Evaluation question 3- What have you learnt from the audience feedback?

The audience feedback that I have received throughout this project, has been vital in helping me develop my ideas into a production campaign that not only targets a particular group, but advertises my film through a main product and ancillary texts in a successful and realistic way. Throughout his creative journey I made sure I was getting feedback from peers, classmates and everyone who could offer an opinion on my work. Without the help of this feedback it would have been difficult to create a campaign that appealed to various different people. I chose to create my advertising product to target my target audience that can be seen on the next slide

From my audience profile I can gather that the most popular age range for my film would be 15-24 year olds, therefor I would want to consider this when creating my products. I Wouldn't’t want the narrative plot to be too complex, as some younger people may not understand as well. I would want to consider using Roland Barthes theory ‘The cultural code’ as people of this age are old enough to have obtained wider knowledge and cultural understanding throughout their lifetime, for example by creating three main characters that are teenagers, the audience can immediately relate to them and also will understand that they are isolated as three girls are in more of a vulnerable position than if it was three males. I would aim my target audience at working class as most would still be in full time education. By targeting this group it means I would consider creating characters that the audience can relate too. Therefor I would not show them working at a full time job as it wouldn't’t be relatable to my audience.

When looking at the gender demographic for my audience profile, it seems that the male gender are more likely to watch films of the horror genre, however the ratio of male to female is fairly close. I took this into consideration when creating my products, I think I have created a campaign that appeals to both the male and female gender.

Before creating my campaign, I wanted to get an idea of what my audience would want to see from my film trailer, therefor I created a questionnaire in order to create a product that suited the ideas of my audience. I asked people who were of the target age to fill out the questionnaire. In the next few slides I will be explaining some of the results and how they effected the creation of my products.

Here I asked the question what’s your favourite genre? This was a useful question as I wanted to gather what people most enjoyed out of films. So I could create a campaign that reflected the most popular genre. Within my results horror was the strongest answer therefor I chose to create this style of work.I then narrowed my search down and

created questions that related specifically to the horror genre, here I asked what villain would you like to see? The majority of people said ghosts which is a typical convention for the horror genre. Ghosts were seen more frequently in older films such as ‘The innocence’ ‘The sixth sense’ ‘The haunting’ however the trend seems to be reappearing in present day. I used this information when creating my trailer as the antagonist within my film trailer is a ghost. I think this worked well as it specifically target my audience as amongst people of the target age ghosts were the most popular villain.

I also asked the question, do you like to see the villain in the movie or be left in suspense. Surprisingly most people said that they like to see the villain. I had not seen this technique used in many horror films however I decided that I wanted to subvert the general convention and create something original therefore I took this onboard and created a campaign that was based around the antagonist appose to the protagonist. I am very happy with how I developed this idea as without the audience feedback I would not have had the confidence or the support to create something that challenges horror stereotypes.

Another question that was beneficial in helping me create my campaign was ‘Where do you like movies to be set’ as you can see from these results the majority of people said in a house or in the woods this answer was balanced. I then decided that from this research I would create a trailer that is based in both locations then it would appeal to a larger audience.

When creating ideas and sketches of the poster and the magazine, the audience feedback I received was very helpful.Here are two sketches (initial ideas) for my poster.

Feedback from the Poster sketches‘I think the second design works better than the first, I like the close up shot of the main character as this gives the audience a idea of what to expect. It also establishes the genre of the campaign immediately as you have made it clear the image of the character will be intimidating and frightening. This direct eye contact between the audience and the main character already creates an uncomfortable friendship’- Katie Elson‘I would have to say the second design is the strongest. As much as I like the first, I think the second is more overwhelming and scary which is exactly what you want from a horror based poster!’- Phoebe Harris

This feedback was very helpful, after hearing there thoughts I also came to the conclusion that the second sketch works better. I decided to include a face on shot of my main character as like Katie said it will be more intimidating and frightening as the use of direct eye contact will scare the audience. Also by using a face on shot it introduces the audience to the antagonist making her the ‘iconic’ figure and selling point for my campaign.

I also received feedback for the original sketches and designs for my magazine front cover. The feedback was very helpful as I asked two people who were the same age as my target audience, therefor I knew it would beneficial to ask them, as I would get a clear indication of what people within the age range of my target audience wanted to see.

Idea 1

Idea 2

‘I like both ideas however I much prefer the second design as I think there is a lot more going on which encourages the audience to buy the magazine and read it. I like the idea of a film strip as I think adding more images from the film will relate to your target audience as teenagers prefer images. I also really like the idea of the antagonist, as it creates a relationship between the villain and the audience. I would encourage you to use this design’- Lauren

I like the second design, as its the sort of thing you would see

on a real magazine. i like the first draft however i think its

too plain in comparison to the second. Its better to have more going on as it offers encourages

the consumer to read the magazine.’

When looking at the feedback given for these sketches, it was clear to me that I should go with the second design. Both Libby and Lauren both stated that there was more going on within the second design, which is true as I added a larger quantity of conventions within my plan such as puff skylines and headlines. I also think the filmstrip idea works well and as Lauren said images appeal to the younger generation meaning it will catch their attention more than writing would.

I think my sketch and overall magazine are very similar in layout, I am very happy with how I followed this plan.

Audience feedback from trailerI thought that getting feedback for my trailer would be beneficial to helping me create a product that suited a wide audience. It was important to get this feedback as it helped me improve my work dramatically.

When I first showed my trailer to the class I got general feedback from the group. This was very helpful as all of my class are all within my target audience range. I created a mind map of the feedback I received as you can see here.

There were a few things that particularly stood out to me such as ‘Use more transitions, or faster editing to build up pace and create tension’This feedback was very helpful as I knew it was important to create suspense within my trailer as it subverts to the genre convention and frightens my target audience. This idea can also be understood by Roland Barthes Enigma code, as I know it was vital to create tension within my trailer, I had learnt this through researching various genre specific trailers. It was not difficult to create fast paced sequences within my trailer, I used the programme adobe Premier Pro to my advantage, cutting down clips and layering clips together to create a ‘jumpy’ effect that puts the audience in a state of confusion.

As well as adding fast paced sequences to my trailer I decided to contrast this and add slower shots which exaggerated the drama. I included panning shots and hand held tracking shots so that the audience had some glimpse of the storyline. This feedback proved to be one of the most influential in helping me create a media product that seemed realistic in comparison to real life media texts.

Another element of the feedback which was useful to me was the comment ‘There is no sound, use creepy sounds to enhance the trailer’I did not include sound within the first draft of my trailer this is because I wanted to focus more on the reaction to the clips and editing. However I knew that I would have to add sound to my trailer as without it it wouldn't’t emphasis the action and the genre of my trailer. Choosing the sound for my trailer was difficult as I wanted to find the perfect soundtrack to the action within my product. I decided to use sound tracks from a memory stick that I had been encouraged to use. I looked at the sounds in comparison to ones on the internet, and they were far more believable and professional.

I looked at several trailers for research and the soundtracks were all similar. Most soundtracks were used to create a ‘creepy atmosphere’ in order to put the audience in suspense. I wanted to use conventional music within my trailer as I thought it would express the genre of my trailer, and frighten the audience.

I chose to use music that sounded ‘childlike’ when researching this, it seemed very popular within modern films, therefor I knew it would be successful. I accompanied this sound with a heartbeat which I knew would build up suspense within my trailer.

I also got lots of positive feedback after showing my class my first draft of the trailer.

‘Similar to the nature of blair witch. I really like the style and genre of the trailer!’

I was happy with this particular comment, as I wanted to create something similar to this film. It was clear that my film was going to be ‘low budget’ therefor I wanted to put this into an advantage by creating a film that appears like a ‘home video’. Therefor I used various hand held camera shots ( inspired by Blair witch) I think this created a unsettling atmosphere, that the audience felt part of almost like they were there with the characters.

‘ Very good use of location ( works very well for the genre of the trailer)

I was also happy with this comment, as I had taken time to plan where I would film my trailer. When I created my questionnaire I asked for popular film locations and the woods and an abandoned house were the most frequently chosen answers. Therefor i took my audience feedback into account and went along with the two locations. This kept my film trailer very conventional and it expressed the genre well.

‘The costume works very well also white gown connotes horror stereotypes’

This comment was relieving as I hoped for positive response to the costume within my trailer. I chose to use a white dress which is very stereotypically for movies of the horror genre. However this popular convention helps determine the antagonist within the film. This relates to the symbolic code as the costume of the villain is white which is usually associated with innocence however this ideology is subverted by the characters actions.

Feedback for poster

The feedback I received for my poster was generally positive and many people liked the poster I had created. The only criticism I received was to make the text more readable. I experimented on Photoshop using my skills to manipulate the text .

As you can see here from the screenshots it took me several attempts to create a product I was happy with. I used white font along the bottom of my poster so that it contrasted the black background. I also used the brightness tool on Photoshop to make the red title more clear.

I got positive comments on how the text was placed behind the main image, as I was told it looked professional and realistic. I got this idea from researching several different posters.

Feedback for MagazineI got very positive feedback for my magazine front cover. However I was advised to change the colour of some of the textboxes outlining headings as the colours didn't work within the colour scheme. The red came across to ‘vibrant’ and didn't’ work as well against the other red colour. I was also told that the poster may look better with the word ‘scream’ in white font instead of red as it would help it stand out. Also white connotes a ghostly presence and ‘scream’ supports this idea

As you can see this has been massively improved within the final design of the magazine front cover. I used the burn tool within Photoshop to darken the textbox colour so it fits to the colour scheme. I also chose to put the ‘scream’ in a white font, which I think worked far better. My audience feedback was very helpful in pushing me to create a product that was the best of my ability.