Below is the video I have created of me discussing what I have learnt from the feedback I received from my audience. I have also displayed the script of which I follow within the video
The Script For Evaluation Question
INT. FAMILY HOUSE. BEDROOM. DAY.
Camera focused on bed with fairy lights behind. Long shot of ALICE LENG (aged nineteen) sat on bed, discussing what she has learnt from her audience feedback.
ALICE LENG (O.S)
(Reflective voice)
As a product a film is derived for a target audience, and the
feedback gained both during and after the production is essential as it gives
the director the chance to see how the product will be received. Therefore the
feedback I gained on my pieces was crucial to my over development of a
successful film. I was able to develop on my AS exploration of defining the
target audience for certain media products within my A2 production by gaining
an understanding of the importance of addressing the target audience. Therefore
in order to ensure that the audience was drawn into my short film, I understood
that feedback would be crucial not just after the creation but throughout the
process of my advanced portfolio as for my AS I only gained feedback after the
creation of my film although I did gain it after the initial rough cut it meant
that I was restricted on how many elements I could change so this has also
taught me the value of feedback.
I gained some initial feedback early on during the production
stage when I created a video explaining my idea behind my short film. This
video I streamed onto my blog, in order to allow for my peers to watch during a
feedback lesson and in turn allowed me to gain written responses of their
thoughts and suggestions behind my idea, and therefore affected some of the
decisions I made especially relating to the narrative of my piece. Shoes have been an object that has been
present through the development of my short film idea, and from the initial
feedback I received, many of my peers stated that idea of walking in another
person’s shoes and the philosophical meaning behind the object was a strong
concept, for example one stated that “the idea of walking in someone else's
shoes has always been in film, making a short film about it would be a great
way to highlight this point in life about how you should consider other people
before yourself”. However I also took board the suggestions put forward and have
found that it was of great value to my creative decision making. Initially I
decided to create a visual piece, that was a montage of clips so therefore a
more contemporary artistic piece rather than following a linear narrative however
from my feedback, suggestions we made such as “I really like the idea, but feel
perhaps you do need some structure and follow a certain person”. This feedback
I found very valuable and decided that although I would continue with my visual
aspect by creating a silent film, I would create a more structured piece by
incorporating a linear narrative that focused on one particular character.
I also gained some initial feedback to my
idea for my short film from the audience research I carried out. This I
conducted in the form of a radio broadcast, and allowed me to use my idea as
the “discussion” for the show. I asked alongside the questions regarding their
ideas about the criteria for a short film, “Do you like this potential idea put
forward for a short film?” and “is there anything you would like to add?” From
the feedback I received overall they found my idea appealing and intriguing and
were especially interested to see “how the plots and themes will be translated
in such a short amount of time with no dialogue”, however a suggestion was made
that maybe “the audience is left a bit in the dark about the main character, I
think they need to be given a bit more of an insight into the character as this
is such an integral part to the overall arching theme of the piece”. I took
this piece of feedback on board, and although was still keen on keeping the
audience in the dark so they could make their own personal interpretation I did
create a character biography in order to ensure that as the director I
understood my character in-depth, which I felt would be reflected within the
piece.
The main feedback I received was post-production. I firstly
created a ‘rough cut’ of my film before I incorporated the music or final
credits, in order to allow for suggestions to be put forward and in turn for me
to make any changes to the footage, as for a silent film the music works in
sync with the visual images so I would be unable to make changes after that.
Each of my peers filled out an ‘audience research sheet’ where they could not
only give me feedback but also an estimated level and score. Overall the feedback
for my film was positive, with comments being specifically made on the
location, the variety of shots and the framing (I was especially happy with the
recognition for the variety of shots and framing as I felt that this was an
element that was weaker on my AS piece and has showed my progression from AS to
A2 and the development I have made). One issue that arose from my feedback was
that related to the disturbance of wind over the footage, however I had decided
once I made the choice to develop a silent film that the only sound I would
have would be non-digenetic music, so therefore this issue had already been
overcome. Another piece of constructive criticism was that relating to the fact
that “the tags were a little unreadable”, so in the future if I was recreating
this piece I would try to emphasise the labels and ensure that they were in
focus for a longer period of time so that they were readable to the audience,
in turn also showing the importance of the labels.
An issue that had arose early on from feedback of my initial
idea, was that maybe I needed more structure in order to make the plot
understanding, and although through development, my piece followed a more
linear narrative I was still concerned that people wouldn’t understand the
concept, visual imagery or meaning behind my film, as my piece is so dependent
on audience interpretation. However in order to use a variety of tools for
feedback, I streamed my piece to a group of people without telling them
anything before hand about my own concept and interpretation of the piece, I
then asked each person to write a summary of the interpretation they made of my
piece in just two sentences. To my surprise all of the feedback I received
demonstrated that they understood the symbolism of the shoes, and the overall
concept behind my film, therefore demonstrating that although it was a thought
provoking piece the basic elements were understandable. An example of the
summaries I received is that it “Considers how a person is reflected by the
shoes they wear - where they belong and the quality and stage of their life”.
Although throughout my project I ensured that I gained feedback,
the majority of my feedback was gained from media students and therefore I felt
that once I had created my final cut it was important for me to gain feedback
from a wider target audience. I therefore decided to stream my piece not only
on YouTube, but also on my facebook and ask for general feedback to my piece,
which I found of great value. On my YouTube account I have received 85 views
and 2 likes, which is defiantly an improvement on the 22 views for my AS piece!
In terms of my facebook, the overall response feeling was positive an exemplar
response is ““Alice this was so beautiful! I don't think you could've chosen a
better title, 'Moments' fits with the Film so well. The music reflected the
mood completely, along with the dark lighting (getting in your mise-en-scene!)
You used so many different camera angles which kept it interesting for the
viewer. The fonts of the credits really suited the whole film.”
I also created a questionnaire which I felt would enable me to
gather a wide variety of feedback from a larger sample, but in a quick and
inexpensive way. These questionnaires I handed out to variety of ages ranging
from 15 to 55, both female and male. From the feedback I received I learnt that
my piece is diverse and aspects appeal to both male and female, however because
my protagonist character is female and I chose to have the ending whereby the
two characters are linked together in a romantic form the female audience could
relate more to the overall feeling of the piece (especially as it is all
revolved around shoes!). Therefore I have learnt that my target audience is
female, however the diversity of the film allows it to be of interest to a
variety of ages.
I also added questions specifically aimed at gaining feedback on
my ancillary tasks within the questionnaire. Although overall this would be one
change that I would make to my project if I was conducting it again, as I would
ensure that I gained the same level of feedback as I did for my film for my
ancillary tasks especially regarding the magazine review. However the feedback
that I did receive was positive especially with regard to my film review, as
many saw my review as professional and in turn I personally viewed it as more
successful than my film poster (one even stated that thought it was a print
screen of a real review!), but by gaining more feedback would of enabled me to
gain a broader picture as to what people thought of them. I do feel that my
research into both elements however was reflected in the overall piece, as I
learnt from this the importance of the visual image in creating an eye catching
product and I feel that one aspect I did gain feedback about during the process
of development was the visual images. From my feedback I learnt that the print
screen would be much stronger as the visual image for the review over the
poster, and going against the convention of using a visual image of the main
actress and using the physical object of a shoe for my poster image would make
the audience intrigued as to the plot of the film. Suggestions were made however with regard to
the poster that by having the quote in a different font, it made the poster wider
although I took this criticism on board for me I felt that if I had used the
same font for all the writing than the poster may have been too simple. Another
constructive criticism that was put forward regarding my poster was that maybe
I should of not have used the dots in the middle of each letter for the main
title, as this can convey a mixed message to the audience as to whether each individual
letter stands for a separate word, therefore although it was too late for me to
make this change it was something I took on board as valuable and if creating
again I would take this into account.
Overall I found that throughout the development of both my main
piece and my ancillary tasks, feedback from my potential audience was very influential
in terms of my creative decision making. An objective opinion was of great value,
especially after so long working on my piece my own view had been overshadowed
by faults I personally spotted, it was good to have a “fresh set of eyes” to
view my piece and in turn give me both praise and suggestions of improvement. There
the comments I received on the basis of my final piece gave me reason to
reflect on the areas which I had strength in and areas from which I can improve
next time, as after all media is all about developing on your skills.
SUMMARY OF FEEDBACK
So overall I have tried to use a variety of methods in order to gain feedback from my target audience allowing me to develop and learn from the suggestions put forward. The feedback includes : audience feedback sheets, written summary's, questionnaires, facebook, youtube, tallying and verbal answers to the questions I posed. From the feedback I gained positive suggestions especially regarding the overall concept of my film and the magazine review, but also constructive critism such as about the lack of structure could be confusing that has been an important asset to my fundamental creative decision making.
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