Which scene to remove?

As my final part of my audience research I asked people which scene they thought I should remove from my short film in order to keep it within the time limit of 5 minutes. I asked them to rank the scenes in order of preference, 1 being the best 8 being the poorest.

Working on averages over the all of the responses, here is what the results were:

1.    The sign communication
2.    Running in the park, the male falls over
3/4. Spinning, male gets hit by a car & Having dinner
5/6. Playing on the Wii & Walking the dog
7.    Watching the film
8.    Feeding the ducks


These confirms what I thought. The duck scene is clearly quite weak, it doesn't particularly add to the narrative or play on any romantic-comedy conventions. I thought so and so does my audience. For these reasons I will be removing it for my final edit.

If I still need to remove another scene it will be the couple watching the film. I am reluctant to remove it as several audience members responded really positively. Plus on the recommendation of the people I asked in my video feedback I have shortened several shots during various scenes within the dream sequence. This includes the complete removal of one shot during the dinner scene where the couple are just unwrapping their chips.


So, in conclusion:

It's about time: Feedback footage.

I have finally had time to edit the footage of my individual audience feedback! Here it is:

I found this really helpful as it gave me a chance to ask people what they thought without them being influenced by other peoples opinions.

My response to some of the comments:

Question 1: What do you think?

"I like the narrative of it" ..."I would prefer if it had a nice happy ending" - I'm glad the narrative comes through strongly. I was fully expectant for some people wanting a happy ending but that doesn't really fit with the parody genre, I waned to play with the unexpected. Also, it was a strong point of the story: If he hadn't of spent the time dreaming and rather acted upon it, he would have had that happy ending. 

"It plays with some of the rom-com cliché ideas" - I was very glad to hear that this audience member had recognised some of the clichés I was trying to parody. 

Question 2: Which was your favourite scene?

- The KFC scene 
- All of the dream sequence
- The movie scene
- The running/He falls over scene

I was surprised to see the movie scene come up in this question as I thought this was one of the much weaker scenes. This has given me cause to perhaps re-think as I was fairly certain this was a scene to remove. 

Question 3: Which scene/scenes do you think I should take out?

- Shorten the swinging round scene

- Shorten the running and the fall

- The car scene

- Shorten in the bar (coffee shop)

It was interesting that 50% changed the question and suggested shortening the scenes rather than removing any. This suggests that all of the scenes are worthy of keeping in, in their eyes. Furthermore it could signify that none of them were bad enough to warrant their removal. But, equally the weaker scenes may have just left no impression. 

I will not be removing the car scene. I think, especially the start when the couple are spinning, are really effective. I appreciate the feedback but on this (rare) occasion, will be ignoring it. 

Question 4: Would it make more sense to have the clips in chronological order?

- "I don't think so"

- "I don't necessarily think that as the audience I'm aware of if they're in chronological order or not"

- "Definitely"
- "I think I would like that"

A split opinion on this one. However I believe it does make more sense to place the dream sequence chronologically,  as if it is happening over the course of a day rather than in pieces  Plus, with the abruptness of the answers answering 'yes' it seems like something the audience would benefit from.

Question 5: When the male gets hit by the car, is it ok in slow motion or do you think it would be funnier if he got hit at full speed?

"You could do the thing where they do a fast thing and then they repeat it and do it slow" - I hadn't thought of this and I think I can visualise what she means. However, with my film already over the allotted 5 minutes I don't have the duration to really be adding in anything else. Plus, I think this gives the audience time to dwell on what has happened, taking away the shock factor. 

"experiment with it" - this wasn't such a helpful comment as I have experimented with it and i'm still not sure. Hence I was asking the audience. 

"It looks a bit odd with the rest of the film being in normal motion" - I think this point is probably down the that in particular persons preference. When the comment is thought about, on that logic slow motion would never be used unless an entire product was in slow motion. But I see what he means. Perhaps with more advanced software and visual effects it could work, but I don't have the facilities or skills to produce it. 

"I like the idea of fast and full speed because it's abrupt and you don't expect it" - I agree with this. I think I will speed up the footage as fast as is possible without if looking jumpy and disjointed. 

Question 6: Any other comments?

- Maybe put in harry's thoughts

This is a good idea. But I like the fact that there is no input from any other character; the entire film is from the first males point of view. 

This is nearly the conclusion of my audience feedback. I will be asking some more people for their opinion on what scene to remove to get a really clear idea of what the audience want to see. 

Peer assessment feedback

After making some of the suggested changes to my film today I received some peer feedback. Two members of my Media Studies class watched my film them commented 3 key areas:

• Cinematography 
• Mis-en-scene
• Editing

They would also have commented on sound but my current edit doesn't have any. I will re-record and add in the audio when the visuals are finalised. 

Here are the comments my film received and my responses:

Cinematography

Strengths

"So many good shots, particularly like the bit on the sofa which pans across the two of them"

"I really like the shots of the couple spinning around."

Suggested changes

"Add an extreme close up when he sees her eating the chicken" - I don't think an extreme close up is needed here as his emotions aren't very complex. Plus, his head movement adds to the disgust he is conveying.  

"Camera shakes when he looks at the coffee" - The camera does shake a bit here, but as this is a point of view shot it reflects the head movement of the character. 

Mise-en-scene

Strengths

"Hard to get a spoof right but you did it well by using all the typical conventions."

"The paper sign with '£6 for a taxi' is really good."

"The candles you put on the table creates a romantic atmosphere"

Suggested changes

"You could darken the lighting (a little bit) when they are watching a horror film" - I was conscious of making sure the shot was light enough to make sure everything was visible. I will try making it a little bit darker, still so it is visible but low-key enough so it adds more to the tone. 

Editing

Strengths

"It is clear that it is his imagination when he looks up and it fades to white"

"Good editing throughout by reversing between characters"

"The quick pace editing at the park is very effective, it portrays his 'clumsiness'"

"The pace at the station is quite slow, which builds up the anticipation"

Suggested changes

"Have the car crash slower or faster" - This is something I've spent a lot of time thinking about. I think faster is definitely better as it doesn't give the audience time to dwell on what happens. So, I won't have it in slow motion, I will speed it up as much as possible.
"At the station you could make her reactions quicker" - I like the pace it is at, and this comment contradicts the 'strengths' comment. I could shorten the shots where possible but it's not a necessity. 

I also asked them which scene could be removed:

"The wii scene could be removed" - Although I appreciate the opinion, I won't be removing this scene. It appears naturally funny and contributes well to the sequence. 

"You could shorten the shot of her eating popcorn" - Possible, but the action is quite long itself. I will need to try this out if I decide to implement it. 

"You may not need the shot of her picking up the cup on the dinner table, cut straight to her spilling the drink" - I think this shot is definitely needed as it links the stop motion back to the action again. 

This was a really useful exercise. It has not only given me some more things to focus on to tidy up my film, it has boosted my confidence a bit. Along with this it has given me extra guidance on issues I was deliberating over, such as which scene to remove/how to cut down the time. 

More first edit feedback...nearly

In one of my previous posts I said that I had conducted some more audience research. Well, I wasn't lying. I asked four members of my target audience some questions about my short film and filmed their responses. Unfortunately I currently don't have access the the footage.

Windows movie maker doesn't accept .mov files.
I did not know this, I know now. 

 But, anyhow, here are the questions and my reasons for asking them.

The questions were:

 1.       What do you think? 
I wanted to see what they initially thought straight after seeing the film. This would give me an idea if I  was asking the right people (my target audience). (And I understand that my target audience isn't "people who like my film" but it just ensures that the feedback is relevant.)

 2.       Which was your favourite scene?
As my film consist of several scenarios I was interested to see which was best received. This also gives me an indication of which to definitely not remove from the film. 

3.       The film is currently too long, which scene/scenes do you think I should take out?
This one is pretty self-explanatory. I need to decide which scene/s to remove to make sure the film doesn't exceed the 5 minute time limit. What better way to help me decide by asking my audience? This way I won't make the mistake of removing a key scene.

4.       Would it make more sense to have the clips in chronological order?
This was pointed out to me in my feedback and I hadn't considered it. It makes real sense to me as placing the scenes chronologically makes it appear as if the male character is imagining the perfect day rather than a series of random scenes. However, when sequencing the scenes I did so in this way so the interior and exterior scenes were interlaced with each other to make it more interesting and varied for the audience. So which I choose to do will heavily depend on this audience feedback.

 5.       When the male gets hit by the car, is it ok in slow motion or do you think it would be funnier if he got hit at full speed?
This has been a major cause for concern for me. I have flitted between believing it is good in slow motion to terrible at that speed. I need to get as many opinions as possible on this to help me make this decision. 

6.       Any other comments?
If there was anything I hadn't thought about or realised this was a way for me to ask my audience. It will be interesting to see what they say.


The footage will be on this blog soon, just think of it as me building suspense.

First edit feedback

I have received some feedback on my first edit. This is really helpful as it may bring to my attention features, inconsistencies and general points to improve that I myself may not have noticed. I was generally please with the feedback. It may seem like a lot of points to change but they are minor changes in editing and a lot in the sound production that should improve the quality of my film.

Positive comments:

"some really impressive shot compositions, such as when Jacob falls and looses his glasses."
"I like the placement and font of the title"
"Well edited"

And then there were some points for improvement. 

(If you click on the pictures they appear larger and easier to read)

I will start to implement these changes today. I have also conducted and filmed some research from my target audience that you can look forward to seeing in the future.