EVALUATION QUESTION 3: WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT FROM YOUR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?Audience feedback has been very crucial in the process of making my movie poster, magazine and trailer as it has helped ensure that my media products are successful by attracting a large target audience.

To begin researching into my films audience I first did some research into existing social realist films audiences through the use of the BFI Statistics. This allowed me to view the age group that my film should be aimed towards, and also allowed me to see who I should be interviewing when looking for audience feedback for my film. We created a questionnaire during the research and planning stage in order to find out what my target demographic would be interested in seeing within a social realist film, especially as it is more modern than other social realist films that I have looked at previously and therefore may have different key themes and ideas.

Some of the questions which we asked within the questionnaire included how long the audience would likely to be interested in watching a trailer for, some of the key issues they would like to see discussed within a social realist film and whether the trailer plays an important part in the audience wanting to view the film in a cinema or not. From the answers that we gained, we were able to determine how long our trailer would be, therefore being able to create a suitable amount of footage for the film, as well as how many social media links we needed to include to encourage the audience to find out more about the film. We also discovered that gang culture and violence was an important aspect of what younger people were interested in learning about within films, therefore this is what we decided to focus on.

Here are some example of the statistics that I found from the BFI website regarding my chosen film genre, as well as the questions that I asked my audience and the response that I gained from them. From this I could make changes accordingly, ensuring that it fit my target audiences needs as well as conforming to social realist genre conventions.

One of the questions that we asked our audience was how long the audience would be willing to watch a film trailer for before they began to get bored. Our results showed us that the majority of people preferred to see a trailer that is 1 minute 30 seconds long, which was ideal for our trailer as we were then able to include many elements of our trailer which encouraged the audience to go and see the film, without the audience seeing too much action or becoming bored

Furthermore, we asked our audience members whether a poster contributed to them wanting to watch a film. The majority of people answered yes, which meant that our cross media campaign was highly important to our films success, and that the poster especially had to enigmatic and encourage the audience to go and view the film. To do I used violent facial expressions and body language which relates to the films central theme of gang culture, as well as a direct mode of address and some bright colours which also helped to draw in an audience for our film and make it successful. This was also relevant to our trailer as well, as the majority of the audience said that they are likely to watch a film trailer before going to see the film, which meant that our trailer had to be interesting and captivating as it will determine whether the audience members go to view the film.

When we asked our audience what issues they would be interested in seeing within a social realist film, they answered that they would most likely want to watch films about gang culture, poverty and racism, which are things that we then decided to include within our film as they are main issues within society today, especially in London which is where our film was be set. Another question we asked was whether they would be interested in watching films about modern day issues or issues from the past, and they answered that they wanted to see modern day issues. Because of this, we decided that our film should focus on gang culture specifically as it is very highly covered within modern day media, and it is something that many younger people (such as our target audience) would like to learn more about.

We also interviewed a member of our films target audience to find out why he was interested in social realist films, and what he enjoyed watching within a social realist film to keep him interested. From this we learnt that our audience was interested in learning about real-life issues, including the ones which were discussed within our trailer, and seeing something which isn’t often seen in mainstream films.

We then interviewed a female audience member asking her the same questions, again to be able to gain insight into what younger people wanted to see within social realist films and specifically what a female audience member would want to see as stereotypically they are less interested in viewing violence. This interview allowed us to see that the realist element to our film was going to be the most important aspect, as once again viewing real-life issues was important to a younger audience member and allowed there to be an educational aspect to the film as well as just viewing it for pleasure.

Once we had created our first draft trailers, posters and magazine front covers we asked for feedback from our peers via social media platforms, specifically Facebook. By doing this, we were able to find out what they liked and disliked about the products from our audiences perspective, and also see what could be changed when creating our final product which would make it more successful. The majority of the audience members who commented on my poster and magazine front cover were happy with the image and the cover lines, however they did say that they would like the text to be easier to read and perhaps a lighter colour in order to stand out more from afar. This meant that when creating my final product I was able to cater more to my audience’s wants and needs, and help to make it a successful product and encourage a wider audience.

The audience response that I got were all from members of my films target audience, which ensured that any changes that I made to my magazine front cover and poster was to fit my audiences needs and ensure that it was a success with them, as well as conforming to general conventions of social realist films.

In response to this feedback that I gained from my audience I changed the font style and colour on both of my ancillary products, which I feel has made them much clearer and easier for my target audience to read, thus encouraging them to find out more information regarding my film and ensuring that it was successful. I also ensured that none of the font styles or colours were lost in the background colour, ensuring that they stood out to my audience and were easy and simple to read, portraying the information that was needed effectively and in a simplistic way which would be easier for my audience to view and understand.Here is an example of a change I made to my ancillary task in regards to audience feedback:

In regards to my draft trailer feedback, I was told by my audience members that they liked the majority of the trailers content in terms of the filming, however they felt that the sound could be better (louder, more intensifying etc.) and they also felt that the editing could be faster, including more short takes in order to highlight the intense themes and the tension which is built throughout. In order to achieve this, I used a different, more advanced editing software which allowed me to be more precise when I was editing, ensuring that the takes were all short, but also included the right amount of information. I was also able to match the action that was taking place on the screen to the sound, which helped to make the trailer flow better and built up the intensity of the trailer more.Here is an example of how I made the takes shorter in regards to the editing software:

Precise timings on the software made it easier to meet my audiences needs, using more short takes and matching the sound to the action that is taking place.

Another form of feedback that I received, specifically on my draft film trailer, was from one of my peers in person. By allowing him to watch the trailer and give me feedback it meant that I could change it to make it more successful with my target audience, and also view it from an outsider’s perspective and make changes accordingly. His response was that he liked the majority of the trailer; however he felt that it needed to have more sound, preferably louder and more intense to build up the tension throughout and highlight the important themes which are being discussed. This is something which was rectified when making our final product, as we made sure that the music was loud and intense in relevant places, as well as making it build throughout to create sense of tension, representing the genre and themes. Once I had created my final product, I asked my audience for final feedback regarding

the trailer and whether they had any final changes for me to make. All of the response that I got was positive, with no changes that I needed to make which ensured me that the trailer would be a success with my target audience, and also highlighted how I had conformed to social realist genre conventions throughout. By doing this final audience feedback, I felt confident in the product that I had created and I was ensured that it would be a success with my target demographic.

Target audience feedback has been very important when creating my final media products as it has allowed me to find out what my target audience specifically wants to see and what will appeal to them most, thus helping to make my film trailer, poster and magazine front cover a success.