After I had completed my third draft of my thriller I arranged for a small focus group of some of my friends who are currently sitting A2 media studies to take part in. I allowed them to watch the video as many times as they wanted to and asked if they could provide some specific feedback, drawing from their own media knowledge. I then got them to type it on my laptop. This way it made their comments anonymous, which I think helped as they did not have to feel guilty above giving negative feedback as it would be seen that it was them who did it. Below I have typed in the feedback:
Positive
- I liked the non-diegetic music and how it builds up at the end.
- The camera flashes were good and it’s good how you have incorporated the credits into the story and it all flows.
- I like the little bits of dialogue as it brings the character to life as you see that she is just a normal girl talking about seemingly normal things, and you have more empathy for her because of it.
- The pictures that have been graffitied of Chloe are good and quite shocking to the viewer and it sets up the antagonist as being really evil.
- I like the two shot used at the end as she opens the door, it builds up the pace and you try to look at both frantically, which almost represents what the protagonist is doing.
Negative/Advice
- Maybe add some diegetic sound at the start as it feels weird watching these actions with no sound. Maybe add some more dialogue in?
- Vary the names in the opening credits as it ruins the effect when the same name is repeated. Also add what the person does instead of just a name.
- The scenes of Chloe (the protagonist) walking drag on a bit, maybe add in more camera flashes for them or just cut down the shot time.
- Make sure that the credits are there long enough to read them because some of them pop up too quickly.
- Maybe have silence in the non-diegetic music at the end just as she turns around as the silence could build more tension than the actual music.
Christina Low's AS Media Studies 