Questionare Data

After having sorted out the feedback questionnaires from the showcase we produced images to compile and express thoughts about our film opening.

1.What did you understand about the narrative (Quick synopsis)?

2. Did the chosen genre fit its convention?

3. How did the 'ending' make you feel?

4. Any suggestions for improvements, if we were to shoot the whole thing again?

Media Showcase Feedback

From the media showcase we were able to retrieve more feedback from a wide variety of viewers and their response to our opening. 




In terms of moving forward with they these comments they help us to pinpoint factors for improvement and elements that they enjoyed while watching our opening both from a younger audience and mature audience.

Media Showcase

On Wednesday the 20th March we had a media showcase to present all the AS and A2 final products to a large audience made up of teacher's,pupils(aged 15-18) and parents. In addition to this a questionnaire was made in order to use it as an opportunity to gain feedback.The questionnaire had the following questions;

1. What did you understand about the narrative?
2.Did the chosen genre fit it's conventions?
3.How did the ending make you feel?
4.Any suggestions for improvements, if we were to shoot the whole thing again?

In using this information to help us move forward, we can think about post-production decisions as well as constructive criticm and also get an understanding if we were to proudte the film as a real product, whether it would be a success with our intended audience. Moreover from this questionnaire I will be compiling the results to present them in different ways. 

Lastly, we had to introduce our film openings and we could talk about the genre, a short plot summary and if it would be made into a full film.Below is our plan for what we were going to say:

"Good afternoon, this is our opening Trapped. It is a psychological thriller about a girl that is in a mental institution. We chose the title 'Trapped' because it reflects her physical imprisonment within the asylum as well as her mental state as she suffers from flash backs. If it was to be made into a full length film it would follow how she mentally deteriorates after the death of her friend, this would also explain how she ended up in the asylum. Enjoy" 

Overall, the night proved very successful and beneficial for us and was also a good opportunity to improve our speaking skills and some useful responses.

Beauty and the Beast

Recently, I went  to see the newest adaptation of Disney's 'Beauty and the Beast' in the cinema,not having seen the animated version. 



I found the cinematography and computer generated imagery aided in improving the verisimilitude of the whole tale and didn't make me feel as though it was child's tale due to the Director's choice to really take advantage of the modern film technology  available in this age.

Specific shots that really intrigued me,were the shots of the snow and castle that the Beast inhabited in.

If one thing stands out over all this design and skill it is the Beast himself, a character who could not appear as he does without the advanced technology used in today’s filmmaking.

Moreover the casting was so ideal as Emma Watson made the character truly come to existence and she fitted the role perfectly in my opinion.

Audience Feedback

Before confirming our final finished film opening, we wanted to retrieve audience feedback as it helped us  improve smaller elements which may not have been identified after having watched the production multiple times, therefore the new eye would be able to spot more critically and accurately.




Below are some of the comments I gained from others around the 15+ age group.

• " I really like the time lapse at the beginning it made it different and not like many openings that I've seen " -Hannah (age 17)
• "I felt like the silence in certain shots created more tension and it made watching the opening uncomfortable  which is hard to make audience the audience feel.To improve manybe you could have had glitctches just to show how anxious the character feels. but overall I really liked it" - Naihel (age 15)
• " It kept me on edge and I wanted to know the backstory of the girl and did she kill her friend or does she blame herself. Something that I thought could have been better was maybe not include the shot where it is shaky, I don't think it flowed when watching it"-Ayesha (age 19) 

In addition to this I also gained some responses from a more mature audience as I thought it would be really important to have a wide variation of feedback to see whether it would appeal to them in the same way.



The older age group  praised the atmosphere and uneasy feeling created whilst watching the production and commented on the opening leaving them intrigued as to background of how the character has ended up in this surrounding.

Black and White Flashbacks

For our film opening we thought is was better to alter the saturation and brightness to give a faded look  and cold pallet to the shots  rather than completely strip our shots of any colour and have a black and white effect.

My reason for this is by having a black and white filter it would appear as though we are going back in time and would make our shots look very aged as though from periods ago, which wasn't our aim.

Also by having the colours a little washed out it places greater emphasis on how the female protagonist is drained of happiness and mentally her mind is unclear.

Being Limited

Whilst editing our opening I feel as though iMovie software is very limited for our group to succeed in getting the best possible outcome for our film opening, my justification for this is due to the number of transitions available to us as there is not a wide variety to apply to our project and especially considering the genre we have decided to do as it is a hybrid between horror and psycho-thriller.

We want our product to resemble real-life examples within this genre and having researched common conventions we weren't able to apply a large variation of transitions thus leading us to repeat many, because of them being more suited to projects like weddings and presentations for teaching.

The effect that we aimed for our transitions to have was to be as unnoticeable as possible and flow in sequence as having a a transition that was obvious would have altered the verisimilitude for the intended audience which is why we used the  fade transition or had straight cuts.

Yet having said this we found ways to manipulate our situation as we embedded a time-lapse which fitted into our project and it was a unique technique that we did not originally plan on doing when illustrating our storyboard.

Synopsis for our Film Opening

In terms of the plot of our final product we have decided that the plot would revolve around how the murder of her friend happened and the constant questioning as to did the female protagonist kill her friend or has she been friend.As all will be unravel in the plot.

To keep the viewers on edge and still interested in finding out the truth I would want there to be many plot-twists at certain points so the audience are left unsure and at certain points make the judgement as to whether she is guilty or innocent of killing her friend. 

In some elements the plot has similarities to the plot of the american TV series " Pretty Little Liars", as it follows the 4 females trying to find out who is 'A' and in the same way the audience want to find out the truth as to who the killer is.

Cliff hanger

We have decided to leave the film opening at a cliff hanger and keep it filled with ambiguity as to why the character is in the situation, whether she killed her friend or blames herself for her death. By doing so we feel the purpose of the film opening is to convince the audience in watching the whole movie and to achieve this you need it to leave viewers with unanswered questions, which is the main reason as to why leaving the opening at a cliff hanger would be suitable.

Likewise having done some research into films of our genre there are many cliff hangers and unexpected events that occur not only at the end of the film but in the middle too. By combining cliff hangers into the opening we leave our intended audience feeling uneasy and anxious.

127 hours

In class, we watched 127 hours, Based on a true story, 127 Hours concerns carefree adventurer Aron Ralston (James Franco), who falls into a crevasse whilst cycling alone through the Moab desert in Utah. As he falls to the bottom of the gap, his right arm is trapped beneath an immovable boulder. With only a bottle of water, an old penknife and a digital camera in his possession, Ralston documents what he believes will be the final precious hours of his life...until he realises there is one way he could escape.

I found the film built suspense throughout, specifically through editing as when he becomes stuck and finally decides he wants to escape the slow paced shots make you worry about the aftermath to his hand as he removes it also creates anticipation as you await the gory shots.

In addition the soundtrack played in the background when they shots occurred enhanced this effect further.

Overall the film was good and made you question the extremes you would go to in order to survive.