2. Audience feedback
In order to create the best products individually and my
group could audience feedback was a must. Audience
feedback is a great impact on movie trailer and other
products, it became an important part of my media A2
coursework.
I used survey monkey, Facebook and focus groups to gather
audience feedback.
Audience feedback has allowed me to gain extra knowledge
and allowed me to change and adapt my products.
Our target audience was 16-25.
3. Focus group
We created a focus group of 9 people from our target
audience to watch our film trailer to answer a
questionnaire based on the film and to also interact
with us about the film trailer.
This worked well and the group got positive feedback
from this. We filmed our focus group which appears on
my blog.
4. Question 1
What five images did you find to be the most memorable?
There were a mixture of answers, but all images that we wanted the audience
to remember. The audience answered with the first shot of the house, young
female looking up at the sky, diary, candle scene, boy being dragged down the
stairs, the figure/ ghost, flashback scene with the knife, blood on the young
females hand. With the amount of answers we received it was fair for us to
say that we had a lot of scenes that were memorable for the audience, this
means that these images have stuck into the audiences mind and made an
effect. The majority of the audience put the location, diary, candle and
dragging down the stairs. These were scenes that we wanted our audience to
remember because the first scene and last scene should always be
memorable which means we conformed with our research into film trailers.
Each of them said about the boy falling down the stairs and how dramatic it
was and how they were not expecting it to happen after the credits had
appeared on the screen, this means that the scene did the job and remained
in the audiences mind and shocked them which is the physical emotion we
wanted them to receive.
5. Question 2
Are there any trailers you are aware of which are similar to the
trailer ‘Shattered’ which you have viewed?
For this question a few of the audience answered no, however as a group we
took a twist on movie trailer we researched into and wanted to do something
involving students as we are going to university soon.
However we had some positive feedback when people mentioned
Paranormal Activity and Prom night and Friday 13th, it is positive for our group
to receive feedback about Paranormal Activity because it was that film that
we got our ideas from for example the use of the location.
When we spoke to the group after the focus group they thought it was very
good and different to other film trailers which was a positive result for us.
6. Question 3
What impressions did you get of the characters portrayed? List
any personality traits which you noticed and felt were true to
typical students?
Our audience listed answers which were quite similar to each of the members
in our target audience that took part. They said angry, happy, loud,
temperemental, scared, innoncent, unsure, relaxed, decieving. This is the
feedback the group wanted because it is now clear that we portrayed and
used stereotypical university students. Even though this question created
mixed responses it was still positive feedback, in our trailer we wanted to
display a mixture of personalities throughout the trailer with personalities
changing constantly and also the moods of these young students.
7. Question 4
What predictions could you make for the film from seeing the
trailer?
For this question we received a mixture of feedback which means our trailer
has left our target audience with questions which is good because it will
entice them to watch the film to solve their answers.
Our answers were:
- The mother in the flashback killed someone
- The friend of the mother takes revenge
- People in the flashback are from the past
- The young male gets killed
- The ghost figure causes incidents for everyone
- The ghost is related to the mother
8. Question 5
Was there any dialogue you thought was impactful?
Most responses said about the last scene with the boy screaming and also the
scene where the hand is being pulled out of the door with blood on when he
saying ‘help’. However after the focus group a conversation occurred that
movie trailers do not always have a lot of dialogue in them because it gives to
much of the story away.
One member of the audience responded that he didn’t think any dialogue
was impactful but said ‘actions speaks louder than words’ which is a good
summary, because in a horror movie it is about the action that happens in the
movie trailer and movie that people are interested in.
9. Question 6
What do you think is the cause of the horror in the film?
This question we had different feedback received, people thought that death,
blood on hands, screaming, falling down the stairs, knife behind back, ghost in
the camera was the cause of the horror in our film. Each member in the focus
group answered something different so as a group we could not state one
thing that was horror specfic from our focus group. However in a horror film it
is meant to play on the audiences mind and leave them questioning what was
that? For us as a group it was positive feedback because we made sure while
creating the film trailer that horror incidents kept occuring.
10. Question 7
Were there any moments which you considered to be
frightening or that had a direct effect on you?
As a group the answer to this question was important to us because a horror
film is meant to have an impact on the audience otherwise it should not be
classed as a horror.
The feedback we received from this was positive because they all wrote
something down that had an effect on them or that caused them to be
scared. The majority of the audience said they were horrified when the boy
got dragged down the stairs and was screaming, this is an effective answer
because it means it has played on their mind and it is also the last scene.
During the creating of this product it was this scene that we wanted to scare
the audience. Others said about the ghost when it appeared close up and it
felt like you didn’t know where it would appear.
11. Question 8
What does the title Shattered make you think of?
The responses to this question were different however quite a few of the
members said about something being broken or tired from the haunting of
the ghost. This is the impact we wanted to give to the audience because
during the trailer because we wanted our title to link with scenes from our
trailer which it obviously has done. Some responses said that dreams were
being broken or shattered, none of these answers are wrong because a lot of
things that happen in the film could be seen as shattered. The events are
reoccurring said someone after the focus group took place and they said
because of this the characters are becoming tired of it happening and not
being able to find a solution.
12. Question 9
Would you watch this film? Why?
The majority of our viewers said that they would watch want to watch the full
movie which is brilliant for us because we can see that our trailer was a
success through all the challenging steps we went through to create it.
People who responded said the film was intriguing, interesting and left them
with many questions that if they watched the full trailer their answers would
be answered.
There was one response who said they would not watch the film because
they are not in to the genre however not everyone in our target audience is
interested in horror or likes watching it.
14. I asked 6 people to give me feedback on my poster on Facebook,
I showed them my poster and asked them the following
questions;
1. Do you like the image on my poster?
2. Does the poster encourage you to want to watch the
film?
3. Do you think the movie title and image link
together?
4. What questions does the poster leave you with?
5. Does the image tell you a story?
15. - 4/6 people said that they liked my image because it seemed
effective and they liked the way there was blood on the
mirror as it gave it a ‘scary look’
- The other 2 people said they didn’t feel like it showed enough
horror however they said it was a clever image.
- The majority of my audience feedback said that the poster
would entice them to watch the film because the image is
intriguing and interesting.
- The audience thought there was a good link between the title
and the image because the mirror looked cracked around the
edges, a member of the audience said it looked unsmooth.
- All of the focus group thought that the image gave a story of
the girl being haunted by the figure ghost they said that they
also think the story involves blood and something shattering
due to the title and feeling they were receiving from the
image.
- I had good feedback response from my image telling a story,
one response said ‘is she going to kill the young female?’
17. I asked 6 people to give me feedback on my poster on Facebook,
I showed them my magazine cover and asked them the following
questions; I only asked them 3 questions.
1. What stands out the most?
2. What do you think of having the actor as my main
image on the front cover?
3. What do you like/ dislike?
18. - Everyone that took part in my focus group said that the image of
‘jack’ stood out the most out of everything on the cover. This was
the feedback I expected because of him being in colour and the rest
of the magazine cover following the codes and conventions of a
horror magazine.
- The question about having an actor as my main image was an
important question for me because I challenged this convention of
horror cover. 3 said they liked the fact it was the actor because his
back story where as if it was the character it would be about the
movie. Some agreed that they prefer to know about the actor
rather than the character.
- The feedback about what they liked and disliked was also useful for
me to create my audience feedback. A few of them said they didn’t
like the fact that I had used a black background I could have put the
location in it would appeal to them more. They liked the texts and
splashes around the magazine cover they said it would entice them
to read and buy the magazine. They also said the price was a good
price and they would pay that amount to read it.
