S I C A R I U S What have you learned from your audience feedback?

We used our audience to give us feedback as to what they thought of our trailer. We found this particularly beneficial so as that we could target specific audience members to see what captivated them as well as what they felt needed changing.

This is an example of one of the ways we communicated with our audience to get feedback. We created a ‘Padlet’ page where people could write their own comments without anyone else editing them. We were able to learn from this what other expertise within the class were looking for as well as what they thought needed to be changed. They helped to discover key conventions they also deemed necessary to be in the trailer which was helpful as it made our research wider, as well as our trailer, more professional.

I have picked Tommy’s comments because they were hugely valuable to me. I knew that he would be honest and critical if necessary. Being a close mate of mine I knew that what was going to be said was for my own good. His comments were specifically marked by a time which was very helpful for the team and I when looking over improvements the trailer needed. He also provided a justification with his notes which gave me a second opinion. By also suggesting to add something extra, I was then given the opportunity to catch up with Tommy where he said to me: “…if you check out my site on YouTube I have uploaded some sound effects that might be suited to your trailer.” This was very helpful as I was then able to go away and do further research into what a member of my target audience liked enough to create his own video about. I also know that Tommy does Film Studies as another subject, so he would have prior knowledge and experience when creating some form of animatic. I learnt from his research what he was expecting as well as what he, as an experienced individual in the field might deem necessary.

Kyle’s feedback again was really helpful for me. Like Germain, his primary criticism was to do with the sound being used, suggesting a lot of my time needed to be delegated into the redevelopment of sound in the trailer. Having seen this comment, I knew Germain’s was also not an anomaly, suggesting I needed to act. As a result I ended up changing the music sequence as well as adjusting the different volume levels to suit the audience. Kyle also made a good point about the feedback my mic was picking up when recording the narrative. My justification for the breath noises on the harsher sounding words was that, the video being created in the trailer was a home video, so the equipment would have been basic.

Germain’s feedback was really clear and concise which made it easy for us to construct what he had said. We addressed the issues and faults that he suggested as he is a audience member within the targeted audience category. I learnt from his feedback that he was distracted by the sound used, so something needed to be changed in order to make this a better watch for him.

I also used a focus group of 3 different people to provide their opinion on how my original trailer was: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhx77VI4aFAI used two males aged 16 and 22 and one female aged 18.I felt by using one person who is completely outside of my target audience demographic, I could get another opinion from a different perspective on the film in general.

Male (22): “The trailer is really smart, however it is too short and there are too many wobbly shots. To improve this maybe you could reshoot some scenes, or use different

shots. I think that the story line is really clear though!”

I found this criticism again very helpful as it reinforced that my first draft was not good enough and that more changes were

needed to be made!

Male (16):

Again this information was useful as I was able to target another audience member. I appreciated what he said because I did need to make the main character more convincing by using his own voice.

Female (18):

Jenny tweeted me suggesting I needed to change my editing pace in order to add to the thrill of the trailer. The benefit of getting feedback from someone outside my target audience is so as that I can se if the film appeals to the wider audience, as I know that it won’t just be males aged 16-25 that will watch the film. I felt her feedback was important to me too as it suggested she was able to view my trailer on line, which was beneficial as it shows that it is accessible to anyone.