What I learnt from audience feedback…

It was very important to us that we take up a lot of audience feedback throughout the production of our teaser trailer. Especially as it was the first time for us to take up such a project and trailers always rely on the audiences perception, therefore must satisfy them. Before taking up the trailer, we took up a questionnaire to do general research on what the general audiences thought of our storyline. This was before we developed the narrative or even planned it. We did this so that we would have the people in our mind from the start. Through the questionnaire we wanted to see whether our ideas where supported by our target audience and at the same time find out what the audiences want out of a trailer and from there use it to develop our narrative.

Below is a screen shot of the questionnaire we gave out to the general public with a rough summery of our narrative at the top:

We gave this to 12 different participants, who varied in age and gender, so that we would have a representative sample. (Participants wrote their gender and age at top right of questionnaire)

As you can see through the above research it made us aware of a lot things that we need to do. Such as in depth research regarding the main characters illness, in which we did do. Especially as psychological illnesses can be seen as a sensitive issue.

We also found out that the genre we chose is specifically suited to specific type of audience and then from there it has made us aware that we will be catering the preferences of a niche target audience.

Also the question asking what’s the most important factor within our story line, most people stated her illness and the romance being the most significant factor. This influenced our production greatly as it made us make sure that our trailer would be focused on these two aspects of the movie and using it to engage the audience. This is particularly seen in all the footage and props we had for our trailer such as the use of tablets, a sick bed, screams and the scenes which involved both the male and female character together.

Conclusion of first audience feedback:

Also through the questionnaire we gathered many ideas that would help us develop are story line. For example the scene where Niall looks like he will be kissing Fabbiene was actually thought of based on one participant who stated that they would want to see “sexual encounters to intensify the drama” and from such a statement this gave us one of the most significant scenes in our trailer.

This itself is a testimony showing how effective and important audience feedback can be. The last question in this research was very useful for us as it gave us many improvements that the audience suggested, so the allowed us to involve the audience with the production signifying their importance to us.

Conclusion of first audience feedback cont’d:

We also gathered feedback on our first draft of the trailer. This was at a very early stage, where sound was not added and it was not even fully edited. Below is a screenshot of the feedback someone left us on our blog:

The internet allowed us to display our work and gather multiple audience feedback at once without our presence which was very convenient. We found that only one person left us feedback on are blog regarding the first draft of our trailer. However this was a media student, who is passionate about films and therefore her feedback alone was very significant to us and not ignored.

We found that her points of improvement where very similar to what we where planning to do in our final trailer. For example the need of sound, which we are extremely aware of its importance and how it engages the audience and builds an atmosphere that we wish to achieve.

She raised an issue regarding the speed of the editing of the trailer, and how we should use more quick cuts to build the suspense, this was very important as we wanted to build enigma and suspense which is what our target audience wanted when we conducted primary research.

Therefore in our final trailer, we had a lot of quick cuts so that we keep the audience interested as planned, also as we had an issue with the length of the first draft being too long we used this opportunity to remove scenes, and to also not give too much of the story line away which is a significant convention of trailers. We were also pleased to read that Natalie liked the variety of shots, angles and the fact we established the characters very well, this it self motivated us to continue working in that level and make are standards high for all aspects of the teaser trailer.

Gathering audience feedback regarding movie poster ideas:

Below is an image of our movie poster ideas:

( displaying the different compositions of the idea we decided on as a group)

For us to decide which composition is best we conducted primary research, where we displayed this image to people who are similar to are target audience and they chose which they like the most, ( A, B, C or D ).

Below is a graph displayed the results we obtained

We found that the participants liked design A and D. When I questioned why they chose that design they said it was because it showed emotion and made them interested to watch the movie as it has mystery and does not give away the narrative. They also liked the fact that a male character was with the female character, showing romance, and yet with negative emotion. This makes them eager to know more as it places juxtaposition. It also clearly establishes who the main character (a female). This attracts our female target audience as they can relate to her as she is young and female. Therefore we decided to go for design B. As for the poster to be effective we need it to draw the audiences eyes and design B (and D) was the most favoured.

However in the creation process of the poster the design was changed slightly however still contained similar aspects such as middle title, texts at the bottom, the female being the centre of attention and the males and females clear connection in a scene.

After deciding on the composition of the actual film poster, we took up audience research on what type of font we should use for the film poster, this is because we became aware of how important each aspect within the film poster is important, as the font can indicate the genre of the movie, and follow conventions of our film; a psychological drama with romance.

As Naheda had experimented with different fonts on our film title, in order for us to take up the best decision we conducted a verbal questionnaire on 10 specific people that we thought would be our target audience (female, 16-18 years).

Below are the various fonts that participants were faced with and had to chose which they preferred:

These are the feedbacks that we thought were the most significant, which helped contribute to our font decision:

The audience research gathered for our choice of font helped us significantly. We found the majority going for font number 2 therefore we decided to go for that font, as we aim to please our target audience and also represent our genre through our film. So we went for the font that is most mature, and yet bold and ‘intense’ as stated by a participant, which also links to our narrative.

Below is our final poster:

Below is our final teaser poster:

The audience research gathered for our choice of font helped us significantly. We found the majority going for font number 2 therefore we decided to go for that font, as we aim to please our target audience and also represent our genre through our film. So we went for the font that is most mature, and yet bold and ‘intense’ as stated by a participant, which also links to our narrative.

As you can see that our final product may not exactly match with the original ideas that were most favoured, this is because as we were producing them we developed them and collaborated them to the rest of the media text. This does not mean that we did not directly use the audiences decisions as we did, by using them as a base to our work and at times going for it completely.

Research I Conducted on the second draft of our trailer:

I decided to gather research in a very different way. This time it was via blackberry messenger. This allowed me to gather qualitative research from my target audience instantly, with the use of many open questions. As if it was a one to one interview, as I can debate with their points instantly via the conversation like features. This also allowed their answers to be completely unaffected by the presence of me or a group member which could sway their answers as they may not want to be brutal. This shows how the information age has benefited us. (Participants had seen the trailer before answering questions)

Participant 1: ( Female 18yearold)

I asked this participant what she found was good and what was bad about it. She said that some scenes built suspense which is particularly good for us as a psychological drama should do so. Also she said that the elevator scene “played a game with the viewer’s eyes”. This was very pleasing to hear as in our first primary research participants did say that they would like to see a twist, and that is what the scene has achieved as stated by a typical member of our target audience.

Also in our first primary research a participant stated that they want a shock, and this participant ( Merab) said that the book scene was dramatic and shocking, therefore showing that we have put our audience feedback into action as their preferences has been established in our trailer. These gathering also show a clear link between the research we took up before production, re-ensuring its effectiveness and importance to us.

When I asked her about the bad, she stated several scenes that she disliked stating their “amateur or “un-professional” therefore distracting the viewer from the true meaning behind them. For example the nurse scene/ old lady scene and the scene where Fabienne was running in the middle of the road. This was helpful as we yet had an issue with the length of are trailer and wanted to cut it down. Therefore giving us ideas on what we can afford to remove, to allow the teaser trailer to fit with the typical length of teaser trailers.

I asked this participant what she generally thought of our trailer, including the bad and good. She agreed that it built suspense as stated by the other participant, which was one of the most important objectives for us. Therefore audience feedback also allowed us to monitor our self and see whether we are achieving what we aim to achieve and whether we are taking audience feedback into action. She also commented on our main characters acting ( Fab/Fabienne) by being very “psychotic” therefore showing the effectiveness of her acting and that she portrayed exactly what we wanted on screen.

Participant 2: ( Female 17yearold)

Final screening of final product:

Once our final product; our film trailer was completed we did a final screening, where around 5 people of our possible target audience watched our trailer and then were asked a series of questions.

Look below to watch the video of the audience feedback I gathered:

As you can see 100% of those I gathered audience feedback from said that they would watch our movie, this was very positive for us as a group as it showed that we successfully engaged and attracted our target audience to our film. The majority of participants seemed very interested and pleased with our trailer, this therefore shows that we have successfully achieved the aim of trailers, which is to entertain the viewer.

When I asked what dragged their attention the most, some stated the dramatic and suspense building music which works well with the narrative, one stated the main characters acting and how she Cleary showed how dramatic she is, one person said the flashbacks as it clearly revealed the narrative, and one person said the repetition of “Love me, love me not”. This all shows that we have effectively used the creative aspects of our trailer to express our vision and the narrative and to keep the viewer focused onto our trailer.

Analysis of final audience Feedback

I had also asked what criticisms or improvement they would have for us, this was a very interesting and useful question, as it allowed us to be critical of ourselves.

One person stated that she would like to see more characters within the trailer for example her mother, which could then make it clear as to were her illness is rooted from. However if we had added that aspect to our trailer, this would reveal too much and therefore go against what a teaser should do, as it should not give to much away, or else there will be no point of paying to see the movie.

One participant stated something interesting she said she dislikes the use of the “he love me, he loves me not” too much, as it was “over the top” and subjects the main point of the film, as her illness makes her believe he does love her, so why is she questioning her belief? This was very clever point, which we could have incorporated however I believe that the repetition of that quote creates an effective combination, as it links the trailer with the film title and establishes the characters ‘anger’ that steadily increases in the trailer.

In conclusion I will give a summary of what I have learnt from my audience feedback and its importance. Audience feedback has been very important throughout our production. It has developed our ideas and also made us aware of what our target audience desires. For example the questionnaire we took up gave us ideas about what should be in our trailer, such as a shocking scene or a romantic encounter. It has also been very useful in monitoring our progress from someone external that would be completely un-bias. Technology has also played a huge role in allowing us to gather audience feedback through many sources. Such as blackberry messenger and our blog.

Conclusion