Final Film

Film Improvements

After we watched the first things we filmed, we used the iMovie programme to watch what we had done. We went over this with our teachers and were advised to change certain things. We also agreed with these points and made some of our own as we wanted our film to be at its highest standard. We had to reschedule this with the actors and get all of our props together. This was fine with the actors and as we were using our own locations, this was fine as well.

We went on to re-film certain parts, mostly the parts filmed in Bob Thurgood Phillips' (Bob Phillips) room as the lighting made the exposure and the reflections from the camera really odd and discoloured. The whole scene had a strong orange tint to it and made the shot look like everything was shining and reflecting light. This was because instead of using natural light we decided to use the electric, artificial lighting. As we were filming it wasn't apparent to us but when watching the clips we realised it was one of the worst filmed parts of our sequence. This is why we filmed it again one day after school. The actor was happy to do this as it only took up to an hour and he was happy to redo the scenes as we showed the previous clips and he also agreed we couldn't use them.

There was another scene in the sequence that we wanted to re-film but, the two times we tried to do it, it didn't work at all. The scene when Stacey is coming out of her front door was the worst shot we created throughout the whole piece. The shot was really over exposed and her costume really didn't help as she had a light pink t-shirt on and very light, blue jeans. When we filmed the first time we filmed it out of the front door we were supposed to use. This really didn't work and the actor just disappeared when she went over the white door frame.

Instead we tried it on a different day and using a different door. The sun was still quite bright and we tried different angles - even experimenting with blocking the light with umbrellas and big wooden boards. This didn't help much as the shot is still over exposed and this is a shame as its quite noticeable in our final opening and brings it's quality down slightly but we did all we could have done without cutting out the shot.

Emily Wallace

Final Film Title Ideas and Justification

After receiving feedback on our 2nd rough cut with the use of our alternative title sequence, we began to reconsider our generic challenge. The feedback we received was from Year 10's, Year 11's and Year 13's.

One piece of feedback that we recieved from a Year 13 student was that the titles appearing at the end of the opening resembled a TV show as opposed to a film opening sequence. This brought to our attention that this may affect the continuity of our opening and how our piece is interpreted by our audience and the examiner.

Another piece of feedback we recieved was from a Year 10 student who claimed that they did not understand the storyline or plot. This led us to the conclusion that the title did not appear in the right place, preventing the audience fropm seeing a connection between the female protagonist (Stacey Munez) and the film title (About A Girl). This prevented our audience from understanding the storyline of the film and the importance of the character Stacey.

In order to resolve this problem, we changed the order of our title sequence back to how we originally planned, and placed the title after the character Stacey is first introduced.

This feedback was useful as it allowed us to improve our opening based on other peoples' opinions and ideas and pick up on flaws that we as a group did not consider to be an issue. We are glad we made this decision as we agree with our feedback and find that the improved title sequence resembles a film opening more clearly and gives our audience more insight into the storyline of the film. We are also glad we made this change to our final cut as the risk of representing a trailer or TV show is no longer a problem and the continuity of our opening is more consistent.

Devon Dalton

Feedback of Rough Cut 2

We asked a range of young adults and teenagers what they thought of our film opening. Here is some of the feedback we received.


We asked 27 people from a year 10 class what they thought of our opening. This means the audience was 14 to 15 years old. This was good as our target audience varied from 15 upwards. The class was mixed gender and this was the results of their feedback:


- They laughed at the sound cutting out for the character Stuart. This is good as within the first few minutes the atmosphere for our film is set and the genre is quickly apparent.
- They didn't understand the story or plot. This led to the discussion of when the title should appear and ultimately changed its position.
- They liked the character Stuart because he was so boring.
- The music set ambiance. Once again this is good as it created the right atmosphere.
- They loved the split screen and said it worked very well.
- 27/27 said they would watch this film.


We then asked 25 people from a year 11 class what they thought of our opening. This means the audience was 15 to 16 years old. This was good as our target audience varied from 15 upwards. The class was mixed gender and this was the results of their feedback:


- They laughed at 'Wisecrack' logo. This was good as it shows our institution has knowledge of the comedy film industry.
- They also laughed at Stuart's silence. This was good as both classes already have awareness that the character Stuart is boring and dull.
- It reminded them of the 'Inbetweeners' (a teen/young adult show about a group of four teenage boys and their adventures). This was good as our film can be compared to a hugely successful show.
- 25/25 said they would watch this film.


Finally, we asked a year 13 media studies group what they thought of our opening. This means the audience was 17 to 18 years old and the fact we asked a media group benefited us as they are aware of media terminology and good openings. The class was mixed gender and this was the results of their feedback:


- Good font for the titles and fitted with the genre.
- Alarm clock also fitted with the genre.
- The fact the alarm clock was green fits with 'Emerald productions'
- The music cutting out for Stuart seemed like an amateur element. They suggested we added in a record scratching when the music cuts so it seems like the music broke; an idea we intend to adopt.
- They said it resembled a TV show, not a film, because of the title appearing at the end. This was also why the year 10 class got confused with the plot. As a result the title 'About a girl' will appear after Stacey is introduced to connote she is the 'girl' from the title.
- All the students said they would want to watch this film and all also said they wanted to watch the opening twice.


Scott Collins

Film Title Research and 2nd Rough Cut Ideas

To challenge generic conventions, we decided during the editing of our 2nd rough cut to change the order of the title sequence. Instead of our film title appearing at the beginning of the opening, we've chosen to display the title at the end of the opening.

This idea was inspired by the film Step Brothers (2008), where the film title does not appear until the very end of the opening scene.

Step Brothers Opening Scene

Although film openings are not generally associated with this title format, the sequence works successfully in this example as the opening uses clear generic conventions and contains content that prevents the audience from interpreting the opening as a trailer, such as the storyline and introduction of characters.

For our film opening, we also plan to challenge this generic convention by using it in our piece. We believe that by using the same techniques, our film could also pull off this convention. We also believe it would benefit our piece as it would make it unique and original.

Devon Dalton

Rough Cut 2

Rough Cut 1