Focus group members provided feedback on a short film: - The setting during the Great War seemed unrealistic because cars were visible in the background. Future shoots should control background elements or film without activities in front of the camera. - The emotional music was a good choice to set the tone, but the tempo could have increased slightly for more impact. - The credits were not on screen long enough to read who did what due to the two minute length restriction, and the decorative font made quick reading difficult.

1. Focus Group Responses

2. “I like the concept of this, however I do feel that some of
the mise-en-scene could be improved to make it more
believable”
“It is supposed to be set during the Great War. Why are
there cars?”
These are accurate points to make, and I whole heartedly agree with them. This
is because there were some aspects of my setting- such as the fact that there
were cars in the background- was totally out of my control, and could not be
helped.
In the future I will bear in mind the time of day I am doing this as this could have
a profound effect on any things aspects of the background that I have no control
over. By doing this, I would also consider what effect it would have on the
impressions of the audience. If there were things that I could not control
occurring in the background, I would endeavour to shoot with the activities
behind the camera and not in front.

3. “The music makes it really emotional from
the start. Possibly start with some upbeat
music to bring the audience in”
This is a valid point, however I do hold the opinion that you should start a film as
you mean to go on- if it is an action film, build up action, if it is an emotional
film, start with some emotion. I do take this opinion on board, and the tempo of
the music could have increased slightly- however it may not have had the same
effect as starting with the music in the way that it did. I wanted to use
synchronous sound that also created ambience to bring the audience into the
mentality and the situation they are viewing. The music is also non diegetic, and
this was used to further emphasise the emotion outside of the film’s universe.

4. “The credits aren’t on for long enough, we
can’t see who did what”
I do agree with this point, and I was thinking the same thing during the editing
process. But the codes and conventions of a silent film mean that they have to
be there for a certain amount of time according to the length of the film;
meaning that my two minute restriction of length had to be taken into account.
This therefore resulted in sacrificing the adequate amount of time needed for
the credits, in the place of narrative. Furthermore, I believe that the font didn’t
aid matters at it is rather Art Deco and when you are trying to read them quickly,
the size don’t aid this.