I will now be discussing the feedback given from showing my Vox Pop to the rest of the class.

The first person who gave me feedback was Jack who said that I had a good use of shots when interviewing people and used the rule of thirds correctly. Another good thing he identified was how I phrased the questions by having the people being interviewed to repeat the question and not having a black title card pop up before the answers and also not having me say the questions in the interview. For areas of development he mentioned that I don’t need to improve on anything. This shows that I was heading in the right direction and I should do this again next time I make a project like this, and also take into account that my shots and lighting is good even though I thought they needed some improvement.

The second person who gave me feedback on my work for the Vox Pop was Joseph Devlin. One of the good identified by Joe from my Vox Pop was that you can tell what question they are answering without having to have a title card or me saying the question. This re-enfocres the idea that I was being creative and did have a correct idea to show the question. For areas of development he mentioned that I should use rule of thirds in every shot. I agree this point because I was disappointed that I didn’t frame the shot properly with Tammy. Another area of development is that I should use more interesting music instead of my Cool Hand Luke, I disagree with this point due to the fact that I like how the music ties in with my questions that I asked the people I interviewed, with it being one of my favourite films. One thing that he take influence is to have longer questions in his Vox Pop, this shows that I was right with having the people go back and explain their answer rather than just having one word answers.

The third and final person to give me feedback on my work was Lee. The first thing he identified was my intro to the Vox Pop, saying that it was a good way to start the short film and he enjoyed it. This shows that I should use the technique more enough when making these types of projects, showing that I was heading in the right direction with my idea. He mention that he should use this in his next project. The next thing he liked in my project was that of my questions and the quality of them, this shows that I was right to with the more light hearted questions with that of film rather than the more “controversial,” topic of politics and religion. Another thing that he liked was how I had them say the one word answer and then follow up with a longer answer. This shows that I had the right idea with how got them to answer the question and how edited the short film. This means that I should listen to my instinct and not be swayed by others. However one negative thing he pointed out was that I had some of them too central, this mainly Tammy’s shot which rushed and as I mentioned before I should improve on.

Overall I feel that I had quite a positive response which means that I am progressing in this course and heading on course to later pass and get a high mark on my FMP. I will also save these reflections so I can look back on them.

I have made my final cut for the Vox Pop and have exported it and uploaded to the VLE. This blog post will be me evaluating my finished product and assessing what I should do next time to make sure that I can improve my short films in the future. I will also be evaluating what I did well so I can make sure to do that again in the future.

This is the link to my finished Vox Pop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BllSPeqFey4

I feel that the titles and the intro to my Vox Pop are professionally done. This is because of the fact that it plays a bit of the unused footage so the clap can happen in start the titles. I feel that this is a creative way to start the title sequence and to begin the short film rather than just having the title appear on the screen and the film start. I feel that this was a good way to use my initiative to make the start of Vox Pop more interesting and to stand out from the rest. This is why looking back on my Vox Pop I feel that this is good part and I will make sure to use again in the future.

The editing and the order that I have shown my interviews I feel is very important due to the fact that I have them say the answer and then have them explain and come back to it later to explain it. I feel that this is good because of the fact that at first it short and quick cut however it moves on to them explaining their point more and having longer cuts. This I feel adds variety to the Vox Pop with the edits. However the only problem is that some people may not remember what the person said and doesn’t get the context of them explaining it. Next time I will make sure to do it in one take so I won’t have to separate it out or have them repeat the film/person in their explanation so the audience still knows what they are on about. This means that next time I don’t have to take out my “why,” in the middle of the footage.

I am pleased that I got them to repeat the question. This is due to the fact that I feel that adding title cards is cheap and lazy, so I wanted a more creative way to tell the audience what question I was asking and not to have me say the question or have a title card pop up, due to the fact that I wanted a more creative way to show the question. For ellis’s interview I decided to scrap it, due to the fact that the audio was to echoey and that it the footage wasn’t to the highest quality with the room being dark and also the film grainy. I felt that keeping it in would only worsen the finished product. Next time I would make sure to use a better camera while also making sure that I can get the sound equipment for all the interviews. This means that they would all be done to the same quality and none of the footage would have to be cut out.

Overall I feel that the footage I took of the interviews was good, the ones I am using are all to the same quality with all of them having different angles and different framing with the each shot. However I feel that I messed the framing up with Tammy’s interview, this is due to the fact that she is in the middle of the frame and is looking to the opposite and not having the correct rule of thirds angle. This was because of the fact that it was becoming to the end of the day and it didn’t take the proper time to think about the shot. Next time I will make sure to be more focused on the situation and make sure that I am getting the correct shots that I need. I will also make sure that I more planned so that I can have more time to the film and also take more time setting up the video and sound equipment.

I feel that the audio recorded for this Vox Pop is all to high standard this is because of fact that I had people helping me with the equipment. This is also because we took extra care when recording are sound to make sure we were recording properly and to high enough standard. I feel that all the interviews were recorded well apart from Dan’s. This was because of the fact that we were using a indoor mic outside. This was due to the fact that we were mainly doing interviews inside and didn’t have to time to replace the mic with an outdoor one. Next time I will make sure we know all the locations of filming so we know on that day what equipment to. Furthermore I tried to fix the background noise issue with audition, however it was playing up and not letting me save my changes. This computer issue that I could fix and was out of my control.

The music I chose for the Vox Pop was the theme from the movie Cool Hand Luke.

The reason for me choosing this song is because of the fact that it is one of my favourite films and I feel that having it in my Vox Pop will relate to the question and also tell the audience what my favourite film without actually telling them visually. I feel that this a good way to convey the message and I will make sure to be using this piece a music again in my later short films and also to have the same meaning in my short films with the music. I also edited the music myself, this was because of the fact that towards the end of the song the music had too many instruments and becomes overbearing to the audience so they can not hear the answers. I fixed my having just the guitar on loop so that it is the only instrument, I then made it less noticeable with the use of fades. This makes it so it still sounds like the same song.

Overall I am very proud of Vox Pop and I feel that it can only be improved in couple of ways for example having audio fixed on Dan’s and having the framing of the rule of the thirds fixed on Tammy’s so she is looking in the right direction. However I pleased with the intro of the Vox Pop and also the framing of the other interviews, and how the music fits with the questions being asked and the rhythm of the editing.

 

 

I have been looking for music to suit my vox pop. I have found two pieces that would both suit my short film vox pop.

The first song that is in the running for the music in my vox pop is the main theme for the film cool hand luke. I feel that this is a good song to chose due to the fact that it is purely instrumental and doesn’t have any words in it, also only having only a few instruments and quite barebones makes it so it isn’t overbearing. This means when it is playing it won’t distract the audience from hearing what the people’s answers are and the sound of the music won’t cover their answers so they are still able to hear the people’s answers.

I also feel that the tone is well suited to the vox pop and will go nicely with the footage I have shot. I feel that having this music will go well with the questions I am asking, because of the fact that the questions are about your favourite films and cool hand luke is one of my favourite films. I feel that having this music in the Vox Pop will communicate that well.

The second song I had in mind for the vox pop was the piece music from the film midnight in paris. I feel that this is a good song to place in my vox pop due to the fact that it is quite uplifting and has well fitting tone with the rest of the edit and footage. I also feel that having only instruments will mean again that the music won’t become overbearing and play louder over the answers from the people being interviewed.

I will now have to place these in my final edit when I am back in college so I can see which ones fits. I then only have to edit the credits meaning which I will be done and I can could then export the file. I may play both with songs in my film but have them fade in and out of each other, however this will make it quite confusing and will distract the audience’s attention.

 

I am almost done editing my final cut of the vox pop. I have now chosen to place Tammy’s interview in because the audio wasn’t even that bad and was better than I expected it to be. However I may cut out ellis’s interview due to the fact that I didn’t use sound equipment and the with room being dark doesn’t help either. This makes a big contrast between the interviews because of that one being such low quality. I have also chose how to start my vox pop, by having Luc’s (one of the people I interview) interview be extended so that I can have him clap and when he claps it immediately cuts to the title screen have and it cut to him answering the question. I feel this is effective way to start the interview.

I also cut out my me asking the questions in the vox pop. The reason for this is due to the fact that I just want the people’s opinion and not to have my question in the audio. I will also not have any title cards for the questions, I feel using the title cards is an easy way out of asking question. So I have had some of the people I interviewed repeat the question so that the audience knows what they are talking about in the vox pop. This means that it is only the interviewer talking and not anyone else. I also feel that this is a more creative way of asking the questions rather than just having some text pop up saying what the question is.

The last thing I will have to do is chose a song that fits with the vox pop. This is important because of the fact that it has to suit the vox pop and the rhythm of the cuts. However at the moment I am struggling with the right music. I will have to keep looking and add it in on the monday before the vox pop is due in. I also have to think how I will end my vox pop, I was thinking to have it the same way I started it by having someone continue talking while the credits are rolling but I was also thinking maybe not even having credits at all.