera angles and stuff. the plot was good too  overall it was awesome! but i had to start laughing when i saw charlies name in it, and i was like Omg! That's his red car  at least I've seen it now LOL but it was really good :L"

"Me and Kev just watched this, well done hon its fab, bit scary really! xxx"

" Really impressed! Thought it was tense! Very well put together and the camera in the fridge was a great bit of production!!! Music in the background was very good too. You all did really well! Can't wait to see the next episode!"

"Me and a friend are in the middle of editing and putting together our opening sequence for media, this opening sequence is so good though! i loved it, lots of different camera angles and shots, i really liked it  xx"

The Penultimate Version Of Our Film Opening

This is our penultimate opening sequence which we are soon to be receiving target audience feedback for. Feedback will be useful for us to make the final amendments which will be demonstrated to us from a fresh eye. As I've watched this clip many times, I feel that I need to step back and see what other people from our audience think about what we've done. I will ask of them to include any criticism that they may think will benefit our opening sequence in any way.
Currently, my group and I feel that this is very nearly at completion!

Some Changes

Having got some filming done and put together using iMovie, we have discussed that there are a few changes that need to be made.

Firstly the brightness on the majority of the clips is too dark to make out what's happening. We tried enhancing the brightness but this only made the picture pixilated.

Another thing that needs to be altered is that previously, we filmed 3 different shots of one of the girls going to the fridge. These shots, we thought, worked really well when put together as they flowed nicely and were timed perfectly to flow well. However, feedback was given to us and we had realised that this went against the all important '180 degree rule'. This was frustrating for our group as we felt that this was the best part of the film so far. We decided to keep 2 of the shots the same and change the first one from a different angle so it didn't go against this rule.

Lastly, a shot in the garage needs to be re-filmed again. This is because when one of the characters try to switch on the light, this takes too long as she couldn't find the light switch when filming which makes the clip drag on for too long.
Currently our product is 2.47 minutes long so we need to cut down on each clip where possible.

The New Idea In Action

This is our very first attempt to introduce the stalker idea into our film opening. It's unfinished as we've only just put the main shots together but this is the basis of what we'll be working with. A soundtrack would benefit this hugely and perhaps some more shots of the stalker so that it flows better.
Personally, I think it works much better than our last idea as the gender didn't fit the use of the doll. Also the fact that both teenagers were playing in the park was a bit odd.
We wanted to get as many different shots in as possible to keep the film flowing so it doesn't drag, but not overdo it. Finding this balance was tricky as when filming, we agreed to film more than we know we would need but have to choice to use them or not in future. This was more difficult when coming to the editing side as we had to chose which we should use and which we should disregard.

Storyboard #2 (Final storyboard idea)

My group and I are changing our plot completely because of the representation of female teenagers in our last attempt was highly inaccurate. We want to link the characters we use as best as we can to their age and gender. To do this we thought about the two types of female teenagers usually stereotyped and then thought about our target audience. We chose the more vulnerable teenage girl stereotype as we felt we could make this would work better. I thought that this stereotype would work well as we could easily show them talking and doing stereotypical 'girly things' such as: painting nails, pillow fights, talking about boys, watching movies, laughing, etc. This would emphasis how vulnerable they are as they're unaware of their surroundings.

Film Opening Idea #2

We looked back at the very beginning of our notes about what type of horror movie we would be focusing on. In our last idea we were aiming for a more mysterious, on-the-edge-of-your-seat type horror. Our idea for making the opening more scary was to try and make it relate more to the audience. This would be by showing a murder or stalker etc. These things happen in real life, whereas a doll is completely fiction and doesn't relate. This is how we came up with the idea of including a stalker who spy's on the two girls as they 'hang out' in the park and go back to their house. 

As a group, discussed about how teenage girls are be shown in society. We came up with the fact that they're either the vulnerable or rebellious type. The vulnerable type of character would be shown by laughter/ giggling, oblivious to their surroundings, etc. The rebellious type would be shown by mood swings, lash outs, smoking, drugs, use of language (not caring) etc. 

As a group we came up with the fact that vulnerable teenage girls would be more easy to target and can relate more to viewers. On the other hand, rebellious teenage girls may put themselves in more danger, soon to have the tables turn against them.

We decided to use the more vulnerable stereotype for teenage girls as they can over exaggerate and go off in their own mind wave, eg. if something happens they think it's the end of the world.

Back to the drawing board

My group and I have had some critical feedback for the clips we've put together for our final film opening. Unfortunately, we were told that the characters included look too old for the plot and don't show the real innocence of a child. We tried to see if we could overcome this problem but we couldn't think or find two girls that fit the description we wanted.
This meant that we had to use different ideas to think up another storyboard for a different plot and start from scratch.