Monday 7 May 2012

Evaluation - Question Four

Evaluation - Question Three

What Have You Learned From Your Audience Feedback?

I decided that after making our rough cut trailer that the best way I could improve it was by showing it to my target audience and gaining there feedback. To do this I decided it was best to target somewhere where I could find a large number of my target audience so I decided to publish it on my twitter account and asked people to comment on it. Allowing for any constructive criticisms.



By posting my rough cut onto my Twitter account I soon realized that it had worked very well, so I decided to do the same with my draft promotional package. By doing this it allowed me to reach a much wider audience, and receive a higher level of comments on my work. Here are some of the comments I received;





Even though I received high amount of feedback on all three of my products, I decided I would create a survey, using a free survey tool called Survey Monkey. This would allow people to anonymously answer questions on what they thought was good about my products, but also what they thought I could improve on. As posting on my Twitter account had worked so well the first time, I decided to post the link to the survey on there aswell which, could only increase the amount of feedback I got. Here is an extract from my survey.



From this feedback from my target audience, I found that I needed to improve on the layouts on both of my ancillary tasks, and I needed to edit my main task to make it fit in with more horror conventions, also I need to speed up some of the scenes in my trailer as most of them seem to be quite slow and more film like. Most of the comments I received back were very positive, and some gave me very constructive criticisms on how I could improve my products. Once I had made these improvements my products would be a success with my target audience.  
The main product I needed to improve was my main task, the biggest criticism it got was that it was to much like a short film than a trailer. With this in mind I decided it was best to re-plan my trailer, but keep the same script. With my audience feedback at hand I began filming again, this time it was a lot more successful and we achieved what our target audience wanted.

As well as using my target audience feedback to help with my main task production, I also used it to help with my ancillary task production. With my feedback at hand, I started editing both my promotional poster and feature magazine cover. The feedback helped me a lot, to understand exactly what my audience wanted to see and what exactly would attract them to my product.
The feedback I received allowed me to improve all of my products so they would appeal to my target audience. I feel that this feedback has helped me to create a product that will be very successful.

After editing my products I decided I would go back to my target audience and see if my new products would appeal to them. For this I decided to make a focus group, where I would get 3 members of my target audience, and show them my main task then get them to answer some questions about it. Here is my focus group and their responses;

Lauren Batt
20 Years old
Studying Law at Portsmouth University
Huge horror film fan.

Question One - What do you think about the trailer for The Awoken?
Answer - The trailer was very good, the quick scenes and black transitions between each scene added to the tension. The night vision effect that the trailer has been given is also a very nice touch, as low levels of lighting are famous in horror films this mixes that, but still allows us to see everything that goes on.
Question Two - What do you think about the music that is the trailer?
The music that's in the trailer fits in really well! It becomes louder, and increases the tension at the right points throughout the trailer. My favourite bit is towards the end on your title screen, when the music really peaks.
Question Three - After seeing both my rough cut trailer and my final trailer, do you think the improvements have been positive or negative?
From the rough cut to the final trailer, the improvements have been monumental! The rough cut, looked like real amateur work (no offence) it lacked any kind of creativity. Then to turn that around and produce this final piece is amazing! A really good effort!


Peter Lakey
45 Years old
Precision Engineer
"Watches any old film when he's bored"

Question One - What do you think about the trailer for The Awoken?
I enjoyed the trailer, it definitely makes me want to watch the film! It was mysterious, with the hooded character. The timings of the scenes were great as well as the black transitions that had the red wording on them. Asking the audience questions is a great way to grab their attention, and add even more tension to the trailer.  
Question Two - What do you think about the music that is the trailer?
I liked the music, but thought it could have been a bit more progressive as the scenes got quicker and quicker. Especially when you have one of your characters flicking with blood dripping from his eye. A bit more of a beat just there would have been perfect.
Question Three - After seeing both my rough cut trailer and my final trailer, do you think the improvements have been positive or negative?
The rough cut was very basic, but the improvements you've made are very clear. I can see you kept with the same setting, but changed the storyline to meet more horror film conventions.


Ethan Brighton
17 Years old
A-Level Student
Cinema addict

Question One - What do you think about the trailer for The Awoken?
This is the type of trailer I would expect to see before one of the big blockbuster horror films. This is a good thing don't get me wrong! It is a real edge of the seat trailer, that adds tension with every scene. I would love to see the film too! Its one of those trailers that doesn't tell you if they got out alive or not! Great use of the classic cliffhanger!
Question Two - What do you think about the music that is the trailer?
The music was just right for the type of trailer, it hit big deep notes in the right scenes. 
Question Three - After seeing both my rough cut trailer and my final trailer, do you think the improvements have been positive or negative?
If I'm honest, I liked your rough cut more.. I'm joking, the progression is ridiculous! To think you filmed them in weeks of each other is crazy! The final trailer is so much better! 


The focus group allowed me to see the opinions some of my target audience had on my final products. With most of the comments I got being positive, and only a couple of negative ones. If I was to produce my products again, I would look a lot more into different types of music I could use, and make sure the song was more progressive.

Evaluation - Question Two

Sunday 6 May 2012

Evaluation - Question One

Evaluation - Question One
View more presentations from Matthew Lakey.

After analysing my feedback from my target audience about my rough cut trailer. I decided that I would try and include more horror film conventions in my final trailer. By doing this it would be more clear to my audience as to what type of effect I am trying to create with this trailer.
The first big convention I wanted to include, was the use of low key lighting, low key lighting is where the scene is usually very dark and the only light you see is that of the character that the camera is focused on. Seeing as I would have more than one character on the screen at one time, this became a bit of a problem. Then I came up with he idea of a night vision effect. It would give the impression to the audience that the trailer is all in pitch black, but still allows them to see everything that goes on.
I chose black transition screens as black is the colour that we relate to death. Any texts in the trailer has been wrote in red, as we relate the colour red with blood. Both death and blood are common conventions of any horror film or trailer.



I also included a mysterious character in my trailer, one that the audience wont find out who it is by purely watching the trailer. By doing this it makes the audience want to watch the film. Its a cliffhanger, I used it to draw in my audience even more!
To follow conventions, I also used a very weary soundtrack alongside my trailer. The song I used is quite progressive and becomes a lot angrier as the trailers progresses. When tensions begins to build in the scenes, the song reflects this with a deeper sound.
At the end of my trailer, I added the famous release title, but instead of giving a certain date I simply used "Coming Soon" I did this as I believed that this adds to the audiences urge to find out more about the film!