Evaluation

The Replacement Final Version

Some of the changes we made
We resolved the continuity error and steamlined the whole thing. We thought it the scene of George going about his daily activities was a bit irrelevent so got rid of most of it (it was a bit of a shame because we had some nice shots, notably the high angle shot and the long shot of George cycling away but we could use these in later hypothetical scenes like when he is going to leave the house to find the person being tortured). So we re-shot George wearing the correct clothes and changed the storyline a tiny bit. Another major improvement over the rough edit is we created a powerpoint to act as the operating system for the laptop so instead of showing the laptop and cutting to writing that is meant to be on the laptop, we could show it actually on it. We added credits and an opening title.

The Soundtrack
We decided not to use any of the original tracks created by our friend as he didn't have time to properly collaborate with us and we only had rough edits of the songs he made. Instead we used our original choice of tracks, I especially like how we Yasmin the Light to fit perfectly and compliment the scene from when he wakes up. It starts of just as a light orchestral backround noise as he wakes almost like the static-white noise you sometimes get when lying on a pillow, then the beat of the drums create a sense of foreshadowing, the guitar comes in time with George opening his bathroom door.

Influences
The films of David Lynch have influenced some of our choices. We welcomed background noise and tried to use songs that weren't too intrusive, though not quite the same level of constant white noise and murmers of the likes of Eraserhead. There was a sculpture that we couldn't move (can be seen at 1:03) that fits well with our surrealist-inspired piece. We also wanted to create a sense existentialism by repeatedly opening a scene with a shot that appears to be reality but turns out to be video footage on on a computer or a reflection from a mirror. This was to create a sense of uncertainty for the viewer and keep him on the edge of his seat. Films such as the Matrix, Primer, Fight Club and Waking Life use existential themes to varying degrees.

Future of TV?

Possible example of the future of film/ TV?
With special effects becoming more accessible, homemade and independent productions are capable of providing a more professional look. Mortal Kombat: Legacy (http://www.youtube.com/show/mortalkombatlegacy?s=1) is testament to this. It is a web series based on the popular video game. Video game to film adaptations tend to not remain true to the source material but due to this web series relative low budget yet sufficient special effects it can cater to a niche audience.

Evaluation planning notes

What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

*Technology has played an integral part in the production of our opening.
*We were provided with a video camera (the canon mini DV MD 235) from school, it used tape and we assumed it was an old piece of equipment so we tried using our phone cameras and a cheap digital video camera but it turns out that the camcorder supplied by school was actually the best in audio and video quality and had the smoothest zoom.
*We found it a bit hard to navigate at the start and it was annoying having to rewind rather than skip.
*So we learned that just because something is a little outdated, it doesnt mean it's obsolete.

*Computers and the internet played and integral role in the pre and post production of our piece.
*With the internet we could research anything we needed at the click of a button. We used youtube to analyse openings to other films, wikipedia for information. We used (cite free music site) for one of the tracks.
*We also had to keep blogs, I believe this was a new experience for all of us, but we found it much easier to organise as opposed to a coursework portfolio.
*We used iMovie to edit our opening, it is a rather user-friendly program and the simple things like cutting, fading and adding music were a cinch. Importing the video from our camcorder took a long time though 
*And we had to make sure we exported the video in the right file type so that we could upload it to youtube.

Set back

Unfortunately our original idea for making a simple flash animation for our evaluation proved too time consuming, having to change the mouth frame-by-frame was the main issue. We will probably just have to record ourselves answering the questions.

Ideas on how to present our evaluation

We want to present the evaluation of our opening in a creative manner. We have considered creating a short animation for parts of our evaluation in the style of The Ricky Gervais Show and Spill.com (a film review website with flash animated presenters). We also want to create something along the lines of a director's commentry in which we talk about our opening in a small "box" at a corner of the video. These could be challenging to do so as a back up we could just do a casual inteview/ chat session evaluation like Schmoes Know (internet based film reviewers).

The Replacement with music by Bill Hundley

A friend who does a music course was interrested in making some music for our porject, we worked with him to make an original score to our opening. This is a rough edit with his music.

We like the first and last song, their subtle and eery-ness work well with the film. But it was hard to make song for the montage and seems a bit innapropriate. We will probably use either the first or last songs in our final cut.

Audience Feedback

The response from our class when we first showed our opening was generally positive. We were unsure about the use of the song Yasmin in the Light by Explosions in the Sky because it was almost too calming, but we liked the drums that sounded like a heart beating as it built tension and the mood of the song juxtaposed with what was about to happen, leaving the audience unprepared. Our choice paid off as the class agreed that the song did fit with our story but there was a critisism of the mash up that song and 528491 by Hanz Zimmer, it sounded messy so we will probably remove part of one of the conflicting songs.

Something we will need to address is that it is not clear that at 1:46 onwards it is meant to be a close up of the computer screen. 


As well as screening it to our media class, we asked for feedback from friends using facebook. A comment left on our video on youtube "the clothes failed...." pointed out our continuity error, the protagonist leaves and comes back in different clothes. We will have to re-film one of those scenes.

The Replacement

  The rough edit to our opening. There is a continuity error that we'll have to re-film the scene the protagonist comes home- he is wearing different clothes. It is not very clear at 1:46 that it is meant to be a close up of the computer screen, we could re-film it so that the camera zooms onto the screen to make that a bit clearer.

  We have used both licenced and unlicenced music (from ... ), we will need to get permission to use the songs "528491" by Hanz Zimmer and the Explosions in The Sky song. We have a friend who goes to music college and he is considering making an original score for our movie, together, we have made good sound for the first 10 seconds.