INITIAL SURVEY Unknown Number Evaluation : Question three

From my original survey we looked at the demographic that the survey was being answered by, making sure we had sent it to the right proposed target audience. This was useful as the results came back as expected (Male/Female fairly equal, aged 16-18).

From these two questions we found out the foundations of our plot. We could see that our demographic enjoyed thriller horrors the most with 80% of the vote, also we could see that another 80% wanted a modern setting the most. This instantly turned us towards stalker horror as it fits both of these criteria.

From the next two questions we were trying t find out further information about the preferred genre of out target audience. We could see that the Resident was a popular choice between our target audience. This reinforced the idea of a stalker horror as the resident is a stalker horror film. Following this the next question helped us decide the overarching scare of the film. As the target audience voted that they would prefer a psychological thriller rather than one with a Gore scare factor. Again reinforcing the idea of a stalker horror.

From these two questions we got a feel for the characters and who should be the focal point of our project. Here the target audience voted that they would rather see a female lead role as the protagonist. This fell into place with the already outlined idea of our plot as most victims of ‘cyber-stalking’ are females, so by following this makes our product more believable. Also following the horror genre the target audience chose the protagonist to be the good not evil. This is helpful to the effectiveness of the horror genre as the unknown is scary and not knowing who the person carrying out the evil acts adds to the unknown- the overall scare factor of the genre. So by having our stalker in the background really amplifies the scare factor as it could be anyone, rather than him being the lead role where we would have to flesh him out as a person, his thoughts/feelings.

These two questions gave us direction on what the overall storyline and what aspects we should draw inspiration from. From Q9 we could see that our target audience thought that films based on real life events were more appealing than made up stories. From this we took the chassis of our stalker idea and started to add the details. Instead of looking for a specific true story about a stalker we decided that sour film should be as realistic as possible. So the target audience could connect and empathies with our lead role as closely as possible- we wanted the audience to react to it in a way that they thought ‘that could be me’. This really boosts the scare factor of our trailer and its overall effectiveness. Q10 shwed us what we had already predicted, that stalker horror was going to be the most popular. This was helpful for us as it showed us we were really going in the right direction.

FOCUS GROUP – WHAT WE CHANGED

Unknown Number Evaluation : Question three

Editing

After showing the focus group an early draft of the trailer they told us that they felt the relationship building at the start of the trailer was too long, at this time it was around a minute of the trailer. They felt the scare and mystery of the trailer should come earlier. So to rectify this we cut some of the scenes at the start of the trailer where we were building Rebecca and Charlie's Relationship, by doing this we shaved 15 seconds off of the starting sequence.

0:02 0:45

SoundOn my initial website I had not included an audio player. However after talking with the focus groups they said that it could be improved by including an audio player that played similar music to my trailer. Firstly add to the atmosphere of the website and make it more intense and creepy but secondly to add to the continuity of the three products - being an indication that they were advertising the same film. So i decided to add an audio player that played the same music as the start of my trailer. I feel it has achieved both of its initial purposes, to add to the atmosphere of the website and the continuity of the three products.

I also changed the sound in my trailer in multiple places after meeting with the focus group. They told us that in the scene where it starts to intensify and Rebecca gets the call from an unknown number and realises that an intruder is in her house there wasn't enough reason for her to get up out of bed to investigate, she may of thought it was a prank. So to rectify this we added some non-digetic sound to the scene in the form of bangs and thumbs that sounded like someone was stomping the floor. We also decided to add a non-diegetic voice over to their phone call, so instead of the viewer just hearing the line from Rebecca “What do you mean your watching me” we hear a manipulated voice with is pitched down and distorted (using Logic Pro X) start the conversation by saying “I’m watching you”. We did this to further intensify the scene and again give Rebecca more reason to get up out of bed and investigate.

Camera Work

After talking to my focus group a large portion of the feedback was entered around the intensity or lack of it in the final sequence. The feedback we got was it was too slow and had a lacklustre feel to the overall sequence. They said that they thought the shot types were not as engaging as they could be, so on the back of this feedback we went back and re-shot some scenes in particular the door slam section of the final sequence. To intensify this and make it more engaging we added some close up shots of Rebecca’s face to really show her scare and emotions. We feel like we have achieved, and nullified the focus groups worries as this scene is now really fast paced and scare fuelled.

RECEPTION AFTER RELEASEUnknown Number Evaluation : Question three

Questionnaire After film

• How would you describe the Editing, Sound, Camera work, Mise en Scene in my three Products?

• How easy was it to understand the plot of my film from my three products ?

• How well do you feel my products represented the horror genre? and further, the stalker sub-genre?

• What would you change about my three products?

Results and Thoughts from the Questionnaire - Q1After showing my three products to participants of the questionnaire I then asked them the questions and took notes on their answers. For the first question a common comment was that “The ending sequence was edited well” with many saying they enjoyed the fast paced movement of it and the “intimidating” camera work. This was the polar opposite of what was said in the focus group, so our later alterations after advice from them has payed off and has improved the quality of our trailer. For the sound section one participant said that “the voice on the other end of the phone scared me!”. Again we included this because of results from our focus group, so it was obviously a worth while addition to our trailer. However one participant said that the music could have been edited to “fade in and out more smoothly” in the talking scenes in our trailer. This I would have to agree, some of the transitions do not sound as professional as hoped. To alter this for next time I would make sure that this was a pertinent question to our focus group before release. Also on sound another participant said that they “enjoyed the music behind the website, it makes it more spooky”. This is exactly what we were going for with the music player on the website, as well as continuity. Another interesting aspect of question one was the contrasting views on different issues; such as lighting. One participant said that they “liked the lighting…” on my website as it “reflected the two characters” whereas other said the difference in lighting “Looked awkward”. The alighting change was pupils done for the exact reason as said before, that it showed that on was evil and one was good. However I have learnt from this instance and if I were to go back and change it, I would keep the difference in lighting just make it not as dramatic.

Results and Thoughts from the Questionnaire - Q2

From question two the general consensus was “yes”, that they did understand the overall plot form my three products. However some of the participants said they were confused as to why Charlie was not included on the website and that from this they instantly assumed that he was not the evil character. Although this isn't is true, it clouds the overall message and doesn't add to the mystery of the trailer. In hind site I should have included Charlie as well as Ethan on the website, so my audience wouldn't make presumptions about the film before seeing it.

Results and Thoughts from the Questionnaire - Q3

After asking this question to the participants most said that they “knew it was a horror film” due to the look and overall mise en scene of the project. With the majority saying that the colour scheme was telling of a horror film (Red/White/Black). This colour scheme was purposely chosen for that reason that it is a generic convention of a horror film, so by choosing it it has achieved its purpose. Another generic convention we used that the participants picked up on was the constant fade to black in between the shots in the trailer. Saying that it was “typical” of a horror film. Again this exactly why we chose it - we wanted it to follow the typical conventions of as horror film so that the audience could instantly recognise the genre. One issue that kept on appearing in the participants response to this question was the font of our title. With one participant saying “It looks too modern” and “Not scary enough”. I would agree with this, however we chose it because it had connotations of texting and phones - which is the subject of our film. However I do understand it is not telling of a horror film and next time I would go for a more traditional font and get across the technology theme in another format in my products.

Results and Thoughts from the Questionnaire - Q4One of the main issues the participants breached after this question was the one of fonts. That they were not “scary enough”, I would agree here and as said before would maybe try and emphasise the technology theme in a different format if i were to do the project again. Another issue to do with the mise en scene of both my poster and my website was the difference in the tagline and title font and how they both look “too modern”. I would again emphasise that the both fonts being used to connote technology, with the tagline font being the same as the font on current iPhones. However in hind sight would choose a different format to get across the technology theme. Another participant said that they would have liked “more mystery” in the trailer, further going on to say that the end sequence was too telling of events to come. i would agree this and upon reflection it should have been edited to have a more jagged feel and be less chronological. This would still achieve the fast pace we wanted but it would give more mystery to the climax and overall plot.