QUESTION 3:

What Have You

Learned From

Your Audience

Feedback?

I have learned film production needs to have good advertising in order to promote the

film. By using social media to initially collect audience feedback, I understood what

they expected from a horror film. Slide 4 has pictures of social media feedback. I

knew my audience wanted to see effective make up, sinister close up shots, high

quality footage and ensuring the sound is in sync with the video.

I researched conventions for my trailer and ancillary texts (see slide 5) then produced

a questionnaire to sample the opinions from my audience (see slide 3). This helped me

to find out their preferences and views towards horror films:

Finding psychological details appealing.

Red/white/black for colour schemes.

Effective sound.

Being frightened.

CGI.

The certification of my film is a 15, meaning the audience are male and female above

15.

This is a screenshot of a questionnaire that was carried out, focusing on the

preferences of my target audience.

These are screenshots of messages from social media that my audience group

have sent me.

These images are taken

from a PowerPoint

presentation showing

my research of the

conventions of posters,

magazine covers and

trailers.

Once I had an understanding of my narrative, I planned a costumefor the main character. This included a summer dressing gown andnightdress. The make up was mascara, minimal lipstick, palefoundation and a selection of dark eye shadow. This was to establishthe mise en scene of a vengeful ghost, appearing pale but with anevil gaze. My audience recognise that the costume and make upassists in promoting the horror genre, as the eeriness of the costumelinks with a sinister persona, which the main actress presents to us.

I put some of the clips together and uploaded anumber of drafts until the final version had beenfinished. A focus group from my target audiencelooked at my drafts and provided me with feedbackresults to relate my work back to the chosen genreof horror.

My drafts were uploaded onto YouTube and Blogger. These arepopular media platforms that allow my audience to access them,because of the increase of media convergence. Media convergenceallowed me to receive feedback though using Messenger – apopular shortcut used to contact friends on Facebook.

My audience target group identified pros and cons for my

ancillary texts and horror trailer. Then I saved the comments as

screenshots on my phone, which made them easy to locate. This

meant I could see what needed improving and avoided having to

find the messages again on private messaging. To maintain

confidentiality, only I know who these contacts are.

Additionally, I researched images of vengeful ghosts for appropriatecostumes and props based around early research. My questionnairehelped to indicate horror themes which my audience like. The mostpopular horror type, for example was Psychological. 47% of mysample felt psychological horror was less predictable which kept myaudience engaged by the narrative. One response I received was thatsome audience members like to “think more than see.” This meanssuspense is maintained.

After I took several photographs of

my actress, I came up with an idea

for the horror magazine design.

Some of the photographs, however,

had features of them which didn’t

work. Some of the natural lighting

created flecks on my actress,

making her look human and less

spiritual. Originally, it wasn’t

enough to engage my audience and

link to horror.

New ideas for the ancillary texts:

I have selected the best image from my photo shoot and shaped it in a way that allows

me to transform its quality. I think from editing the photo, it creates an effective look

which is pleasing to my target audience. I have decided to alter the quality to achieve

a composition that appeals to my audience group. Changing the quality to a dark

background and contrasting spot light effect, emphasises the character’s sinister

nature and makes her thrilling towards viewers. I used this photo, as the ambient

lighting created powerful contrasts that were natural in colour. The other reason I

used this photo is because her eyes are opened and she addresses viewers directly.

The redness in her eyes links to horror and connotes her sinister thoughts of revenge,

connoted by her smirk and holding the knife to her face. I think the photograph is

powerful enough to engage with the audience and the font I have used is positioned

upright, fits with the chilling horror effect and looks right for the audience's eye line.

The image is big enough as the poster’s main selling point, colour looks successful

and none of the writing is lost.

Continuity is evident between all three of my tasks through:

• Text

• Colour

• Image

• Taglines

I asked my audience for feedback on the ancillary

texts and teaser trailer. This included…..

What colour scheme did they prefer and why?

How should duration be followed?

How is product is accessed through digital media

platforms?

What genre of horror did they like?

What did they think of the effect of the connotations?

Feedback for the Magazine Text

My audience expected to see:

• A main image functioning as the selling point.

• Good lighting effects.

• Straplines.

• The main selling line.

The Colour scheme:

• Red, white and black OR blue, white and black (blue connoted a hospitalenvironment).

Where should the main strapline be positioned?

• In the centre of the magazine cover – this convention is used by mostmagazine companies.

What do they want the magazine to offer?

• Free horror track downloads.

• Competitions.

With my feedback I decided to research trailers and media

products relating to horror. Here are my ideas

I have researched other magazine covers promoting horror films. I liked the covers whichmade use of blue in their colour scheme with the idea of applying a ‘less is moreapproach’ to create simplicity. I like how the cover for Entertainment Weekly has minimalstraplines near the image but also with a contrasting effect. Therefore, it doesn’tovercrowd the main image of Johnny Depp as Sweeny Todd. I am going to try a similarapproach with my own magazine task, meaning the straplines will not overcrowd mymain photo. Lighting on my first ancillary text will be changed (see below).

My audience group were asked the following

during the construction of my work.

Would they prefer to see stereotypical characters

featured in the horror film? (e.g. ‘damsel in distress’)

What emotions would they like to see?

Give examples of horror films they had watched.

Which filming technique did they feel was most

effective? (e.g. costume, lighting, sound and props)

Here are my responses

Positive answers:

“I think it was really good and the trailer looked professional and I liked where the red

eyes appeared.”

“Good red eyes.”

Negative answers/things to improve:

“The video was good, but it wasn’t clear that it was a mum talking to a doctor, and they

need to speak louder. The scene where the mother kisses her daughter should be longer, I

really like it though.”

From my results, I decided to use these recommendations and continue to receive

feedback as new changes were made. I changed the sound levels to make the dialogue

louder. This made context clear, showing the scene was the interaction between the

mother and the doctor. The other feature I changed was the speed of the clip where the

mother kisses the daughter. It became faster, but it wasn’t too quick as I wanted to

highlight the slowing of time in this emotional scene.

For my second ancillary text, I drew up a hand drawn design ofwhat it would look like and attached the photograph onto myblog. I knew I didn’t like my first idea but I wanted tounderstand how the conventions would be applied. This made mebetter prepared to develop my work and research ideas used onprofessional quality posters. The example of an earlier draftreceived negative reviews.

I have shown my work to my audience group

and asked for their feedback. I had the feeling

that comments would be negative as this

original image was not one of my favourites.

What I was aiming to do was make this

ancillary text eerie rather than colourful,

similar to the magazine cover and trailer.

Based on the negative responses, I decided

on using a different photograph with better

lighting - the new image connoted a more

sinister side to the antagonist’s true nature.

Based upon my feedback, I decided to

use a new image for both ancillary

texts, going back to the ideas I

originally wanted to use, which

included applying red and white in the

colour scheme across my tasks. This is

a primary example of how I have used

ideas suggested by my target audience.

Without this feedback, I would have

produced the wrong materials in order

to ‘sell’ my product to my audience.

These are photographs show the feedback I

received (see next slide for more information).

A group of 15-17 year olds watched my trailer. This was the same group who discussed their

opinions so they were aware of what the first few drafts looked like. They were given sheets of

paper to write down their comments about what they liked/disliked and what they understood

from the narrative.

This was the feedback they gave me:

1. “Dramatic build up of suspension and anticipation/The film and music worked

well together/Make the voices clear with a better scream sound effect.”

2. “It was effective as the music matched the theme really well. You used different

camera angles to create a greater suspense in the narrative.”

3. “The sound effects were good such as the scream and the heart beating at the

end/Music [fits] with the trailer/Helpful as understood.”

4. “Brilliant scenery. Good cross cutting, looks professional, extremely spooky.

Amazing use of scary music. Very dramatic and interesting. Suits the genre

perfectly; ‘Mummy’ – very spooky.”

5. “Text went a bit too fast. Didn’t really understand what was going on in the

trailer, music fit nicely with the pace of the trailer.

6. “It’s dramatic and suitable for the genre. It keeps people in anticipation.”

The majority of feedback for my video edits are positive.

Because of this, I understand some edits need to be made

on my trailer.

Without comments from my target audience, I would have

produced the wrong materials, meaning the product wouldn’t

have met the audience needs of people in my genre. I was

satisfied with my work and used feedback to create new ideas

for my project. Overall, my audience has helped me to obtain

three media products which follow continuity through font,

colour, costume and lighting.

Conclusion