Audience reaction - Final Cut

For our final cut of the film, we generally received positive feedback from audience on various levels. They agreed that the narrative made sense and that the editing was made appropriate in correspondence to the action. However of course, there were still some issues which the audience raised.

When asked how we could improve our production, the audience raised the following suggestions;

·         “The lighting could be better.”

This was an issue we found difficult to deal with throughout this entire production process, because we followed the vampire convention of filming at night. During filming, we tried our best to film the action under street lights, which would act as our lighting, but even that wasn’t enough when we looked back on the action during the post-production – editing process. So, to deal with this issue we enhanced the screen brightness in the colour correction function of Final Cut Pro. This was successful.

·    “Add music and sound effects to the action to generate a much more convincing atmosphere.”

This was an obvious improvement to be made but because we ran out of time at the time of showing everyone our production, it wasn’t possible. The extension allowed us to finally add some sound effects and soundtrack to our film. This made a massive difference to our production.

·         “Reduce the length of the chase sequence.”

The chase sequence was an exciting and thrilling part of the film for the audience but it did drag on and become repetitive, so looked at the shots that could be sacrificed from the final cut and did what we had to do.

·         “Add close up shots to the characters during the first shot-reverse-shot sequence.”

The conversation sequence at the start of the film only had two types of shots, and this was a negative aspect about that shot-reverse-shot. The audience thought it would be more effective to add in some close ups of each character at some point during the conversation, especially when characters said things of high significance in relation to the coming events. We tried re-filming and adding new shots but when we tried importing these to Final Cut Pro, the SD card turned was corrupt and so we couldn’t make the improvements allocated and therefore were forced to keep on with what we had.

The Sequel

Character Poster - Sophie

Character Potser - Yunus

Character Poster - Kyle

Hand-drawn poster drafts

Final poster

Credits

Director - Floyd Konde, Producer - Mizgin Sarica, Screenplay by - Floyd Konde, Music - Sakib Mozumder, Cinematographer - Mizgin Sarica, Editing - Floyd Konde, Sakib Mozumder, Make-up artist – Mizgin Sarica, Storyboard artist – Sakib Mozumder, Camera Operator - Mizgin Sarica, Assistant camera operators – Abubakar Siddique, Yani Hadjisavvas, Stunt coordinator - Sakib Mozumder, Assistant editors – Mizgin Sarica, Shazia Hawa, Title design – Mizgin Sarica, Reviewers - Shazia Hawa, Sakib Mozumder, Equipment Care Takers - Sakib Mozumder, Floyd Konde, Personnel - Ishante Graham, Kayla Thomas, Abubakar Siddique, Special thanks to – Christopher Brown, David Crawford, Mike Wordley, Dennis Alexander, Yani Hadjisavvas, Christina Rowe.

Hand-drawn review drafts

Final review page

‘MAGNIFYED EYE’

· The exact same vampire teeth were used on Hadjisavvas and Konde.

· It’s actually tomato ketchup used to represent blood on the actors.

· The last scenes of the film were shot outside the residence of Hadjisavvas.

Being a new vampire franchise entering the market, you wouldn’t expect anything exciting from this low budget production to begin with. In fact you’d probably be saying, ‘Ooh vampires – I’ve seen Dracula a thousand times – ooh teenaged victims? This is just a Twilight spin-off.’ Right? Right? Wrong. Konde has got critics itching with excitement. The film industry is excited to recruit such a promising young talent to deliver a new breed of greatness directly to the big screen.  This 21^st century teenaged epic isn’t anything like the gothic romantic Twilight series or the traditional classic Dracula movies, because Vamparactive is not on a higher, but on a different level to any of those. This considerably emotional but thrillingly sinister joy-ride leaves the audience on the edge of their seats with anticipation. Its high-octane chase sequence features some impressive stunts, curtsy of Mozumder’s ingenious stunt coordinating.  Konde’s ability to choreograph a variety of emotions within the ‘red alert’ vibe of the film is certainly impressive. The teenage characters being turned into protagonists and antagonists as the story progresses, allows it to be, in a sense, more thrilling and exciting. There’s just something about having kids doing the action that screams recklessness, restlessness, rawness and adrenaline pumping feats of youthfulness. The pure energy conveyed by the actors captured by the impeccable camera work of Mizgin Sarica has shaped up an instant hit. One crucial letdown though lies on the lack of goriness when a character is either bitten or stabbed. It doesn’t look convincing enough to have the main antagonist look as though he’s been licking his victim, instead of looking as though he’s just finished draining the very blood from their neck. Not enough ketchup or the use of ketchup itself - being faint in colour on the face - is a result of this. It seems like a rushed job from the make-up artist but in all honesty they could have used something a lot more convincing than ketchup anyway. On the other hand the characters do live up to the film’s unique title - It’s a fantastic performance from Hadjisavvas, who although hasn’t been scripted a line to utter in the entire story, displays a real sense of that restless, hyperactive super natural character he’s intended to portray – very Vamparactive indeed. In the short time Hawa performed, she marks the audience for her innocent Little Red Riding Hood like character and her frightening Vamparactive revival in the closing scene. Mozumder plays a great protagonist, reminiscent of the stubborn and defiant protagonist; Robert Thorn in The Omen, and Konde himself who not only directs, but stars in his debut film also displays his acting talent. It’s clear that he has undoubtedly created one of the most exciting ‘must see’ films of 2012. A sequel is most definitely being anticipated.

Verdict

A priceless cliff-hanger, breathtaking performances, more blood needed but a fine effort none the less.

IMDb page