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)

Editing Sound and different shots:

Today I spent time editing the sound of our film to ensure it flows smoothly. It is frustrating as when the film cuts to the next frame, the background noise is not consistent, therefore, can be very off putting and not professional.
I made sure each audio for each frame was edited so that sound faded in and out so that it sounded consistent to the viewers.

I then added in shots of Elliot (our stalker) on the computer replying to Amy (our school girl), using a variety of transitions so that it smoothly flows correctly. It was hard to place each shot and also add in shots of the kettle as a symbol that time is running out.

The kettle is particulary symbolic in our piece as it represents the rising tension, I ensured that the sound reached a peak as the kettle boiled, alarming the audience and suggesting that something bad will soon occur.

It was irritating having to detach the audio from the filming of the kettle and then add it to specific sections of our film as background noise. I had to copy and paste it at least 5 times as the sections when Elliot is in the attic would not have had that background noise realistically. However, once done it was effective and believable.

I am glad that we spent time filming with a range in angles to pick from as it makes our film interesting to the audience.

I also converted the third shot of Amy walking up the stairs in order to slow down its pace. This is important as we used this technqiue earlier on therefore, it again suggests to the audience that she is walking into a dangerous situation.

Finally I enhanced the sound of the creeking of the ladder as this is

the peak of our film and the tension. I also added music on top to make it more frightening to the viewers.

Other AS Level Influences:

I found another AS Level Thriller Trailer on YouTube, similar to our film. There is a good use of music and shots of computer screens which have helped when creating our film. This AS piece is ironically very similar to the plot of ours, therefore, is useful when making our own film.
However, our group came up with our idea before watching this film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6EjOgU6qXY

Certificate:

I would say that our film should be aimed at around a 12a certificate.
It is not gory and there are no dramatic shocks therefore, it is not frightening enough to be classed as a 15.
However, it is psychologically frightening which could scare younger viewers, therefore, a certificate of 12a seems appropriate as it enables younger viewers under the age of 12 to also watch it provided they are with a parent or guardian.

Our Actor & Actress

Our Chosen Actor:

We chose to use Elliot Williamson as the actor in our film. We found it difficult to find someone of an older age to star in our film, luckily Elliot had the potential to look older than 17 for the role so we thought he would be suitable, with the right lighting, costume etc.

Claudie used make-up to make him appear older than he was, and furthermore the costume we dressed him gave the impression he was an adult rather than a student.

Our Chosen Actress:

We chose Amy Williams as our chosen actress. She seemed suitable for the role as she is very petite so could be easily portrayed as vulnerable to the viewers. We made her appear younger by not allowing her to wear bearly any make-up, tying her hair back and having her wear a school uniform which instantly establishes her age to the audience.
Furthermore, the white shirt portrays her as vulnerable in her plight.

Influences

When making the opening to our film, we watched the opening of the film 'Creep' as the use of eerie music and it suggests what is about to happen to the audience before it actually begins, just like our film which uses the narrative in future tense as a suggestion.

Here is the opening section of the film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peggLQ1fLg8&feature=related

Our target audience

We are aiming our film at a target audience of around 14-18. We think our film would appeal to girls as it is quite stereotypical of teen horrors which are commonly watched by a females. Young girls may be able to relate to the build up in events, silly things such as hearing worrying noises upstairs when home alone, or talking to someone unknown over the Internet at a naive age.

Filming our final scenes:

We decided to film the ending of our film with our male actor.
We have changed the plot to make it more exciting and unique to our audience, we have decided to have the man in the attic of the young girl's house. It may seem very unrealistic however, we were able to film successful shots such as when the girl hears a noise and walks along the upstairs corridor, searching the rooms, in the background the later is slowly lowered without her knowing.

We filmed our male actor as the 'killer' in the attic, we turned the lights off so the only light seen is the blaze from the laptop screen and the small fragment of light from the attic door. It looks creepy as Claudie did his makeup to make him look tired and appear older, also we dressed him in a checkered shirt and jeans and he hunched over with ruffled hair so that he looks quite frightening and stereotypical.

We trialled a variety of shots during our filming and also had shots of Amy playing the school-girl walking up the stairs from different angles so that we can make the film exciting and intriguing to our audience.

Editing Shots

Editing process for opening scene:

Filming process:

This photograph is one of the many we used as the fake picture for the man's msn account which appears whilst the school girl is chatting to him.