Final Film

This is our final film. It has the production image we created, the improvements we made based on our feedback and we even got the soundtrack into it.

Self Evaluation

Evaluation

We finished our group evaluation today in the form of a Youtube channel that takes you through the different parts of our evaluation. Here is the link:

Group T Youtube

Soundtrack completed

Our group managed to finish the soundtrack for our film yesterday, in time for our deadline. I think our soundtrack is very good because it represents the gangster genre well by being almost jazzy and fits well to what is happening on the screen. We hope to mix it into our film before the deadline.

A reflective summary to problems in group work

My group worked very well so we didn't face many problems except the typical problems that come with being in a group such as, ideas clashing. This meant that we were able to work efficiently together and share out the work load that we had to do. Which meant that the pressure of the course was reduced thanks to this. One small problem that we encountered is that we found it difficult to create the soundtrack in time for the showcase. We're now on the way to finishing our soundtrack for the film.

My feelings towards our openings

I think that our film opening is good but could be better. I thought the lighting that we used during the filming process was well-suited to our genre of gangster films and the costumes we used helped reflect the genre. I think that we had good control of the narrative as we presented multiple enigmas that interested the audience with a the plotline of murder beginning the movie. I think we could've improved out by spending more time filming scenes so that we could get more shots to make the film flow more smoothly.

Post-Feedback editing

We had to edit our film again after the showcase so that the first half of our opening was more fast paced. We done this by cutting the clips we had and mixing them together so they cut to each other quickly. This told the audience the narrative faster than our previous version of the film. Another thing we did was move the titles to the start of the film and add the refraction effect to quickly distort the titles. We did this to maintain the interest of our audience.

Preliminary sequence editing software

During the preliminary sequence I used the diting software Final Cut Express for the first time. I had never used this particular editing software before instead, I had used software like the typical windows video editor and sony vegas pro. Although, I eventually learnt how to use as I do with other software it took me a while to figure out how some parts worked. Therefore, I had to look on the internet to find out how to use certain functions. I did learn how to use video transitions and effects in Final Cut Express and how to manipulate the audio of clips to make them fade or be silent.

Feedback to film

This week we showed our film to the rest of our class. It was a working copy, the only thing we missed though was the soundtrack. It all went pretty well except during the showcase one clip hadn't exported with the rest so we had three seconds of "Media can't be found" but it didn't have too much effect on the overall film.

The feedback we got was better than I expected. People did enjoy the film and thought we had some decent camera shots and angles. They especially enjoy the last half of the film as the pace picked up and they became more ivolved in the characters. The first half was the main problem as we had complaints about it being too slow and the credits not fitting in well enough. We hope to address these problems and improve the film. Overall, we had some positive feedback, even though some of the marks we found were quite harsh, but that's just people's opinions.

Showcase Film

This was the film we showed at our showcase.

What I liked:

- Camera angles e.g. smoking scene, cigarette scene

- Sound effects, although some need to be added the ones we had I thought fitted nicely.

- Lighting, although hard to get right I thought it fitted the genre.

Things I think need improvement:

- Titles and credits need to be added in a more sophisticated way that better reflects the genre.

- Soundtrack soundtrack soundtrack

- The pace of the first half of the film needs to edited so it's quicker