The document summarizes audience feedback from questionnaires given during the development of a student film project. It discusses how the filmmakers responded to feedback from an initial questionnaire by clarifying the storyline and adjusting the intended film certificate. A second questionnaire after a rough cut provided feedback on the genres conveyed, appropriate music and certificate. Most understood the storyline and suggested adding more music to enhance the action.

1. z
Evaluation Question 3
What have you learned
from your audience
feedback?
George Johnson

2. z
How did you respond to the original brief
with the audience in mind?
Our original brief was to create a short film, approximately 5 minutes in
length. To initially prepare for the film, each member of the group
compiled a list of potential film idea, and then wrote detailed synopses
about 1-3 of those ideas. Following this, as a group we discussed a
variety of factors such as; which film would be the most interesting and
the uniqueness of each film, to determine what idea would form the
basis of our movie.
In order to allow mass market proliferation of our film to increase,
exposing it to a wider variety of people, we as a group chose to grant
the film idea chosen, a thriller entitled ‘Misplaced’, a 12A certificate,
limiting its exclusivity and allowing a developed and family-friendly
thriller film be made.

3. z
How did you respond to the original brief
with the audience in mind?
In order to establish our target audience and rectify anything within
the film that may be inappropriate for our intended genre, we
created a preliminary questionnaire so that any issues could be
ironed out or if any extra factors could be incorporated.

4. z
Audience Feedback
Did you understand the storyline?
16/20 people claimed that they did understand the
clear and concise storyline, whereas only 4 of the 20
individuals surveyed struggled to grasp the concept of
the movie, citing it as ‘slightly confusing’. Following this
feedback, we as a group, attempted to amend any
issues that would cause a hindrance to the film’s clarity,
by re-writing parts of the film, or by even excluding
them from editing and filming.

5. z
Audience Feedback
What music would best fit this movie?
45% of those surveyed claimed that ambient music, music
which related to the content of the film would have been
the type of music best matched to our film. However, due
to the varied results, particularly the fact that 35% voted
for orchestral music, and the rather anomalous 5% who
voted for rap, indicated that people’s personal preferences
and broad music taste, may have hindered the results.
Ultimately, it was quite difficult to comply with the results
as our film appeared as a fast-paced thriller in post-
production, and to include any music other than rock,
among other fast-tempo genres, would have been out of
place.

6. z
Audience Feedback
What certificate would you give this film?
Our intended certificate at the offset of planning was
that of a 12A, so that a wider variety of audience could
be achieved, and this was reflected with in our results,
55% of people correctly identifying this based upon the
initial synopsis. However, due to the 35% who believed
the film may have been granted a 15 certificate, we
concluded that the violence and swearing, as appeared
in the synopsis, should best be minimised; and thus
when the process of scriptwriting occurred, many
details were omitted, ensuring the film was eligible for a
12A certificate.

7. z
Audience Feedback
What type of film do you usually prefer?
The results regarding people’s favourite genre of film were
varied, yet our group decided that the best course of action was
to attempt to incorporate factors from most of these genres as
possible, in order to extend the viewership of our movie and
appeal to a wider audience. Obviously, as our film was intended
to be a thriller, we would naturally appeal to the 35% who claimed
thrillers were their favourite genre of movie. Within our synopsis,
elements of comedy were included, some of which were
excluded from our final film, but ultimately a comedic subtext was
maintained throughout. In order to appeal to horror and action
fans, levels of suspense were maintained throughout,
culminating in an attempted murder/ fight scene that would have
appealed to most who answered our survey.

8. z
Audience Feedback
Would you watch this film?
16/20 people claimed that they would watch this film;
corresponding to the 16/20 who claimed that they
understood the content of the synopsis; a clear correlation
between the two. The 16 claimed that the plot twist at the
end was a reason for watching it, citing that it adds extra
thrills to an already exciting film. However, those who
claimed that they would not watch the film, in addition to
not being able to comprehend the action, claimed that
thrillers were becoming outdated and repetitive, a primary
reason why some comedy was introduced in the final film;
to appease those who simply think that the thriller genre is
too boring.

9. z
Rough Cut Questionnaire
After compiling a rough cut of our film, an essentially finished
version of the movie, with the exception of some music and
transitions, we gathered 20 more people to complete a second
questionnaire. This allowed us to gain more audience feedback on
how the film could be improved.

10. z
Audience Feedback
What genre do you think this film is?
40% of those asked believed that the film was a thriller,
whereas 35% also correctly identified elements of
comedy within the film, and 15% were able to
recognise the allusion to the action genre. Ultimately
this proved our film was a success in conveying it’s
genre.

11. z
Audience Feedback
What certificate would you grant this film?
One half of the surveyed correctly identified that our
film was intended to be a 12A, indicating that our
research into BBFC film certification had not been in
vain and that this had been clearly conveyed within our
movie. A quarter of the surveyed argued that the
moderate swearing and violence in the film was
enough to grant it a 15 certificate, yet due to the
appropriate use of the coarse language and lack of
brutality, coupled with the fact that they were both
unlikely to cause emotional distress, meant that we
believed that a 12A certificate would be more relevant.

12. z
Audience Feedback
What music would best fit this movie?
45% of those surveyed claimed that rock music would
be the best type of music to use, confirming our
hypothesis that this would be the most incidental genre
to use. The variety of the other results indicated that
perhaps further research into genres was necessary to
determine an appropriate mood-via-music; yet
ultimately the majority of tunes used, were of the rock
genre.

13. z
Audience Feedback
Did you understand the storyline?
Only 3 people claimed that they were unable to
understand the storyline, indicating its clarity. These
results may also ensure that our film has to be watched
more than once to be fully immersed in the details,
possibly allowing our film to be financially successful, if
released to a wider audience.

14. z
Audience Feedback
Is there anything that can be improved
upon?
The majority of those surveyed claimed that by adding in more
music, the viewers would be more enthralled by the action. Some
also suggested the introduction of a narrator, or for the main
antagonist, Tony, to use a voiceover to explain his thoughts,
essentially ‘filling in any blanks’ within the film’s continuity.