What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback

Our target audience is teenages boy mainly, although I think it would be well suited to groups of friends and possibly couples to see rather than the traditional romance genre. I got my audience feedback through several ways. Firstly we had a class discussion, also we advertised our trailer on Facebook and Youtube. I also gathered some feedback by personally showing people I could the video when available and ask for their opinion.

I found out from some audience feedback from multiple people about some aspects of my trailer which could be changed for a better production.
Firstly for my trailer the audience felt as if the protagonist wasn't clearly recognised enough. There was a shared response of confusion about who the focus should be set upon during the time of the teaser trailer. This is a problem as the main protagonist is a key factor to the understanding of where the roles play within the film. As much as we want to excite and confuse the audience we also need to make sure they have some understanding of how the film is set out and what it's about.

Another problem that the audience found was that there wasn't an actually set theme going throughout the trailer. There are slight filters of red every now and then to distinguish the evil however they didn't feel there was enough of a red theme. This is usually very helpful as it creates continuity within the film. Without a continuing theme the audience could get rather confused about the evil and the good and aren't actually able to distinguish the difference between them. For example if there is red fillters and green through a points of view shot they may not know which is good or bad.

The audience didn't like the movie title itself, they liked the inter titles throughout the film but when it came to the actually movie title they said it wasn't very professional and could have used some work. This is very inportant for showing the production value. Although many horrors today are cheap to make, if the audience knew about some of the budjet put into films they may be less or more likely to view it. If a film has a high budjet then they will expect good graphics and props etc and expect a good film, whereas the oppisite with a poor budjeted film. Good designs for your titles in a film will interpret to the audience the money spent on the film.

They said that the music was good although in some places they said it felt out of place and as though it didn't belong in that part of the trailer. The audience said they didn't like how it start either, they didn't like the opening scene of the running legs with the upbeat music. They said it started a bit too quick and the music wasn't very good. A good music set is essential for production. If you've ever watched  a horror trailer or movie in silence you would understand. It creates suspence within the production keeping the audience on the edge of their seat. Effectively without the music it's just people running around. The music also gives a lsight sense to what's about to happen. For example if it builds up when someone is running you know he's about to run into something bad or mysterious. This is the MAIN component we had to sort out it had complete priority as it is the most important factor of any horror to make it effective.

However from after the beginning they said it all came together and was very good. We had a lot of positive feedback about the shot where we zoom into the photo of the water tower and then zoom out and we are in the area of the actually water tower. This is a very important shot in the production as it distinguishes the change in setting and explains why they're suddenly in a forest. We need a way to show why they're suddenly in a forest after being at college. We do this by making him find a picture left over by the antagonist and then he finds the actually water tower. When he is at the water tower mysterious things begin to happen.

The darkness and forest worked well as it created a very dark and evil place and was easy to shoot as it was quiet and empty.  It was good because it allowed us to get our shots quicker and edit them faster so we can prepare for other sorts like music or shots we need to add etc. Rather than waiting around in a place and hoping for it to be empty and quiet every now and then.

Our quick montage was praised as it was very quick and was like an actually teaser trailer. There were some very good shots praised within the montage as it was all linked in with the forest and had quick shots showing both what could possibly be the protagonist and the antagonist. These are very useful in a teaser trailer as they are able to show a lot of clips to keep the audience interested without spoiling the film.