2. Different ways in which we received
audience feedback….
• Before we had even begun making our trailer, one thing we sat down and
thought about was the ways in which we could make our trailer available
to a wider range of people in order to receive some audience feedback, as
we knew like with all products, we needed to make sure our trailer
completely appealed to the needs and demands of our target audience
• To do this we mainly focused on social websites as a way of gaining
audience feedback, due to the fact our target audience ranges from 15-25
year olds, in which social networking websites are popular with that
particular group
• We also used video sharing websites such as YouTube, also popular with
our target audience.
• As well as this, we also really wanted the views of someone who had
actual experience in the film industry, in which Film’s Cool gave us the
perfect opportunity to get some feedback from industry professionals like
Mat Wakeham and Hugh Spurghling.
3. Social Networking Sites: FaceBook
Due to the fact FaceBook would be very popular with
members of our target audience, we saw the
website as a perfect opportunity to get some much
needed feedback for our actual target audience. As
you can see the feedback received was very
positive, with 20 people ‘liking’ our trailer, as well
as various positive comments including one saying
that “I can really recognise the genre as horror”
and another “this is really good, really clever how
you have put this together, good story”. This was
very beneficial as in the feedback we had
previously received, one of the main things pointed
out was that the story of our movie was hard to
figure out from looking at the trailer. So the fact we
have now received feedback from our target
audience, telling us that the genre and story is now
easily recognisable is very relieving and highlights
the importance of using social networking sites, in
this modern era where digital media has grown
massively in importance, in order to further our
product and also to help interact with our target
audience, in order to receive feedback and tips on
how we should make a trailer/ movie that fits in
with their needs.
4. Video Sharing Websites: YouTube
Another website we knew would be popular with
our target audience was ‘YouTube’, and so we
took it upon ourselves to also upload our
trailer to YouTube, in order to see what kind
of response we would see on there. Although
we didn’t promote our trailer on YouTube as
much as we had done on FaceBook, we have
still managed to receive one like and no
dislikes so far, and with our trailer only being
up for less than a week we see this as being
very positive. We also managed to accumulate
150 views in less than 24 hours, and it has
been steadily increasing since highlighting
how well received our trailer has been with
our target audience. Video Sharing websites
like YouTube have proved to be a very
effective way in gaining publicity towards your
product (trailer), with a lot of peoples work
going viral and even going into production just
solely due to the good response it has
received on YouTube, this is why I believe
using YouTube for feedback was a excellent
decision, as it not only allows us to receive
feedback, it also makes our trailer available to
a wider range of people, therefore giving our
movie more publicity.
5. YouTube (Continued)
If you look to the left you can see the viewing stats for our
trailer taken from YouTube, what’s most intriguing
about this is that it shows that people have actually
been searching in ‘A2 media studies: the examined’
on YouTube in order to try and find our trailer, which
shows that not only our people watching it from the
link we have placed on FaceBook, but there is also a
certain few people who have perhaps head good
things about our trailer and so are searching for it on
YouTube, highlighting the positive feedback we seem
to be getting from our audience, who seem to be
mostly very happy with the plot and horror aspect of
our trailer.
Also if you look at the gender and age of our audience,
not only is it popular with our target audience of
males and females aged 15-25. It seems to also be
very popular with older females aged 45-54, as well
as some of a younger age 13-15. We have been told
by those people that this is because they feel our
theme of Success vs. Failure, and the general
concept of ‘how far would go to succeed?’ Is a
universal theme/ concept that all people can identify
and relate with, and so because of that they have
said that even though they think it’s clear that our
movie is not mainly targeted at them, they still feel
that they’re able to really relate to it and so find it
very compelling to watch.
Our trailer even has views from people living in America!
6. Blackberry Messenger
I also used Blackberry messenger as a way
of receiving feedback from my target
audience, mainly because I noticed how
popular it is amongst our target
audience, and so knew it would be a
good opportunity to get some feedback
from them.
On you left you can see two examples of
what two people aged 21 and 22 have
said about our trailer, both expressing
the fact that they like it and that they
feel it was “scary”, and so very much
resembled a horror trailer.
7. Industry Professionals
Being a part of ‘Film’s Cool’ has benefitted us greatly, as
we have been able to receive advice from industry
professionals, the picture on the left shows some of
the advice they gave us after seeing our trailer (this
was before we edited it and posted it on FaceBook
again). They made it very clear that although they
believed we had the recipe for a really good and
effective trailer, which they believed could even be
made into a real trailer due to our story, they still felt
that the story and themes of our movie wasn’t being
made clear in our trailer, which as a result was really
letting down our trailer as we could’ve produced
something much better. They got a piece of paper
(left) and wrote down some tips they had which they
felt would help improve our final product, these tips
included showing; ‘a decision to cheat’, ‘bullying’,
‘girl killing herself’, ‘shot of a clock’, as well as some
other tips. Hearing this advice we decided to film
some more shots with this advice in mind, which I
personally feel, and from looking at the feedback
we’ve received on FaceBook and YouTube, has
helped enhance the quality of our trailers greatly,
and has done now done exactly what they’ve told us
to do, tell the story and themes of our movie well.
For this I am very grateful towards those industry
professionals at Film’s cool who have given us some
superb feedback which has helped us greatly.
8. Industry Professionals (Continued
Furthermore, we had a award ceremony at Channel
4 studios where we had industry professionals
(Anna Higgs, Georgia Caufman, Femi Oyeniran,
Christine Blundell, Ade Rawcliffe and Matt
Wakeham give us their professional view on our
trailer, and judged it in various different areas,
giving out awards for each. The Examined came
away with one award, which was best trailer,
which I feel highlights just how well received our
trailer has been not only with our target
audience, but with real industry professionals as
well.
9. Anna Higgs’ view
Anna Higgs, Head of Film4.0, rated us as excellent in the majority of areas which included shooting material, editing and
sound, and also felt we had a “nice idea” and nice use of quotes in our trailer. As well as this, she also says that are film
genre was very clear, our emotional hook was good for our target audience, and also that this trailer makes her want to see
the film, and that we had the most original use of sound. The fact someone in such a high position, has given us such good
feedback highlights the fantastic points of our trailer, and shows that we have created a very good idea that contains all the
elements necessary to be a very good horror trailer that builds anticipation towards the film, something all trailers focus on
doing.
10. Georgia Kaufman’s view
Georgia Caufman, head of marketing at Lions Gate Films (one of the biggest film companies in the world), rated us as
either having the ‘wow factor’ or being ‘excellent’ in the majority of areas, which coming from the head of marketing at
one of the biggest film companies in the world is excellent feedback to hear. Furthermore, she made it clear that she fully
understood our film’s plot by our trailer, that the film’s genre was clear, that the emotional hook was ‘spot on’, and that
this is one film that she would really want to see. As well as this, she also rated our trailer as being the best in the show,
and also having the best marketing campaign which coming from the head of marketing at Lions Gate Films, is excellent
to hear as she would have a vast amount of experience in marketing some of the biggest films in the world, so to hear
that she feels our marketing campaign was good is very nice to hear.
12. Continued..
Femi Oyeniran, star of critically acclaimed films KidultHood and AdultHood and a grime musician,
also gave us positive feedback rating The Examined as a ‘excellent’ in all areas, which I feel
highlights the fact that we have made sure that we have covered every area in creating this
trailer in order to produce the best trailer possible. He has also made it extremely clear that
he understands the plot of our movie from looking at our trailer, that the genre of our movie
is very clear and so our trailer contains all the conventions of horror movies, that our
emotional hook is correct for our target audience, and that he would very much want to see
this film. Most of all, he has rated our trailer as the best one in the show, which means a lot
coming from him as a lot of the films he has been featured in, has a very similar target
audience to ours, and also he himself comes from a urban London background and so would
be one of the people we are looking to target, so the fact he feels we have done well in
appealing to our target audience is great news to hear.
13. Christine Blundell
Christine Blundell, Oscar winning make-up artist, is the only person so far to give us some negative feedback. She rated as
being ‘proficient’ in most areas, and ‘basic’ and ‘excellent’ in a further two. She also felt the genre wasn’t made as clear as it
could be, our emotional hook wasn’t too appropriate for our target audience, and that she wouldn’t want to see or film. In
response to this feedback, I feel maybe we could have built up our theme of Success vs. Failure better at the start of the
trailer in order to make it more clear, and also tried to create a wider range of audience as our trailer might not have
appealed to the needs and wants of Chistine Blundell. However, she has still rated us as having the best use of titling and
after-effects, which is something we’re happy about as we put a lot of effort into creating the right titles that would help help
and advance the plot of our movie even more.
14. Ade Rawcliffe
Ade Rawcliffe, part of the Creative Diversity team at Channel 4, is another one of the judges who rated our trailer as being
‘excellent’ in all areas, again highlighting me and my groups ability to cover all areas of production in order to make a very good
trailer. She also highlighted the uniqueness of our trailer, by the fact that she’s ‘never seen a horror film set in an exam room’
which highlights our ability to not only adhere to conventions, but also to challenge them. She’s also made it clear that our
trailer was one of her favorites, which is excellent feedback to hear from someone who’s in such a high position at one of the
biggest television networks in Britain. Seeing as she’s also creative director, I think that in itself highlights the creativity that’s
gone into making this trailer.
15. Matt Wakeham
Matt Wakeham, writer, producer and one of the creators of ‘The Gorrilaz’, is the second judge to not only rate our trailer as
‘excellent’, but to also regard it as having the ‘wow factor’. He’s also given us feedback telling us that he understands the film’s
plot clearly, that the emotional hook is clear and appropriate for our target audience, and that this film has the potential to be a
commercially successful product. As well as this, he’s also credited us as having the best trailer,
16. OVERALL…
Overall, I feel the feedback given to us has helped us greatly in producing our trailer. With the advice of
industry professionals in mind, we have been able to construct a trailer that really fits in well with
the needs and wants of our target audience due to the fact we have used conventions of horror
movies in our trailer to excellent use, and also told the story, themes and emotional hook of our
movie well. This was all confirmed in the audience feedback we were given by our target audience
and secondary audience on YouTube, Blackberry Messenger and FaceBook, who confirmed that the
story and themes of our movie came across well, and that from the trailer they would definitely
want to watch our movie, which was very good news for us to hear, as it confirms that we have
managed to produce a product that fits in well with our target audiences wants and needs. As well
as this, we had the privilege of getting even more feedback from industry professionals who all had
very positive things to say, all rating our trailer as excellent, and even felt it was the ‘best trailer’ at
the ‘Film’s Cool’ award ceremony. The fact this has come from people who have a vast amount of
experience in the film industry is very nice to hear, and further validates the amount of effort we
have put into creating a trailer that has been very well received.
