Evaluation Question Two : What Have You Learnt From Your Audience Feedback?

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.



Ancillary Task : Audience Research Into Film Reviews...

I decided that although the Internet and offcourse existing magazines are great resources to finding out key information about reviews, from the different reviews to the code and conventions, a computer cannot give you a human response. Therefore it was crucial for me to conduct some audience research into what my target audience generally think of reviews, what key elements they feel should be included and whether they actually read any reviews. I asked 10 people ranging from a variety of ages from 15 to 56 both male and female and have created a summary of the knowledge I gained from this :


1. Have you ever read any film reviews?
The response I gained was mostly a yes, this was not specifically just to film magazines some had read them within general magazines such 'Closer' and 'Heat' whereas others had read film reviews via the internet on sites such as the guardians media blog and the total film online website. Only a few of my target audience had actually specifically brought a film magazine, and one of these was the one who had studied media as an A-level, with most of the older audience having read them within the radio times or in the newspaper.

2. What elements you would expect to find within a review?
Mostly the response was the obvious "the text, an image of the film, some kind of rating and a title". There was a few who included other information, such as a background to the film, recommondations of other films and maybe how to access more reviews from that particular source online.

3. What kind of magazines are you attracted to within the shop?
Due to my vast range of ages there was a vast range of responces, the younger audience said "look, now and closer", whereas the older generation said "good food". "dales man" and "gardners world". This showed me how infuluential the magazine industry is and the vast product that is available for readers, and therefore although not specifically focussed on film reviews people are still intrested in magazines and therefore is a key source to stream a film review.


4. Would you base your judgement to see a film based on a review?
The response was mixed, some really trusted reviews and stated that it would put them off seeing a film if a repsonse had been a bad one whereas others said that they wouldnt as it was based on a subjective opionion which was mostly biased and that although they make take it into account they would want to see the film to judge for themseleves whether it was so bad or not

5. How important do you think the image is to a review?
The response was that for many the image was of importance if they were flicking through a magazine and saw an image from the film, and thought they were intrested in the film than they were more likely to read the review on basis of seeing the image. It also gives a small snip-pit of the film away as it is directly from the film, tending to include the characters this means that they felt they wrere more likely to watch the film to find out about the particular characters

Ancillary Task : Audience Research Into Potential Posters...

So overall I feel the best image for my poster is the one of the brogues with the white snow backdrop, however of course at the heart of all film is the audience of which it is made for and therefore I have created two potential posters in order to get a response to which image they feel makes the most effective poster (I decided to leave the third image out of this equation not only making the choice a little easier but also because I am going to use this print screen image within my film review and it is uncommon to have the same image for both the review and poster).

Poster Choice One

Overall Response : This feels a bit too much of a busy image for a poster, which lacks a feeling of a central point in which to fixate the audiences eye on. The writing also ends up being lost in the image and it is not one which will instantly draw an audiences eye and make it the next film you want to see. This feed back I agree with and I am pleased to say that the image I chose also corresponded with my target audiences choice

Poster Choice Two

 

 

Overall Response : This is a much stronger image for a poster, although simple it corresponds well with the genre of the film and the use of shoes is the iconic object that is used throughout the film so an obvious choice to include within the film poster. The central position of the image draws the audiences eye in which was one thing the first image was lacking. I agree with this feedback, and feel that using an image of shoes was really important for film poster as it is from this primary object that my idea for my short film started 



Ancillary Task : Audience Research Into Film Posters...

I decided that although the Internet is a great resource to findings out key information about poster, from the variety of posters to the code and conventions, a computer cannot give you a human response. Therefore it was crucial for me to conduct some audience research into what my target audience generally think of posters, what key elements they feel should be included and whether they actually take any notice of posters. I asked 10 people ranging from a variety of ages from 15 to 56 both male and female and have created a summary of the knowledge I gained from this :

1. What elements would you expect to find on a poster?
From the responses I received although only one of them had studied media studies at A-level (and that was a few year ago) everyone gave responses of which summarised the conventions that you would find on a film poster "main image, main title, main actors name, cast and crew, release date, possibly a key tag line from the film and maybe an age certification".






2. Would a film poster persuade you to see a film?
This was a response that I came across was that for some film posters are influential, especially ones that are more unique and stand out such as "the black swan poster". For many the poster is the the sole component that will persuade them to see a film but a collection of elements such as the review and generally hub about the film. If a well known actor was on the poster, one of my audience responses stated that they "may be more persuaded to see the film as they knew from the past work that they have done that
they are good".



3. Do you have a favourite poster?
This was a question that was open and could include any posters, some of my younger target audience said that they had favourite posters of music stars, whereas my older audience said they didn't particular have a favourite poster. The response I received specifically about film posters was that one on their "favourite poster is 'The Cabin in the Woods'", which was also rated on total film as the number one greatest film poster another of poster that came up as a favourite was "This is 40, due to the comical aspect of it, it cant but make you laugh" (surprisingly enough this was young adult males sense of humour!).



4. Do you buy any other products that are inspired by the main image on the poster, such as T-shirts or larger copies of the poster?
Many of the responses were I buy DVDs which have the image on the font of the cover, but I do not buy it specially for the cover. In the past some have brought larger copies for bedroom walls, however out of my target audience members none had brought t-shirts with the poster image on.

5. What kind of image would you like to see on a poster?
Many stated they would like to see an image that either included a main actor which would persuade them to see the film, or an image that left a bit of mystery was simplistic and made as an audience member you wanting to watch the film to find out what it was really all about. For example the response from the one whose favourite poster was 'The cabin in the woods' stated this was so "because it was so simple, it didn't give away the film and though just a single object created a feeling of the genre of the film".

Creation of a Short Film : Audience Research...

Initially we created pitches for the idea that we planned to focus on and carry through. The following week we have the "big screening", whereby we presented our pitches to the rest of our media class; and after a few giggles, and embarrassment of seeing yourself on the "big screen". I personally found the feedback very helpful, in helping me conclude that in fact my short film did need an aspect of structure. The only issue that arose with gaining audience research from our media class, is that we were receiving research from the age range, with the same educational background and of the same culture when in fact our short films are targeted towards a range of ages, education backgrounds and cultures. Therefore I was really interested for my main audience research, to similar as I did for my AS research explore the big wide world and gain some perspectives on my idea, this in turn allowed me to gain feedback from a range of ages, genders and occupational backgrounds to find out what different characters would be attracted to my film. I decided that instead of creating a straight forward video of the camera positioned directly at my potential audience member, I would create my own spin on the radio 4 media show, therefore I have created an radio interview style of the discussion of short films. I put forward five main questions in order to gain an insight :
1. How would you define a short film?
2. What criteria do you think a short film should take?
3. Are there any specific element you think a short film should include?
4. Do you like this potential idea put forward for a short film?
5. Is there anything you would add?
These five questions not only give me an idea of their views towards my short film idea, but also what they feel a short film is and for them what the crucial elements are to include within my piece to ensure that it comes across as a short film.

Creation of a Short Film : Audience Feedback to Inital Idea...

The video which I created describing my initial idea, was shown to my peers within one of our lessons, they then all commented on my blog post giving me feedback of what they initially thought of the idea, what problems they thought would arise with the idea, and proposing a few questions about characters/locations/ structure. Below is the comments that I received :

Caitlin RobbinsOctober 1, 2012 2:38 AM

This idea is really original and I feel it will work really well especially with your niece's shoes compared to that of a career woman or something like that. Would you have a narration over the top or any dialogue at all?

Lily VosperOctober 1, 2012 2:38 AM

Unusual and original idea, what range of age groups are your going to use? Will you use elderly people?

Ben 'Gary' HurstOctober 1, 2012 2:38 AM

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. How do you plan on making the emotion out of just simply shots of shoes?
Evie CalabyOctober 1, 2012 2:38 AM

You have a very strong idea of what you want to create and it's good that you can already identify possible problems with the piece as it means that you can plan well in advance. I like the idea but as you think that it's unstructured, have you thought about ways to keep the audience's attention i.e. with music or a voiceover?

Farah's MediaOctober 1, 2012 2:39 AM

Really interesting idea Alice! I like the connotations and meaning behind the shoes which is creative; the philosophy will really engage the audience and perhaps teach them a lesson morally! Varied use of shots will be really interesting, you should start thinking about effective locations etc. Well done! :D

MarthaOctober 1, 2012 2:39 AM

I think your idea is really creative and it has so much potential. I think its good how you have said you want it to be more artistic, and by shooting in a range of locations etc it will be. I love the simplicity of the idea, because you're right, everyone does look at least one other person and wonder what it would be like to be them. How many different characters and paths are you going to follow?NicoleO'MalleyOctober 1, 2012 2:39 AM

Really like your idea, it seems to have a good structure to it by following a range of characters. Have you thought about what locations you will use - you mentioned the character in stilettos to be in London, will it be too busy to film there or will you find a more friendly environment? Also, how well will you be able to capture the characters' lives considering that it is a short film?BeatriceOctober 1, 2012 2:39 AM

I think you have a good solid idea and I like that you have used a quote to back up your idea, but have you thought about what the actual story is going to be and how to set it out in each part. I think you've thought a lot about what the film should make people think and feel, but maybe work some more on the films structure.LizzieeOctober 1, 2012 2:39 AM

It works really well that you have come up with an idea that is based on a saying that everyone will have heard of. This will help the viewer to ask the right questions when they watch the film and consider the thoughts behind it. There is also a lot of scope for considering camera angles and making it visually interesting. Do you have a clear idea of the character?

aimeeshingfieldOctober 1, 2012 2:39 AM

I really like the idea, but feel perhaps you do need some structure and follow a certain person, as well as others. Perhaps you could focus on two people, very different, so black high heels and working boots, and they meet? I just think it may need a plot to keep the audience interested. Also how are you going to get the whole day in a life of someones shoes across, will you write this in as titling? I also think you could maybe go with ages..so work up the ages of shoes, such as a little girl, teenager, adult, grandparent etc maybe? or all the shoes that go past one place? I like the idea just think it needs a little bit of structure, should definitely keep the idea of shoes though!

 

I personally believe that I need to develop a more of a structure to my film to ensure that the audiences interest is always kept, also to ensure that I have enough footage for a 5 minute short, therefore I am going to explore through research how I could incorporate more structured yet still keep the contemporary feel to my film.