Before project began I understood that people now a days are used to seeing big blockbuster, visually stimulating movies pumped out by a film producing machine that does all it can to not shock the audience, not offend anyone or try and make them think too hard, the group decided that we would take a different route and instead of focussing necessarily on a film idea but more on the possibility of making the film about an emerging public social issue of the over-reliance on media in an age where people are literally bombarded by media near constantly even throughout their daily lives, it also became apparent that this can inoculate these people and even drive them to rely on it for social sustenance which isn’t a good thing and can be made dangerous for certain, easily influenced, individuals. Audience research before production began there was an initial questionnaire sent out using the internet social networking site facebook which enabled us to reach a much larger audience at a much quicker time as opposed to going into the streets and asking to volunteers from a normally unresponsive public. The results were of a mixed reaction which can be expected since the survey was sent out to all manner of people from males and females to people from different culture groups i.e. Goths, rockers, homosexuals and even people of different ethnical backgrounds i.e. oriental’s. The results proved that both males and females had a similar response to the idea of the film but the females liked the idea of a male being the victim for a change since the social norm is for it to be a female victim and that the music should be orchestral, quiet and eerie in order to add tension and provoke a sense of foreboding in the audience etc.
Our initial research proved useful in that it made it clear that there was a market for our perticular genre and not only did it indicate this but it also stretched across soial boundaries not only did the average cinema goer show interest but so the did the academic and the sreet cultures all showed a genuine interest in the type of film that would be created from this provided that it was done to a good degree i.e. good use of music, effects, acting, lighting and locations which made is focus harder on the atmosphere of the whole film and the careful selection of the shooting locations.
However the initial research proved alittle biased since only those who came forward were males which left a vaccuum for a potential male audience, we were able to remedy this in the next audience in the facebook questionnaire and the film opinion interview but none the less this didn't drastically effect the films production since the girls said they enjoyed the film and wouldn't change much if "anything" if given he oppertunity.
Throughout the film’s production it was imperative that we keep the audience’s comments in mind when it came to their opinions of how people behave in the psychological genre, mainly be quiet, disturbed but not raving just quiet and detached which is where the idea of a voice-over came from since it allowed the main character to appear quiet and subdued but also introduce himself and a character using a voice-over display the idea of an unstable mentality. Not only that the message the film wanted to put across had to be made more apparent which was done though the use of props and locations i.e. DVD stack, large TV and an empty almost cell-like apartment, to create the eerie feel the use of lighting in both the 1st and 2nd scenes were done to create tension and hint at possible plot twists or alternative personalities.
The use of these effects were used to make the message more obvious and the used of certain effects i.e. stop-motion in titles, the shadowy stranger transporting everywhere, the clean room one minute and wrecked room the next, all this was done to provoke tension and reactions in the audience and the idea for making a separate snuff film for the actual film using the lead actor in both was another idea taken from the audience at the suggestion of involving more than one twist. The idea for music again came from the audience who suggested an orchestral eerie music normally played at low volume with interludes or slightly louder sound effects i.e. creaking or a bell tolling, however none said they expected a vast selection of music was required which inspired the idea to try use just one piece of music throughout and was achieved quite well and if ever there were certain sound effects we wonted then they were either recorded or the music was edited slightly so it matched the actions on the screen.
After taking all this into consideration during the film’s production when the film was close to completion a sample copy was shown to a selection of those people who answered the questionnaire, the selection was made to be mixed so that different responses could be attained, we selected a female and two males each representing a different sub-culture i.e. one goth, one rocker and one academic to see what each person thought. Initially it proved difficult to get any constructive criticism from these since they were all very complimentary of the film and endorsed it fully however once the matter was addressed directly they provided some small details that could have been altered i.e. more fluid editing, involve another actor and improve the dialogue slightly, however even these problems were minor and required very little to tweak.
The first two individuals seemed to get the overall meaning of the film by simply saying that all that needed to be done was make it more fluid and that the lack of dialogue actually added to the film which meant they understood the meaning behind most of the film however the third person claimed that there could have been more actors involved which is an understandable and valid critique however the inclusion of more actors would have made the idea of loneliness less acute however it did inspire the idea to involve a 3rd shadowy character to add to the atmosphere instead of the previous idea which was to just use sound effects.
It seemed after everything that cultural differences didn’t impede the films audience much but it was discovered that the psychological genre has a particular appeal to people of certain sub-cultures such as goth, rockers, academics and fans of intellectual and avant garde cinema who are the people that were it was going to be aimed towards anyway since its advising them not to become like this and to seek lives away from the reliance of media.
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