Audience Feedback:

Here is our audience feedback. The video quality is poor as it was copied on a USB and it seemed to damage the quality, but its uploaded anyway...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iZhJJjvC2k

Evaluation:

Perfecting the end of our film:

Tilly and I spent time after lessons when we had a spare moment to edit the final parts of our film.
I added the title Prey to the end of our film and faded it in from the white using 'Soft Edge' so that it sweeps across the screen, however, at a slow pace. It is effective as I added the end of the voice-over with the word for dramatic effect.
We then together picked a different font for it and chose an abstract transition to blend the shot of the door slamming into the title.
We also changed the type of credits, as before they were on black backgrounds however, we decided to freeze-framed the shots and had then sweep across the screen. This looks more professional and incorporates our use of freezeframe which we had at the start.

I spent time editing the colours and speeds of the last shots. I sped up our stalker climbing down the stairs so he looks hurried in contrast to how the young girl is more laid back and slower paced, reflecting her naivity. I then made the colours darker to make this section more sinister, and also it made the continuity better as the day was brighter than our first day of filming.

Filming finishing touches:

We spent today filming the end shots of our film, just to tidy up and perfect the ending.
We filmed our 'stalker' climbing down the ladder', we varied our shots but eventually chose to have the camera from the floor, with a low angle shot of his feet stepping downwards and eventually onto the camera so it turns to blackness. We are then planning to add a transition into the young girls reaction as she hears the noise. We decided to use a high angle shot as it establishes the stalker as dominant in comparison to our vulnerable young school girl. We are hoping to add music to this section which will reach a climax for the viewers, as it is a pinnacle moment.

We then filmed Amy as she walks into the room, by zooming out of a picture of her. Then we filmed her reaction to the sound and then final scene when the 'stalker' walks into her room and closes the door behind.' We used Tilly to scream over the top.

Narrative Inspirations:

We decided to narrate a voice over our film, we were influenced by lots of different thrillers concerning this idea as it is effective for the audience when building up suspense.

Number 23 is a good example as he speaks throughout the film, updating the viewers with what is happening, building tension. Also Lovely Bones is a good example.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ElUBr6-GLU

Ideas for our final scenes:

Although we have drawn out a guideline to our final scenes and discussed ideas, a lot of our ideas stem from one another when either filming or editing etc. When this happens we love to add the ideas into our scenes to accentuate the thriller genre.
When our 'stalker' comes down from the loft, it would be effective to have a build up in tension, this is so so crucial, a climax is necessary and also maybe a few anticlimaxes along the way as Claudie and I recently discussed.

I thought of scenes from films like 'Creep' and 'Signs' where the camera films from floor level under a door and all the audience can see is the shadow of feet. This subtle shot is so effective to me personally, so I thought that we could maybe use it at the end or at least test it to see if it works and adds to the horror element.


Creep:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD8Fa-m76ic&feature=related

(SKIP TO 4:14)

Movie Influences:

A film which influenced us was The Strangers. What we think is effective about this film is that it uses not shock tactics but subtlety as when the woman is standing in the kitchen and then a figure in a mask steps out behind her.
This builds up tension as although the murderer is not doing anything but standing there, it is extremely creepy for the viewer and also frustrating as the character is alone in a house where she is vulnerable.
We used this when the girl walks down the hallway and the ladder behind her slowly creaks down, she does not hear the sound and looks in different rooms to see where the noise came from, therefore, it has similar elements to The Strangers which is a really realistic attempt at Thrillers/Horror.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKdfhH1hnpw&feature=related

(Skip to 5 minutes)