Evaluation - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

We seeked audience feedback at different stages of putting our teaser trailer together. Once we had produced our rough cut we showed our teaser trailer to people in our class. Audience feedback is a vital process of editing and producing a film even big budget films. An example is Bridget Jones Diary. When a scene from the film was one where the male actor turns to face the camera and is wearing a stereotypical Christmas jumper was shown to a small American they didn't get the comical aspect. This made the producers realise that they would have to change aspects of the film to appeal to an American audience. Another example that is more specific to our genre is Pride and Prejudice. When producers showed the film to an American sample audience they didn't understand the ending of the film as their isn't a kiss between the main female and male protagonists. So from this feedback the producers filmed an alternative ending for the American audience which had the main male and female protagonist sharing a kiss to give clear anchorage that they were together.

This is some of the feedback we got and how we addressed the negative feedback:

Some of the shots are too dark.
Due to the problems with our location we were working to a tight time schedule. Therefore when we shot some of the footage it was darker than we would have liked. These are: the mid shot of the gentleman, the mid shot of the main female protagonist and the gentleman and finally the over the shoulder shot of the main female protagonist laughing. Again due to the time schedule we didn't have time to re-shoot these shots, we also considered starting to edit in Final Cut but after much deliberation we decided this wasn't an option due to time. Therefore we decided to use a 'wash in' transition so that the trailer fades from a white background to a dark shot. Doing this means that the viewers eye is adapted to the colour change slowly so that the content in the shot isn't as difficult to see.

More anchorage needed to show its a teaser trailer.
The rough cut doesn't have any non-diegetic music or title cards with text. As it is a rough cut we still had these to add however it made us consider that more anchorage was needed. So we added more title cards to signify the story in more detail and also to give the viewer a further insight into the main female protagonist feelings and emotions.

More anchorage needed to explain the story as there's no diegetic voice or non-diegetic voice overs.
When we began planning our teaser trailer we debated whether to have a non-diegetic voice over or not. We decided not to but agreed to consider adding a voice over if audience feedback suggested we needed one. This is what has been suggested that we need a voice over. We decided to use the main female protagonist's voice. Not particularly to tell the story but more to give the viewer an insight into her view of the story.

Final Piece

Although we've made changes to address the problems highlighted through our audience feedback there are still flaws in our final piece. Some of the shots we would have liked to have re-shot due to the lack of light. We would also of liked to have added some extra footage of the 'love triangle.' Regarding the soundtrack we would of liked to of had a piano accompany the flute as it would of added further drama to the teaser trailer.

Improved final piece

After producing our final product we decided that we would try and address some further issues that were highlighted through audience feedback and correct these negative aspects. After making this decision we decided to seek further audience feedback so that we could address as many flaws with the trailer as possible.

Below are some of the new points from audience feedback and how we addressed them in producing a new improved teaser trailer:

• Too few set-ups within the trailer, make more of a love triangle

We addressed this by developing a new situation/set-up between the main female protagonist, the main male protagonist and his fiancee. We hope that this gives more anchorage of the plot to the viewer and adds more drama to the trailer. We also decided to make the main female protagonist appear more as a maid as this would create more drama and hopefully convince the audience to see the film. We decide to have the main female protagonist taking a letter to the fiancee of the main male protagonist with him stood beside her. We had the two main protagonists glancing at each other to signify a relationship between them.

• Not enough variety of shot types

We took this into account when we filmed the new set-ups and saw this as an opportunity to correct it. We decided to get further over the shoulder shots and varied the shots by having a mix of long, short and medium shots. We believe that adding these new shots has addressed this problem.

• It could be shorter as it is a teaser trailer not a 'normal' trailer

We took this into account and the improved teaser trailer is 1min5secs which is nearer to the average length of a teaser trailer. Although as we have added more shots to this trailer we have cut the length of each shot meaning it is a shorter teaser trailer.

• Consider using two pieces of music, it could help to emphasise emotion

Originally we had one piece of non-diegetic music over the trailer. Feedback suggested this didn't work as it was a too simple piece, also after looking again at other teaser trailers we realised they usually use two pieces of music. Therefore we decided to use two different pieces of music from a copyright free website. We believe this helps to heighten emotions in the trailer.

• Consider framing of shots

We have addressed this by shooting more over the shoulder shots which create affective framing. We framed one shot with a double over the shoulder shot which the main female protagonist can be seen through, this signifies a love triangle to the audience. We also used tree branches to frame the first shot of the the improved teaser trailer.

• Could add more pace towards the end of the trailer to add drama

We have done this by shortening the length of the shots at the end of the teaser trailer and also included faster transitions. The non-diegetic music at the end of the trailer is also faster therefore giving the impression to the audience that the pace of the trailer has increased.

• Didn't think the titles worked

We have addressed this by removing the written quote titles. After much consideration we decided that these added too much confusion to the trailer and also slowed the pace too much. We have also improved the title cards and the actors names by making them more interesting. We have put the title 'For All I Know' and 'Coming Soon' over footage of moving branches in the wind. We also placed the actors names over footage of the actors themselves. By doing this we have quickened the pace of the trailer and we hope this will keep the audience interested in the teaser trailer.

• Jerky shots

To ensure we didn't have any 'jerky' shots in the improved teaser trailer we cut the shots so that the 'jerkiness' cannot be seen anymore. In terms of filming our new footage we checked the tripod before we used it to ensure it wasn't faulty and then used the tripod to ensure we had a steady shot where possible. Obviously the rotating shot couldn't be shot using a tripod however the shakiness of the camera adds to the effect of the shot type.

• Some shots are too dark

This point was picked up on in our initial audience feedback. However we were unable to correct it as we were using iMovie and it didn't have the facilities for us to lighten the footage. Although when we decided to improve the trailer we also decided to use FinalCut which is a more sophisticated editing program. Therefore we were able to increase the brightness of the shots that were deemed too dark.

For our new improved teaser trailer we received audience feedback not only on the finished piece but also the drafts. We decided to film the viewing of one of the drafts and we also recorded what they had to say about the trailer so far. Here is the link to the video - http://g324lornakennedy.blogspot.com/2010/02/audience-feedback-for-2nd-draft-of.html

Below is some of the points audience feedback picked up on the improved final teaser trailer:

We also collected audience feedback for our film poster and magazine front cover as they are very important pieces in terms of a marketing strategy.

Below is a video of audience feedback. We screened the original trailer and then the improved trailer. We asked them to establish what they thought had improved and what they would do to the new trailer to improve it further.

Below is some of the feedback we received for the film poster:

• The spacing of the writing could be improved
• Consider adding the film website address
• Not enough font variation
• There are no quotes from reviews

Below is some of the feedback we received for the magazine front cover:

• Framing could be improved - consider putting the stories down the pillar
• Is the image right? The image is a bit dull
• Too many plain areas - more detail needed
• Need to add website address and issue number

After receiving the feedback for our magazine front cover we realised that our cover didn't fit with the codes and conventions of film magazines front covers. Therefore we decided to develop our magazine front cover further.

Below is the feedback we received for our new improved magazine front cover:

• The colours chosen for the text and blocks for the pictures link with the main image used, it brings all the different aspects of the cover together.
• The main image is a allot brighter than the previous main image, it attracts the eye of a passer by.
• One criticism was that the film titles at the bottom of the cover could be spaced out more effectively so that the titles can be seen more clearly.