1. Johan Folkes Question 3
Audience Feedback
Audience feedback is a crucial tactic when producing an Ad campaign. This is
because the audience are the people who will be watching your film and could
either make it into a blockbuster or break it into a failed movie. One of the
main reasons for audience feedback is to improveyour media product in order
to attract your target audience better
than before. An example of audience
feedback would be The Woman in
Black. The Woman in Black invested
thousands of pounds into its
advertising department in order to do
audience research for their film.
Through the use of the internet, The
Woman in Black advertising team
created social media, video and
online adverts in order to reach their
target audience. The social media is
the conventionalwebsites such as
Facebook and Twitter. The video
advertising was mostly done through
YouTube and would have probably
uploaded videos to Facebook as it is
such a large social media platform
with millions of users. However the
unique selling point of the film was Daniel Radcliff who had just finished with
the Harry Potter movies. Therenowned actor wanted to provehimself to be a
serious actor and that Harry Potter wasn’ttheonly films that he was able to
do. Fromthis he took his role in advertising the film very seriously by posting
videos on social media, doing Q & A’s with the fans and featuring in a lot of
interviews about the film. Online advertising is possibly one of the best ways to
receive audience feedback. This is because people can like and comment on
the videos that they post and you can see how many views you get on a video.
This is instantaneous audience feedback and it helped the makers of the film.
Another way that they got audience feedback is with test screening. This test
2. Johan Folkes Question 3
screening is when they invite an audience in to view the whole film or justpart
of the film. From that they then give constructivefeedback to the makers of
the film who could then change the film as they please. An example of a test
screening which changed the narrativeof the film was 28 DaysLater in which
the audience didn’t like the ending of the film was finished with a character
dying. Fromthis director Danny Boyle changed the film and made him survive.
This allowed spacefor a sequel and in which came 28 weeks later. To
summarise, audience feedback is key when making a film as they are the ones
who will be watching your film and are the ones who will give you the profits.
How I gathered audience feedback
During pre-production, meand my group produced a questionnaire on the
popular website called Survey Monkey. Survey Monkey is a free to usewebsite
which allows a person to create a series of questions for the public to answer.
Fromthis the person who created the questionnaire gets instant access to the
results that people have answered and they can be viewed singular or as a
collective. In our questionnairewe asked a range of questions around
subgenres within the main genre of horror and whatappealed to the audience.
During production our group produced a drafttrailer which was test screened
to our media class. Our media class is a 50-50 ratio between girls and boys so
this means that we wereable to have an equal amount of feedback from both
genders. Also as they are media students they wouldn’tview the film passively
and instead would view it actively. This means that they would focus on the
macro and micro elements of our film which would allow more constructive
criticism. After the class watched the film they wereasked to write down two
things that they did like about our draftand 2 things that they thought needed
improvement. As they finished a video camera was turned on and they were
asked the read out whatthey thought was good and bad. This was then
uploaded to the video sharing website YouTube to where all of our group could
access this feedback 24/7 whenever we needed to.
3. Johan Folkes Question 3
Feedback I received
This was the formof our
questionnairefeedback. Within this
feedback we got an idea of what
type of genre we should make our
film as this was pre-production so
we had not made a film yet. We
also asked about the environments
that they watch horror films in
which made us decide whatto have
within the film. The audience
responded this question mostly to
at night with friends so we would
have to make a film that can be fun
and scary to watch within this
environment.
This was the feedback for
our screening to our class.
We received lots of
constructivefeedback on
our trailer and it helped us
improveit a lot compared
to what it used to be and it
helped us make our trailer
fit our target audience
better becauseof it. One
point that we received a lot of feedback on was the dialogue and how at some
points it was inaudible,’ Some of the dialogue wasn’tvery clear’. In order to
4. Johan Folkes Question 3
change this we made someof the sound effects and music quieter and we
increased the volume of our voices. This made a lot of difference and whilst
watching it we could tell that our voices were much more audible than before.
This was importantfeedback as the dialogue is possibly one of the most
important things when it comes to a film as it reveals parts of the plot to the
audience. Also dialogue is key in creating tension within the horror genre.
One thing that I was able to pick up, and a lot of the class, was the pace of our
film. This could clearly be seen from the storylineon premiere as the shots got
longer as the trailer went on which is unconventional and ineffective within
the horror genre. Oneperson said,’ it needsmore pace and scary shots at the
end to make it seem more like a horror’. From this constructivefeedback we
went out and recorded more scary shots which enabled us to have more to
work with whilst editing the film. This also allowed us to add more of the
horror partto our trailer as at the startit wasn’tas scary as it could have been.
We added the clips in to different points of the film and from the timeline on
premiere we could tell that the pace had been made quicker towards the end
which is more conventional for the genre.
Apart fromall of the constructivefeedback we also received a lot of positive
feedback from our class/audience. Within the feedback session we received
compliments on the titles. This is because they felt that,’ the titles work wellas
they create a context with whatis going on’, and,’ the titles allow you to
understand some of the story’. This was what we put the titles there for so we
as the creators knew that our target audience liked what wehad added and
that we should keep them within their places. Another point of positive
feedback that we got back was the useof the camera overlay,’ the camera
overlay on the screen is effective’. From this we knew that our target audience
liked the idea of having a camera overlay as it gives a more ‘found footage’ feel
to it which is what we wanted.
5. Johan Folkes Question 3
I didn’t only receive feedback for my trailer but I also received feedback for my
ancillary texts as well (poster and magazine). For my magazine I received a lot
of constructivefeedback saying that I should include an issuenumber and a
price. Fromthis feedback I went back and added this.
Another piece of constructivefeedback that I received from my audience is
that I should removethe black background being my bar code.
Even though this a small change to my magazine it can have a large impact
clearly as my target audience has been able to spot it. This means that my
magazine is now moresuited to my target audience and will now more likely
buy it. For positive feedback on my magazine, my target audience said that,’
the colour scheme fits’. This was a helpful because at firstI was unsureof the
colours that I had chosen and had intended to changethem, however from my
feedback I learned that I did not have to. This means that my magazine is was
suited to my target audience and still is. Another positive that I received was,’
6. Johan Folkes Question 3
the main image looksgood’. This helped me see that my image no longer
needed any more editing fromthe original as I had intended to do.
For my poster I received lots of constructivefeedback. Onepoint which was
said the most was that I could include,’ more logo’sat the bottom’. From this
feedback I went back and added more.
Fromthis I can clearly see that my poster looks a lot more professional
compared to whatit used to look like and it is now suited even moreto my
target audience. Another piece of constructivecriticism that I received was
that my,’ masthead was a little bit too high up’. So I went back a lowered it.
7. Johan Folkes Question 3
The positive feedback that I got for my poster is that my target audience liked,’
the colour scheme is good and consistent’, and,’ The colour scheme and image
work welltogether and the small figure connotesthe horror genre’. From this I
knew that my target audience like the macro elements of my magazine but I
justneeded somesmall tweaks to make it look moreprofessional.
OverallI think that my audience feedback has made me progress with my work
and create a final piece and ancillary texts to a professionalstandard thatmy
target audience would enjoy to watch and be willing to spend money for. If I
had not received this feedback then I do not think my final products would
have been up to the standard that they are now and would have been difficult
to get my target audience research done.
