I have created a pie chart which shows how much positive feedback there was in comparison to negative feedback, which visually shows how much the audience feedback helped as they could identify this percentage of improvements compared to positives. Whilst the positive feedback was helpful as it told us what points had gone well, the negative feedback was more helpful as it was constructive and they identified weaknesses that we couldn’t see ourselves, improving the overall finished product.
After we held 2 viewings of our trailer this was the positive feedback we received on what they felt worked well:
-They felt the soundtracks we used worked well together and were good as they allowed the pace of our trailer to progress and build up to an adrenaline filled climax.
-They liked the intertitles as we incorporate an aspect of our film into them (the barn).
-They liked the way we built up from a conversation at the beginning of our trailer and ended with a fast paced action filled section.
-They said how our section of quick cuts with a series of fade to blacks onto the barn worked very well.
However we also had some criticisms which were:
-They felt the one of our fade to blacks between a shot reverse shot at the beginning of our trailers made it confusing and didn't add to the film.
-They couldn't hear the conversation between our actors at the end of the trailer as the music was too loud.
-Our audience were split on opinion on whether or not our voice over worked due to the American accent.
-They couldn't see the relevance of our title in our trailer.
-The text on the inter title needs some improvement.
Here are the main changes we made to our trailer to improve our work after receiving feedback:
Change 1:
“The fade to black on the shot reverse shot and the start makes it confusing”.
We used lots of fade to blacks throughout our film because they help to build suspense and create mystery around the scenes as it hinders the shot for a slight second. We decided to use this in our conversation between the characters because they are having the conversation about why they are all in an abandoned barn. However after our criticism we looked at this fade to black between India and Joe and decided that it didn’t work, it broke the fluidity in the conversation and didn’t fit. This now fitted the scene much better because we changed it for a simple cut which is a typical transition to use between a shot reverse shot. This audience feedback was very helpful as we were able to remove the confusion, whilst keeping the other fade to blacks in the scene, allowing us to still conform to the stereotypical conventions of the thriller trailer.
Change 2:
“We can’t hear the conversation between the actors in the final scene of the trailer”.
We had our “battleship descends” soundtrack in the second half of our trailer because the beat of the song compliments the visual montage. It was a similar soundtrack to the “Revenant” trailer, so we knew this method was effective as it had been used in a real successful media text, which was also a thriller. So we wanted to keep this soundtrack throughout the second half of the trailer, but had to take this criticism on board so the audience can here the diegetic dialogue too. To overcome this we went on the audio transitions and found an “expedential fade”, this was an audio effect which would slowly fade out the music with the option of where to start the fade. This allowed me to start the fade out just before the conversation so that you can hear exactly what they are saying. This was very effective because it meant we didn't have to decrease the volume of the rest of the soundtrack, conforming the the genre conventions of loud fast paced music in thriller trailers, as seen in “Revenant”. Therefore this criticism was vital to the construction of the trailer because this was an element that we hadn’t spotted ourselves, yet was obviously a major feature of our trailer so correcting this was essential for success.
Change 3:
“Not too sure whether the voiceover works or not”
We decided to use a voiceover at the half way point of our trailer to compliment the first scene and to clarify the narrative. It says “This summer, 4 strangers, get a surprise they wasn't expecting”. Our feedback was that they liked the voiceover itself because it works well in our trailer and is a stereotypical thriller convention. However the voice over was recorded in an American accent as this is what we had seen in our research of movie trailers, having the trailer appear professional. However due to the stereotypical English characters and settings they felt it simply didn’t work, where it works in trailers like Oujia which are American. We started off by using the style of the dramatic voice, just without the accent. However this also didn’t work as it made our audience want to laugh which is the opposite of what a physiological thriller trailer should do. We also took this audience feedback onboard and thought about methods of avoiding this. We wanted to keep the voiceover as it was so important to the narrative aspects of the trailer as mentioned, and after several other recordings we figured it out. We used a mundane male voiceover, which didn’t take away from the tension and suspense that the trailer builds, whilst also conveying the narrative. This allowed us to conform to the thriller voiceover convention whilst also not hindering the effectiveness of the trailer by making it comic. Having this critical feedback from our audience was vital as initially we liked the first voiceover and didn’t see any issues, yet upon reflection it is now much better with the advice, consequently improving the trailer.
Change 4:
“What is the relevance of the title to the trailer?”
We initially took our inspired from the numbered title in 1408, and decided on the title “18.02” as it was the birthday that tied all of the characters together. We made it very clear in the audience that trailer that the 4 strangers were connected by their birthdays, but didn’t this didn’t reflect the specific date in particular. Therefore our feedback reflected this as they couldn't spot the relation. Once taking this advice on board, we decided we wanted to keep the title related to this main narrative aspect as it is central to the plot, and many thriller like Oujia, use their main narrative in their title. After drafting ideas we decided on “D.O.B” (date of birth), it still relates directly to their connection of birthdays, whilst making it a lot more obvious. After changing the title the audience agreed this was a much better choice, immediately conveying the narrative and making it memorable.
Change 5:
“Try and make the text more interesting on the intertitles”
Although we received some very positive feedback for our inter titles, which was the barn effect background, they felt the text could be improved. To do this we looked at whether the font was effective. In our research we found a very similar style of serif font in annabelle’s inter titles, which is why we decided to use this, and as it was effective in a real media text we decided to keep it the same. However we agreed that there was room for improvement, which is why we decided to use effects on the text. Orginally in our draft the text just cut onto the screen with the inter titles. However we used a blur special effect on them, so that they would transition from a nothing into the text and then fade back out before the inter title ends. This made the inter titles appear much more professional as movement in inter titles is what catches the attention and engages the audience as we found in our research. So this feedback to make improvements on this area greatly benefitted the trailer, by further engaging the audience.
In my ancillary tasks I also displayed my draft film magazine and poster to the class and received some more feedback, which was:
Positive:
-The magazine layout looks very modern and effective.
-They liked the use of photo manipulation for the sticker and the special interview.
-I was told the main image in the film poster was very engaging
-They liked the tagline and the font I used.
Negative:
-They felt the large red title clashed with the rest of the orange colour scheme.
-They felt said the shoulder of Hayley looked odd because of the angle I took the shot at.
-They say how the ghost I used on the poster wasn’t obvious that it was a ghost.
-I was told how I should try to make the “Hayley Brown is Charlotte”, fit the poster better.
Change 6:
“The red on the title clashes with the orange colour scheme”
I had created the title to offer a different colour to the magazine to avoid over-loading the front cover with orange, and I chose blood to connote blood and danger as it linked into our psychological thriller trailer. However after receiving this feedback I knew I had to adapt the colour as the colours orange and red clash too much when there is so much of it, ruining the appearance of the front cover. I tried changing it firstly to white and then black, (after I put a background onto the front cover) although they both clashed even more than the originally red colour as they stood out too much. After trial and error I decided to try the orange colour that I had used to the rest of the colour scheme. It is important to keep a front cover fluid as seen in my research of Empire magazines, and keeping the orange throughout allowed me to do this and avoid clashing. This audience feedback was vital for this aspect of my magazine front cover as it avoided the overpowering and clashing look that I otherwise would have had.
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| Draft |
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| After Audience Feedback |
Change 7:
“Hayley’s shoulder looks odd, maybe because of the angle its taken at”
I agreed immediately with this feedback and it was something I had spotted myself but I was unsure of how to rectify it. I firstly tried cutting it out using the lasso tool on photoshop, but after doing so it made her shoulder look stranger because it was obvious something was missing. I then decided that I would simply cover the shoulder so that nobody would see it, rather than taking it out. I used photoshop to create a competition sticker in the top right corner of where her shoulder it, covering up the shoulder but not taking away from the effectiveness of the close up shot. This feedback was very useful as it made me re-think my approach to how I could improve this aspect of the magazine cover.
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| Draft |
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| After Audience Feedback |
Change 8:
“The ghost looks like a mad-hatter rather than a ghost”
This feedback was important because the mad-hatter was not an effect I was trying to achieve of the front cover of my magazine. Personally I couldn’t see this and one half of the class liked the ghost effect. However I am looking to target my film at a mass market rather than a niche, so I decided I need it to be clear and appeal to everyone. Firstly I contemplated taking the ghost out completely, but this left the poster looking plain and didn’t reflect the film’s narrative as well. So I decided to change the ghost, making him slightly darker and also smaller. He still remained at an opacity of about 50% which meant he wasn’t completely bold, maintaining my element of mystery (a common element of psychological thriller poster). The ghost effect looked much more realistic and the audience said they could now see exactly what it was, allowing me to get the preferred reading of my product rather than the initial oppositional reading that I got from some people. So this audience feedback was great for me as it allowed me to know exactly where I was going wrong and rectify the issue before completing my final draft.
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| Draft |
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| After Audience Feedback |
Change 9:
“The ‘Hayley Brown As Charlotte’ doesn't fit the wall”
This was also a piece of criticism of my poster that I had considered myself. The text is positioned centrally to the poster as it is an important piece of information as Hayley Brown is an actor that is presented largely throughout all products to remain synergy. Therefore this brought attention to this and was effective. However because of the main image being taken on a wall with a corner on it there is a change in angle of the wall, making the text appear misplaced and unsuited to the poster. Therefore I decided it was vital to take on this advice and make some change to the text. I split the text into two different text boxes so I could rotate different parts of the texts at different angles on Photoshop. I used the rotate tool on photoshop to then align the text with the brickwork on the wall, making the text therefore fit the background and look much more effective.
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| Draft |
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| After Audience Feedback |
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