Screening the Rough Cut

Feedback From Peers

Having reached the deadline for the rough cut, our film was able to be played to its first audience; my peers and instructor! My immediate reaction to watching the film I directed was that it still needed a lot of work, but I am proud of how far I have come and know that I will take all I have learned into my next film.

A picture of our film, "Opponents" being played to our film class.

The reaction to the film was pleasant overall. My peers made comments on how the film had an interesting narrative and that it had a funny ending. A criticism we received from a fellow peer was that the clothing change of one of the opponents (the girl I played) repeatedly changed. This was not surprising to hear because this outfit change was intentionally done to convey a sense that the girl entered 'game on mode.' In the beginning, a bright pink shirt is worn to draw attention to her character. She then is seen wearing a black and white outfit after her 'makeover' with face paint and a bandana that is purposed to present her as tough and determined to win the game. But because the film had to be only a minute, we cut the scenes out that would clarify this change to the audience.

My film crew and I decided to keep this scene in despite this confusion from a peer because our comedy is not meant to be realistic, hence the random face paint and bandana being put on the girl's face by unknown characters and the ending of the girl skipping away with an extra. Comedies tend to stress the absence of logic in their films to make it funnier. However, going forward as a beginner filmmaker, I will be more cautious of how the attire of characters can confuse audiences about whether events happened on the same day or not.

Feedback From Instructor

The criticism my instructor had for the film was first on the song choice for the first half of the film. He described it as an 'Irish jig' that did not seem fitting for the scenes it played in. Having heard it labeled that way, I realized the song choice felt very out of place for what was happening in the film. The sound for the film was non-diegetic, but this song felt random and not in a beneficial comedic way. Another critique was the title of the film. He suggested we use a thicker font that created more contrast with its background. 

The original opening played for the film's first audience consisting of a song with inconsistent sound distributed throughout clips. The peaks in intense violin did not match well with what was happening in the film up to this point; the characters just began playing and tension this high reflected in the music should not be there yet.

An updated version of the film's opening that took note of the pieces of feedback we received.

I had a conversation with my group on whether the color of the title, "Opponents" should remain white. Red has an association with battles, which is why I voiced it, but my editor brought up a good point about the red-brown color of the chessboard beneath it in that scene being too similar. They decided to keep only the first letter capitalized and the title generally simple with an added black border around the letters as it is only shown for a quick moment.

In place of the previous song, my sound designer and I agreed on a flute piece that comes off as light-hearted and playful, better suited to the meeting of the characters and their gameplay as seen in the beginning. Bird chirping was added to make the outside setting more significant and peaceful. These new audios also synced up with certain parts of the film, such as when the girl placed down the first chess piece in this clip, which increased the symphony of the clips. This gives the impression that the opponents are playing relaxed, helping to create that shock factor for when the girl switches to utter determination to win. Thinking of the way an audience who has no context to the film perceives it is the approach to take not just when you are trying to deny expectations but to help make it comprehensible and enjoyable for others.