Evaluation: Audience Feedback

In order to gather a wide range of feedback from our audience, we have devised a questionnaire that can be answered on a range of elements of our opening, such as visuals, editing and narrative and whether we had adherred to the conventions of the action thriller genre.

1. Did the opening meet your expectations of an action thriller?

"It exceeded each and every one of them, and blew them up to a whole new level" - Avraj C.

"Yes, and no. IT WENT ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY" - Ben C.

"I'm still recovering from the experience. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before" - Matthew B.


2. What did you think of the editing - did it support the camerawork?

"Not bad. An impressive grasp of the editing tools meant the opening retained its break-neck pace throughout!" - Leonard R.

"Not quite the professional standard I expected, but does the job" - Thelma M.

"The editor had a keen eye for the slick cinematography" - Roger D.


3. Did the location enhance the cinematic experience?

"The London location aided the high value look of the film - and added to the realistic threat of the film" - Boris J.

"The Christmas tree seemed out of place - it could've been used to greater effect" - Nicholas St.

"Clearly a well planned shoot" - James R.


4. Did the costumes conform to the conventions of the genre?

"Davidson was dressed for the job - dressed for ACTION" - Alexander MQ.

"Zubasu's grey striped suit gave him the air of a cold ruthless killer"  - Alex B.

"I liked Caprivi's Thinsulate™ hat" - John D.


5. How did the musical score help to support the action?

"It was pure brilliance and really intensified the action" - Martin S.

"Up there with the greats. Hans Zimmer and John Williams, WATCH OUT!" - Thomas N.

"James Richardson - you are a musical god!" - Matthew B.


6. With all of that in mind, what improvements could be made to the opening - and what would like to see in the future from Enigma Entertainment?

"The storyline could be simplified as to prevent audience confusion. I had no idea what Yung was up to and why" - Avraj C.

"I didn't get it" - Zubin P.

"You could have used some older actors as it would've made the sequence more believable" - Ryan T.

"The editing lacked proper pacing and felt somewhat amateur. Spend more time on this!" - Joseph S.

"I would just LOVE to see a garden fight sequence where Lee Davidson takes out, like, TEN GUYS - four with his fists - two with a pole - and four with a shotgun!" - Alex B.

Evaluation: Critical Response

Upon the release of our final opening for "Sins Of The Martyr" we recieved a varied, but generally positive response. Initial film critics such as Ryan Taylor, who claimed it "could easily be a blockbuster film" and Avraj Chaggar praised the film, stating that "looks like it has a high production value". Other reviews said "It would be a sin to miss!", and "This was a tour-de-force of an action thriller". It was described as"A fiercely visual feast of filmmaking", "Cinematic storytelling at its finest", and that it "Blows all other blockbusters out of the water!". I particularly enjoyed the review that called it a"A Martyr-piece of modern cinema" and my personal favourite, "Not bad.". Of course, I have decided to leave out the fierce criticism we did receive, but no one would really want to read any of that anyway...

Evaluation: Director's Commentary

Myself and my fellow director of the opening to "Sins Of The Martyr" have recorded a brief, but insightful commentary into the various production stages of the making of our film. We hope you find it informative.

Evaluation: Opening With Audio Description

Once our film had been released, we realised we had neglected a vitally important demographic - those who are visually impaired. So we have provided a version of our opening sequence complete with audio description to ensure our story can reach everyone.

Evaluation: Preliminary Vs. Opening

"Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?"

Having completed our two-minute opening sequence, we could see that we had made a number of improvements in our film making skills since our work on the preliminary task last year. It is interesting to see the comparison between the two and understand how we have progressed and learnt from and corrected our mistakes.

The most distinct difference between the two projects was the filming location. Whereas with the preliminary task, where we were limited by time and preparation and so used my colleague's house as primary location, with our final opening we had a wider canvas of locations to explore and therefore a duty to fulfill the expectations, of others and of ourselves. We did this shooting the opening in one of the most iconic cities in the world - London - heavily featuring Trafalgar Square and the London Underground, both shown in the 2012 blockbuster "Skyfall". We felt that the recognisability of the location would add to the production value of the opening as well as being a more interesting locale than simply using a house or local area.

The acting and plot line of the preliminary task paled in comparison with our final opening. The preliminary task was solely conceived on the day, during the shooting of the film, resulting in minimal dialogue as we had little time to come up with anything. The result of a polished screenplay, that our actors could use to rehearse their lines, was greater performances among our actors and a general greater sense of production value. With the opening we have an almost complete storyline as an extension of the events of the opening, the preliminary existed as a stand-alone project.

Another comparison was the quality of the visuals: we shot the preliminary in a standard definition resolution, whereas our final opening piece was recorded in 1080p at a higher frame rate, resulting in a more aesthetically appealing look  Due to the extended planning on the opening we spent more time thinking about the framing of shots, as well as other aspects of cinematography, for instance lighting and exposure which proved a slight problem in our preliminary task. The latter aspect was difficult to fix as we were filming in a public location without access to artificial lighting: therefore we relied heavily on the weather and configured settings on our digital camcorder to improve the appearance of the shots.

Something we also took into greater consideration was the colour of the film. We struggled with making the color correction and grading in our preliminary task look cinematic, but this was something we overcame with our final opening. We achieved a distinctive look through adjusting the colours towards the green and blue hues, which we felt complimented the location of Trafalgar Square as well as allowing the film to look interesting, with a vignette overlayed to add a sense of darkness. In contrast to the preliminary task, the final opening had a colder and more professional look in line with the conventions of the action genre, with some distinct differences that made it something of its own.

While we were certainly proud of the continuity editing techniques that were employed in the preliminary task, notably match-on-action, we adhered to them very well in our final opening, for instance the scene in which Yung destroys his earpiece. While in the preliminary, where our heavy focus on action restricted us from the use of shot-reverse-shot, in the final opening we explored it interestingly, depicting a conversation that was not face to face. In addition, we paid greater respect to the 180 degree rule in the final opening, with the fight scene aided by the location of the wall that meant sure we did not break it.

Overall, we felt our preliminary task was instrumental in the creation of what we feel is a satisfactory opening sequence. Without filming such a thing beforehand, we would not have acquired the skills and understanding that would allow our opening to succeed on various levels.

Evaluation: Sound

Sound is a vital aspect of any successful modern motion picture. It can add to and develop pace and emotion. The audio in our opening was comprised of various features: ambience, dialogue, effects (foley) and music.

Ambience:

We discovered that with our original footage, the audio we had recorded of Trafalgar Square was rather inaudible and could potentially ruin the continuity. Therefore our solution was to abandon the on-site audio for most of the clips, and replace them with non-copyright online ambient soundtracks, which we lowered in volume to increase the prominence of the dialogue. The ambience replacement was very successful, as it sounded incredibly close to the original track and we were very proud at how well it turned out. What would have made it easier and more realistic would be if we had set the camera down in different places around Trafalgar Square and recorded the ambience, so that we wouldn't have to create it in post and it would add the extra bit of realism.

Dialogue:

We decided it was vital to re-record all of the dialogue. This is known as ADR, which we recorded outside as to maintain the authenticity of the audio, which would be layered over the ambient tracks. This was crucial for various reasons, for instance to improve the quality and audibility of the lines, aswell as improve the performances, some of which we felt were lacking. Another distinct problem we encountered was that our actor's voices were too adolescent for the type of film we were going for. We also used this as an opportunity to record lines that had not been shot, or even appeared in the script, in order to provide exposition.

Effects:

Sound effects are most prominent during the brief but brutal fight sequence that occurs towards the end of the opening. We used a combination of non-copyright hit and punch effects to accompany the series of punches between Agent Davidson and his pursuer. To do this, we downloaded a royalty free package of sound effects from the internet that had a variety of punch, kick, fall and swiping sound effects. They were very realistic and they definitely added to the fight. The fight wouldn't have worked without them, as the audience wouldn't have been able to work out if the punch had hit, or how hard it had hit. Another sound effect that was used was when Yung is shot. It was hard to work out how to establish that he had been shot without a gunshot sound effect, that would obviously raise the attention of everyone in the Square. Instead we decided to use one of the punch sound effects, which helped the audience to realise that he had been hit.

Music:

The soundtrack was specially commissioned by us to be composed by the up-coming classical artist, our good friend James Richardson, whose list of musical talents exceed the length of his chin. We provided him with a number of film score tracks in order to help influence the themes and structure of his work, and he assured us the music was in good hands. And gee whizz, it was! Richardson scored a demo version of his soundtrack early in the stages of post-production and on first listen, it was one of the most exhilarating and exciting experiences in my life. The music was filled with pure intensity that evoked and encapsulated the thrill of the action in the film. We worked very closely with him in the composing and recording process and he kept us regularly updated over the course of the following weeks on the progress of his work.

When edited to the visuals, the soundtrack works even better in the context of the action and helps to improve the opening heavily. Throughout the sequence there are various moments where the music works not only to accompany the visuals but matches almost perfectly, for instance when we cut to the shot of Yung with Nelson's Column in the background, the music takes on an intense nature, that escalates appropriately. The film culminates with a dramatic, sweeping piano piece that contrasts with the grittiness of the action, with the reveal of the film's title scored with a somber, emotional piece that is reflective of the lead character's physical and mental state following the events of the opening.

Evaluation: Technology

"What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?"

Whilst we encountered some minor difficulties with the Panasonic HDC-SD90, our choice of camera for the film opening, for instance some overexposure and lack of features such as focus control which meant we could not experiment in incorporating creative depths of field, for the most part we were highly satisfied. Both myself and Nicholas shot parts of the opening which we found helped develop both our skills in using the device, which each of us experimenting with various styles of filming. The highlight of the camera was the stabilisation feature, which allowed us to employ a tripod-less (which meant we did not arouse suspicion in a public place such as Trafalgar Square) 'documentary style' approach to the filming without making the movement of the camera unbearable to watch - this was important as there were a number of fast paced sequences that required quick movement of the camera man.

The Panasonic HDC-SD90 (Property of Nicholas Ashurst)

For the post-production process, the software Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 was instrumental in editing the film. Notably used in many high budget Hollywood productions such as "The Social Network", the program contained all of the components required to cut the footage, colour correct and grade it, as well as edit and mix the audio and the application of titles and credits. From use of the software while editing our preliminary task I learnt a number of the basic features of Premiere Pro, so with editing the final opening I learnt to develop and improve these techniques, with aid from YouTube tutorials when necessary. Overall, the program was rather manageable, however problems relating to my computer rather than the software, meant some of the editing processes were slower than desired, resulting in the editing taking quite a long time.

A screenshot of Premiere Pro in the very final stages of editing

Through the use of these two technologies - other than them we did not utilise any others - we developed our understanding and confidence in the technical side of the film making process and opening up wider opportunities for any future projects as we hope to explore more techniques and features.

Evaluation: Video Annotations

"How did you attract/address your audience?"

We have added various video annotations to the draft edit of our film opening, as to not obscure the visuals of our final version. These annotations will explore the process behind the creation of our opening, from pre-production to post-production, and aim to provide interesting facts about the film and its cast and crew, in order to demonstrate the ways in which we could attract and address our audience.

Please ensure the annotations are activated before viewing.

Evaluation: Audience

"Who would the audience be for your media product?"

On the left is an image of our intended target audience. The 16-25 age group is the key demographic for the majority of theatrical releases, most notably the action packed blockbuster films that dominate the box office. While we do not want to simply cater for the widest audience possible, we have strong confidence that this demographic would enjoy our film and provide it with the recognition it deserves. The 16-25 male and female audiences would find much from our film opening that would interest and appeal to them, and we feel it works as a form of escapism, providing a major selling point for this age group, who are leaving education and entering the adult world.

We would capitalise on this demographic by employing a similar marketing campaign to "The Dark Knight Rises", which recognised social media trends by using sites such as Twitter and Facebook to release posters and trailers, while encourage users to share and generate their own content, which would help increase greater interest in the film in addition to traditional marketing schemes. Overall, I think we have, and could if we had to in the future, successfully appealed to our target audience by producing an opening sequence that features many of  the elements that this demographic would want in a film.

Evaluation: Institutions

"What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?"

As was explained prior to the creation of our opening sequence, we decided it was essential we would use our production company Enigma Entertainment, established by myself and Nicholas Ashurst, to ensure the film was unique and personal. It was important for us as we had used Enigma Entertainment (and its predecessors) in the past, on projects such as Preliminary Task, meaning that fans of our older work would recognise the people behind the opening before our names had been shown.

The reasons behind the naming of our production company were instrumental. The actual word 'enigma' refers to a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation, while in film terminology it is used when referencing to the unexplained themes and ideas that are introduced by a film, especially in its opening minutes. These enigmas were something that we wanted to create in our opening, and therefore it seems fitting that the name our production company reflects this.

In the case of the distributors of the film, we went with Universal Pictures and Studio Canal, as being responsible for films such as the "Bourne" series and "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", we felt they were an appropriate institution and would also jump at the possibility of marketing distributing our film. Our film is a rather safe investment  what with exciting set-pieces, meaning Universal would be suitable, while we still have the feel of a sophisticated, independent film project, therefore their sub-division, the French-based Studio Canal, would fit our film very nicely. Both of their logos are stylish and professional, and most importantly recognisable, meaning our film already has the audience interested before the film has started.