Task 21: Practical Remake Activity - Evaluation

For our practical remake activity, we decided to remake the title sequence of "Gone Girl". I thought that the planning, filming and editing went really well and we have ended up with a a final cut that is very similar to the actual title sequence.

Obviously, we were quite limited in terms of locations and actors, however we did our best with what we had. Our remake had to be shot around the Angel area, locations included Regents Canal and City Road.

Regents Canal

We managed to get the shots that we needed and tried our best to match the camera angles in the actual title sequence although at some points we did need to improvise. For example, we could not get the shot of the house through the trees, so we made do with an alternative: 

Our remake shot

The original shot

I do not particularly like our remake of this shot when the two are compared as they are not very similar at all. Our shot is at too low of an angle and the building is much closer. If I could do this again, I would bring references of the shots we need to remake so they can be more accurate. A slightly more accurate shot is one of two buildings:

Our remake shot

The original shot

I like our remake of this shot as it is very close to the original. I would say that the only difference is in terms of lighting which is more dim in the original. We could have changed this in editing (Adobe After Effects) but we did not. This is something that we could keep in mind for when we make our next title sequence. Apart from the lighting, I think that our editing went very well, despite it taking a very long time. We became quite confident with using Adobe Premier Pro and Adobe After Effects. Using these programs, we cut our footage together, added audio and the titles. Example:

 Our edit

Original edit

Overall, I believe that our remake of Gone Girl was successful. Although we could not be completely accurate with certain shots and locations, the tone of the original title sequence was achieved in our remake in my opinion. If I could do this again, I would pay more attention to the accuracy of the shots, and aim for better locations so it could be even more visually interesting.