Film review - Second draft feedback

Film review - Second draft

Reaper - Third edit feedback

Film review - First draft feedback

Poster questionnaire responses

After uploading this questionnaire onto Facebook, I received 18 responses within a few days. I felt as though this was enough responses as it enabled me to be able to gather which poster was most liked. From the graph above, I am easily able to identify the poster which gained the majority of votes with 55.6% of the 18 responses. This poster will be the one that will be used to promote the short film. I chose to upload the questionnaire to Facebook so that the responses gained are from different age ranges to improve on targeting a wider audience.

Poster questionnaire

Feedback for second edit

First draft feedback

Teachers feedback:

After presenting our short film to our teacher, we received a large amount of helpful feedback which will guide us when trying to achieve a level 4 for this project. From looking at previous exam reports, I found out that a popular issue many people face when carrying out this task was that their short film can come across more like a trailer to the audience. This is an easy mistake to make and can be difficult to avoid due to our short film containing a cliff hanger as the ending which trailers always include. Therefore, we decided we must add some additional shots at the very end which will solve the cliffhanger and eliminate any confusion amongst the audience.

Feedback that we also received involved the sound throughout the film. Clear sounds used when appropriately are a vital element of film-making. Therefore, from reading exam reports from past years, I acknowledged that films with unprofessional and muffled sound can not received a level higher than 2. To gain a level 4, we have decided to include more Foley effects to create a more intense atmosphere. A further benefit for adding these effects is to also give the audience a sense of realism and escapism as the film seems realistic, greatly capturing their attention.

First draft

Update: Casting of Grimm

Unfortunately Jonathan Oslar has unexpectedly become unavailable for the part and we need to immediately find a replacement. The only way to overcome this issue and sudden panic was for my partner to play the role of Grimm himself.

Dominic Lewis

Fortunately he is 6 foot tall which is perfect and shows intimidation. A huge benefit to casting him is that he will always be available. I will film all of the shots where he is playing Grimm.

First Horror Mask Questionnaire

Short Film Questionnaire Responses

Short Film Questionnaire

Surprise Animatic Feedback

Storyboard Animatic - Surprise

Short Film Pitch Q+A

Above is a video of our pitch for our short film idea being presented to an audience. A Q&A session did occur at the end, however the memory card as full, so was unable to capture the questions. At the end of the pitch, the questions the audience asked are stated below with our responses;

How will you make the shots with text messages in look professional?
The solution to this question is that the text messages will be displayed in an alternative way. We knew that the text messages are hard to film due having to film an over the shoulder shot with the characters hands typing in the shot. Obviously, this is hard to execute, and we took this into account by generating the options of either, having the text messages appear on the screen itself whilst being able to maintain mid shots, close-up and extreme close-ups to show the reactions to the text messages being sent and read by the protagonist, Zola. Therefore, this then obtains a professional edge to the shots by having clear and steady shots which allows better viewing pleasure, being as close as possible to the quality of 'big' films who have higher technology to aid them. Alternatively, we may even remove the audience sight of the text messages, and just have the protagonist see the message and as an audience we see her reactions. We can therefore, have that same professional impact through this method too.

Have you got the mask and costumes for your characters?
The costume for our protagonist is completely sorted already. We have white/light clothing for females already, being tops, shorts, tracksuit bottoms, jackets, jumpers, the lot. Moving onto the antagonist, we have decided he will be in all black/dark clothing. We have got the trousers and jacket sorted already. However, for the mask of Grimm, we had in mind the one on our pitch, however, we thought to create questionnaires to open up on social media to get the audience insight. We will create a first questionnaire to ask the audience their favourite mask from each category of mask to begin with, such as, animal masks, clown masks, zombie masks etc. Then we will take the audiences favourite mask from each and place them in a final questionnaire and get their overall favourite for the most frightening mask. We will see if the majority has dominate a certain mask and if we feel it suits our role, then we will purchase this mask.

The question below then was a question that followed up the previous question asked.

What if the masks are expensive? Have you got a certain budget for the mask? What research and where will you find the masks you are using in the questionnaires?
Jade and I have already taken all this into account. We have set a budget of £20 maximum for a mask, so it isn't too expensive but definitely worth the investment to tailor the audience preference. We also made it very clear the masks we put into the questionnaire have to be purchasable, within the budget and noted where from. Therefore, all the masks we will place into the questionnaire will be available and affordable. With this, we shouldn't encounter any problems.

Target audience for short horror films

Age :

The usual age range for people to watch horror films is roughly between 15 and 25 years of age. Young teenagers and adults are beginning their journey into adulthood and go though the key stages of learning about themselves and experimenting different feelings and emotions. In this time, they want to make their own decisions and be independent. Normally, teenagers wish to seek as much thrill as they can, starting with horror movies. Horror movies excite young audiences more than an older audience due to young people being out off of films due to the scary images and violence used.

Gender:

It is said that males are more likely of being fans of the horror genre than females. This is due to stereotypes stating that females are less of a thrill seeker than the male gender. Another reason for this stereotype is the fascination with the violence that males have. Violence is a key convention of horror in which boys enjoy observing.

Class:

Generally horror films are watched at working/middle class due to the amount of thrill and excitement they give for a relatively cheap price. Higher class tend to not be the main aim due to them being financially stable enough to afford thrills in other ways such as sky diving.

Interests and groups:

Conventions of horror are blood, gore, violence etc. This targets individuals and groups with the same interests and also in the supernatural and unexplained. These individuals may also go to watch these films as they enjoy mystery and the sense of the unknown. The groups of people who tend to watch horrors the most are teenagers. This is due to them being social and known to enjoy scaring each other.

Certification Research

U stands for Universal which means that a film with this certification is suitable for ages four and over. As these films allow younger viewers to watch them, they must have certain  restrictions.
- Sexual activity is prohibited
- No violence or horror is allowed 
- No references to drugs and alcohol
Despite having strict restrictions, there are many films with this certification. These films are most likely to be family, comedy or kids films.

PG stands for parental guidance. It is general viewing and all ages can see the films but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children, hence why the child may have to have parental guidance. - - References to illegal drugs or drug misuse must be innocuous or carry a suitable anti-drug message.
- Mild bad language only.
- There may be some nudity but with no sexual content.
- Violence is usually mild (without detail)


 Films with a certification of 12A or 12 means that the film is advisedly suitable for children aged 12 and over. Any child that wishes to see a film of this classification and is under the age of 12 will not be allowed without an adult present.
- Use of drugs must be unfrequent and must not promote them.
- Not too much violence as these children are likely to copy.
- Strong language may be permitted, depending on the manner in    which  it is used.
-There may be nudity, but in a sexual context it must be brief and discreet.
-There may be moderate violence but it should not dwell on detail.


No one under the age of 15 are allowed to watch this film in cinema.
   - Drugs may be taken and shown in the film but must not encourage illegal drug use.
- Dangerous behaviour such as suicide may be shown but not in detail as it may be copied.
- Very strong language may be permitted.
- There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context. There may be nudity in a sexual context but usually without strong detail.
- Sexual activity may be portrayed, but usually without strong detail. 
- Violence may be strong 


No one younger than 18 may see an 18 film in a cinema. No one younger than 18 may rent or buy an 18 rated video work.

Exceptions are most likely in the following areas:

- where the material is in breach of the criminal law, or has been created through the commission of a criminal offence

-where material or treatment appears to us to risk harm to individuals or, through their behaviour, to society. For example, the detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use, which may cause harm to public health or morals. This may include portrayals of sadistic or sexual violence which make this violence look appealing; reinforce the suggestion that victims enjoy sexual violence; or which invite viewer complicity in sexual violence or other harmful violent activities

- where there are more explicit images of sexual activity in the context of a sex work (see below) or where the primary purpose of the images in question is sexual arousal In the case of video works, which may be more accessible to younger viewers, intervention may be more frequent than for cinema films.

Short Film Pitch