Final Task Peer Review

During the middle of the production process, my group and I were peer-reviewed and vice versa. Due to the slow computers, my group and I had to export our film before it was reviewed. The peer-review process was educational and interesting. I liked the peer-reviewed because the suggestion given by people can help improve the film. Once the film was exported, I gave it to another group while I reviewed another. On this peer review day, I was assigned to review Julia's group's final task.

Overall, I liked their final task. One aspect I enjoyed was their storyline. Based on the footage I watched, I infer the storyline was a father and a daughter are going on a trip. However, something bad happens and the dad disappears. I enjoyed this storyline because, in most "horror", the protagonist does something stupid and cliche. In this movie, it was an ordinary daughter and father going on an innocent trip. Another thing I liked was their creative use of the graphic match. In one scene there is a trunk show of the father putting a backpack in the trunk of the car. The inaction of zipping the backpack is continued into the next scene where Julia is zipping up her backpack. I found this transition creative and smooth. The last aspect was the usage of dark lighting and sound. Throughout the film, there was dark lighting and " scary" music. This foreshadows the big reveal of the dad disappearing. I felt these aspects help develop and establish suspense.

Two elements could be improved: lighting and sound. Throughout the film, there was dark lighting and shadows. I felt the images were too dark and obscure the footage. For instance, I had to squint to see what action was being followed. The other suggestion is sound. I felt the volume during some parts of the background music too loud. I feel if the volume was a little softer then, the dialogue will be heard.

After I peer-reviewed another group's, I received my peer-review sheet. Since the group had four people, I had a variety of responses on what to improve on. The most common suggestion was sound. Some of the responses suggested having the actresses speak louder. This would allow the audience to hear them better. I agree with this suggestion because the actresses are quiet people. To improve on this, I will try to have the actresses speak louder or I would record voice-overs of the dialogue. This is crucial advice because most viewers would be discouraged to watch something they cannot hear. The other common is lighting. Some responses to adjusted the lighting to be darker during the Monitor scenes. I agree with this statement because the darker lighting will help foreshadow a surprise. It will also help me establish a more ominous tone.

There were a few interesting responses. One of the papers, one person commented on their fondness of the opening scene. This person liked the smooth transition from the establishing shot to the two spies. They felt the zoom in on the front door acted as a doorway into the spies' world. Another part of the film that was interesting was the door closing scene at the end of Scene 2. Someone thought the door closing help builds anticipation and adrenaline which leaves viewers more interested.

Aspects that were achieved were smooth transitions and a variety of shots in the first 40 seconds. Hannah and I were able to insert titles in the correct order. I feel with more time, the final task can tell a story.



(The following pictures shows my criticism for my peers.)