Editing Action Plan

Below is three points we are going to do over the next week in order to improve our opening thriller sequence :

Create Soundtrack
Shorten certain clips
Add titles

Rough Cut Feedback

We showed our rough cut sequence to other groups in our class, we then gave them a piece of paper where they wrote positive points and areas for development within the opening sequence. The feedback we received is below.

Editing
Positive - Titles were very good and in effective places such as on the wall when the main character walks past, most of the groups liked our titles and thought they were in clever places
Development Areas - One piece of feedback from a group said that some of our shots where slightly too long and we could cut them down to make them shorter, quicker and more effective. Another group thought a possibility for a title would be in the cutlery draw when the main character opens it.

Camera work
Positive - Good shot angles, especially the one from in the fridge where the main character gets the bottle of wine out and two of the other groups said the variety of shots were good and worked especially well with what was happening in the clip. Good establishing shot of house and main character.
Development Areas - One group disagreed and said that we needed slightly more shot variety by using more close-ups.

Sound
Positive - Good diagetic sounds that worked effectively, but this may have been because there was no soundtrack at the current time.
Development Areas - One thing said that was our diagetic sound was out of time with the sequence, but we have discussed this as a group and the teacher and decided we would not try and fix this till after the rough cut as it could be too hard. Also we needed to add a soundtrack which we hadn't currently finished when we had to upload.

Mise en Scene
Positive - Groups said overall that we had a good choice of location thats adds a sense of tension to the thriller sequence.
Development Areas - No groups commented on this part of the feedback section so we believe, we had the right choice of mise en scene and it works effectively.

Narrative
Positive - Very good narrative with a clear sense of where the story would be going. The main character is a good actor and plays the part of her character extremely well, especially when watching the CD on the computer.
Development Areas - Maybe considering changing the name of 'Stalk' as they do not believe it works well with the film.

Cast list for "Stalk"

A OmniOutliner production presents
A Michael Rockwell film
Holly Ellis
Gary Barnes
Chad Waldman
Costume Design by Otto Waldman
Art Direction by Kathy Nelson
Production Design by John Seda
Casting by Billy Jr. Lazan
FIlm Editing by Franco Jackson
Cinematography by Clare Barden
Original Music by Lauren Folsey
Produced by Scott kern
Directed by Michael Rockwell
Main Title: "STALK"

Props & Costumes

For our opening sequence we will need to use some props and costumes, these will be:
Laptop - used to show the cd of the girl being followed by a unknown stalker
Kettle - this will be used at the beginning by the woman
Toaster - this will be used to put bread in at the beginning and then again once the woman has watched the cd, the toast will pop up and scare the woman.
Parcel - This will come through the door, containing the cd and a note.
Dressing Gown
Pyjamas
Suspicous Stalking clothes

Feedback

We showed our animatic to our class to find out different opinions about our thriller title sequence, and various ways that we can improve it. Firstly the soundtrack we used on our animatic was an initial idea, and the group said it was too cheerful and slightly romantic. However, we already had another soundtrack that we were intending to use for the final sequence. Our new soundtrack is quite fast paced, and it is quite laid back to suit our idea. Secondly we were also told to use an establishing long shot at the beginning, to show the audience more about the location of the sequence, this would also mean more different shot types. Thirdly, we were told about the importance of mise en scene and close up shots and the fact that an object e.g a kettle or toaster shows alot about a person, whether there old or young, male or female, rich or poor. For instance, if there is a brand new toaster, then this may show that the person could be fairly young, and that they also have a bit of money . Fourthly we were told that we should show the woman in the final clip when the man is watching her through her window. It was suggested that when the woman inserts the disc into the laptop the clips on the screen should show a variety of different shots from different public places this will add more suspense and more mystery around who the stalker is.

Animatic