Evaluation 5: How did you attract/address your audience

Above we have a video of a focus group and a member from our media group discussing the opening. we also got a large group of people to watch it and took photos of their reactions which is shown below.

Here are some reaction images of film watchers:

 

The images above show a group of peers watching our film. Low light conditions are in place to make sure that students are fully immersed into the film. Reactions throughout were varied. To my knowledge none of the viewers had experienced depression or anxiety. This made them even more interesting to analyse. Whilst watching the film most viewers looked awkward even confused. This may be due to the lack of understanding of the concept. When people are unfamiliar with difficult subjects they tend to laugh or show amusement to express that they may lack sensitivity in this area due to, again, a lack of understanding. However, all students grasped the seriousness of the film and showed that they felt sorry and upset for the main character which was the desired effect.

 

Questionnaire:

A questionnaire was conducted in order to gain audience feedback here are the questions and responses we found:

1.    What did you think of editing and production?

Had a creepy vibe

Helped convey sadness of the character

Made film lean towards scary

2.    Would you like to see the rest of the film?

Response was 100% yes

3.    Therefore, was enigma present?

Yes, enigma was present

4.    Would you recommend the film to a peer?

Answers were varied. Whilst some students said yes many said it depends on the condition of the peer. For example, if the individual was suffering with depression they wouldn’t recommend the film.

5.    Were there any unclear aspects of the film that could be better explained?

Not much that could be explained other than the violent approach from the teacher.

6.    What could be improved?

Main character could smash the mirror whilst looking at it.

Ease in the subject of depression rather than hard hitting.

7.    Would you pay to see the film?

Most students said no.

8.    Was genre and subject clear?

Most students guessed that it was a teen drama about depression.

9.    What would be an appropriate age rating for the film?

All students agreed that 15 would be a sensible rating.

This questionnaire shows that most of the audience had an enjoyable experience whilst watching the film opening. One major factor I picked up on was the sharp entrance of the subject of depression. For this reason, if I were to re film the opening I would introduce the subject of depression slower so I wouldn’t shock the audience as much. I feel from the feedback given that the most enjoyed part of the film was the storyline and the enigma that the opening left the audience with. I was however quite surprised when the audience said they probably wouldn’t pay to see the film. After further investigation I found out that this was because the majority of the audience were not into this specific genre which made sense.

Survey monkey feedback 
I also conducted a online questionnaire using survey monkey below are the results i found. 

What could be improved?

After analysing the feedback given I feel that a few things could be changed in order to raise the standards of our production even more. Here are a few:

·      Subject introduction. As I said previously after audience feedback I would probably introduce the subject of depression slowly to reduce the awkwardness in the audience.

·      Increase target audience. Even though the largest target audience for cinema viewers is aged 16-21 I feel because our genre is so specific that we have reduced our audience. To increase I would maybe implement some possibility of romance and maybe even a slightly comedic mood to help transfer the true meaning of the film.

·      Dramatic and surprising actions. When reviewing audience feedback, I found that most picked up on the violent actions displayed without reason by the teacher. I also feel after watching the film back that this was inappropriate and that the misunderstanding of the teacher could be displayed in other ways.

In conclusion feedback from peers and an audience was positive. Most liked our film and said they would like to carry on watching and that they had a new and interesting experience whilst watching. As with most productions there are things that can be improved however I feel these issues are swamped by the positive feedback that we received.

Below is also a PowerPoint of what else could be improved.