Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback? STENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
SOUND
SOUND
1.Sound was scary
1. Could add sound at the end
2.Sound was good
2. Sam talks but no sound, editing error
3.Good ambient sound
3. More gripping sound
4.Sound effects were good
4. Sound does not flow all the time
5.Music
5. Sounds of characters walking down stairs could have been included
CAMERA SHOTS/ANGLES
CAMERA SHOTS/ANGLES.
6.Good mirror shot
6. No crescendo
7.Like the shot of the figure outside the window
7. Montage
8.Good focus pull around the tree
8Could be quicker and more intense
9.Good 360 around Sam's head
9. No major jumpy shots
10.Figure comes out from behind the tree
10. Ending slow
11.Forest shot of Sam in the forest gives disorientation
11. Not jumpy enough
12.Good use of shots to build suspense and establishing shots
12. Shot duration
13.Birdseye shot of the game
14. Last shot effect didn’t work
14.Montage was good E.G walking down the stairs
15. More shots of Ouija board could have been used
15.Ouija board shot
16. Changes pace at random times
16.Lighting
17. Don't show Hannah dead, as this gives it away
17.Lots of shots overall and fast shots at the end
18. Not a great ending
18.Good camera shots(forest/tree)
19. Text was too slow
19.Good shot of the knife 20.Girl falling down the stairs 21.Last shot of the figure coming out from behind the tree 22.Quick cuts of killer girl walking down the stairs 23.Good high angle shots 24.Sped up bit in the woods makes you want to rewatch it 25.Good use of lighting (candles) 26.Met typical horror conventions 27.Candles
28.Nice titles
Above I have placed all of my audience feedback into a table, some things were repeated a few times so instead of writing the same thing out a few times, I will include in the write up if this was a popular option of if it was not. We decided that as a class we would all watch each other’s trailers, to see what we could have improved on and what went well. This is so if we were to undertake this task again we would know what our audience liked and what they disliked. POSITIVE FEEDBACK: SOUND: A lot of our audience made reference to the sound, they seemed to enjoy the soundtrack we used and where in the trailer we included it. The audience also said that they thought the 'sound was scary' which is good for us as this was what we wanted them to think. They also said they enjoyed the 'sound effect' and said we had 'good ambient sound' which is also a bonus because the sound you use in a trailer and were you put it is vital. CAMERA SHOTS/ANGELS: When referring back to my audience research some members liked the shot where we filmed Sam getting something from the bathroom cupboard with the dark figure in the background, we did this deliberately so the audience would be able to make the link that this figure was now let into Sam’s house through the Ouija board. By the audience mentioning this shot, it makes me along with my group feel pleased that someone has appreciated this shot, and also what we were trying to achieve worked. We also got quite a few people mention how they enjoyed the shot of Sam in the kitchen with the black figure in the background, this was also done to show the audience that this figure was linked in with Sam. The montage of clips, along with the quit cuts of Sam walking down the stairs, people mentioned as well. We did this so it would disorientate the audience and also make reference of all the negative things Sam had previously done. Our audience also enjoyed the 'Birdseye' shot of the game, we decided to do this so the audience had a clearer understanding of what the group of girls where partaking in. Our group also got a lot of feedback on the forest scene; they seemed to enjoy Sam walking through the forest with brief shots of the dark figure in the background. They also enjoyed the focus pull around the tree they mentioned how this gives disorientation and the speed of the shot makes you want to re-watch it. Our audience also liked the 360 degree rule around Sam’s head; we did this shot so it looked like Sam had the control and that there were numerous amounts of thoughts going through her head. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Some additional information and comments that we received were commenting on our use of lighting and candles, one thing in our trailer that our audience liked was the lighting on the Ouija board. Some other feedback we received from our audience included our titles, our audience enjoyed our titles and also how we 'met some typical horror conventions' NEGATIVE FEEDBACK: When asking our audience for feedback we asked them to write a few points they enjoyed along with a few points we could improve on, this is so we would know what to do different next time.
SOUND: As well as receiving a lot of positive feedback regarding the sound we used we also got a lot of feedback of suggestions, on what we could improve on or do different. For example some people said that we could add sound at the end to improve our ending, this could be something we took into consideration for next time. Also one of our editing errors was we muted Sam's speech in one of the clips and one of the audience members noticed this, next time now we all have more experience on how to use the program we would have to ensure that this was less noticeable. We could have also used more gripping sound as we believe that if we would have, this could have scared the audience more. Another thing they mentioned was that we could have included some speech when Sam was walking down the stairs. We didn’t include speech deliberately on this but because it was quick cuts to different scenes we didn’t think it was necessary to include speech as the clips spoke for themselves, but if we were to undertake this task again we could try it with and without speech to see what we preferred. Another comment we got was that the sound doesn’t flow all the time; this would be something we would have to go back and look at. We would have to watch the clip and listen to the sound to make sure it worked with the clip to ensure that it did flow at all times. A lot of people mentioned the 'crescendo', A crescendo is a gradual increase of loudness. (https://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&q=whats+a+crescendo&spell=1&sa=X&ei=goNYUcX7ENGo0wW0wYDYBw &ved=0CC0QvwUoAA&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.44442042,d.d2k&fp=c0d08ec021ddf11e&biw=1252&b ih=610) If we would have included this, this may have made the audience feel more uneasy and scare them. This is also something we would have to take into consideration for next time. CAMERA SHOTS/ANGLES: Our audience mentioned that we need more of a 'montage' a montage is, The process or technique of selecting, editing, and piecing together separate sections of film to form a continuous whole. (https://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&sclient=psyab&q=whats+a+montage&oq=whats+a+montage&gs_l=hp.3..0i10l3j0i22i30.57707.58 469.1.58593.7.7.0.0.0.0.2 05.754.0j5j1.6.0...0.0...1c.1.7.psyab.Jpuou87a5Gk&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.44442042,d.d2k&fp=c0d08ec021ddf11e&biw=1252 &bih=610) If we were to undertake this task again we would have to ensure that we spent more time looking at the editing and ensuring that the clips we choose worked alongside each other, to improve our montage. We would also have to make sure that we worked on the pace of the shots, as a lot of our audience mentioned how they could be quicker. We would have to make sure we filmed more shots that would make the audience jump, instead of shots that would just confuse them. This would help us create an equal balance between the two and this could then make our trailer more successful, all these elements are good to know so we know what to include if we do a task like this again. Some of our audience said that they would have liked to see more shots of the Ouija board, as this would have made it more familiar to them. This point I agree on, we could have used more shots of the Ouija board, seeing as it was our main focus point, but all of this feedback just helps to make out trailer stronger and also benefits us for the future. The most popular response was that the ending to our trailer, let it down. I believe this was because it wasn’t that scary and also it was quite slow. I believe if we were to do this task again, I would have either re-filmed that shot and changed it a little, or sped it up and added in a sound effect such as a scream, just to make it that little bit scarier. I think this is what it was missing and that is why the audience picked up on this. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Some additional information we received was that when Sam dragged Hannah into the other room, this made it seem unrealistic to the audience as this is what they said. If we were to do this task again I think we should have cross-cut between the two and maybe just had a quick-shot of Hannah on the floor, because dragging her didn’t work. I agree with the audience on this shot as when we were filming this I noticed that it didn’t look that believable but the other team members wanted to keep the shot. The audience also mentioned that the text on the screen was too slow, bearing in mind this was the first trailer any of us had created I think this was quite a common mistake that could have been made, we wanted to keep the text on screen long enough for
the audience to be able to read it but not long enough, it was too long. In future we would just have to rewatch it and make sure that we were able to get the right pace, it may benefit us if we asked for someone else's opinion to make sure that they agreed with the pace also. In conclusion I think that our audience research has helped us to see what we could improve on and also what we could do better next time. This will help us grow as individuals and will only improve our work yet to come. I think that it is very beneficial that you get outside opinions on your work as they are honest and reliable, and they are the people you are trying to impress so there opinions are crucial.