What have you learned from you audience feedback?

Here is the link to the video footage of my focus group. This particular video shows the responses of 4 individual’s opinions about my finished trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Iq7hgcZ7a4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCgEkFsegoQ

I also wrote minutes following the feedback, in order to make responses clearly as many are difficult to hear. ( insert doc )

The focus group that I chose consisted of 2 girls and 2 boys all within the age group of 16-25 (our primary target audience). I felt that it was very important to have a focus group that was our target audience, as I wanted to first receive feedback off of people who would most likely watch it, therefore would have the most suitable responses. I then created a survey and sent it out by email in order to receive responses from not only my secondary target audience, but also people of all genders and ages, in order to test how others found my final products, and if they would also appeal to them. This therefore allowed me to focus on feedback from the appropriate target audience, as well as other cross sections of society.

Stuart Hall – Audience Reception Theory

Hall states that audiences actively look for meaning in a text. He states that meaning is encoded into text by producers and decoded by the audience. The way the audience decode these texts and messages they get relies on their own experiences and social demographics, which are different for everyone. The theory is split into three parts, and Hall states that all texts are polysemic, which means they can have multiple meanings. Texts can be read in different ways depending on the audiences identity, cultural knowledge and opinions. Texts can be read in three ways:

Preferred reading = when the audience response to a product in a way that the producers have planned for them to reactNegotiated reading = When the audience only partially respond in the desired wayOppositional reading = When the audience disagree with desired message.

The order of the decoding of information follows 4 steps…

1. Production – Encoding takes place, and is shaped by societal stereotypes/values2. Circulation – How individuals perceive things (visual vs written)3. Use – this is decoding that requires active recipients4. Reproduction – whether the individuals take action after they have been exposed

to a specific message

Looking at Stuart Hall and his theory has helped shaped my questionnaire/focus group questions as I am keen to find out the overall viewpoints of the respondents and their impressions. I shall therefore include questions which focus on the atmosphere/impression created (eg colour scheme/images etc)

What have I learned from my focus group about my trailer?

Immediately after watching my trailer all of the focus group seemed extremely positive about my trailer, and believed that it looked ‘professional’ and ‘well thought about’. Particular areas that were highlighted as impressive were the use of the green screen shots (News Casts), as that was a fairly complicated process to do, and is used in real life products. The genre was clearly identified by all of the target audience with many immediately noticing the ‘romantic’ elements, and noticed the ‘dramatic’ elements. One genre that was identified by an individual of the focus group that we chose not to follow the conventions of was that of a ‘thriller’. When asking about why that was identified, the individual stated that the ‘suspense’ was great, which led him to that conclusion. Whilst I am glad that the focus group felt the element of suspense that I aimed to create, this for many may have been interpreted in the wrong way resulting in wrong genre identification. I can however accept that there is an element of ‘thriller’ in our genre, due to the devastating effects/results of the war/terrorism with Syria and ISIS. Regarding the quality of our actors, all the focus group seemed extremely impressed with their quality, remarking how they were ‘clearly spoken’, ‘professional’, and ‘appropriate for the role’. This I am extremely happy about, as we were struggling regarding our actors and casting, finding people of a high quality, with spare time, but also had chemistry for the relationship, therefore I am pleased with the results of the final performance.

I felt that it was important to ask the focus group on any improvements they had in mind that would help me create even better productions in the future.

One element that was picked up upon was the transitions that we utilised. One individual felt that the ‘fade’ transitions that we utilised didn’t look effective. We initially chose the faded option due to them being a convention for romance trailers, however I would in the future consider how fast the transitions were, and also the colour of them. We utilised black fades, however in some shots it may be relevant to include white fades, if the lighting in the previous and next scenes were bright.

Another element that all of the focus group agreed with was sound issues regarding the volumes of our actors dialogue and the background music. Many felt that the soundtrack was too loud, which compromised the clarity of the actors and the narrative, as many ‘couldn’t hear them’. This is a vital element to consider for the future as if the audience feel that the sounding effects used are not appropriate it shall result in them being disheartened with the trailer and therefore are less likely to go and see it. Therefore for future productions I shall concentrate on ensuring that the actors dialogue is loud and clear, and the soundtrack quietens at appropriate points.

What have I learned from my focus group about my poster?

First impressions of the poster resulted in everyone being extremely impressed with the poster commenting that it is ‘professional looking’, and likely to be seen ‘on the side of the Empire cinema’. This therefore fulfils the criteria of making a ‘realistic film poster’. One commented on the quality of my work and noted how he liked ‘how the two actors fade into the trees’, therefore adding to the posters professional look . When asked about the genre identification and what genre they thought it was, the focus group immediately identified the genre as a romance due to the ‘two main

characters’ and their ‘positioning’. The pull out quote also helped the genre identification, as the tagline is a typical romance quote.

The colour scheme was something that was incredibly important to me therefore I was extremely interested to see the response of the focus group. One individual pointed out the link between the colour scheme and the narrative, commenting how it is ‘red like war’. This link is furthered by the image of the war memorial on the right, and was picked up upon by the focus group. I am extremely happy that this element of the narrative was portrayed, as it clearly conveys not only the genre, but also the storyline and indicates further possible events.

When asked if the focus group had any ideas for improvement, individuals noted on the text in particular, with one commenting how the billing block contained gaps, resulting in it look for static and pixelated. Another had the idea of making the top billing names larger and bolder in order to really emphasise the stars that are involved in the production. These features I agree with and believe that I could improve, specifically the billing block, as during production I did find it difficult to ensure that all of the necessary information was present and looked effective. Therefore next time I shall spend more time on this area.

What have I learned from my focus group about my magazine?

First impressions of the magazine were positive also, with comments of how it looks ‘professional’ and could be seen ‘on the shelves of a newsagents’, which implies that the quality of my ancillary text is high. When asked if it looks realistic as a magazine and why, an individual commented on how the ‘layering of the images and text were well thought about’, which contribute to its overall appearance, as well as the drop shadowing behind the title being noticeable ‘straight away’ , which fulfils its advertisement purpose of being one of the first things that is noticed by the consumers, therefore making it memorable. The group also commented on the quality of the pictures, remarking how they were of a ‘high quality’ and ‘professional’, which again contributes to the first impression of the consumers. -________________________________________________________________________

I also sent out an online survey regarding my ancillary texts (however I also attached the link to my trailer so that the audience could notice the links/synergy between the three). Here is a link to my survey. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XWMTTW5 .

This time I did not limit the age of the people viewing my final three products as I wanted feedback from my secondary audience age (16-25), as well as those who fall into neither category of my target audiences, in order to gain information from all niches of society. Here is a graph to show the variation in ages and genders of who answered my questions.

Poster Feedback

What is your gender? What age category do you fit into?

The results show that there was a fairly even distribution of gender regarding those who answered my questions, however the majority of respondents were male. This is good as my primary audience consisted of both male and females (as shown in my focus group), therefore I am likely to get reliable responses. The age categories who responded varied a lot though, which helps me identify areas that specifically liked by my primary audience, but also allows me to gain insight into whether those who fall outside of my primary audience would consider/watching the film and their views.

What is your overall impression of the poster? Do you think that it looks realistic?

The results show that from a first glance people were extremely positive about my poster, which I am very happy, and believe that it reflects the realistic qualities that I have included. When asked if it looks realistic, everyone who responded agreed that it did look realistic (100%), therefore meaning that I have fulfilled the brief of creating ‘realistic products’.

What genre would you guess that it is?

When asked what genre they believed the poster was I got the following responses…

55% = Romance

23% = Romance Drama

11% = Drama

11%= War

These statistics I am extremely happy with as all the genres identified are present with my trailer. Identification of genre I was extremely concerned with as wrong identification shall attract the wrong audience to the film, which shall therefore result in negative reviews. Alongside this I asked for the respondents opinions on the colour scheme utilised and how this contributed to the overall feel of the magazine.

The responses that I got were fairly positive with many claiming how it went ‘well with the genre and idea of war’, however many commented that they felt that it was potentially too dark for a romance, and could be improved by lightening the tones. This I would therefore consider if I were creating/improving the poster.

I then asked for any improvements that the respondents could think of, so that I could receive feedback on any aspects of the poster that I had not covered. The majority of respondents claimed that there was nothing that they would change, however for those who did have ideas, I noticed many similarities with those answers in the focus group.

One similarity is the idea of lightening the colours in the colour scheme so that the overall appearance/impression of the poster is one that is much happier, and shows the couple in their happy moments, which is likely to attract romance genre enthusiasts.

Another similarity was the idea of centralising the text/title so that the entire poster is more pleasing to the eye. I appreciate this feedback, however feel that a centralised title would not suit the poster due to the secondary image of the characters walking (I considered other layouts in my planning of the poster (https://emilyba2.wordpress.com/layout-2/)

Another improvement that featured in both of my focus group feedback and survey feedback was the idea of making the actors names much bolder in order to emphasise the actors involvement in the film, and persuade people to come through the promotion of ‘top billing’. This is definitely an improvement I would act upon as I believe that the marketing benefits of doing so would extremely aid my film and its success.

Magazine Feedback

Similar to the questions regarding the poster, the first question that I asked my respondents was for their opinion and overall impression.

What is your overall impression of the magazine?

The responses show an overwhelmingly positive response, with the majority remarking how the magazine is ‘very good’, however I am aware that this time, 11% of people felt that the magazine was only of a moderate level. I am therefore keen to discover their improvements for it.

I then asked the respondents again for their overall thought on the colour scheme utilised.

What do you think of the colour scheme?

Again the majority of the responses (89%) of people felt that the colour scheme was suitable, however 11% felt that it was not. I can therefore infer that this is the reasoning for the ‘moderate’ answers to the previous question. However in order to get a true idea of people’s improvements I gave them the option to comment in a box (no restricting answer), any ideas.

Do you have any improvements?

Similar to the responses from the focus group and survey for the poster, the improvements made for the magazine are similar in the survey and focus group.

One similarity is the idea of changing the colour of the feature texts. In my focus group the participants claimed that they struggled to read some of the words, particularly ‘exclusive’, due to the colour of it being extremely similar. This is something I would definitely change if I were to complete the magazine again as the feature stories are vitally important, as they help attract a wider audience, whose preferences vary in different genres.

Another similarity was the commenting of the barcode. This was picked out in both the focus group and the survey, as both felt that it was possible in the wrong position and detracted from the main image. If I were to complete this task again, I would therefore definitely consider rearranging some of the layout in order to accommodate the barcode. I would possibly place it to the left bottom corner, as this was a convention that I chose to challenge.

Something that was only referenced in my survey feedback, was the idea of utilising a common colour scheme throughout both ancillary texts so that the audience can feel similar feelings/attitudes towards both and distinguish their connection. I appreciate the idea of this and think that it would be a good marketing strategy, however believed that I would find it difficult to implement this through my ancillary texts. This is because my poster required a colour scheme that fit the conventions of only one genre (my chosen genre – romance drama), therefore I chose a red/orange/sepia colour scheme to accommodate this. However the magazine needs to account for a variety of film genres, as a film magazine needs to accommodate for film enthusiasts as a whole target audience, and not be specific in their features.

Mass Media – the purpose of a film magazine is to accommodate for the mass media (hence my colour scheme of blue which obtains numerous connotations/uses). Whilst my film poster needs to attract to as many audiences as possible (hence the genre hybrid), it is much more specific in its target audience.

Have I noticed any changes in responses depending on social groups?

Gender – Overall I have not received any differences in responses depending on the gender of the respondents, which I am quite surprised about seeing as we reversed gender stereotypes of males and females. I therefore expected the males to be slightly less positive towards the trailer as we have portrayed our male as weaker than the female.

Age – Overall I have noticed differences in responses depending on the age of the person giving the feedback. Whereas those who were in the target audience responded fairly positive towards my trailer and ancillary texts, the survey where I opened up the age groups responding (some 50 +), I received more negative responses/feedback. Despite the fact that I received some negative comments, the fact that these came from those not in my target audience makes me feel increasingly confident that I have satisfied the needs of my target audience.