Cliffhanger

At first, we were not happy with the ending because we felt that it was longer than it had to be. Our classmates agreed with us as they said it made them feel uncomfortable and uneasy. However, after further analysis the excessive pacing at the end builds tension as you find yourself waiting for something to happen, this causes you to sit on the edge of your seat in anticipation of what is to come. We realised that this unfulfilled anticipation hooked audiences to want to watch more. Our aim was to draw in audiences, and without realising it we had created a great cliffhanger that leaves audiences hungry for more.

Wiping Non-existent Tears

A student noticed that our actor was wiping her face when there were not any tears to wipe away. This was intentional as it emphasises the deterioration of her mental state. The fact she is wiping away imaginary tears suggests how she could be hallucinating or the fact that emotionally she wants to cry but physically her body is too drained to produce tears. This could also make the audience question whether she is guilty because she is clearly distraught over what happened to her 'friend' which makes you question is she is responsible of affected.  

Reflection

The feedback that we gathered was extremely constructive, it opened our eye to ideas we would not have thought of, had we not carried out this research. All the suggestions were insightful however, not all of them could be applied to our project due to the complications they would cause to the structure and continuity. An example of this is the recurring comment that the ending was too stretched out. Even though  re-filming this scene would have improved our project, there would be difficulties to maintain continuity because our actress had a hair cut which is clearly very different to her hairstyle in the original footage. This means we would either have to film all the scenes again so the mise-en-scene would be aligned or the more realistic option which was to just leave out the changes. Continuity has been the main reason we are so hesitant to re-shoot scenes as it could result in more inaccuracy's if the set is not the same as when we first filmed. 

For the time being we are going to focus on the improvements we can make through editing the footage we already have.   

Class feedback

Now that we have finished our project we decided to show it to our media class because we wanted to get feedback from people that have not viewed it before as they will have a fresh perspective, compared to our group who have been editing it for the past few months. The aim was for them to pick up on any mistakes and faults that we may have overlooked as well as any improvements that they think would make our opening better. 

Here is their feedback:

            

The overall response was fairly positive except for a few minor criticisms and suggested changes:

• In the over-shoulder shot with the slow zoom the cameraman is visible for few seconds in the reflection of the mirror.
• The establishing shot was too short because we only had one, they suggested adding another one that is different or extending the length of our current one.
• The black screen between the production company and the start of our opening was too short.
• When our actor is crying she wipes her face, but there are not any tears on her face.
• It would be good to have ambient sound in the flashbacks to make it more like a home video, or add disturbing demonic sounds to reflect her mindset  
• The pacing at the end was too long.