media studies unno

1. The focus group and interviews we conducted had the audience of both males and females
between the ages of 17-18. Predominantly our target audience would be teenagers and
young adults from the ages 16 onwards. As our genre is police crime thriller, we thought
that our audience would be males, as they are more suited to violence and action, whilst
females are commonly associated with a romantic storyline. Yet we found that our trailer
appealed to females as much as it did to the males.
From the group focus, we found that the audience understand our trailer genre, it was
easily established by the range of props seen in the trailer, such as the gun, missing posters
and case files. One member of the focus group stated that the trailer could potentially be
thriller. This perhaps, was due to the montage, where the theme of "race against time"
(which is prominent in thriller trailers) was evident in ours, through the fast paced footage
at the end.
Additionally, the audience found that the montage was most effective, as it builds up
suspense and anticipation. The fast paced music matched well with the quickness of the
footage in dark lighting, allowing a sense of urgency to be felt.

2. We also learnt that the audience had a great understanding and interpretation of the
narrative. We were anxious about the narrative and how we would create and build up
the storyline, especially with the complexity of it. We wanted to establish all parts of
plot we created and we have successful done so. One audience member stated that
"the complexity of the plot, it intrigued me", in reference to the narrative. This showed
us that the complexity of our narrative was both understandable and appealed to our
audiences.
The audience also informed our group of the dialogue. They stated that the dialogue
was too low in certain areas of the trailer. For example, the phone call scene with the
male detective, the distorted voice was too deep to comprehend. Other dialogue by
the main characters were overlapped by the dramatic background music, yet the music
still played a role in building anticipation.
In conclusion, the feedback we gained helped us review our trailer, where we learnt
that our mise-en-scene and cinematography was effective, yet our sound skills could be
improvement.

3. REACTIONS FROM AUDIENCES VIA SOCIAL MEDIA

4. As well as conducting focus groups and interviews we also gathered a reaction
from another set of audiences via social media, Whatsapp. Here I asked audiences
members aged 18 years old, both male and female. I asked them what their initial
reaction was towards the trailer after I had sent the link. Overall, they found the
trailer good. They understood the narrative clearly, where they stated what
happened during the trailer as well as providing their own interpretation, where
one audience member stated his interpretation about the toys as a “distraction”.
The highlights of the trailer was the mise-en-scene, such as the swing scene in the
beginning of the trailer. The build up was also effective, where the montage
played a role in building the suspense of the narrative.

5. The audience also stated that they
would watch this trailer if it appeared
on the famous Netflix streaming site.
This tells us just how effective our
trailer was to promoting the film,
where they wish to know more about
the film, wanting to watch it on the
big screens of cinema theaters.
An important question asked was
the improvements needed. The
audio and dialogue was the main
criticism by the audience. They
stated that the static from the
background noise was heard, which
may have distracted them from the
footage or further dialogue. Also,
there was mixed views on the acting
of the actors, where one audience
member stated that the delivery of
dialogue from the female detective
was said “without emotion” whilst
another audience member stated
that the acting was “rather
impressive for amateurs”.

6. One audience member went into detail about our trailer, providing us with a detailed feedback on what was effective and what
could be improved about our trailer. She found that the mise-en-scene was effective to explain narrative. Our knowledge of
cinematography was evident in our trailer, with the use of jump cuts, over the shot, close up etc. The transitions used were also
effective, where it implemented the sense of danger. The audio, again is mentioned in this feedback. She mentioned a way to
solve this with the use of adding a fuzzy mic protector. Also the subtitles and the footage in between them were less effective,
as too many clips where used, with confused the audience.