Evaluation Question 3

Pre-Production Results:

After sharing each of our storylines and deciding which one we are going to do, we created a questionnaire and gave it to 10 people to give their thoughts of our story. We gave it to people who are closer to are age rating, as the 15 age rating is what we believe our film is aimed at. We also had  5 people of each gender as it helps give our film an equal chance to what both sides think of it, and if the plot leans to one gender or is suitable to both. We found out that 50% of our audience were more into the comedy genre than horror, but another 50% thought it deserves that 15 rating. The reception was mostly positive as they thought it was unique and fits in with the genre, but they did say it was confusing as they had trouble understanding what the plot is about. Because of these results, we had to make sure that our film was easy enough to follow, and the audience know what is happening.

Production Stage:

The main protagonist is dressed in his pyjamas in order to show that film's concept is that he is in his own dreams, while our antagonist is dressed in unusual gothic style clothes, with a lot of make-up on his face, to show that he is not from this world and will give the viewer an eerie feel. It will help to establish the good vs evil concept, making the audience root for the right person to win. To convey the genre, we had a lot of close-up shots on our antagonists face and on the heart in order for the viewer to feel as if they are in the film and are putting themselves in the protagonist place. It helps with the film's psychological aspect as we don't use jump scares to scare the viewer but to instead play on their fears to create an uncomfortable atmosphere. Before we completed the rough version, we also added special effects on some of our scenes, which help to evoke that where he is, is currently in a dream. It makes it obvious which scenes are in his head, or in reality. However, the last scene ends on a ominous note, making them wonder if he is still in his dream, or has he now woken up.

Rough Edit Results:

After putting all our scenes together, we uploaded the rough version on YouTube and gave a new questionnaire to people, to write about what their think of this nearly completed film. From our results, 90% of the participants agreed this is a horror film, and should have a 15 age rating. This was what we intended so we are thankful we managed to get that across to the audience. We also had a unanimous result that our music fit in with the film, so we don't need any more improvements for that. For our storyline, we managed to make it more clear towards the viewer, so they know what is happening and what the characters actions imply. Fortunately, we managed to convey that as they participants wrote down that they liked the main characters, and the special effects made it look like the protagonist was in a dream. However, our biggest critiques was that our editing needs to be improved as it hasn't got that fluidity that makes it easier to watch, and the narrative is still confusing as they still have trouble wondering what the film is about.

Editing Stages:

For the finishing stages, we put in our antagonist's narration over certain scenes, in order to emphasise what his plan is and why he is doing it, in order to get across the outline of our film to the viewer. It will help the audience to make sense what is happening. We also decided that we need to cut down some scenes that we felt were too long and unnecessary. It helps to make our play shorter and will get to the important scenes sooner. We still want to create an isolated feel so we didn't want to crop too much or the atmosphere of the place will be taken away.

Final Results:

After posting the finished film on YouTube, we gave another 10 participants our final questionnaire to get their overall view on it. It was again mostly positive as the narration we put in it helped to get an understanding that he likes torturing people while having a funny wit to him that makes him unique and fun to listen to, but is still a threatening person. We all shorten down some of our scenes in order to make the action more quicker and transition smoother, while keeping focus on more slower scenes in order to create suspense.