Feedback Recieved.

I found the peer assessment activity really useful as it helped me to notice faults in the sequence that I had not noticed before. Likewise, having a teacher look at our sequence also helped me as through the criticism we got there, I was able to form new better ideas to improve our sequence.

The positive comments we recieved is as follows:

1. Lighting very good
2. Shots very good
3. Daylight good - easy to see
4. Close up of eyes good
5. Good costume 
6. Good location 
7. Simple but effective
8. Good costumes/shots
9. Good mis-en-scene
10. Good acting and characters
11. Good quality 
12. Good range of shots 
13. Good cuts 
14. Close ups good
15. Narrative liked
16. Continuity good

From the criticisms we got about our opening squence, I was able to see things in the sequence that weren't as positive and I may not have noticed had it not been for recieving that feedback.

1. Some bits jumpy - this is down to the fact that the editing is not yet compeleted. Once it has been it will be a lot clearer and not as noticeable if at all where the editing is.
2. Audio is confusing - the audio captured in the film shots is going to be muted completely hence why we aren't too bothered about it just yet. Instead we are hoping to use a Phil Colins song called Sussudio to make it more of a cheesy film over something that is trying to look too serious which I think is a good route to go down being that we have never done this before.
3. Storyline a bit confusing - it was not explained how so we don't understand how it is confusing in order to modify it. I intend to ask some of the people how they found it confusing so that as a group we can try to make it clearer even though I think its pretty straightforward.
4. Editing wasn't smooth - editing isn't finished.
5. Some shots out of focus - this was meant to happen as it creates a certain mysterious atmosphere around Anna. I did this on purpose.
6. Could be more suspensful (when Anna is following Lucy) - once again will be rectified in final editing. The shots are going to be made shorter, there will possibly be more shot reverse shots etc.
7. Sound could be used before Lucy is on the floor - is going to be added when we get to editing that last little bit; the kind of thing we had in mind was to do like a blackout when the title of the film appears, with a scream then you see the final shot with Lucy on the floor.
8. Add more shots whilst walking  - once again, a problem that will be solved during last edits. The more suspense we build up by using these shots, the better it will be. The only reason it was so basic for this viewing was because we knew we were running out of time to get it done. 

What we have left to do

We still have a fair amount left to do although I don't think it's something that is unmanageable.
We need to finish editing in the sense that we need to put titles onto our opening and make sure there are no problems with continuity or the way the shots run and that the editing of the shots together is seamless so as not to destroy the illusion of reality for the viewer. We also need to organize our peer evaluation questionaire and get that filled out by our target audience when we first screen our opening sequence so that we can go back to editing and respond to the criticism. Lastly we need to add the audio to our sequence by removing the voices and noise from the clips and adding in the song chosen over the top of all of it to make a more of a mime film over something where you can hear each word said. We decided to do this to leave more to the viewers imagination. I think this is a very good idea as it doesn't make the film as straightforward which links into our thriller genre as often thrillers are more psychological over outright horror.

Overall, I think we are doing quite well and don't see that we are running out of time or should be under a huge amount of pressure to complete everything. I am very pleased with the rate at which we are working.

Editing on my own for the first time.

Today, I was the only member of my group present and so I took it upon myself to try and get the rest of the film put together. I struggled a little bit to start off with as I had never used Final Cut Express before and had only watched Anna edit. However, once I got used to it I found the putting together of the clips really easy. Toward the end, I really struggled with getting a title on the film and it took me about 20 minutes however I did it on my own and managed to get it on there in the end just by playing around with the program. There is still a bit of work to go but I think what I did today helped a lot and saved a lot of time for the group as a whole.

Editing our sequence

We began editing our sequence last week and have already encountered some problems with the continuity of the film and attempting to edit shots together. Some of the shots are good in places and then bad in others however we took a few different shots of the same thing so trying to edit them together has been quite difficult. Overall, editing so far has been good although the time we have is running short and I'm a bit worried we might not finish on time.