Group - Audience Feedback on Wilderness Woods Film Short

After showing our Wilderness Woods film short to the rest of the class they provided us with answers to two questions:

1. What techniques were effective?
2. Which techniques could be improved? 

Effective Techniques

The group stated that the following techniques were effective and why they were effective:

• The tracking shot that revealed the protagonist. The slow movement provided tension and was visually pleasing as it added a dynamic aspect to the shot.
• The movement of the leaves in the close up of the phone on the ground. They gave the shot a more mysterious aspect and helped to seal the revelation of the phone on the ground.
• The inter-cutting of the protagonist looking into the woods and running through them. It gave a release to the built up tension and with the synchronised sound effects gave a shock to the audience.
• The use of the rule of thirds with the close up of the protagonist's face and the tree stump on the hill he walks past. This gave a uniformity to the shots and made the sequence seem more professional.
• The colour grading in one of the close up shots. The slow drain from the normal colour to the green colour gave a sense of uneasiness to the shot.

Techniques to be improved

The group also mentioned some techniques that were either not present or that could have been done more effectively:

• There was no diegetic sound in the piece. It would have felt more real if the sound of the leaves the protagonist is walking through could be heard.
• Some moments where the focus is pulled wrong. This was down to the auto-focus system on the camera finding a target in the background and pulling the focus to it mid-shot. To avoid this in our final opening sequence we will be using manual focus for all the shots and designating points of focus to be pulled to throughout the shots.

How can we use this information in our next filming task? 

• We will attempt to include a tracking shot as this worked very well in our Wilderness Woods video.
• We will also apply the rule of thirds where applicable to give our footage a professional look.
• We will colour grade every shot, it provides a much cleaner look to footage when used correctly and helps to up the apparent production value.
• We will use manual focus for every shot and pull the focus more carefully.
• We will make use of an external microphone and boom pole for our final piece to provide clear, high quality diegetic sound.