What have I leant from my audience feedback

1. WHAT HAVE I LEARNT
FROM MY AUDIENCE
FEEDBACK?
Question 3

2. • Audience feedback is crucial in creating successful media
products, in particular for advertisement campaigns for
film because the profit and success of the actual film is
dependent on audience consumption and response of the
promotion. My three products, trailer, magazine and
poster all work together to promote our horror film
Eighteen. I made drafts for the poster and magazine, and
my group made a draft of our trailer, which we then
screened to an audience. The feedback from the drafts
helped me to improve the 3 products and helped me to
better understand what makes an audience interested and
excited in a campaign. After showing a selection of
people my ancillary drafts, the audience told me that to
improve my magazine I should add more cover lines to
attract a wider audience, who will have a range of
interests of different stories, I also decided to add a
kicker to the main cover line to explain to the audience
what to expect from the interview/ story. The feedback I
received form my poster was to only put one main image on
the page, two images is confusing to the eye, if I chose
to include only one it will automatically become stronger
as it will make a feature. Researching how other horror
films have been advertised helped me to realise my three
products need to work in unison, for example when
researching Women in Black, I found that one of the
reasons that the film was so successful is because they
based the advertisement on one particular actor (Daniel
Radcliffe), they made him the face of the posters,
magazine covers and interviews etc. the effect this had
was that as soon as you saw his face he was related to
the film, making readers want to go see it. Therefore, I
chose a similar technique, the main actors in our trailer
is also the cover star of my magazine and poster (don’t
actually see a face but same outfit as in trailer);
however the audience don’t actually know who she is and
the role she plays; therefore making them want to watch
the film and find out. The audience feedback of these
three products was also crucial because it helped me to
figure out what the marketing, distribution and promotion
strategy would be if I were to professionally advertise
this film, for example the ‘reach’ of the products.

3. HOW I COLLECTEDTHE
FEEDBACK
• To collect audience feedback our group set up a screening of our trailer rough
cut and screened it to the rest of our media class, which are a group of male
and female, 17-20 year olds, which of course are part of the primary demographic
for horror films. We felt we would get the most effective feedback if we showed
our trailer in a manner which was the best shots in the order we wanted them
along with the sound effects; however, we didn’t add the institutional data or
all of the sound effects, I think this allowed the audience to focus on the
shots more, which in turn helped us to improve them, such as the speed of them,
as some of the improvements included the duration and speed of the shots. We
wanted feedback with a range of non-biased opinions; therefore, we screened the
trailer to the class, which was an audience who had never seen the trailer
before, then we asked them to write down three positive points and three
improvements/constructive criticism. We decided writing down the feedback would
be better than discussing each individuals point as a class because it could
risk people influencing one another opinion; therefore, skewing the results of
our feedback. We did receive some very helpful feedback, which helped me to
improve my ancillary products and our trailer; therefore, I think the feedback
format was successful.

4. NEGATIVES
• We received constructive criticism which we could work on and help
improve our trailer. It was suggested to us to that our equilibrium
was too long, people stated that the scenes leading up to the fast
pace actions shots were on screen for too much time, which implies
they lost interest in the trailer at the beginning. Of course we
didn’t want this effect, what we are trying to achieve is to
establish the characters and reinforce the juxtaposition between the
binary oppositions good vs. evil.
• Another relevant point given to us was that our narrative structure
could be explained more clearly. The audience felt that the trailer
was very chaotic and complicated; therefore, what they wanted were
more clear details about the plot and what is the main storyline of
the film. However, our aim was to achieve a confusing narrative
because our research of horror films have shown that complicated
horror trailer are the most effective because it have the effect of
making the audience want to find out what happens; therefore, buy a
ticket.
• An improvement that I agree was very important to work on was the
jump scare at the end, when we screened our trailer, we had the jump
scare shot, which shows a mid shot Ashley’s character (me) cover in
bruises and blood, its a very effective, fast shot and needed a
sound effect to go along with the jump scare. Our feedback suggested
we needed an effect that was very scary and frightening, in order to
achieve a tense, impact, to finish the trailer on a suspenseful and
horrifying tone.
• Another factor the audience said to improve is the institutional
data, of course we knew we needed to add it in, we just hadn't yet
decided on which font to use; however we did know what we wanted to
include. In my initial audience research, which was a survey on
survey monkey, suggested that over half over the audience would most
likely want to hear about the film on social media; therefore, at
the very end of the the trailer we added social media links an
hashtags to help with the reach of the film.
This shot had to be shortened- we decided to
cut out the middle section to ensure we eat the audience attention
We searched for a variety of jump scare sound
effects, we couldn’t find any that perfectly suited our shot; therefore,
we blended and merged two sounds together.
Our narrative structure its similar to that
of the 1970’s film, the beast in the cellar.
The narrative of this film isn’t given away
away until the very end, resulting in a
very gripping film, the plot line is that
someone is trapped in a cellar but we
don’t know who it is, why they are there
or who put then there- which are
questions our audience will as-
which will make a very gripping trailer
because people want to invest in the
story and find out more.

5. POSITIVES
• Our audience thought many aspects of our trailer were
successful. They thought the fast pace of our shots
helped to build tension and suspense, in particular,
the flicks of the attic which were all merged between
the underwater shots, shot on a Go-Pro. The change in
angle helped to split up the shots so they didn’t all
blend, the audience said these range of shot types
helped to quicken the pace, making it scarier.
• As I mentioned previously, we chose to include
underwater shots of the main character drowning. The
audience said they liked this shot because it was
very unusual. It was created on a Go-Pro as opposed
to the DSLR, so that we could shoot in water, we used
multiple, repeated shots of this scene, we got
responses that the audience liked this repetition
because it gave some structure to the trailer plus
the shot increased the tension.
• Another positive response from he audience was about
non-diegetic, asynchronous sounds we used. The happy
birthday soundtrack, we got made for us so that it
fit the exact atmosphere we were trying to achieve.
The audience like that it gave a contrapuntal feel
tot the trailer, which made it very creepy and
suggesting a supernatural/ psychological. On top of
this sound we layered the tense violin, which
inscribed intensity as the shots became quicker, the
audience liked that the pace of the sound and shots
matched up to one another as it created continuity
and helped the trailer feel complete.
GoPro, underwater shot

6. • After receiving this feedback we analysed our
trailer and found that the criticism we received
helped us to see where we could improve. We focussed
on the equilibrium, and looked at each individual
shot, the shots of us talking on the table at the
beginning, we cut shorter because once it had
established we were at a birthday with friends,
there wasn't anything else to see. Shortening these
shots helped with the pace of the start of the
trailer, ensuring that the viewer wouldn't get bored
of looking at the same shots. Another adjustment we
made was to improve the jump scare, we made the shot
even shorter, then added a high pitch, highly loud
sound to shock the viewer, as we ensured this shot
was in between the institutional data.