Final Video

12 Hours: AS Media Opening Sequence Coursework (Finalised)

Audience Feedback

Chase – AS Media Opening Sequence (First Attempt)

Feedback

We showed the video to Mr Zaidi and a few of our classmates. There was a lot of mixed feedback. Jack, Megan and myself thought the video was okay but we knew it needed improvements. Generally the positive comments about the video were:-

• the beginning shot of the alarm clock changing time was a good effect
• the shot inside the fridge was well composed
• the shot when Jack and Matt run over the camera and it ‘falls’ over makes the shot look authentic and builds a sense of panic
• the use of the heartbeat sound at the end makes the audience empathise with Jack and understand the nerves he is feeling

We were pleased with these comments however there was a lot of constructive criticism. This included:-

• the unrealistic storyline (Jack would have gone to check his son’s bedroom and phoned the police before running out of the house)
• the poor camera quality due to the lighting
• using music the whole time made it seem too much like a music video (thriller films don’t usually contain well known popular songs with recognisable lyrics, they tend to use eerie music without lyrics such as a minor keyboard piece of music)
• Jack’s bedroom and clothing was unsuccessful within mise en scene (we tried to portray him as an adult but an adults bedroom is not usually electric blue with posters of Pixie Lott, also an older man with children would probably sleep in some kind of clothing, more than just boxers)

In addition to simply asking for feedback we constructed this questionnaire in order to find out what people thought of our video. We gave this questionnaire to 10 people selected at random from the school:

 

The results from the questionnaire were as follows:

Q1) We asked which genre people thought the film would be based on our opening sequence. Generally people thought it was a thriller which is good as that was the genre we were hoping to establish. However some people thought that the film would be an action film. This isn’t too much of an issue as many thriller films do contain lots of action and can represent both genres however we would like it to be easily recognised as a thriller.

Q2) We asked whether, based upon our opening sequence, people would want to watch the rest of the film. 40% of people said they would but 60% of people said they would not want to. This is obviously a drastic figure and is worrying that the majority of people do not want to watch the film. This is obviously something which needs addressing as clearly our opening sequence is not strong. When asking people why they had answered ‘no’, some responses were “it’s just not realistic”, and “I just didn’t find it very captivating.” With this, we will reconsider our storyline in order to make it more realistic and so it engages the audience so they want to continue watching.

Q3) We asked people to rate how successfully Jack was made out to be a victim. 4 people rated ‘6’, 3 people rated ‘7’, 2 people rated ‘8’ and 1 person rated ‘5’. This is a good start for us as we have established Jack as the victim however we would ideally like people to be certain that Jack is a victim. We could improve on this by using more speech and more close up shots. Also if we were to alter the storyline slightly Jack would come across as more of a victim anyway as the plot would be more realistic, therefore the audience would be able to connect more with Jack as a victim.

Q4) We asked people what the strengths of our video were. Some answers included

• “the match on action works well and everything flows”
• “the camera falling over after they run over it looks effective”
• “the camera shot from inside the fridge is really unique and quite interesting”
• “the heartbeat effect is good as it makes me know that Jack is scared”
• “the alarm clock changing time just LOOKS good”

We are pleased with these comments as we worked hard to ensure that everything flowed seamlessly and we put in the camera falling, the fridge shot and the heartbeat to add effect and make the video more pleasing to watch so it was good to know the reception of those was successful.

Q5) We asked people what the weaknesses of our video were. Some answers included

• “Jack didn’t check his sons bedroom.. the whole thing is just unrealistic”
• “the songs didn’t work well with the video. It looks more like a music video there’s just too much music and too much of the wrong song”
• “it’s too dark, the camera quality suffers”
• “Jack doesn’t look old enough to have a child”
• “it just wouldn’t happen in real life”
• “it’s hard to keep up with – I don’t understand it”

Unfortunately there were more bad comments than good – however we see this as a positive as it means we can choose specific areas to change in order to make our video more successful, and we now have feedback so we know what the audience is hoping for from our opening sequence.

 

We took this information on board and decided that the best option for us would be to film our opening sequence again with a few tweaks this time. We’re going to keep the same kind of storyline and the same kind of shots, but make a few changes. A basic plan for us is:-

• use my house instead of Jack’s, as I have a younger sister and Jack’s ‘daughter’ will go missing rather than his son and we can film in this room
• Jack will wear comfortable joggers and a plain top
• Jack will check in his daughter’s bedroom and call the police; the chase will be completely removed (this is the most drastic change to the storyline however we feel it is important in order to make the plot appear realistic)
• as Jack turns the alarm off, a song will appear to play on the radio but will turn quieter as he leaves the room and walks further away. This will seem like the song is playing on the radio however it is a non-diagetic sound. Also we will consider using traditional ‘thriller’ music
• film in the daytime, as if Jack is getting up to go to work (to ensure good lighting and therefore good camera quality)
• keep the initial alarm clock shot and internal fridge shot as we feel these were strong features in our first attempt
• include a successful title sequence

Hopefully by changing these things our music video will appear more realistic and more visually pleasing. This way more people will hopefully want to go on and watch the rest of the film and we will have established a setting, narrative, genre and characters successfully.