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Final Edit Review

Overall, I think the genre is clear as is the intended audience. The narrative makes some good progression without giving away too much. I like to think that what is established is merely background detail and that the enigma code of the mystery boy encourages viewers to keep watching.

Technically, I can’t hide the fact that the quality of the footage is slightly pixelated in some shots and blurry elsewhere, but this was due to factors beyond my control. My favourite shot composition is the low angle shot where Immy walks in to the foreground and puts her ticket over the camera lens, leading on nicely to the title ‘Canary’.

I don’t think the tension built up enough towards the end dance routine and even if I had done a series of very short shots, the tension would not have built because the dancer was moving fairly slowly. Alongside this, the music didn’t offer any increase in pace therefore remaining very calm and serene.

I like the kitchen scene as all the clips come from different takes but I have edited them so as to adhere to continuity editing rules.

It is clear that I have chosen to introduce my protagonist rather than focus on establishing location as my film will be about the character’s emotional journey, and she will be traveling a lot – the narrative won’t get attached to a specific location for long.

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Target Audience Feedback

I chose 4 students in the year above to watch my video together. I then posed a question and they all answered. The advantage of a group showing is that they all ‘bounced’ off  each other with differing opinions or extended answers. If I were to ask them in isolation then their responses would not have been so developed. Despite not fitting my targeted age range, their interests and social class fitted my aim and so their opinions were very valid.

The controlled audience contained:

Laurie McIver: The reason I chose Laurie was because he is a very skilled musician who enjoys theatre and is also gay. These qualities, I feel, would make him more likely to watch my film as the artistic element of the narrative and cinematography would interest him, as would the underlying, unconventional love story.

Ellie Giles: I chose Ellie because she has a very analytical mind and is very articulate. She would be likely to enjoy the movie’s symbolism and cultural significance.

Holly Gardner:  Holly is a dancer, so I was hoping she would have an instant connection the my protagonist and be able to comment on the accuracy of the dancing and lifestyle portrayed.

Olivia Lewis: An AS media student, I expected Olivia to be able to comment on the technicalities of the film: the shot types and editing. Alongside this, she is also a theatre studies student and so is aware of the acting aspect of the film and artistic choices.

Prominent Feedback Points:

  1. They all commented on the fact that the film felt like an “indie” production. This was my aim, to create a film that had strongly influences of British independent cinema. They then went on to say how this genre choice influenced where they would view the film. Due to its artistic tone, they all agreed that they would watch the film at the local Picturehouse rather than the Cineworld complex as it would provide the right “atmosphere”. Therefore, I think I was successful in establishing a genre using filming and editing conventions that reflected social drama. Laurie said it appeared “…not ‘blockbustery'” clearly indicating he believed it to be an arthouse film. Ellie likened it to a “cult film’ which I found interesting…
  2. Laurie mentioned that the overall style of the sequence felt to him like a trailer rather than an opening sequence. He said that the voiceover made it feel like an advert, as did the extensive narrative development. Indeed, all my subjects felt that the sequence offered too much and that the audience were overloaded with information. To combat this I plan to delete the majority of the voiceover and use silence more effectively, as Laurie mentions later.
  3. When asked about the voiceover in isolation, they all concurred that it was very effective when referring to the ambiguous male character. I will, therefore, definitely be keeping that audio.

Improvements:

  •  “Work with the voiceover…and audio levels.”
  • ” Slow it down” (don’t make too much narrative progression.)
  • Make the focal character clear – don’t emphasise the mother and ‘secret’ male character to much.

    My peer feedback and target audience feedback provide conflicting opinions. Meave felt that the dance sequence towards the end could benefit from music, whereas Laurie felt that silence could be used more effectively throughout. At the end of the day, there is not right or wrong answer – film success is subject. Personally, from a technical point of view the chronology of the sequence lends itself to the dance sequence being silent. I also think that by fading the music back in would make it seem even more like a trailer. So I think I am going to leave that with just diegetic audio, no score.