Here is a video of our class giving us some feedback from our final draft.
Wednesday 18 December 2013
Questionaire for Alone
Q1: Did you enjoy the film?
Q2: What was your favourite bit?
Q3: If you were to direct the film, what would you change or do differently?
Q4: Would you be interested in watching the rest of the film?
Q5: Was the music effective and did it portray the genre of the film?
Q6: Was it edited well and what did you think of the editing?
Other comments:
Q2: What was your favourite bit?
Q3: If you were to direct the film, what would you change or do differently?
Q4: Would you be interested in watching the rest of the film?
Q5: Was the music effective and did it portray the genre of the film?
Q6: Was it edited well and what did you think of the editing?
Other comments:
Changes made along the way
When we were planning our film, editing and also when we were filming, there were some subtle changes that we needed to make. The first change that we made was the brother’s name. He was originally going to be cast as Jack, but we changed the name to Ben so that we could use a door name.
The next change that we made was the poster. As you can see in an older post, we had three different posters to choose from. The first one that we made had a picture of Maddie standing in front of a house. The house was black and white and Maddie was the only thing in colour. The general feedback for this was that Maddie also needed to be in black and white as she looked a little out of place. We made this change and this gave us our second poster. We then showed this off again and people preferred Maddie being in black and white, but they said that she needed to be a bit smaller as she looks out of proportion to the rest of the poster. We also changed this and then we showed off this one. The feedback was very positive and we decided to keep this poster.
Another change we made was to do with the boyfriend. Originally we was going to cast him in towards the end of the film opening but we thought that it would be hard to portray him as the boyfriend and it might leave the audience very confused about who it was. Instead of using this we decided to use a different shot. We thought that when Maddie ran outside, she could see and car and a general pedestrian to disappear to give it more of a dramatic feeling to Maddie and we hope that this was portrayed to the audience.
When editing we made some changes to the sound. When showing off the first draft of Alone. We received feedback from classmates and teachers. Our teacher Mrs Field said that there were too many shots of Maddie walking up and down the stairs. She suggested taking one of them out as it could make the audience lose concentration. She also said that when the title of Alone appears, it looks like there is a light flickering in the background. This is what we wanted to get across. She said that we could put a light bulb flicker to make it more obvious that it is a light.
When we were putting on the titles, one of our classmates had an idea that the title could flicker out like the light in Alone. It would also make them individual and more interesting to look at instead of a boring fade in and out.
The next change that we made was the poster. As you can see in an older post, we had three different posters to choose from. The first one that we made had a picture of Maddie standing in front of a house. The house was black and white and Maddie was the only thing in colour. The general feedback for this was that Maddie also needed to be in black and white as she looked a little out of place. We made this change and this gave us our second poster. We then showed this off again and people preferred Maddie being in black and white, but they said that she needed to be a bit smaller as she looks out of proportion to the rest of the poster. We also changed this and then we showed off this one. The feedback was very positive and we decided to keep this poster.
Another change we made was to do with the boyfriend. Originally we was going to cast him in towards the end of the film opening but we thought that it would be hard to portray him as the boyfriend and it might leave the audience very confused about who it was. Instead of using this we decided to use a different shot. We thought that when Maddie ran outside, she could see and car and a general pedestrian to disappear to give it more of a dramatic feeling to Maddie and we hope that this was portrayed to the audience.
When editing we made some changes to the sound. When showing off the first draft of Alone. We received feedback from classmates and teachers. Our teacher Mrs Field said that there were too many shots of Maddie walking up and down the stairs. She suggested taking one of them out as it could make the audience lose concentration. She also said that when the title of Alone appears, it looks like there is a light flickering in the background. This is what we wanted to get across. She said that we could put a light bulb flicker to make it more obvious that it is a light.
When we were putting on the titles, one of our classmates had an idea that the title could flicker out like the light in Alone. It would also make them individual and more interesting to look at instead of a boring fade in and out.
GBHS Year 8 Feedback of Alone
The one comment that came from most year 8's was that the fade was very cleaver and they also thought that the music was very good. They thought it was very scary and helped to build up suspense. They also said it was very mysterious. With the fade, they thought it was very cleaver how the car faded as well. This also left lots of enigma codes with the children as they did not know why everyone was disappearing.
The things that they said could be improved was the acting and the shocks could be louder. But most responses were very positive and gave good feedback.
The things that they said could be improved was the acting and the shocks could be louder. But most responses were very positive and gave good feedback.
Teacher Feedback Alone Final
Mrs Field: Our Media Teacher
Compared to your first draft, the acting vastly improved. Megan looked more scared and gave a better emotion to the audience.
I really liked the outside shot. I liked how she went outside without her shoes as it showed her panic and made it more realistic. I also liked how I could see Megan's breath in the air. I also liked how when the car and boy walked past, they faded later as if to imply that they were coming to help.
On the first draft the 'no contacts' was hard to see and also you could tell that it was an image. I liked how you have edited so that you cannot see that it is an image and it is also a lot clearer to read.
I like the flicker on the titles as it adds more mystery and fits the genre. It also gives it some individuality and is not as boring as a basic fade.
Mr Butcher: An English Teacher
Mr Butcher really liked our film opening. He said that it was 'amazing'. He gave us one thing that we could change and that was the button press when she turns on the television. He said it sounded a little too loud and out of place. We lowered the sound to make it sound more realistic and when we showed him he said it was a lot better.
Compared to your first draft, the acting vastly improved. Megan looked more scared and gave a better emotion to the audience.
I really liked the outside shot. I liked how she went outside without her shoes as it showed her panic and made it more realistic. I also liked how I could see Megan's breath in the air. I also liked how when the car and boy walked past, they faded later as if to imply that they were coming to help.
On the first draft the 'no contacts' was hard to see and also you could tell that it was an image. I liked how you have edited so that you cannot see that it is an image and it is also a lot clearer to read.
I like the flicker on the titles as it adds more mystery and fits the genre. It also gives it some individuality and is not as boring as a basic fade.
Mr Butcher: An English Teacher
Mr Butcher really liked our film opening. He said that it was 'amazing'. He gave us one thing that we could change and that was the button press when she turns on the television. He said it sounded a little too loud and out of place. We lowered the sound to make it sound more realistic and when we showed him he said it was a lot better.
Class feedback for the first draft of Alone
In class we watched all of the rough cuts and gave some feedback to all of our classmates. We then received all of the feedback to help us re shoot or improve some of the titles. The class scored us out of 60 as if it was our real thing.
The average score we received for our production was 45. This is slightly inaccurate as we received some marks a lot higher and lower than the average which brought the average down. We had some very strong points which we should not change but we also had some items that needed changes. Our strong point was our sound. Everyone said that it was really good and it fitted well with the genre. Some people thought that the genre was unclear but some people understood that it was a horror and thriller. People also liked our sound effects. The alarm clock was also a strong positive. People liked the sound and also how loud it was.
The titles we used had some mixed reviews. Some people really liked the font and the colour but some people thought that some of the words were unclear against the windows. There was also a few spelling mistakes and grammatical errors which people picked up on and we have already changed them.
Most of the reviews about the acting were very positive, but they did think that there needed to be some more emotion in the facial expressions towards the end. This was also put to us from our teachers and when we re shoot we will take this into account.
Our class mates were really impressed with the amount of camera angles and different types of shots we used. People also really liked the editing and how that Maddie's family disappears.
The average score we received for our production was 45. This is slightly inaccurate as we received some marks a lot higher and lower than the average which brought the average down. We had some very strong points which we should not change but we also had some items that needed changes. Our strong point was our sound. Everyone said that it was really good and it fitted well with the genre. Some people thought that the genre was unclear but some people understood that it was a horror and thriller. People also liked our sound effects. The alarm clock was also a strong positive. People liked the sound and also how loud it was.
The titles we used had some mixed reviews. Some people really liked the font and the colour but some people thought that some of the words were unclear against the windows. There was also a few spelling mistakes and grammatical errors which people picked up on and we have already changed them.
Most of the reviews about the acting were very positive, but they did think that there needed to be some more emotion in the facial expressions towards the end. This was also put to us from our teachers and when we re shoot we will take this into account.
Our class mates were really impressed with the amount of camera angles and different types of shots we used. People also really liked the editing and how that Maddie's family disappears.
Costumes
These are the items of clothing i will be wearing in our opening scene.
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| Pajama top |
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| Pajama bottoms |
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Jeans |
Monday 16 December 2013
Official poster for Alone
This is the poster we have chosen to go around the country to help promote our film. We listened to all of the feedback we got from our classmates and teachers and tried to apply all of the changes to make it look even better. The general opinion on Maddie being in colour was not good. Most people thought that she looked better in black and white as it matches the background. We think it looks better like this. Our teacher also said that there was a window behind Maddie’s head that stuck out to her and took her eyes off of the main image we want to portray with the poster. We moved Maddie over to cover the window so all of the viewers’ attention will be on Maddie and not on the background.
Film posters for Alone
Here we have the three film posters that we have made to promote our film. It shows Maddie standing outside a house on her own. The text is big and bold to stand out. We asked a few of our classmates about our poster to see what we could improve.
Richard: I think that the image of the girl is too big. You could shrink her down a bit to fit the scale of the background.
We chose to do this as we thought it looked better and more realistic.
Miss Brookes: There is a window behind Maddies head which takes the eye off of Maddie, maybe move the picture or colour out the window.
We moved the picture of Maddie over to block off the window.
Below is the three film posters we have made.
Richard: I think that the image of the girl is too big. You could shrink her down a bit to fit the scale of the background.
We chose to do this as we thought it looked better and more realistic.
Miss Brookes: There is a window behind Maddies head which takes the eye off of Maddie, maybe move the picture or colour out the window.
We moved the picture of Maddie over to block off the window.
Below is the three film posters we have made.
Wednesday 11 December 2013
Character profiles
Maddie Clark (Played by Megan Larner-Hoskins): Maddie is a typical teenage girl with a good normal life. She has a younger brother called Ben, a mother called Susan and a father called Peter. She also has a boyfriends called Dale. They are a well-off family and are very rich. She tends to be quite stuck up and likes to think she is very popular.
Ben Clark (Played by Ben Flatt): Ben is a brother to Maddie. He is a few years younger than Maddie. He is spoilt and gets most things he asks for. He lives on his xbox in his room. He tends to only come down for meal times.
Susan Clark (Played by Leigh Flatt): Mother to Maddie and Ben, she lives a life of luxury. She has a husband, Peter, that earns a lot of money so that they can afford the luxuries in life. She is very stuck up and boasts about how perfect her life is with all of the money that they can have.
Peter Clark: Peter, the father to Maddie and Ben, is a hard working business man. He is rarely around around as he is always away on business. He is always expensively dressed as he earns lots of money.
Dale Smith (Played by Ben Smith): Dale is Maddie's boyfriend. Although he does not have the luxuries that Maddie has. He trys really hard to impress Maddie. He is an only child and lives with his single mum in an apartment. He attends the same school as Maddie and is in the same year.
Ben Clark (Played by Ben Flatt): Ben is a brother to Maddie. He is a few years younger than Maddie. He is spoilt and gets most things he asks for. He lives on his xbox in his room. He tends to only come down for meal times.
Susan Clark (Played by Leigh Flatt): Mother to Maddie and Ben, she lives a life of luxury. She has a husband, Peter, that earns a lot of money so that they can afford the luxuries in life. She is very stuck up and boasts about how perfect her life is with all of the money that they can have.
Peter Clark: Peter, the father to Maddie and Ben, is a hard working business man. He is rarely around around as he is always away on business. He is always expensively dressed as he earns lots of money.
Dale Smith (Played by Ben Smith): Dale is Maddie's boyfriend. Although he does not have the luxuries that Maddie has. He trys really hard to impress Maddie. He is an only child and lives with his single mum in an apartment. He attends the same school as Maddie and is in the same year.
Tuesday 3 December 2013
Analysis of the Walking Dead
I chose to analyse this film opening as it is similar to what we want to do and has similar themes. It has the theme of loneliness which is a big part of our film opening. I'm going to focus on the titles as they are presented quite well in this.
The font used is very bold and is in capitals which makes it stand out. All of the titles appear in front of a scene of a deserted place. There are pictures of the cast and their names appear when they are on screen. This is a good way to show people which actor/actress is who. The title appears in front of a black background so it stands out and informs people of the title. some titles fade out and others move across the screen until the shot changes. The shots are always moving and the transitions and fast and build tension. The music also builds a lot of suspense and tension.
The scenes feel deserted because there is no one there and everything is dirty and broken. We aren't going to make our scenes look like this. Our scenes are going to look like a town that is lived in except that no one is there. This will be mysterous and people won't think it's a zombie film
Monday 2 December 2013
Sound Research
To research sound Ben flatt looked at similar films and how they used sound in different scenes. He looked at some of our inspirations such as 'I am Legend'. In 'I am Legend' there isn't much music because the silence is used to show how alone and isolated the character is. A lot of similar films also use silence and the sound of nature to convey that there are no more humans.
Ben then looked at theme songs for our inspirations and found that they create a very eerie and sounds like slow realisation as the music builds up. In the theme for 28 days later the music builds up and gets more intense. We think we should use something similar as Maddie will get clues of her situation as the beginning of the film progresses. We think this will help the audience understand what Maddie is feeling without her saying anything. We will need to find some similar music to this that is not copyrighted.
Ben then looked at theme songs for our inspirations and found that they create a very eerie and sounds like slow realisation as the music builds up. In the theme for 28 days later the music builds up and gets more intense. We think we should use something similar as Maddie will get clues of her situation as the beginning of the film progresses. We think this will help the audience understand what Maddie is feeling without her saying anything. We will need to find some similar music to this that is not copyrighted.
He thinks we could use sound effects to give the feeling of isolation and loneliness. He thinks using sounds of nature such as birds will create the atmosphere that we want. Putting more emphasis on the sounds Maddie makes will make the audience aware of the silence and make the atmosphere very eerie.
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