Evaluation for 'Oblivious'

Audience Feedback Survey

As apart of submitting our final cut, our group decided to produce a survey which asks our audience questions on what they have seen. These questions will come to help us during our evaluation as they will determine whether or not we successfully achieved what we had intended to achieve with 'Oblivious'. Our group member 'Aayush Joshi' created the survey which audience members can fill out through his blog. 

'Screenshots of the survey' 

'Screenshots of the survey'

Oblivious (Final Cut)

Here it is, the final cut of 'Oblivious'. Within this cut of the project it contains an amalgamation of the various ideas brought to us after different screenings and test audiences. The most noticeable change made to the final cut is the change in music; we as a group felt that this choice favours over the original choice as it fits in more with the thriller genre. In addition, we've decided to cut out the last shot of the bag and leave the sequence with Joseph's glare as it leaves the a sense of ambiguity. Another reason for this decision was the notion that our original drafts spoon fed the audiences too much exposition; where as this cut allows enough for the audiences to follow along with our story, yet still being thrilled by it's ambiguous messages and ideas.

We have also changed the font size of all the credit due to the fact that they seemed to distract the audience's attention away from whatever was happening in the shot. In addition to the placement of the credits as some appeared in places that covered important visuals within the frame.

The final fix we made to this cut was the decrease in the level of the soundtrack as Joseph's father calls him to go to school; this was an issue in previous draft that some of the dialogue seemed unclear. But all these aspects have been emended and have lead to produce a cut that I am most certainly proud of.

Oblivious (4th Draft)

This is the 4th draft of 'Oblivious' which contains the finalised edit of the threat video; which is near to what the final cut going to appear with it's finished visual look. However regarding the final improvements needed to finalise the product we need to finish the placements of the credits; after this draft we have decided on the final placements of the credits as some we too big in size and covered aspects of the shot. Another part of our project that has finally been finalised is the song selection that is a thrilling score used for thriller films/games. This track will provide the edgy tone and thrill to the audience that we wanted to convey.

I'am very excited to see our project finally draw to a close and witness it in all it's glory.

4th Editing Session

As our project is close to complete, it's to to add the final touches to the sequence. Within this session,  I wanted to have a rough look at what the credits would look in there places within the clip; another aspect of the project I had to address was how to cut out the shot of our actor walking to the class door. In order to make up for the seven seconds spared after removing that shot, we have decided to include the production name just before the title appears. This then takes off a few seconds, in order to entirely untiles the remaining couple of seconds, we just prolonged a few shots within the school scene. Fortunately the decision to extend the duration of a few shots allows the audience to view those shots without it either cutting too short or over staying it's welcome.

Another Noticeable difference to the sequence is the finalised edit of the threat message at the start of the clip. Not only by including the 'streaming' icon in the corner of the frame ; but also altering the aspect ratio of the shot. This helps not only indicate the home-made quality of the threat video intending to be off a camcorder; but also to focus the audience's attention on the subject as he is entered and there is minimal view of the room behind him. The reason for this decision what made was due to the frequent comment made by audiences stating the temptation to glare at the space behind the actor instead of the actor himself.

As apart of this edit we have also included the credits of the various crew members. This draft was meant to show how in which they will appear. But soon will finalise the placements of the credits and also the need to possibly add or remove some if need be.

'Updated edit of the shot'

'Previous edit of the shot'

Oblivious (3rd Draft)

With the 3rd draft of 'Oblivious' it contains the shots from the re-shoot after our group received feedback on our project. After this stage, we can finally begin to finish off the visuals by colour grading the sequence and by adding credits.

The issues our group currently face with our project is to find a replacement song for the 'bomb assembly' sequence as it needs to feel more atmospheric instead of the issue with the current track that seems to distract audience as it is too up beat. 

Another issue with the sound that must be addressed it the ticking off the bomb towards the end of the sequence; in the next draft it will be much more subtle. Within the next draft we've decided to cut out the moment the classmate looks down at the bag; this decision of cutting it out was made to make the audience think more for themselves as we've realised over the previous draft that we're in fact spoon feeding our audience what is happening in the sequence. 

3rd Editing Session

Within this session, my goal was to approach the sequence with the teacher's feedbacks as a main target to meet with the new draft of 'Oblivious'; by focusing my full attention towards the last portion of the sequence that is taken within a school.

My main issue was figuring out how I can trim the shot of our actor walking toward the door without much impact on the timing of the project.This was because during the screening,our teachers had a huge complaint with the lighting within the frame but also with the overall necessity to include it; asking us does it add anything? what is the reason for this shot? Our group then collectively realised that there was no real reason to include it.

'Shot of the actor approaching the class door'

Later on I have decided to keep it in the sequence for the sake of this new draft, as our group have not entirely agreed on how we'll make up for the 7 seconds spared if the shot is removed. I then simply focused on replacing the classroom footage with the updated shots. The updated shots consist of a wide view of the class instead of the camera pushing away; as seen in the first and second draft.

This decision was made because the wide shot is far more simple and has the more view within it's frame allowing the action of Joseph walking to his desk and sitting down a lot cleaner and smoother.

Another new alteration made to the edit is changing a shot during the bomb assembly sequence; this close-up shot was of our actor's mouth saying a line of dialogue but due to the poor framing made it difficult for audiences to see what is in the frame, therefore effecting the viewing experience and taking the audience out of the experience.

'Original shot used in the previous drafts'

In this original shot, the subject moved too much and then lead to his mouth appearing out of frame where the audience can't see. This made the clarity of the scene ineffective and drawing the attention of the audience away from the scene.

'Replacement shot of the actor'

During the various shooting sections of the 'bomb assembly' sequence, we had taken many takes of the same shot which in this case was a huge benefactor as we had a range of replacement shots to choose from. Eventually we had chosen to use this shot as the subject's mouth is placed where we wanted it to be; whilst the lighting is still partially lit but just enough for audiences to see without it being a distraction.