1. WHAT HAVE YOUR LEARNT FROM
YOUR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?
Part 4

2. When we showed our trailer for its focus group screening we
had both positive and negative feedback within our trailer.
We expected this kind of feedback as the focus group helps
us to refine our ideas. The positive comments that we
agreed with most strongly were: “I loved the
fact you told a story and as an
audience we could understand
and follow it”. We agreed with this because
the narrative within the trailer was a very important
element, and we had tried to carefully create and iconic yet
enigmatic villain (“The Hanged Woman”).

3. Another piece of affirming feedback was “Really
liked soundtrack”. I agreed with this because I
feel that the music that we chose for our trailer is a really
unique selling point as the song is a slight “earworm”,
meaning that people would keep remembering the trailer, it
also helps to solidify the narrative in the eyes of the audience.
“Good set and costume” was another
encouraging piece of feedback, because we put a lot of time
and effort into developing through our planning stages and
really thought about whilst making our trailer.

4. The negative responses that we got were often just as
useful as the positive ones. They showed us flaws within
our trailer that we had not noticed but that we were then
able to change. “More stuff needs to
happen later in the trailer”.
This was a valid point because our rough cut had no real
pace and the whole thing was rather samey. In
response to this, we added the final quick
montage of shots to create drama.

5. Another comment was that an audience member
wanted to “See Nicole at the end so
we kind of know what’s
happened”. We had originally thought that
the enigma would drive the narrative but we later
decided that because she was such a key character
she should star more within the trailer to build the
relationship with the audience.

6. The final key piece of criticism was that our rough cut
“Needs a visual jump scare”. This was a
very valid point because we only had an audio scare at the
end with the scream, something visual would have made
this more memorable and in keeping with generic
conventions. To tackle this issue we added the final
montage, and also the final moment of the killer’s face in
the hope it’ll remain in the audience’s mind and lead to
good word of mouth.

7. Overall our focus group trailer viewing went well. We got
an average score of 8 out of 10
which I feel for a first screening focus group was quite
good. It was valuable in that it made clear what aspects
of our rough cut needed to be improved, and I have no
doubt it led to an improved final trailer.

8. After the focus group we decided to make some last minute
changes to our trailer following the constructive criticisms we
got for our trailer. We re-shot a lot of footage plus
shooting some new footage that fit the narrative. This
new footage contained scenes such as Nicole falling
into the lake and stumbling whilst covered
in blood. This we felt would make the trailer more
exciting with a more diverse set of shots.

9. We also went back onto Premiere Pro and shortened lots of the
shots to bring the pace of the trailer quicker when it
nears the end. We also added a jump scare to the end of the trailer
as one of the most dominant criticisms was that there was no visual
jump scare. The re-shoots and the re-editing of our trailer helped it
dramatically I feel that it has make it a more dynamic and
interesting trailer that will now appeal to a wider audience.

10. Please see the rough cut and the final cut for
comparison.
Rough Final
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR_yJ2BRR_
w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pveiq-aW45Q

11. To end the audience feedback stage, we finally did an
evaluation screening to re-show our peers our trailer with
all of the adaptations that we had made after the focus group
screening. We were very happy with the comments from the
screenings, and averaged over 8/10,confirming that our
trailer was both improved and successful in appealing to our
target audience.
To watch evaluation screening please follow link below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_LJTTK3wKs

12. After the evaluation screening we got responses such as: “It
looks really professional, good
storyline contextually” and “Good
cinematography and editing
techniques”. Our target audience is a mainstream fan
base who particularly likes psychological horror as their
preferred sub-genre. Our class of approximately 50/50 male and
female students aged 18-19 perfectly fit this demographic.

13. I now feel the final trailer for The Hanging Tree will appeal
to this target audience because it is more suspenseful
than gory. The narrative that drives the trailer
rather than any horrific body horror effects, we have also put a
great enthusiasm into the design and the stylisation of the film
which will attract a more mainstream
audience as this is what they would expect from a large
blockbuster style film.

14. My personal favourite aspect of this
trailer is the fast montage at the end of The
Hanging Tree because I feel that this technique
raises the heart rate of the viewer and
puts them in a state of disorientated panic
because of the fast changing images.

15. This fast montage contains shots which have
body horror, expressionist angles, with a
mixture of long shots and close ups, low key
and high key lighting, this creates a type of collision
cutting between shots. This technique has also been
used in trailers for Saw 2 and 30 Days of Night where
the pacing increases as the trailer goes on finishing with a
fast montage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxC0Um9zSqY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43vIxz2SRVo