2. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

 I carried out a screen testing where I invited a range of different ages with males and females attending, with the majority of people being in my target audience.

Audience Feedback Questionnaire

Focus Group

I was then able to put the answers into graphs:

I asked almost an equal number of males and females to attend my screening so that I could have a wide range of opinions on my trailer and confirm my view that my film will primarily have a target audience of women.

My target audience will consist of 15-24 year olds, so therefore I asked the core of my focus group to be from this age group. However, so that I could have a wide range of opinions I invited a few people from an older generation to work out whether I had a secret niche audience that I had not considered previously. 

I posed the question to my focus group on what their preferred genre of film was, the answers were key to confirming my target audience. The women in my test screening preferred Romantic and Drama Films whereas the males preferred Thrillers and Fantasy films. 

I asked the focus group to give their opinion on what they thought the strengths of my trailer were...in Drama films, things such as the soundtrack and acting are vital in exemplifying the genre. Therefore, it was very nice to see that people had enjoyed the soundtrack and the acting in my piece. 

However, I didn't just want to know about the strengths of my trailer, I wanted to know what I could have improved and what the weaknesses of my trailer were. The feedback showed me that perhaps occasionally the sound was not clear; my shots were grainy; the graphics were too simple; too much narrative was given away that they know what happens in the film. This feedback therefore meant I could focus on the things that the audience did like, such as the shots and the wide range of locations. I also asked my focus group if they would go see my film at the cinema and 100% replied yes, so my trailer fulfilled its purpose of convincing people to go see the future film at the cinema.

From this graph I was able to establish that people had understood my narrative and the genre that which my trailer falls in to. It is vital that people understand what genre is trying to be expressed otherwise people will lose interest if they are left confused. 

With my film being a low-budget British drama, I wanted to work out whether the focus group that I had invited to my screening were interested in this type of film. The majority of people answered that they preferred British film to American film because they feel they can relate to the issues and they feel a sense of patriotism as they pay to watch the film, supporting the British Film Industry. 

Facebook Feedback:

Below are two screen shots of my facebook review page that I set up where anyone, mostly friends could give their opinions on the strengths or weaknesses of my trailer. There were a number of conflicting views; none more so than the opinion on the jogging scenes in my trailer. Some had the view that there were too many, some liked the first running scene but felt the others were not needed and some loved their presence in my trailer. The most useful feedback that I took into consideration was the understanding of the narrative and the understanding of the genre. With a genre film it is vital that the narrative is easily comprehended by the audience and from the feedback on facebook I was able to see that the plot of my trailer had been understood.

From my survey I created a few wordles to show me the good and bad points of my trailer:

Positive Feedback: 

This is where I asked my focus group and facebook audience to tell me what they liked about my trailer. Perhaps the recurring theme from the positive feedback for my trailer was the idea that my trailer was realistic, believable and was very British. Seeing as I set out to make a trailer where my audience could relate to the main characters and their problems, it is great to see that my focus group/target audience have understood the  unique selling point of my trailer. 

One word description:

At the end of my focus group questionnaire, I asked them to describe my film in one word, and here are some of the things that they said. All are positive, which is nice, but the one that I pay particular attention to is the 'thought provoking' comment because this showed me that the reality of the struggle that my main character faced meant that it affected this audience and encouraged them to think about their lives and the lives of others.

Negative Feedback/Constructive Criticism:

I also asked my target audience to have their opinion on what they felt could be changed or improved in my trailer or what they frankly just didn't like. A few things cropped up a number of times, none more so than the attention to sound, graphics and quality of picture by a number of my audience. In an ideal world, I'd  be able to re-do shots that came back grainy, or record my sound again to make it clearer but this is not always possible, so I focused on getting the best out of the shots I had. For the graphics, the comment about them being "too simple" I am not affected by, because I feel that the low-budget nature of my film meant that I didn't want bright colours and interesting graphics. This technique is used in a number of low-budget British films where a white text on a black background splits up the confusion of scenes and montages and helps the audience understand the narrative easily.

Focus group trailer interview:


Immediately after the screening of my trailer, I asked one of the audience if they would be interviewed so I could have a more personal description of what someone in, not necessarily a target audience, but possibly a niche audience, thought about my trailer. The male seen in the interview is a 17 year old who said that he would go see my film at the cinema if it were to come out at the cinema. For this reason I was intrigued into what type of film he enjoyed, where he went to go see these films and why he enjoyed my trailer so much. So that I could try and establish a niche audience that I had not previously considered. I was particularly interested in finding out where he finds out about up and coming films and then what cinemas he goes to watch them at. This is because when looking at niche audiences one must establish how to attract them to your product. 

Poster and Magazine Feedback:

With my target audience probably being females aged 15-24, due to the romantic theme in my trailer. I was intrigued as to why males in my focus group said that they would go see my film at the cinema. So in trying to find more out about this niche audience I interviewed a couple of them and asked for their opinions on my other two products in the form of a poster and a magazine front cover. The feedback was primarily good and showed me that the boys tended to be interested in posters that caught their eye, and particularly with my poster, they enjoyed the dramatic background with strong bold images and with my magazine front cover they liked the professional, classy aesthetic that it beholds. Therefore, when taking into account this niche audience perhaps I would have to make two posters; one directed at my niche male market with the gritty, urban nature of the film being portrayed, and a second which is slightly more colourful and focuses on the romantic side to my film.