Evaluation 3

QUESTION 3
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT FROM YOUR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?
Audience feedback becomes critically important in the production of film making, it allows the producers to know exactly what their target audience wants to see, what they don’t, whether it’s going to be successful and what can be improved to allow the film to succeed further. Also the audience bring in the revenue and make a person’s work credible, the aim of the producer is to please their audience, so the producers will have to react to supply and demand given by the audience. An example of a film that done a fair amount of research is The Woman in Black produced vast amounts of advertising products to really get their audience involved in the film they were producing. One way in which I collected audience feedback was through class screenings. We screened our groups trailer in-front of the media class in order to gain knowledge as to what they liked about the trailer we had produced, what they thought should be removed or changed, how they thought we could improve our product and also whether they genuinely liked the look of the film we were advertising. We had also filmed the audience’s feedback as visible in the link given. Another way in which I gained audience’s responses was by showing it to my family and friends. I had showed it to my family and friends as it would give a wider and potentially more honest feedback to how we could adapt the trailer to ensure its success. Because the target audience for our film was generally males and females aged 16-19 we had to specifically target people between those ages, being in college, when screening our trailer to the class, the audience immediately fits between those ages, as well as friends, but however, when showing my family I only asked and acted on the feedback given by my brothers and sister due to the fact they’re aged between those ages or close to.
Positive feedback
• The audience stated that the location we had used was very good in terms of the state of the building and the sense of horror that came with it. This was satisfying because this was the whole initial point of choosing this location, because it was a horrific building that would suit the horror genre.
• The audience rated the soundtrack and said it helped to build the tension within the trailer and it matched the scenes in terms of the tempo of the trailer.
• Also the camera work was liked by the audience, this is because we had a range of shot types.
• Establishing an equilibrium within the trailer was also noted, because the sound track at the very start makes everything appear fine and then the music changes and gives off a sense of horror and fear just within the trailers soundtrack
• Also people enjoyed the trailer overall and said that if the film was to come out then they would watch it.
Negative feedback
• A lot of people who viewed the trailer stated the dialogue in the opening scenes are a bit too hard to hear.
• A few didn’t understand ‘the upside down cross’. This was something that only occurred a few times and it wasn’t anything bad about the trailer or posters, the cross resembles antichrist, which just inflicts demon typed horror into the film. It is a symbol that is widely recognised so therefore I didn’t remove the cross.
• Some suggested that the camera work was shaky, this is because the film wanted to be filmed in a handheld way, it was added that we should add a digital camera overlay to show that it is found footage.
• Lighting was an issue for some as the shots were dark, however it does appear lighter on the computer rather than when it is projected on to a bigger screen.
• Another criticism is that the trailer lacked pace and anticipation towards the end, where in theory it should speed up to entice the viewers.
How we responded to the feedback
• With the problems with the dialogue, we overdubbed the soundtrack in order to make the dialogue clearer and more understandable.
• With the shakiness of the camera we added a digital camera overlay because we wanted our trailer to include handheld camera work scenes and we wanted to make everyone aware at what points were handheld. Camera features would appear, battery life and screen size and so on, therefore people knew which points of the trailer were handheld. This was looked at in a positive light because it was unique to the class groups.
• With the speed of the shots, we doubled the shot speed so that it would appear quicker than it was, we also cut the length down so we had a sequence of quick paced shots in order for the trailer to appear faster.

What is a trailer

Evaluation 2

How effective is the combination of your product and ancillary texts?

A film distributor is responsible for the marketing of a film, in the sense that they have to make the product appealing to various target audiences through various platforms, in order to make the film more successful and in order to do this they will create a campaign to advertise and promote the film. The distribution company is usually different from the production company and distribution deals are an important part of financing a film.

The advertising takes place in various forms such as trailers, social media pages and on the side of buses for example. In order to attract the target audience film distributors, need to choose the right platforms to advertise on so they can reach their target audience. The marketing technique may vary depending on the target audience of the film for example, if the target audience is teenagers it would be a successful idea to advertise the film on social media websites such as twitter and Facebook. Also on pubic transport vehicles as they’re enjoyed by the vast majority of the youth. By advertising on a variety of platforms it would be more likely that the advertisement would reach the target audience. Audience research is therefore important to the film distributors as they need to know how to make their film successful, they also need to develop an understanding of their target audience in order to know how to market their product as he marketing technique may differ depending on the demographic size of their target audience. For our group we would advertise our film to the minimum age of 15, we would for example therefore not air our trailers on television till the 9pm restriction as the content may be inappropriate for the younger audience coincidentally watching the channel at the time it is aired.

Depending on the target audience and the research that the film distributor has have found out depends on how the film will be presented. For example, the Pixar film Up is specifically designed for their target audience, which is evidently children. The poster contains bright colours to attract the younger audience and include a happy child smiling, a dog, a big bright bird, the old man and the many balloons that are present within the poster. However, if we were to look at a horror poster in comparison, we would see that the colours become a lot darker and have a sense of fear within them, this is because it is designed for an older audience in which they know what to expect and can handle the scare within the poster. For example, if we look at the Sinister poster it contains a horrific face, children which creates a spooky horror as we associate children with innocence. The colours are a lot darker and it shows blood within the image, however the audience know that the poster is supposed to be scary and they can develop an excitement for the film.

Film distributors create a marketing plan that can begin up to a year before the film is actually released, this is a tactic used in order to entice the audience and tease them in order for them to build up anticipation for the film. In the build up to the release the more advertisement there is, this is to ensure that the target audience is aware of the release and to try to intrigue them further to go and watch their film, therefore it works both ways, if there is little advertisement then a lot of the audience will not know the film has been released. For my film I produced a trailer and also a poster. The poster is effective I think because it looks as if it would be able to obviously look like a horror poster so that the audience can quickly make a positive opinion about the look of the trailer and as a result attract her to follow the release of the film. The trailer includes very dark colours with a hooded villain with a slogan that reads, ‘Once you see him, nothing can save you’. This is to try and entice the audience to the poster and want to see the film. My trailer would be featured on various social media sites in which it does, YouTube for example. My target audience is for the adventurous teenagers and in the intertitles in makes reference to curiosity. My film also features of the front of Chiller magazine which I had produced, the image clearly I think looks scary and from the language and the name of the magazine you can see it is a horror related article. I have used an effect to emphasize the sense of horror to the audience. I took inspiration from horror posters such as Friday the 13th. This poster uses colours that are very dark and only feature the villain within the poster. From this you cannot tell much about the film except that its horror related, if the simplicity of the image works in an effective way then the poster becomes increasingly more appealing to the audience as it is a well-produced poster. My magazine took inspiration from the magazine Horror Hound. I liked the colour scheme for the advertisement for scream as I personally feel as if it is a bold use of colour and it represents danger within the colours.

There has to be a recognised identity for the film that carries on throughout all of the advertising products. Meaning in our situation, the horror trailer has to consist of the same colour scheme and images similar to the magazine cover and poster. This is so that the products together create a unified identity, so that the audience can identify the product instantly. Throughout my poster, magazine cover and trailer I have tried to carry on using the same colour theme which has aspired to be mainly white, red and black, texts and similar images, which in my case is the hooded villain that features within our film as this is more related to horror as oppose to a group of teenagers. Therefore the audience can relate to the identity of the film whilst still making them appear fearful, scary and enticing.

I personally feel as if my products are effective in informing the audience of the genre of the film. Due to the dark colours within my poster and magazine it starts to create a sense of horror as we associate the worst things with the darkness and a lot of people are fearful of the dark. I also used red as my main colour for my products with white being the secondary colour, this is due to the relationship between red and danger, stop and blood for example, its a typical colour that can increase the sense of horror. I layered my magazine and poster in order for the ghostly spook it can potentially create for the audience. The slogan on the poster instantly reinforces the fact it is a horror film, it reads 'Once he sees you, nothing can save you'. This is to not only inform the audience but also for questions to be asked among the viewers, for example, who is he, whats making him so dangerous and so on. This will hopefully intrigue the target audience to want to see my film. The magazine is clearly horror related as the magazine presents itself with a sense of horror within, this is done through the colour scheme again, and also the cover lines make reference to films that are all horror related, such as Freddy Krueger. Therefor you can evidently see the relationship between my products, the use of the character and the colour scheme allows the reader who is already aware of my product, to be able to identify it at a quick pace. The fact my film managed to get on the front of a magazine cover builds up positive assumptions surrounding my film. It helps to create promotion for the film and can potentially encourage a vast amount of more people who may not have heard of the magazine but due to their subscription of Chiller they can be instantly informed about Patient 16 at their enjoyment seeing as they would be reading a magazine that they're into. My trailer uses many conventions from horror trailers to emphasize the genre of the film, the dark colours used in the intertitles, the soundtrack which is slow and spooky which will hopefully attract the audience into the film. The quick shots used in the trailer try to manipulate the viewers attention in regards to viewing the film.

Evaluation 4

Finished Trailer

Individual ideas

My idea for our horror movie initially was a comedy horror, similar to Scary Movie, however this idea soon became troublesome as we had to make the trailer now funny as well and that could become a potential problem as some audiences may not find the content amusing. Another idea was something or someone killing a group of teenagers whilst they're exploring a location. I had the idea for Little Plumstead hospital as a potential location, some one else put the idea forward that we would film in a handheld way. We then voted out of the suggested ideas and decided on the killer maniac 'guarding' the rundown asylum.

Magazine/Poster draft