Feedback

Our OTS will have 2 lots of feedback, one from our media class, and the other from our target audience.

This week our media class will hold a focus group, where all groups will show their films and will gain feedback. 

This is good as we will have a more professional, media literate view on our OTS, and so the criticisms will be more helpful. For example, pupils in our media will be able to talk more about their knowledge on film noir, while others may not know the conventions of a film noir.

This has a disadvantage, as not all pupils in my media class fit the target audience for our OTS and so they may not like it. Our target audience is young men, which is why our anti-hero is a young male, shown as being powerful, but sadistic. 

When we have done this, I will upload the footage to this space:

Also, we're getting feedback from our target audience, young men. We will use Survey Monkey, the survey is in the link below:

Click here to take survey

I made the survey monkey questionnaire, I chose to use SurveyMonkey, as our group hadn't used it before, and when I went onto the site, it was quite simple to use. Also, answering the survey is straight forward so there should be no difficulties. The terminology used in the questionnaire is simplistic, so the respondent will be able to understand it, as they haven't taken Media and do not understand the terminology. 

The results will be posted below once we have enough results.

ACE - Final piece inc. dialogue

ACE- Round 2 from Cal Ives-Keeler on Vimeo.

Above, is (hopefully) our final OTS piece. The only difference from the last uploaded edit, featured in my last post, is that the dialogue has been edited in.

There are still ways we can improve this piece, as mentioned in the previous post. This edit still needs the background music included, due to a technical error in school. Ms Humpleby is trying to help us and others in our class with this problem.

We wanted the dialogue to have a gritty, menacing, evil tone. I think Cal did a good job as voice actor. Before choosing his voice, we recorded other voices, but found the recording featured in this edit the best suited.

ACE - second edit

This is our second recording of our ACE OTS. We decided to re-film as we needed to improve the continuity and I needed a bullet wound. Although we re-filmed, we have found some errors with our recording which are:

• Some parts still have bad continuity, this is due to Cal using footage from our first recording and now our second recording. Cal has tried to edit them as best he can, and it doesn't look bad, however before giving it to the examiners we will need to make them more flow better. Examples of this is when Cal looks through the blinds (00.50), and Cal holds the playing card over my body, just before the "Underground Casino" shot (01.14 onwards). 
• Some shots are a little shaky - the first and second shot for instance. This is due to Elliott holding the camera by hand as it was easier than using a tripod, we shall improve this. Although the "Underground Casino" scene is arguably shaky too, this makes more sense and we intended for this, as the handheld effect makes the shot look more like it was from Cal or I's point of view (eg. 01.25), and so, doesn't need to change.
• The money is British money, within our group we didn't decide whether our film will be based in America or Britain, I suppose we could choose in Britain, however Film Noirs originated from America and so I thought this may be a teeny problem.
• As Cal outlined on his blog, the "whiskey" we used, which was apple juice, looks a little too much like apple juice. This can't really be helped, as it's due to the camera and lighting in the room, which I wouldn't change for this small error, however we will talk about this problem within the group and see if we will change this.
• This links to my last point, the start was a little pixelated due to our dark setting and the quality of the camera. Again, I don't think this is a large enough problem to re-film or change, but we'll talk in our group if we shall change this.
• The sound has not yet been edited onto our OTS. Cal has not put the previously recorded dialogue and background music (from audiotool, as mentioned in this post here.) and the gunshot sound that we foleyed.

Although there are a number of ways we can improve, our second version is a lot better than our first. Reasons for this are:

• For our first version, I didn't have a wound. This was a massive problem as the gunshot and gun wound were a key part of the story, as without it, I wouldn't look dead. Cal made the bullet wound on my forhead using special effects clay and colourings, while Elliott made the runny blood with jam and food colouring for partly my face and Cal's bloody hand. Now it looks more realistic, and our story is easier to understand.
• Our first edit didn't include the "Underground Casino" scene. Although this means this scene is a little shaky, and may need more improving, I believe it's overall good, and again, makes our story easier to understand. I think to improve, we could show the "underground Casino" scene at the start, with quick shots of my dead body, to make the OTS easier to understand and make it look more like an OTS and not a short film. I will ask my group if this is a good idea.
• Less continuity errors for the money on my body, as we chose to film the shots with my dead body and money over before any others, so I hadn't moved.

Overall, I think we don't need to re-film, however, we should show our film to the class and see their opinions.