Audience Feedback

Feedback was an aspect that we, as a team, identified as a crucial source of information to take into account to optimize our final sequence. On the feedback for the first cut of our sequence, we decided to use peer assessment, and showed our sequence to the class, asking them to fill out a short questionnaire. Though these results were reliable and provided quality results, organising the feedback session again would be a difficulty, and also just showing it to the media class biased the results in the favour of technical quality (Camera shots, lighting), and we wanted results also which reflected a general audience, and what they would be seeking in a film. We decided that the best way to go about this was to create a group on social-networking site 'Facebook', host the video of our sequence on the group and invite people at random, asking them to leave feedback on our sequence. We did so, and this proved to be an effective and easily organised method of gathering audience feedback quickly.

Sound on Media Sequence

(Screenshot of making sounds in FL Studio)

The non-diegetic sound that features in our final sequence was something that was not included at all on our first cut, and was something that we identified needed work on to greatly improve our sequence as a whole. It was my task to create the sound for our sequence, and I was aiming to create a soundtrack which A) Supported the genre and fitted in stylistically, and B) Enhanced the moods throughout and created tension where needed.
The soundtrack itself is split into four parts: The first is when William is getting ready for the poker game, this soundtrack is the intro of Miles Davis's So What, of which I took the first part and repeated twice, as this was perfect stylistically (So What being a jazz hit from the 1950's) and also lasted straight up til the point when William knocks on the door in the actual sequence. The second part is mid-poker game, when Jones the Dealer has started dealing out the cards. We identified that this part was in most need of a soundtrack, as this particular scene was intended to show the passing of time, and this did not work well in our first cut. I decided to use the later part of So What and played it fairly loud, to show that this was not background music. Using both this music and fading transitions between shots, we effectively showed the passing of time. This music fades out when Marcus remarks to William that it is not his evening, to show that we are back in the action as an audience, and we are about to be re-engaged in the story of this scene.
The third part is the tense music as the last hand is being played. This was created solely on the program FL Studio, using various plugins and editing stock samples to create the sounds that I wanted. These noises feature on pivotal moments of the last hand, such as when William goes all in and also when Marcus calls. We decided these noises needed to feature to depict the mood to the audience, and to greatly enhance the tension.
The fourth sub-section of the soundtrack is during William's realization that he has lost the hand and all the money he has left. For this part I decided on sad violin music, and created it on FL Studio. I used simple violin sounds and pieced together a simple minor chord which plays throughout until Johnson's narration at the end.

Simeon's Evaluation

This is my evaluation for our AS Media coursework, 'The Lost Cause'. Within it I cover how our sequence has challenged existing media products, who our target audience would be, how we have progressed since our preliminary task and how we have gathered audience feedback.

Animatic

This is the last of my videos filling in the gaps due to computer problems such as not being able to get onto blogger at school and other issues meaning these posts have been left until last minute.


This is our animatic made from the storyboard, it gives a general idea of what happens in our sequence. There is however fade transitions in our sequence to show the passing of time.

Nine Frames Exercise Two - Our Film

This is nine frames picked out from our project that I feel represent the pieces as a whole. First we have the ident we made from scratch that shows our fictional film production company. Second we have our character William looking into a mirror with the film title above his head, this frame suggests that the film title 'The Lost Cause' is refering to him in that he is the lost cause and this film centres around him. The next two frames are just nice shots of the poker game that show the progression of time. The shot after this is one of Marcus scooping up chips, showing he is very much the strong player and has the upper hand. The two shots that follow give the impression that William may be in with a chance as he has a confident expression on his face for the only time in the opening sequence and the cards on the table mean he has a very strong hand. However the following frame shows that Marcus has an even stronger hand and in the final shot William is left on the street with nothing, looking understandably distressed and gutted.