2. TRAILER FEEDBACK
We had many people take part in watching our trailer and giving us feedback. We had
a range of people from our target audience watch the trailer and then answer
questions about it. These are the responses that we received.
3. Q1 – WHAT DID YOU ENJOY
ABOUT THE TRAILER?
We had many good responses from this question. A number of people said that the trailer
was really well edited, which was my main role in the group. Our audience really enjoyed
the sound effects and music, as they worked well with the genre and the storyline. There
was plenty of suspense within the whole trailer which was the build up to the jump scare.
There were many comments about good camera angles, and as I was the cameraman on
each day of filming, I am very happy that I received these comments. A number of
respondents liked the location that was chosen, and praised how we made it look like the
location was abandoned. They said that throughout the whole trailer, we were able to keep
the audience hooked and engaged. Also, it was commented that there was a good pace to
the trailer, and there were no boring parts. The reason the trailer had a good pace to it was
because all of the shots were snappy and there were very few shots that lasted longer than
4 seconds. All of the shots were edited by me to make them shorter to help with the horror
trailer.
4. Q2: WHICH PARTS OF THE TRAILER,
IF ANY, SCARED YOU?
The majority of the audience that watched our trailer said that it was the Rose and the music
that scared them the most. They did not give reasons for their answers, but my guess would
be because the music was horror like, and it was very eerie, and because Rose’s costume was
creepy and the way she acted was also evil and scary.
There were many other responses such as when the girl was standing behind the door.
The suspense of the boys looking around the house was a scary part according to the
audience because they were expecting a jump scare. This was mainly done with the editing,
because we made the shots longer than they were supposed to be.
The jump scare at the end of the trailer was the scariest part of the trailer for those who were
involved in providing feedback. The way we produced this was by having two people pulling
the legs of the character, and then the cameraman framing the shot well so that the two
people were not in the shot. Then I had to edit to make the action quicker. The way I did this
was by speeding up the shot, which enhanced the jump scare further. Then I also added a
sound effect to go with the shot, which also added to the effect.
5. Q3: EXPLAIN YOU FAVOURITE
PART OF THE TRAILER.
A number of our respondents highlighted the same parts as being their favourite. One part
that the audience enjoyed was the ending jump scare. Just like question 2, the way we did
this was by framing the shot so no one are able to see the two people pulling the characters
legs away from the camera, as if he was being dragged by Rose. This worked very well, and
we achieved the effect perfectly the first time we tried.
Another part that was highlighted multiple times was the build up to the ending of the
trailer. This was done whilst editing it, the shots were cut short and sound effects were
added to create a good build up effect to create the jump scare.
Other areas that were praised by the audience were parts such as, the whole house scene,
fast paced shots, finding the newspaper and photo and when Michael walks through the
door whilst Rose is standing behind the door. All of these things were created by using
good camera angles and the acting of the characters. Again, I was the cameraman for all
shoots, and I and another group member decided on the shots.
6. Q4: WHAT DO YOU THINK THE
STORY OF THE FILM WILL BE?
The majority of the answers we received from the audience were either accurate or
very close to what the story of our film is. The majority of the audience suggested, ‘the
story of the ghost girl’ (Rose). This wasn’t the main focus of the story of the film, but
within the film, this is discovered by the characters. A few respondents said that Rose
is a murdered girl who is out to kill, which is part of the story, but not the main
narrative.
Others responded to this question with, dead family, history of the house and the
boys caught up in the murders. All of these are true, but the main story was not
included within the trailer because like many other trailers, we did not want to give
too much away. But our main focus was for our audience to be able to have an idea of
what the story is about, which all of them figured out.
7. Q5: PLEASE RATE THE
FOLLOWING OUT OF 5 STARS
Midway through the questionnaire, we gave the audience a chance to rate the sound, camera shots, location
and characters out of 5 stars. From this, the outcome was very good for us, because the majority rated all of
them either a 4 or 5 star, with a 3 star appearing up now and again.
The sound received 7 4-stars, 7 5-stars and 1 3-star. This was a very good achievement for a member of our
group as he produced most of the music on Garageband. But, as sound effects are included within sound, I
sourced the majority of the sound effects myself, and added them in whilst editing.
For the camera shots, we received 5 5-stars, 6 4-stars and 4 3-stars, which, the cameraman for each shoot, I am
very proud of.
The location had 10 people give it either a 4 or a 5 star, and 5 people giving it a 3 star. This is very good, as the
majority liked the location. As a whole, my group emailed and spoke with the manager of each location we
chose, and we also sourced them ourselves.
The characters mainly got given a 4 star, with 9 people voting for that, 2 people giving them a 5 star and 4
people giving them a 3 star. The characters were developed by the whole group.
Overall, we are very happy as we were not given anything lower than a 3 star, and we were mainly given 4 and 5
stars.
8. Q6: DO YOU NOTICE ANY SIMILARITIES
TO PROFESSIONAL HORROR TRAILERS?
We received many different answers for this question, but there was one that stood
out the most. That was the sound. We had 9 people say that sound was similar to
other horror trailers, this includes the music and sound effects. As I was the person
that sourced and edited them into the trailer, I am happy that a lot of people noticed
this detail.
We also had a lot of votes for, the characters, location, shots, and the text that was
used for the titles. Whilst editing it, I sourced the font for the text myself, and I edited
that into the trailer, and thought of a suitable part to have the titles. I also helped
source the locations and I emailed and phoned the locations. As the shots were
recognised to be similar to professional horror trailers, this is a good achievement as I
came up with the majority of the shots.
9. Q7: WHICH CONVENTIONS OF THE HORROR GENRE
CAN YOU IDENTIFY AND HOW EFFECTIVE DO YOU
THINK THEY ARE?
We asked our audience if they noticed any conventions that are used in real horror
films. We received many responses that reflected our intentions. The convention that
was mentioned the most was about the haunted house. However, we did not use a
house at all, we used a hotel which had the aesthetics of a real haunted house, and
with some smart camera effects and editing, we managed to make it look like a
haunted house. I am very happy that the audience were able to see that it was meant
to be a haunted house, as this is what we intended to do. I was the cameraman and
the main editor, so I am very happy with the outcome of this. We also then had a lot
of the audience mention the ghost girl, the font and the music. As this was a horror
film, we made the music and font seem like they would be from the horror genre. We
also had some people who said, suspense, props, characters and the isolation.
10. Q8: WHICH CONVENTIONS OF TRAILERS
CAN YOU IDENTIFY AND HOW EFFECTIVE
DO YOU THINK THEY ARE?
We asked our audience what they find similar between our trailer and professional
trailers. Again, like the actual horror conventions, the audience noticed the music
throughout the trailer, and were able to see that it is meant to reinforce the
atmosphere of the trailer. They also said that there was not too much of the narrative
revealed in the trailer which is similar to professional trailers. They give enough
information but they do not give the whole story away. This is what we intended to
do.
We also received responses such as, the logo, title/credits, reference to other films
and key stars. All of these conventions were conventions that we used intentionally
throughout the trailer. They are also conventions that are used in professional trailers.
11. Q9: HOW EFFECTIVE IS OUR
CHARACTERISATION? WHAT CAN YOU
INFER ABOUT OUR CHARACTERS FROM
WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN IN THE TRAILER?
The majority of our target audience said that they can see that they are normal
teenagers, which they are, we chose to have them playing on the Xbox at the start of
the trailer to then go jogging, reflecting that they are normal, stereotypical teenagers.
They also noticed how we portrayed our characters to be. They noticed that Michael is
the outgoing character and Greg is the quiet character. This is exactly how we wanted
our characters to come across to the audience. They also were able to identify that the
characters are very curious and Michael is brave. After reading back on these
comments, we realised that we did a very good job in developing the characters, and
the actors that played them, did a really good job in bringing them to life and getting
into characters. In the planning stages of the production, I was part of the developing
the characters personality.
12. Q10: CAN YOU GIVE THE TRAILER AN
OVERALL STAR RATING OUT OF 1-5?
After asking our audience to give the trailer an overall rating, my group and I were
very pleased with how it was rated.
The majority of our audience (8) awarding it a 4 star. 7 people gave it a 5 star.
For an unknown reason, there were a couple of people who did not rate the trailer,
maybe because they did not see the question. But we did get 15 people that gave it a
4 or a 5 star which we were pleased with.
As I made a significant contribution and role within my group, I am very happy with all
of the responses that we received.
13. CONCLUSION
To conclude, I feel that our audience feedback was very strong, and that the small
details that we included in the trailer, were noticed and highlighted by the audience.
This shows that we have done a very good job with the trailer. As a group, we are very
pleased with the feedback we received.
