Alex March- A2 Media Studies: April 2015

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

I used a projector in an auditorium to exhibit my final product and invited my peers and teachers to sit in on the viewing. Following the screening of my film trailer I held a 5 minute Q&A where the audience posed some questions to me about the production.

I also handed out some of my own questions to the audience to fill out after watching my product. By carrying out the Q&A and the reflection sheets I handed out, I wanted to gauge how interested the audience were and I received various positives and negatives to think about. Below is an example of one of the feedback question sheets.

I learned from all the feedback, including the example above, that the narrative needed to be amended or developed in order to make the production easier to understand for the audience. Some of my peers said that there was too much of the struggle and not enough of him actually gaining success or at least a hint of this success.

Click on the images to enlarge them.

Most enjoyed the pacing of my trailer however some felt that the song "Sweet Disposition" by The Temper Trap didn't sound perfect with the visuals. I decided to make a change to the soundtrack and listen to this feedback. I implemented the song "Dwell" by Tony Anderson to add a suspenseful build up and the lack of vocals in this song meant that dialogue had greater clarity. It turned out to be a successful decision and it worked effectively with the peaks and troughs of the pacing of my production.

My film was shot during the winter season and I tried to reflect the bleakness of the outside weather with a simplicity of clothing from the main protagonist. Some of the audience, however, believed that the use of more locations would have added another layer to my production. I agree with this comment but looking at the film trailer for Friday Night Lights (2004) the general convention of such film trailers is the location serves the narrative rather than the narrative serving the location. In my film trailer I tried to focus on the narrative and the journey that the athlete goes down and the five locations seen so far are intended to serve this without swamping it. I feel that the locations I have so far chosen reflect the gritty realism that I want to portray in this film. In responding to what I received in the feedback I am going to show more scenes to appease the audience as well maintain my belief that location is not the dominant feature in such film trailers.

Following the general feedback that my narrative was not clear enough I decided to greater develop the disequilibrium stage in my trailer. By filming my main protagonist in a situation where he is taking drugs and drinking alcohol I am showing more of what is conflicting and antagonising against his dream. It also makes the narrative clearer for the audience and perhaps my production more dramatic and interesting.

Below you can watch a Q&A that I held after the first screening of my film trailer in the auditorium.