The Speculum - Self Evaluation
The establishing shots at the start of the opening really capture the creepy atmosphere of the film and the sound effects over top also add to the mise en scene. However once the action starts the sound effects suddenly cut out, which throws the audience straight out of the film, making it unrealistic. Also this scene is very dark and at parts it becomes so dark that the audience cant see the action. The suspense and tension slowly builds throughout the piece and the use of the slow childish nursery songs with the echo effect really enhances that. The audience are introduced to the devil subtlety, which adds to the sinister and creepy atmosphere. Throughout the whole opening the filming is steady and controlled. There is one moment of bad match on action, which throws the audience out of the action. The font doesn't fit the genre of a 'creepy kid horror film' as it looks too serious and the title of the film appears at the end of the film, which makes the opening look more like a trailer.
The Speculum - Action Plan
We need to fix all the sound effects by making them fade out a lot more so they stop less abruptly. We also need to sort the bad match on action section so the audience are still engaged in the action. The font for the credits needs to be more suitable for a 'creepy kid horror film', which may require some more research into other 'creepy kid horror films'. We would like to rerecord some dialogue so it more clear for the audience and the sound of the wind is lost and also we need to rerecord the the opening scene with 'Martha' and 'Christopher' as the lighting in that scene.
The Speculum – Group Feedback for Video
ReplyDeleteCurrent Level: Higher end of a level two
The genre of this film opening is apparent through your good use of mise-en-scene. There is a good variety of camera shots (on the whole) and the narrative is coming along but just needs a little more tweaking to have something which shows proficiency in your film making skills.
Ideas for enhancing/improving your work:
• I think the music needs to start sooner – try and aim for something that starts over the production logo and continues into the action.
• The V/O dialogue right at the start is a little hard to make out. You either need to reduce the echo effect or boost the volume so that the audience can hear what is being said.
• Outside the house: I am wondering if it would make more sense to show the child first (as they appear to be the main character – at least for this opening) and then cut to the dad coming outside with the box.
• You need an insert close up shot of the box – I am assuming this is the same box that reappears in the loft. This took me a while to work out because my attention wasn’t really drawn to the box and without a close up, I didn’t recognise it. The close up would also hint to the audience that this is something they should be taking note of.
• You need to think carefully about where and when the credits appear. They feel a little intrusive in places – I think you could afford to have more nearer the start. The credits in the loft scene are quite abrupt – have you used fade transitions? You might want to experiment with that.
• I feel you need insert shots of creepy surroundings in the loft – e.g. weird dolls etc… to really help establish an uneasy atmosphere. This could also help with the credits (e.g. instead of the black screen, the text could be on these insert shots).
• The shot of the box in the loft – if this is meant to be the same one the dad just put outside, could you insert a ‘what the…?’ from the kid? This would help the audience to make the connection.
• As discussed in class – we need some visual exposition to help establish the narrative. Is is not clear who the child in the loft is (e.g. a ghost? A weirdo!?)
• The pictures in the album – could these be creepier? For example, as the album goes on, some of the images have scratched out eyes or something similar.