Audience Feedback

Audience Feedback

We spent some time analysing our audience feedback so that we had a clear understanding of what our audience thought of our film. We asked members of our school to watch the opening sequence and then comment on it. Here are some of the responses.

"Interesting idea" - Harry Lawtey

"Beautiful focus pull" - Livi LoPrimo

"It was all timed very well" - Tabby Bell

"The depth of field made her look isolated and lonely" - Toby Smith

"The way the music stopped before she hung herself was very effective" - Alice Heappey

"Camera work is brilliant" - Lucy Mason

All these responses show that we managed to entice our audience's attention and the fact that many people became vocally anxious before the hanging conveys that they had become emotionally involved in the piece as well. Having spent a lot of time and work, filming and editing the piece it is really pleasing to have such good feedback. 

From speaking to our audience we were able to judge whether our preferred reading was portrayed clearly. Here we had some mixed views and some suggestions on how to improve the link between the man and  girl. 

"I understood that the Bible was linked to her killing herself" - Simon Wood

This is our preferred reading as the Bible is a strong part of our plot. However some of our audience did not like it:

"I didn't buy into the Bible bit" - Tabby Bell

"I didn't like the Bible bit" - Chris Allderidge

"It should have been a stronger connection" - Phoebe Delikoura 

Having gathered this information we know that the link between the two characters is very ambiguous and could have been made much clearer. If we were too re film the piece we would definitely work on strengthening the connection between the man and girl. A suggestion from one member of the audience (Lucy Mason) was "You should have shown specific words of the contract". We were going to do this but found during editing that it did not make the piece run smoothly, thus we left it out. Judging from our feedback it would have been beneficial to try and add specific words of the contract anyway, in order to make the connection easier to understand. 

When asked what the target audience for our thriller should be our audience said:

"People between 20 and 40, but mainly men" - Harry Lawtey 

This is the exact audience we wanted to attract thus it was pleasing to hear that we had successfully gauged the right age group and gender of our piece, and targeted it well. 

Evaluation Task 7:

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? 

Evaluation Task 6:

What have we learnt about technologies from the process of constructing your product?

Evaluation Task 5:

How did you attract/address your audience?

Our primary target audience is men and women aged between 20-40.

Our secondary target audience is mainly men over the age of 40.

As our piece is mainly aimed at an older generation we were able to embed a more complex storyline and use subtly in the opening, instead of revealing the whole plot. This is shown in the fact that we did not establish any visible link between the young girl and the older business man. This leaves the audience questioning this link and therefore engages their interest. The close up shots we used show no physical resemblance between the two characters, and the costumes have no similar qualities thus the audience are left guessing at the connection between the two. However, the cuts between these two characters signifies that there is a strong link between the two, and this is emphasised by the fact that they are the only two characters involved in the opening. This complex idea will entice an older audience who are more willing to contemplate the storyline, rather than a younger audience who may become bored if they do not understand what is happening from the beginning.

Additionally, an older audience will be more interested in the dynamic between the young girl and business man, as they may have young children themselves. This will make the hanging scene more shocking for an older audience as it may lead to them thinking of their own children, thus an emotional link is created between the audience and the film. The image and sound of the hanging may be too explicit for a younger audience as it may expose them to ideas that they should not have to experience. We attracted an older audience by not showing the business man after the girl has hung herself, as it creates a more poignant moment that parents will be able to relate too.

Furthermore, the setting of our piece will attract our target audience. The setting is of a rich businessman and a girl in a large opening space that is implied to be her garden. This portrays that both characters are from a middle/upper class background, thus will be more relatable to an older audience. An older generation will be able to connect with this sophisticated background and therefore will be more engaged in the piece as they could relate it to their own lives or others around them. We showed this through the setting and through costume. Both characters outfits show a considerable amount of wealth, thus coupled with the setting implies that they are part of the middle/upper class.

The sound we used also interests our target audience, as it is slow and tense. A younger audience may find this too dull and would not understand the meaning behind it. An older audience will understand that the music is used to build suspense and add to the action. Therefore they will be able to gain the full effects of the piece and thus will add to their overall enjoyment of the piece.



Evalutation Task 4:

Who would be the target audience for your media product?

 

 

 

Having looked at these interviews we came to the conclusion that our primary audience is men and women between the ages of 20-40. However, there is evidence also that the younger generation would perhaps be interested in viewing our piece. This means that we can target a larger audience but we would mainly focus on 20-40 year olds.





Evaluation Task 3:

What kind of media institution would distribute your product and why?

The overall outline of our thriller, is that a business man has decided to demolish numerous Churches in order to make way for new factories. His daughter however, a devote Christian, is so distraught by this that she hangs herself in protest. This is what we have shown in the opening sequence, but the rest of the film would show the mental deterioration of the businessman and how his life suffers due to his daughters tragic death.

Distribution of a film is key to its success, because if the film is not widely seen then the company will not receive the necessary income to cover the expenses of the film. There are numerous ways to distribute a film, including standard release (which is straight to cinemas or IMAX), straight to video release and internet release.

As our thriller had an extremely low budget and did not contain an A list cast, the type of film company who would distribute our thriller would be Warp Films. Warp Films are a small British independent film company who specialise in making low concept films. They do not intend to create blockbuster films with large amounts of special effects, but instead focus on producing and distributing hard British dramas. For example, Dead Mans Shoes is a Warp Film which has similar psychological aspects to our thriller. Dead Mans Shoes was created on a budget of £723 000 and did not contain A list actors but instead brought up and coming actors and directors, such as Paddy
Considine, into the limelight. The film was rather modestly distributed with a small media campaign but nevertheless it made £101 186 at the box office. The audience expect a Warp Film to be a grim British drama, therefore Warp Films would be the most obvious choice to distribute our thriller as the audience would already have an idea on what they were going to see.

However, if you look at our thrillers concept it could easily translate onto a larger screen. The large American film companies, such as Warner Bros, Universal and Paramount would never distribute our thriller as it would never produce the high enough income they expect from their blockbuster films. Nonetheless, larger companies than Warp Films could distribute our film as they share similar characteristics. For example, Momentum Pictures is one of the leading distributing companies in Britain as it releases up to 20 theatrical films a year. These films include, How I Live Now,
The Most Wanted Man and The Woman In Black which were released in the last two years.





These films were received well by the audience, for example, The Woman In Black made $127,730,736 at the box office. Momentum Pictures usually distributes quirky and often disturbing films, therefore the audience already have a perception of the film before they view it. Our thriller I think would be distributed by Momentum as they have the money to take the risk on our film and it also fits the type of genre they usually distribute.




Our thriller would never be produced in a big Hollywood Studio, therefore a big distributor would not be needed in order to get the film viewed. However, our thriller could generate a large income if it was distributed in the right areas and to the right target audience.

Evaluation Task 2:

In what ways does your media product represent a particular social group?

In the opening scene of our thriller our characters represent particular social groups and we used stereotypes in order to portray these groups, mainly with the use of costume and setting.
 

The young girl and business man are father and daughter, thus both are white upper class citizens with a reasonable amount of disposable income. This is shown in the setting of both characters. The girl is shown during a wide shot to be in her large garden thus infers that because she lives in a big house she has a substantial amount of wealth. The bathroom and corridor that the business man's scenes are shot in both display a reasonable amount of luxury. The wide shot of the business man leaving his 'house' show how grand the building is, again emphasising that they are from a wealthy social group.

 

 

 A wide establishing shot shows  that the young girl is dressed in  black dungarees, a cream flowery shirt and Nike trainers. The girls clothes do not depict a large degree of wealth therefore contrasts with her surroundings and backgrounds. This infers that she does not indulge in her fathers money which may explain why she defies him and hangs herself in protest to his actions. Her hair has two small plaited pigtails in it and she is wearing a cross around her neck while also carrying a Bible. Her attire suggests that she is reasonably eccentric but with a modern twist. Her hair and the use of the Bible depicts the idea that she is quite innocent and naïve. The cross and Bible automatically put her into a religious social group, but her clothing and hair suggests that she may be a hippy as well. Hippies have a very established social group, and many times through out history have taken extreme actions during protests. Additionally extreme religious groups  take drastic actions in order to prove a point or cause chaos, therefore by combining these two social groups the girls motives to commit suicide becomes very poignant. We have used stereotypes in her clothing and props in order to create a meaning quickly so that the audience make immediate assumptions and judgements.
 

The business man belongs to a very specific social group of the white upper class who have a large amount of power over the rest of the country. This corresponds with recent statistics from BERR that 93% of owner managers and self-employed people are white. This leads the audience to immediately accept the power of the businessman. He is dressed in a smart suit with polished shoes along with an over coat  thus implies that he has to seem well dressed in order to show his status while having the income to pay for the suit. By using close ups to portray expensive watch, pen and ring this emphasises the luxuries the man can afford thus again conveys the social group he is representing. By using extreme close ups of the words in the contract, we are able to represent the idea that the man has considerable power as he is able to demolish large Churches.