AVAQuestion: What have you learned from audience feedback?Charlotte GreenAVA

Trailer

PosterMagazine

Introduction-Pre-Production feddback

When in the pre-production stage one of my initial first thought was to gain some of my target markets feedback on my first idea.To do this I asked a lot of generic questions as at that point I only had a 25 word pitch to go on and an idea of my who I wanted my target audience to be.As said previously I asked my target audience some general question for example:

I did this in order to gage what my target audience would want to see within the a horror today and what aspects they find most appealing.From the feedback I got I then started to construct the other documents from the pre-production stage.

Pre-Production Feedback continuedThese are the responses

Conclusion to this feedback In order for you to understand the rest of target audiences answers i have copied in my vague plot:

'A girl in her late teens comes across amysterious box,that upon its opening releases a darkpresence which makes an attempt to consume the girls life.'

I asked, 'What theythoughtwas good about my idea so far?' and the responses Ireceived were pretty similar however, one common comment I got was that it remind them of pandora's box.I order to understand where my audience is coming from I did some research about the myth of the pandora's box and here is abrieflook at what I have found?,Pandora's boxis an artifact inGreekmythology, taken from the myth of Pandora's creation inhesoid'sWorks and days.The "box" was actually a large jargiven toPandora("all-gifted", "all-giving"),which contained all theEvilsof the world.Today the phrase "to open Pandora's box" means to perform an action that may seem small or innocent, but that turns out to have severely detrimental and far-reaching consequences.Maybeincorporating some of thislegend into my plot may help make my narrative more of a solid story.I also had many responses saying it'squiet a unique idea.

I then asked my audience,'What theythoughtwas good about my idea?'.Ianswers Ireceived told me that my audience are already pickingout supernaturalelementswithin my plot as someone has stated,'Sort of mythical'.Also my target audience are stated that 'It's very horror',which is exactly whatI'm trying to convey therefore I think my vague plot was a good starting choice for me to choose.

I Later asked myartist audience what they,'Liked' and 'Disliked' about myidea.A-lotof the responses I received just said or implied that my plot was good however needed much more development with it.Oneanswer thatintriguedme is,'Maybe you could exploit the girls weaknesses'.This could fitinto the results found about people's fears.Out of the five fed back to me,'Being stalked' and 'Each Other-Maybe a loved one' could be changed andadapted to become part of my horror.My target audience has also warned me not to be to cliche as it could ruin how unique it could be.From these results I can onlyadapt my idea from them to make my idea more appealing.In order to see exactly what ones work I will have to do some more research and development to make sure my trailer takes the right direction.

I later asked my audience to write down,'Any words that spring to mind when reading my vague plot?'.The purpose of this question was to help me come up with a title for my (trailer) film.Again there was references to pandora's box however, that is cliche therefore I was think about doing some further research to see what other cultureperhapscall this myth and see if there is anyway that I can develop this idea in order to give me a name for my trailer.also death andprocession have been a commonreoccurrencethroughout theseanswers therefore I was maybe thinking inspired by the 'Black Magic'answer i could look down the latinlanguage look in order to create my title.

Reaction video

I did this sort of observation as another form or primary research as I feel it would strengthen the information I receive in order to progress with the production of the promotion package.I thought this would be a simple message because I would be able to gage what the target audience for my promotional package think of a recent professional horror.I recorded their responses as seen in the videos above and from this I found the elements my target audience thought worked and what they thought did not.This gave me a sort of clear understanding as to what my target audience were looking for in a horror.Therefore I received the review on what my target audience thought which enables me to tailer my own horror to their wants and needs and make my trailer appealing to my market audience.

Production

Production feedbackThroughout my trailer I did make many changes to my original idea for example I discarded the theme of the box throughout my trailer as I felt that the shots werent as effusive as I had originally hoped and therefore thought the trailer and story would be stronger without it.I produced approximately 4 drafts of make trailer and received feedback on them every time in order to see what tweaks and improvements my target audience would make in order to make it appeal more to them.The feedback I received is on the next slide

Reviewing the feedbackWhen reviewing the feedback each time I produced a draft I would then take the improvements,Make the music smoother throughout and try and fix this within the trailer.This was vital feedback each time because Ir received feedback from my own target audience therefore I was getting a direct response.This direct response was very important to my trailer because practically anything they were saying I could do to improve they have only said in order to make my trailer appeal more to them (My target Audiences).From the feedback each time it enabled me to improve my trailers attraction and get towards my Final product.

Poster FeedbackFollowing the same trend as the my trailer I took information from the pre-production feedback about what my target audience wants to see in my promotional package.From this I then started my trailers production however throughout different scenes of my trailer I captured shots separately to use with my magazine and poster.This then enabled me to start the production on my poster.I created many drafts of my poster here is some of the feedback I received

From the type of feedback I was receiving from my past drafts for my poster I have decided that it might be more beneficial for me to start again including shots from a part of my trailer which was last filmed.The shots were strong therefore I did re-start the poster completely to make my film appeal more and strengthen my products.

I feel this was the right decision as from the feedback I was getting it seemed that my poster was just not effective therefore I tried a new design and layout and the feedback I received was more positive.I was only advised to make to some minor changes which is what I did and came up with my final product using my target audiences feedback.

Magazine Front cover feedbackFollowing my other products within the promotional package I followed the advice given from my target audience in the pre production stage and started to construct my magazine front cover once I got the images which where shots alongside various scenes within the trailer. I then started to create many drafts in order to keep improving my magazine to the taste of my target audience. From this feedback I then gradually built up to my final product.The feedback I received for my drafts is on the next slide

Final Product

This is the magazine I finally came up with.I decided to change the main image because I felt have the arms in the shot made the cover to busy so I decided to just focus this face.This also enables the me to focus on one of the main features of my promotional package which is the eyes of Ava.I edited the picture in such a way to make it look grainy and make the face look more distorted.I feel just focusing on the face made the magazine front cover look more spaced out and more professional.From all the feedback I had received then led me to decided that this is my final product that my target audience and Im happy with,

Final feedback-On all of my productsOnce I completed all of my products I asked my target audience to fill out a question on whether they through all of my products worked well together.I asked questions like

The responses I received

conclusionFrom my final results of my feedback I can determine whether my trailer and ancillary products were a success.The first thing I can establish from my results is that I achieved what I needed to which was create a horror as 100% of the people that I asked said this was the case.I also achieved the age rating that I wanted to achieve which was a 15 rating as again 100% of my target audience said this was the case.I then asked what parts of my trailer they thought was most effective.The results I received from this was that,the special effects that have been used and the different shot types and the cinematography and effects.The next question I asked was what they thought my weaknesses were The moment where she is looking at all the Avas papers on the wall - the posters and bed sheets make the scene look very busy and crowded - you can't pay attention to all of the notes and I wasn't sure about the bleeding heart, I know why it was used but didn't think it was as effective.From these results I can tell that I could have been more carefully with the scenes where the heart was involved as I can see how it can look like the heart is out of place or just stuck in for the sake of it however this was never my intention.Therefore I could have been a lot more prepared and well organised for these scenes.I feel I was maybe let down by the these scenes because the heart was never originally scripted therefore the scenes of the heart where replaced of the shots of the box.therefore because they were thought out between the middle of the production it did not give me enough time to plan out these shots enough.Which might be what failed.

ContinuedAs far as the shoots with the notes goes I personally like the fact that its quite packed and busy because it adds a sort of worry to the shot which presents a disorganised and shocking feel.I then asked my audience what would they change if they got the chance to.The answers I received from this were,Some of the sound editing isn't very smooth so I'd probably edit it. An example is the bit where she is looking through the door - you hear part of the sound before the jump scare happens and I would have made it have more of a narrative and linear structure.From this I can see that the sound and narrative are big weaknesses within my trailer.The sound from this feedback I have tweaked so that it runs smoothly all the way through so hopefully this comment should be resolved by now however with regards to the narrative I have struggled with this within the production.When the change of the box and the heart came about I wads worried the my entire plot was non existent therefore I had to be very particular about what other shots I would need to include to try and establish some sort of narrative.I decided to produce a sort of story within my trailer by showing some of the pre-horror or nice shots at the beginning whilst creeping in some of the horror shots.Of course within a trailer the shots are jumbled up and not in a chronological order so, I guess in this way I am breaking conventions.I have done this because I feel this added some more narrative to my trailer and make it clear to understand.I guess this kind of worked as I asked my target audience that very question 75% of my audience said that Ava does have a clear narrative however,25% of my audience said No and I can see why because of the confusion I had in the production.

ContinuedI then asked my target audience what they think the strengths are for my posters and magazines.The comments I received were,The editing that you have used on them both is very effective. The colour scheme for the magazine is effective also and fits the codes and conventions,Poster - lots of editing and looks really professional. Magazine - the darkness of the photo is quite nice and effective and They capture a similar effect with fear and suspense like the trailer.From this feedback it made me come to the elusion that all of my products were finished to the best of my abilitys.However the next question I asked was,What were the weaknesses of my ancillary products?.The comments I received is,The poster could be slightly darker to make it suggest more of the horror genre but it is still very good. I would say for the magazine the cover is slightly cluttered for Empire- too many features,Poster - could be a drama poster - red is the only connotation of horror. Magazine -the sell lines don't look as professional as everything else - a little too bright and the text isnt very Empire and The colours for the poster seemed too bright when compared to the magazine cover.Addressing comment number one I do agree.I noticed when I was producing the poster because the colours were light and with the position of Ava it can be see as a drama however,I then looked into adding hints of subliminal messages which made me come to the conclusion of adding the red eyes and red water to symbolise demons/spirits and blood in the water which hopefully made it more clear my posters for a horror film however,I wouldnt have known to do this without the help of the feedback.