Evaluating Peer Reviews

Peer Reviews:

What I liked	What confused me	Suggestions
The music fit the scenes very well I liked how using the green screen you made it seem like an actual office The close up of Zoe's eyes moving back and forth after being interrogated made me laugh and helped viewers to understand that she is nervous	No	There was nothing that stood out to me as confusing or in need of change
I loved the editing and the backdrop of the opening. I loved the music they chose to have in the background. I felt that the music really gave the opening that investigative and mysterious feel. I loved the title because it sounds ironic and it adds some humor to the otherwise serious feel of the opening.	I was confused who "Santos" was, but I am sure it is something that would be explained in the movie.	I have no suggestions. I thought the opening was edited really well, the plot appeared to be fluent, and the characters provided the audience with enough context to keep them interested in the story.
I really like the background music. It adds a lot to the opener. I also love the green screen. Another thing that goes along with the theme is the font it seems very detective like. I think the opening really would draw people in.	The part when you say you guys said you didn't want to make Santos mad. Who is that?	The only critical suggestion I would have is to make the blood more red if that is possible, other than that I really like this opening.
The editing; specifically how they edited the characters names on and made the background look like an actual police station.	The whole interrogation scene it just doesn't fit into like a murder interrogation. And when they were pointing at the board it was blurry so it didn't make a lot of sense .	Re-shoot or like add a voice over to the scene where you are pointing at the murder board and talk about it so it gives context to the murder and we understand what is going on more.
The close up shots of the images on the board were good as well as the music.	No confusion	It was really good, just the green screen could be done just a bit better, the acting didn't seem alive either.
I liked the effects the green screen created.	Who is Santos?	Nothing, i thought the film was very creative.
I loved the way they used the green screen to make it seem like a detectives office. Also they way the voiced over the crime scene towards the end of the opener.	The only thing I was confused about was who did the crime.	I would make the part where they were looking at the board more clear so we could understand it better.
This opener was drastically different from the rest. I really liked it. I think the music in the back added a great touch, the green screen used made it more immersive, the voice-over in the girl's head, the plot made sense, I liked it.	This opener was the most clear, I did not have any questions of what was going on. I think they did a really good job.	Maybe just turn down the background music while the characters are talking to make the audio more understandable.
I really enjoyed the usage of the green screen. I thought it was very unique as i have seen many other videos where people actually go out and film theirs in different settings, but by using the green screen you can have different settings without even having to move. I also enjoyed the little suspenseful music that was used throughout the opening clip. It went along well with the movie clip and the genre of the movie. I also enjoyed the closeup shot of Zoe's eyes where she looks back at both of the detectives. It adds meaning to the clip and also shows how the character is feeling nervous.	I thought that the movie opening was very straight forward. The plot makes sense and there are no holes left to be filled out.	When the characters were interacting in the table during the interrogation we are not able to clearly see the faces of the detectives Madison in blocking Astrid from being seen in the camera. Maybe you can switch the camera angle a bit so that all the characters are clearly visible or do some individual close ups that way the viewers are able to clearly see the expression of the characters. Other that than that I really enjoyed the opening scene!

Summary:

Overall I feel like the peer reviews I received were constructive and honest. I am glad that my peers enjoyed watching my movie opening as much as I enjoyed watching and responding to theirs. Most viewers said they really liked the green screen effects and the music choice. They said these features added a unique spin on our movie opener which set ours apart from the rest. Learning how to use the green screen was not easy at first, and took some trial and error before we got what we wanted from the scenes. However, I think that it was really worth it because we were able to achieve the setting we wanted. The music was also a great choice because I feel like it added suspense and mystery, but in a more lighthearted way. The music was soft and playful sounding with a touch of seriousness, as not to make viewers think this was 100% mystery with no comedy. 

In terms of the things viewers were confused by within our movie opener, a few said that they did not know who Santos was. At the very beginning of the movie opener, we put "credits". Within the credits we said who each actor was and the name/character they were playing as. For example, the movie opener stated that Astrid, my partner, would be named Detective Santos in the movie. It also stated that my name would be Detective Lynch in the movie. Something to remember about the movie opener is that it is simply the first few minutes of the movie. How often do you watch a movie and not know all of the characters faces and names by just the movie opening? This is why we chose to leave some mystery in the name placement. As noted by a peer reviewer, it would be addressed within the rest of the movie. We did this strategically as not to reveal too much within the movie opener and to remind viewers that not everything will be shown or explained within the first three minutes. 

As for suggestions, we did not receive many that were seriously constructive. Someone said that we should make the blood of the crime scene more red if possible. Although I think this is a creative and great suggestion, we used chalk with water because we filmed on school campus. We did not have the funding or the medium to create what would look like real blood. A few people discussed the quality (pixelation) of the film at the beginning during when the evidence was displayed. Unfortunately, we did our editing on Premiere Pro software and the quality looked excellent, but when we exported the moving opening to YouTube the quality degraded some. If and when we return to school, we will try to re-upload in hopes the quality will improve, because Astrid and I were also mildly disappointed by this. One person mentioned how the green screen and acting could have been executed better, but after several weeks of filming and re-shooting, that was our best product. We are not actors!! We are students. I think it is a notable and constructive comment, and it is valid, (as I can agree that I wish I had better acting skills), we also need to think realistically in terms of never taking a theater or acting class before and being students mimicking producers, not the producers themselves. I strongly agree with the last suggestion. Looking over the scene several times, I agree that despite adding in a few close ups, it would have been better to see Astrid's face and body during the interrogation scene. The reason for our angle was because of the fact that our green screen was just one wall, and we had to angle the table in such a way that we could see the background, the table, and still see everyone's face within the shot-- even if it was only a partial view. If we return to school at a time in which we can still work on our project, we may attempt to redo this scene and try to include a close up of Astrid's face. 

Overall I really appreciated and enjoyed reading everyone's comments. Most viewers responded positively and I feel a sense of accomplishment knowing I worked hard on something for weeks and it paid off. I will take the constructive comments into consideration, especially the one about trying to re-upload with better quality and possibly adding a close up of Astrid's face during the interrogation scene. However, despite not having the formal training, funding, or best equipment to make this film opening, it was really fun and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process, especially working with my partner Astrid and sometimes Zoe. I think it is obvious, yet still important to consider, the difficulties our group may have to edit our movie opening if we do not return to school. In light of the current situation I hope that everyone is able to still put their best foot forward and edit what they can. I really liked the opportunity to be able to exercise creativity and produce the film opening. It was a unique experience and I would like to do it again some day.