Yesterday was the day that myself and my team presented out finished rough cut to the class and got peer assessment from them and Mr Hood. The video below shows the class stopping the video and commenting on both negative and positive aspects of our films and telling us how to improve our film.
'Behind Closed Doors' Feedback
Overall, our rough cut wasn't a complete fail (although I couldn't stop cringing throughout the entire time of watching it) and we got higher scores on each category then I had originally expected. There were obviously room for improvements but there was also positive comments that occurred.
Positive Comments
One part of our film that the class liked was the soundtrack. They felt that it worked to build up the tension in certain areas or mellow the mood in others and went well with the film. Others, outside of my class, also agreed that the soundtrack was one of our films redeeming features - which we were pleased about been as it took a while to edit together properly.
Second part of our film that was positively commented on was the creative use of the camera and the way that it was filmed. An example of this is the mirror shots where Rebecca (Alice) is in the bathroom, staring at her own reflection. They really liked how we quickly panned the camera as Rebecca turned her head to look at the door to make the audience see what she was looking at, without making the shot a point-of-view and the extreme close up of Rebecca's eyes in the mirror's reflection which really looked like she had been crying and was scared.
They also liked the way we had edited the scenes together, particularly the quick editing at the beginning of Scene 2, where we cut together the shots of Rebecca blowing out the candles and Alex (Richard) walking in through the door and placing keys and briefcase down quickly to build up tension.
We were also complimented on the fact that our choice of cast members made the relationship between Richard and Stacey believable, despite the fact that the boy is in college and the girl is only in year 7.
Ways of Improvements
There was one shot that we went a little out of focus as the camera tilted up from Rebecca lying on the floor to Alex sitting on the stairs. A few times things went out of the camera frame; like Millie's head in scene 3 while the class also picked up on the fact in the same shot she looked directly at the camera! There was also a slight shadow on her arm which was pointed out.
There was also some shots that had two sets of effects on them which caused them to be far to bright while others had no affect on them at all - we hadn't noticed this in the editing phase and it was only till we presented the rough cut that we noticed them.
When Rebecca (Alice) hit's her head off the banister, we have the screen cut to black and the sound of somebody falling down the stairs and the 'One Week Later' appearing straight after. We were told to lengthen the black screen between the text and the hitting of her head.
The end scene after scene 3 which was the part with the paper-boy walking up and putting a newspaper into the letter box was commented on and found a little out of place and adding nothing to the film apart from confusion for the viewer. It made the film look unfinished, so the class recommended that we simply took those shots out of the film. However, others from out of our class after the first watch of our rough cut, instantly knew what we were trying to achieve by putting it there = which was to show how nobody knows what is happening behind closed doors and that life still carries on. This was the moral (in a way) of our film.
One person did advice us to perhaps move our title from the end of our film to the start, so that it would introduce the film straight away however we all felt that we liked the title at the end because it held it away from the audience and didn't give anything away. We wanted the title's meaning to be clear so that when the viewer so it at the end they knew why the film was called it.
Scores/Levels:
Each rough cut was assessed by the class on 7 different things:1) Controlled use of the camera
2) Close attention to framing
3) A variety of shot sizes used
4) Close attention to mise-en-scene
5) The film is edited so that meaning is clear to the audience
6) The soundtrack is appropriate; it supports the visual images
7) The soundtrack mix is well-balanced
With these in mind, the class watched out rough cuts and then gave us an estimated assessment based on the following levels and marks:
- Level 1 = (0-14)
- Level 2 = (15-23)
- Level 3 = (24-31)
- Level 4 = (32-40)
What we got:
1) Mostly level 4s and a couple of level 3s
2) Level 4s across the board
3) Level 4s across the board
4) Level 4s across the board
5) Mostly level 3s with a couple of level 4s
6 +7) Mostly 3s with one level 4
