P4 / M3

P4 Audience Feedback

I made a Microsoft form in order to collect feedback for our short film, which includes some simple questions for our peers to answer.

M3 Acknowledging Feedback

I believe all of the feedback we received from the Microsoft form is constructive and allows for areas of improvement if we do another short film similar to this.

Question 1 - video quality / storyline

The feedback we received from the first question was near enough all along the same lines, saying that the storyline was quite simple but had an effect to it, which is pretty much what we were going for.

However, these were the ones which stuck out and mentioned something other than that:

*good

We recorded our short film twice. The first time we did it, we hardly even had a fully finished storyboard but we had the idea and the script so just winged it. After realising we would have to reshoot it, we created a new storyboard based on what we had already filmed, so when we went to film the second time it went better so there was less of us just standing around not knowing what to do. I personally wouldn't say that the storyline was all over as it is quite easy to follow, its just some of the scenes do get cut short (like where there is a conversation between two characters) so its more fast paced so I can understand why this was said.

I'm happy that our use of dramatic irony in the film was noticed and made it engaging for this person to watch. Even though it was relatively short film we were still able to get the right tone we were going for.

Question 2 - audio quality / sound effects

To ensure that the sound from the clips was the best it could be, we used Adobe Sound Enhancer to cut out any unwanted background noise and to make the speaking audio more clear.

The sound effects and music we chose for this are simple yet affective for the moment they are played in, for example the jump scare when the killer appears, and the song Thriller at the end to add some comedy to it.

Question 3 - edit quality

One of the scenes we filmed multiple times and shot at 2 or a few different angles to show they are having a conversation, and it adds a bit more depth to the scene rather it just being a still shot of the two talking.

Question 4 - positives

The POV shots would be good to use in a horror film as it would create mystery behind who the view is being seen from, especially in one of the first opening scenes as it is being filmed from behind Lewis's head.

We got lucky on the day with the weather in the woods, with there being fog which added ambience to our short film.

Question 5 - improvements

The most common improvement for the film which we got was the fact that the film was quite short and the killer was introduced a bit too soon. This is something we as a group agree on because again some of there are some shots which are quite fast paced.

When we filmed it the first time (the unsuccessful one), we did take a microphone with us to the woods but we ended up not using it because when playing it back straight after recording on the camera it sounded clear enough to hear it properly, and is why we chose not to take one the second shooting, which also was a mistake on our part if some of it was unclear.

Wayne Sables Feedback Video

This is the feedback we got from a filmmaker Wayne Sables. The feedback we from him received we found constructive as he also mentioned the fact that parts of the film were fast paced and lasted shorter than they probably should've been. Additionally, he said that there could've had more depth for the killer's backstory, for a clearer reasoning behind their motives and reasons for their actions.

Wayne did also give us some words of positivity for the film, some of these including that the way we went about editing and filming, like the shot types and some of the lines we used, it suited well with our intended theme. He also said that we should have more confidence in the work we create, highlighting how the more confidence we have can impact the way that our projects will turn out.

Personal development

Ways that I could improve myself and my own ways for possible future projects like this could be learning more about the types of cinematography techniques to become more familiar with different shot types and types of lighting or framing, as throughout this short film I had been relying on the knowledge of my peers for what we included. Another improvement I could take upon myself is to work on my skills in editing for relevant software, and finding more about the types of transitions and effects that I could use. However, I could also simply acknowledge and learn from feedback I recieve from peers and incorporate them into any more projects I may take part in in the future.