evaluation question three

POSTERThe early drafts of my poster proved hard as proved with just one positive comment from

one peer in stating it an “effective tagline”. The lack of positive feedback for me was a inspiration to try harder and make a much improved product. The lengthy list of improvements was a way of knowing what had to change and improve I swiftly addressed the need for a better “arrangement of text” and more “conventional details” I added a double tagline, as well as a twitter reference in #SURVIVALISINSTINCT, which in turn gives the on-looker an engagement with the brand making them feel more associated with it. The audience feedback also informed me that the title needed “more to it”. From this individual piece of feedback I adapted my title to possess a brooding red inter-colour which I hope gives off imagery of blood and violence. From the feedback of my third draft I was made aware that it “needs a billing block”. After having this information I imported the billing block from my trailer onto the poster, giving the audience the conventional details about the film as well as the website and other social media links. Upon receiving further feedback, now on my fourth draft, I was told that the release date is “maybe out of the normal position?” This question had got me thinking of removing the big, bold release date to create space to have two strong taglines which both heavily connotate to the post-apocalyptic genre. This was something we felt needed more evidence of after receiving feedback saying “maybe more on the genre?”.

MAGAZINE

The earlier drafts of my magazine, I learnt, needed improvement to meet the grade I desired

and for this I depended on my audience feedback. For my magazine one peer commented

that it possessed a “strong conventional layout” and that the “Splash is especially

pleasing and professional looking”. Another peer stated it has a “nice looking range of

fonts” as well as it having an “impressive title” saying it “stands out well (catches

attention)”.. These two examples informed me that the magazine was eye-catching and that

I succeeded in trying to gage with the on-looker.

It however wasn’t plain sailing, from the earlier drafts I was told I needed a “brighter main

image” and a “slightly larger” Splash. This was something I learned and thus adapted my

cover accordingly. This ensured I had comments on my finished draft such as “seriously

impressive”. In looking back at my feedback for my magazine’s final draft I learnt that

changing my image that I used would help improve my grade. This has been picked up by

a fellow peer, who stated the “elimination of the picture’s border” would be classed as a

“beneficial improvement”. From gaining my audience feedback on a early draft of the

cover I was told “the gradient is uneven” something I hadn’t noticed at all. Having the need

to accommodate this comment, I adjusted the gradient ensuring it was not only even but

also thicker ensuring the image had the space it needed to be the most dominant feature of

the page.

I also learnt from receiving the audience feedback not everyone will like or admire the

product, everyone has their personal tastes making the unique and some critical of my

finished page.

TRAILER Being the biggest and most ambitious of the three projects, the trailer was always going to

gage more discussion and audience feedback. In referring to the feedback we had from

our focus group, one member commented the target audience of 18-25s “represented

the characters’ age”. This told us that the audiences could possibly relate, engage and

possibly emphasis with the characters due to their similar ages. One other member of

the focus group stated the soundtrack “fitted the theme of the film” This was added to

by one other member who believed the soundtrack resembled a “heartbeat”. This told us

a group we succeeded in making a atmospheric soundtrack, one which through it’s

similarity to a heart can be seen as personified and it “fitted” the genre making our

trailer successful in making a audible post-apocalyptic backdrop. The code of enigma in

our focus group was quite successful as the group were asking us questions such as

“did they survive? – “why were they being chased?” – “how did they get the guns?”.

These questions were ones we wanted our audience to ask. This ensured the trailer

makes the audience think internally and this thinking results in questions adding to the

code of enigma. In asking the group how they compared our trailer to other real film

trailers one answered “top notch” One other believed it was “pretty good”. Another

member commented that the trailer had the “same pace” as other post-apocalyptic

trailer. These comments gave us the belief we had made something that could be

rightfully compared against the trailer to one of main influences such as The Road.

TRAILER CONTINUED

We were also told we could have done a bit more to show the world as post-apocalyptic. One member believed the audience should have “clarification of what happened” This told us the completely ambiguous nature we strived for in the trailer could have possibly been limitised. This was added to when most of the group commented on the long black sequences in the opening sequence of the trailer. One member told us there was “too much black”. In hearing that commented was supported by most in the focus group we edited that sequence filling in those long black passages with what we believe is a strong, mysterious, yet intriguing opening.

We were also told “the amount of dialogue wasn’t overwhelming so you didn’t get distracted with what you were hearing” Which gave us the impression our motive to have the perfect balance of dialogue, voiceover and soundtrack was possibly met. However one member of the focus group believed “the dialogue at the beginning was a bit quiet”. From this we increased the volume of the dialogue in the opening stages which helped to make it easier to distinguish what the characters were saying.

One of our strongest desires at the start of our project was to have a strong, poignant end to the trailer. From our feedback we believe we achieved this. We received comments such as “it was a poignant last shot” and another stating “the ending worked”. These comments in all gave us a strong impression that our ending provided an intriguing and engrossing end to out trailer.

WRITTEN QUESTIONNAIRE FEEDBACK Q1:


The whole focus group agreed that the trailer should have a age range

ranging around the 18 age bracket, with 50% suggesting “the trailer

targets the 15-20 age range”. The other 50% believe that the “trailer

targets 18-25 year olds”. We always believed in the latter, that the trailer

was very strong and quite violent. However these results told us that

the trailer isn’t that violent, that in fact if we wanted a higher range we

needed more gruesome scenes. I however feel quite happy in being able

to secure the younger generation’s attention as I feel there isn’t a

present post-apocalypse film out there whose target audience involves

“15-20” year olds. I therefore feel we have a project in The Deprived

that is quite possibly unique and has a very fresh take on the ever

growing post-apocalyptic genre.


The results of this question gave me and my group much joy in knowing our target audience acknowledged our desired genre was “post-apocalyptic”. “62%” believed that the genre was post apocalyptic. In this question we allowed the group to fill in more one genre. We know that 7 out of the 9 in the group selected post-apocalyptic as a genre they believed the trailer to be, making us feel we made the trailer seem post-apocalyptic giving us confidence we made a good mix of mise-en-scene.

In looking at the other answers “15%” believed it could considered a “horror” film. This made us believe we were able to offer a intimidating atmosphere in the trailer without showing any jump scares that would often be seen in horror trailer. I also believe we realised the trailer had a good mix of “action” after having “15%” of votes in favour of the trailer being a “action” film trailer. I take from this that we included a good range of fast sequences that are often associated with real action films


These responses didn’t really come to me as a massive surprise. Our trailer

didn’t involve one female, mainly because we strongly believe that if the

world was to turn upside down as seen in our trailer then it would be a

patriarchal society where women would have an extremely marginalised

position.

To have “70%” agree with our beliefs in that the trailer is targeted towards

males gives me great confidence that it is an identifiable male-targeted

film. From this I could also take that the audience is possible under a

form of implosion. As there is a risk of society breaking down and the

world crumbling, the audience could possibly believe they might be

watching the future or at least a loose representation of it.


These results gave me further confidence that we as a group created a

trailer with a mysterious and ambiguous atmosphere. With “50%”

believing the trailer is “slightly confusing at times but understandable”

We feel that we did a good job in not making the trailer a complete

narrative story, but we also were able to produce something that made

the audience ask questions, adding to the code of enigma. Adding to

this were “30%” believing they completely understood the trailer, which

informed us that we also created a product which people admired and

enjoyed the ambiguous nature of the trailer.


Another favourable set of results are presented in the previous slide with

“65%” saying they would go and see the film. This gave us a really good

feeling that we chose the right age group for our target audience. We also

learnt we were not ever going to please everyone , with “13%” believing

they wouldn’t want to go and watch the movie. The rest were on he fence.

This told us that we successfully targeted the right age range, as well as

being able to produce an attractive product for our audience.


With “53%” of the group believing the sound and visuals “definitely”

complemented each other, I feel that we have given the audience a

decent mix of audible and visual engagement. I don’t think these

results reflect badly on our trailer with “36%” believing they “mostly”

complemented each other giving us the belief that the majority of our

target audience would be pleased and engaged with what is playing out

in front of them.

To conclude I feel I have constructed three fine and professional products

which have gaged with my target audiences. I believe my target

audiences’ feedback has informed me through the past weeks of how to

improve my products and I have adapted them accordingly. Without my

audience feedback, my three products would be nothing like they are

now.