What Comes Next - Final Cut

Final Magazine Spread

Final Poster

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 3

In order to produce my final short film I went through several stages of audience research in order to improve my product and to confirm a target audience for the product as a whole including the ancillary tasks. Initially I wanted to research into my target audience that I thought would be appropriate for the piece that I wanted to create. This was the 15-25 demographic with a slight lean towards the female sex compared to the male. In order to confirm this proposed target audience I asked two different groups of people the simple question

Would you go and see this film?

The two groups were,

YOUNGER – 20, 15 – 25 year olds  mainly composed of people in my year at school so they were mostly 16-18

OLDER – group of 10 people from 40 – 60 mainly parents of my friends.

And these were the results,

Younger 

Older 

As you can see there was a definite split between the two age groups with those of a similar age to me who definitely fit into the 15 – 25 demographic mostly stated an interest in the film concept which gave me confidence that my planned target audience was the right one. While the second group of those of an older age is small and the results aren’t that promising I thought that this was useful to  carry out to see if possibly the film could have a wider audience however this hope was short lived as it became clear from this small sample that there was not much interest from this older age group.

However if I were to do this again I would also have made note of the gender of these people as this as something that was relevant to my target audience research but was not something I focused on which limited the success of this initial research.

After I had begun to put together several edits of the film I began to show them to several people in order to receive some feedback on how the film was progressing.

With the first round of audience feedback the biggest piece of feedback I received was that a shot reverse shot between Ottilies character and Roddies character didn’t make sense in terms of the 180 degree rule something I hadn’t payed enough attention to during filming and so the feedback was incredibly important in catching this mistake that I went on to fix in a series of reshoots. The problematic shot is shown below along with the shot I changed it for during reshoots.

I performed several further pieces of audience research where I asked people to look at the later stages of production as the piece began to came together. This was useful for a couple of reasons. Firstly they were useful because they showed me a different reading of the text that I hadn’t intended for there to be. One person thought that Roddies character was far more antagonistic than I had actually planned and this was interesting because it suggested that I had not made him as sympathetic as I would have intended possibly due to the restrictions of the format and the limited number of lines I could give him in the time allowed for the piece

Secondly it was also useful in terms of production because again it helped to highlight failures in the earlier pieces of the production such as particular issues with sound for example with the beginning of the piece the decision to have the opening of the fridge cut into the music cue of the production company logo and this definitely added to the effectiveness of the opening as it gave a sense of falling directly into the setting of the piece.  Furthermore they helped with continuity such as one scene where the décor behind one of the characters changed between shots .

These became particularly important when filming reshoots as I had to make sure that costuming and setting were all kept the same throughout shoots something that I nearly managed to achieve although there were still a couple of continuity errors.

The last bit of audience research I performed was after I had completed the final edit of the piece. To do this I created a short survey which I gave to  10 people who watched the film. I used a mixture of long form and multiple choice questions which gave me a mixture of qualitative and quantitative data and it was all useful. The survey can be seen below,

In terms of audience this survey was fairly useful as it confirmed the findings of my earlier  research that suggested that the main audience demographic would be the 15 – 25 age range this was clearly true as, in terms of enjoyment, people rated the film on average a 7/10  and the average age of the people completing the survey was 17 further showing the accuracy of my predicted age range. However it must be noted that everyone rated the film fairly highly including those that were not a part of this particular demographic suggesting that the piece has a wider appeal than I had originally thought.

In terms of things that I did well, several people commented on how successful the overall cinemaphotography was in the piece for example one person commented that they like this particular shot (see below) of the two main characters in particular which shows that my cinemaphotography was successful

In addition to this when asked about how cohesive the narrative was many people said that they thought that it was cohesive and worked in the time frame a very good result especially considering the limited time frame that this product uses. I was afraid that the narrative would seem rushed or somewhat limited but nobody suggested that this was the case. #

 Furthermore, when asked if they thought the characters were stereotypical many people said that they were not and that they were well nuanced and seemed to be natural this is especially important to achieve in a coming of age film as it had to be grounded in realism. This was very useful as it showed how effective my script had been in creating two characters that appeared realistic to an audience of people who are supposed to be the same age as the characters. 

Finally people mostly said that they either greatly enjoyed the music or felt that it didn’t add much to the piece overall . On the one hand this is clearly good news because it would have been bad if people had said that they had not enjoyed the music of the piece because this was a central focus of mine during the production process. However it would have been nice to have had universally positive feedback and this lead me to think that I could have used the soundtrack more creatively because people particularly liked the ending soundtrack and so if I had used music to convey emotions more this could have benefited the overall product.

However many people did comment that the diegetic sound varied drastically and this made the viewing experience worse. One person commented that this was because they couldn’t hear certain bits of dialogue because of the non diegetic sound being to loud or because the actual audio for the dialogue was too quiet. Another person said that they couldn’t hear people speaking because of background noise such as airplanes and cars when filming outside of the house. These comments clearly show a major flaw in my product that is especially annoying for me as I had tried to fix these issues and had thought I had done a good job but it was clearly not good enough.

In terms of audience feedback for my ancillary tasks I performed a series of vox pops where I simply asked for peoples opinions when it came to both my poster and my magazine double page spread. An example of these can be seen below

Several common themes emerged as I was performing these

In terms of the poster, people really liked the layout that I went for in particular the placement of the image and the way in which the text surrounded the two actors shown in it. They also liked the use of the slowly fading away question marks as a part of the title. It was also good that several people who had seen both the film and the poster noted that the texts used at the end of the film was the same as that used in the poster title which was a definite plus.

However there were several things that people didn’t like. The primary issue that many people had was that once I had printed out the poster the awards that I had placed on the right hand side of the poster became lost in the background of the image which meant they were very difficult to see from a long distance away limiting the posters effectiveness. In addition to this people had mixed feelings about the choice of colours in the poster and thought that maybe there could be a great variety of colours used in the text rather than just the black and white that I had used

In terms of the magazine article people particularly liked the images used and the way they were displayed with people saying they were visually interesting as well as engaging. People who also thoroughly read the text said that they enjoyed reading it although several people choose not too as I caught them at a moment where they were somewhat busy which did limit the usefulness of this research to a certain degree. Finally a few people noted that they liked the side panel with the various bits of information in it which was great as this was something I put a great deal of time into especially when designing the stamp and rating system logos

However there were some things that people either didn’t like or had mixed feelings about. The main complaint that several people had was that the text as a whole was somewhat bland with people particularly pointing out that the title of the text wasn’t as eye catching as they would have liked. In addition to this some people thought that the main body of text was too small and therefore difficult to read something that I could not judge during production as I was not reading it in print.

 Overall throughout the whole production process I believe I have benefitted greatly from my audience feedback. In the early stages of development it was useful in highlighting production failures that I might have missed and this helped to guide my production especially when it came to colour correction and editing decisions or when eventually deciding to reshoot. In the later stages of development and when the piece was complete it was particularly useful as it highlighted to me the particular bits of the main task that I had achieved successfully and some pieces that I had not. This wasn’t as useful as I was focusing on evaluation once this had been completed but it was very reassuring as it confirmed that I had made a piece that effectively targeted a particular audience and was enjoyable for all those who viewed it.

Evaluation Question 4

Ancillary Task - Poster - Development

I started this poster by selecting this image from several that I had taken after one filming session to use for this poster

After this I separated the image into two layers one containing the couple and the other containing the background. I then took the background layer and applied a combination of a paint brush filter and a glass filter to give the background a more blurred effect

Then I added the text into the poster starting with the main poster text

I experimented with both Black and White text both of which could have worked. However due to the darkness of the background when viewed from further away the black text was less visible. In addition to this the white text would mean that it was consistent with the text used in the film itself which would increase the similarities between the two products something that I wanted to do as much as possible to make sure they worked together

Finally I added the two cast members names underneith the text as this framed the couple nicely with the text. I then created a series of Awards for the poster one of which is too the left. Finally I added the billing block in a simple billing block text and kept it small so as to avoid it drawing focus from the main header of the poster containing the title

Ancillary Tasks - Two Page - Photos

Below are the photos that I decided to include in my double page spread as part of my ancillary tasks.

Ancillary Tasks - Two Page - Text

Audience Comments Final Edit

I showed the final edit of the film to a group of friends and they have several comments about the piece

Several of them had watched the earlier edits and commented on how much of a difference the colour grading made as it made the whole film feel cohesive as a whole which is definitely a plus.

Several people who had not seen the film before commented as many people have about how much they liked the chemistry between the two leads and this made the story seem more realalistic and helped to draw them into the story. In addition to this several people actually laughed at the moments of humour in the film which is great as I was nervous that the overall tone of the film would mean that these comedic moments wouldn't land

A number of people commented on the sound design in particular the final track before the credits which they said made the scenes much more emotional and gave an effective end to the film. Another person also said that they liked the way that the scenes transitioned from one another and particularly liked the sound bridge of the door slam.

One person did say that they felt that the script was a bit rushed. I believe that this was caused by the cuts that I made removing the other conversations between other couples that were present in the original script. These were removed due to time constraints and were meant to break up the action and provide a point of conflict between Sam and Danny but their removal did harm the piece slightly

Music Final Thoughts

Track 1
The opening track has been through a couple iterations and these iterations were used as other tracks throughout the piece namely the final end credits track. This development took place on electronic music software and it was this process that shaped the whole of the music used in the film which is something I definitely did not expect to happen

I am very happy with this track as I think it immediately draws the viewer into the world that the film takes place in and gives the opening a sense of energy and movement that is really useful in establishing the tone of the film.

Track 2

This track was designed to compliment the earlier track and to keep the party atmosphere going in the background of the scene and I think it did this well and gave a sense that the music was a part of the world being played from a speaker actually at the party which added to the realism of the piece

However it was also meant to increase the tension in  the piece somewhat as the ex couple begin fighting  and I think this wasn't as effective as I would have liked. This may be due to the fact that after sound mixing the music isn't as loud as initially planned or it might be due to the fact that there is no significant increase in tempo but time restraints meant that while it could have been better I think it worked to a limited degree.

Track 3

This track was the last track to be created and was inspired by audience comments made about the ending of the piece with people mentioning how it felt odd that the final scene was played out with no backing track when the earlier scenes had a continual beat. After creating the track this was definitely the right call as it heightened the emotional weight of the scene immensely

This is the one track of the four that is recorded using a live instrument in this case a simple piano. This was inspired by other movies and soundtracks that use similar instruments to create a sense of melancholy and sadness in the viewer. I think that this change of instrument gave the track a really nice bit of contrast from the other tracks and this helped to further highlight the change in tone in the third scene of the film

Track 4

This final track as shown from the inspiration I posted was originally designed to follow the influences of pop and rock music along the lines of bands like two door cinema club and the arctic monkeys. However unintentionally when working on the music for the first time. I began to experiment with some synth and electric bass work. I really liked the tune I was created and so explored it further eventually adding the loud drums into the mix to drive the beat forward and it is this track that I eventually decided would be good to play out over the end credits.

This track was always intended to create a feeling of nostalgia in the listener. Originally this was going to be a more youthful track with lots of energy and this sudden energy is what I planned would create the nostalgia. However when I began creating these tracks I moved away from an indie rock style and focused more on a synth based ending which I think worked very well

Second Background Music

Ending Music

Audio Notes

In order to create a effective sound track during the mixing phase of production I have made several changes to the tracks that play throughout the piece

Firstly I took the various soundtracks and made it so that whenever the main character portrayed by Ottilie got nearer to the source of the music in the geography of the scene then the music got louder. this was mostly succesful however due to the tracks being primarily computer created they didn't have the exact level of reverb to match the quality of sound that would have been realistic for the location that the film takes place in.

In addition to this I also carefully faded together the various clips of the background crowd music I had recorded and faded them in and out again depending on how close the main characters were to the people speaking. I think this added a really nice layer of realism to the piece while not requiring much effort at all

Colour Grading

Several of the scenes in the piece had to be colour graded to do this I used the colour correction tools in final cut which I had not used before so this was a new experience for me but I think the end results were very successful

The first scene that I had to grade was the opening of the fridge which I adjusted the colour and exposure of as Ottilie was overexposed due to the harsh white light of the fridge

The next scene I changed was the shot immediately after the fridge where Ottilie walks through the party I took the first half of the scene in the kitchen and applied and exposure and colour filter to bring the lighting closer to that in the living room which made the transition between the two less annoying. I then added a cross fade between these two scenes so that the colour changed gradually rather than snapping back which was noticeable and looked terrible

Finally I graded some re-shot shots as these were filmed on a different cameras which I did not set up correctly and therefore needed to grade the footage to match earlier shooting

All of these changes can be seen between the third and fourth edits although some additional grading was placed on some scenes after a round of audience feedback

Rough Cut 4

Reshoots

The reshoots were a great success today. I got all the shots that I wanted to get and we finished in good time although it was still a long session due to the required change in location.

One thing that I didn't mention in the planning post was the fact that I had also decided to film some continuity shots today of both Roddy and Ottilie leaving the room which made the transition between the indoor and outdoor scenes much better

Below are some clips from today's filming

Audience Feedback - Second Round

I recently showed the third  edit to a group of people and these were the comments that they had.

Those who had seen the first two edits commented that the story as a whole felt cohesive and well paced which is fantastic as some people had commented that they were interested to see how the piece concluded after seeing earlier edits and the fact that people were satisfied with the way it ended made me very happy.

People liked the outdoor scenes and the crowd scenes but commented that the outdoor scenes were shot from too close and needed to be mixed with wider shots something that I absolutely agree with and plan to fix in the reshoots. They also commented that the crowd scenes didn't quite mix correctly together and that the transition between the kitchen and the living room was confusing and so this will need to be fixed in post

Final Scene Music