Pilot Evaluation

Evaluating our pilot

We filmed and edited our pilot. We are happy with the out come but we are not confident with our pilot as a whole since many things did not turn out as we had hoped.

Acting and Costume

One of the biggest issues was our casting since the actors we used did not play the role well and project the themes we wanted to show. This was due to the fact that they were all the same age and made it hard for the audience to distinguish who each person was supposed to be. In addition, we used a tall actor to play the role of the victim and a shorter one to play the role of the killer. This was not good seeing as it prevented us from creating suspense by stopping the victim from looking inferior to the killer. Another problem was costumes since they were not wearing the clothes that would best portray their roles and therefore made the scene look slightly weird and confusing. However, we believe that the costume of the female actress that runs to help the victim at the end worked and suited her role. The only problem produced here was the continuity. This was because in one scene she was wearing a black jacket an in another she was not.Next time we will give ourselves more time to think and arrange the appropriate costumes for each actor so that the audience can clearly identify the different characters e.g. who the dad is. We will also make sure that there are no changes in costumes or props when we shoot and edit the scenes. From this pilot we have learnt that we need to be more efficient with who we cast, what costumes best portray the roles we have in mind and look out for any errors while shooting e.g. make sure that if someone has their hair in a braid in one shot then they should have it exactly the same in the next one. Furthermore, we need a bigger cast to make the park look more busy and hide the obviousness of the crime.

Camera Shots 

When we got to editing we soon realised that we did not have enough footage and were limited in terms of showing other parts of the park, other things that were going on and having a variety of shots to pick from. In our title sequence we panned from showing the dad filming his daughter to the killer and the victim jogging through the park. This was good since it smoothly switched the attention of the audience but we stopped the shot at the joggers. This is bad because it made it very obvious that the jogger was going to die. We should have continued panning from the joggers and then showed something else going on in the park. That way we would show the audience that something is going on with the joggers but no to much since we would be switching their focus. Another point that did not work so well was the last few shots of the father running to victim. We did not film it well and did not get his face and upper body in the shot. This makes it unclear to the audience that the person running is the father.

Next time we will have a lot more footage, taking establishing shots, some shots of people feeding the ducks, other joggers in the park and some people taking a walk through the park. This would help keep the audience from knowing exactly whats going to happen in the scene.  Moreover, when the victim dies we will keep the dad with his daughter in their original positions instead of running up to the dead victim. That way we wont involve the father in the crime scene and it wont be obvious that the father has recorded the crime.

Props and Locations

The location was satisfactory but it could have been better. We decided that next time we would shoot it in a more isolated area that is not so big. This way we would make the set look a lot more full. In addition. the dad used a phone to record and did not work as well as we wanted it to so in the future we will use an actual video camera. As for other props we did not have any picnic baskets and so prevented the park from looking slightly busy. This is something we will include when we shoot the proper film.


Editing, Light and SoundThe beginning of the title sequence worked well. The camera zooming in and out effect and the blurry shot was what we were aiming for and showed exactly what we wanted the person watching to see. However, we did not give the dad enough screen time which confused the audience on who the leading guy is. Towards the end of our title sequence, focusing on the crime scene we didn't give the victim enough screen time before he got injected with poison. Also we may have exaggerated the victim's death and dramatised it by adding too much footage of his point of view shot. Overall the various shots were edited too short and made the story move on very quickly.

As for lighting and sounds we feel it worked well producing an eerie atmosphere since it was a cloudy and windy day. We added spooky wind and pain sound effects and enhanced the sound of the jogging.Next time we will give the main character and the victim more screen time so that the audience can clearly identify who each character is. We will use the same editing technique for the beginning as we used now and make sure that the story we are showing has a nice flow by making each shot slightly longer.