So, animatic weekend was fun. I enjoyed watching everyone else's films and it was nice to get more eyes on mine. I didn't realize a very blaringly obvious problem was that it's never really clarified if the dog is Lynn's or not and that could get really confusing. Another obvious problem: if the flashback sequence for exposition isn't working, then the audience will be lost for the rest of the story. The biggest problem, however, that came out with this version of my film during animatic weekend... if I really liked the beginning and end of the very first version of this film and I currently have my film as just the middle portion of that original, then why would I want to make something that I'm not enjoying making this early in production?
There were also some smaller problems:
- The father is perfectly fine leaving the animal behind in the flashback
- Don't call a dog "evil," animals are only dangerous, not necessarily "evil"
- The significant tree isn't necessary
- The breaking down of the car is too convenient
- There is a lack of tension when the audience is stuck in the car with Lynn just scrolling on her phone
- The resolution was too quick
The most important piece of feedback I received was from MJ when she gave me a suggestion of including the beginning piece from the original film idea and then having Lynn jump out of the truck before they get too far away from the animal. Being that this film stemmed from a true story, I never really thought about cutting that entire bit out on the timeline, although now it seems like an obvious choice. I drafted this version out into beats to get some feedback on that:
Thank you to all the faculty and students of SOFA for helping me solve all of my problems! I am happier with this version already, so hopefully you all will have some critique to help me make this version even better.
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