3. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR AUDIENCE

FEEDBACK?

When producing a project like a short film it it’s important to receive feedback from a target audience, as their comments make the work improved so that it can attract to them. For each of the tasks I completed (short film, posters and magazine film review), I asked the audience what they like about it and what could be improved, through the stages of creating these tasks. This is so I could get the best final outcome possible to suit the audience, otherwise they all won’t be effective. I used ‘SurveyMonkey’, group questionnaires and social media to get feedback.

During the planning of my short film, I created a questionnaire on ‘SurveyMonkey’ to see what my target audience would be/what they like. After these questions were answered I analysed them to further my knowledge on my target audience. For instance, one question was ‘What is your favourite genre, concerning short films?’ The genre that was most popular was drama, which was good because my short film is a drama so therefore it would appeal to this audience. Another question I asked was ‘What is your age?’ The most popular answers were 18-24, and 31-49, which matches my target audience, therefore I know that any audience feedback I got throughout my project was from my target audience. An example of another question is ‘What is the point in short films?’ This was answered, “to tell a story” and “to portray a message.” This was good because the aim of my short film is to tell the story of a man with schizophrenia, and to portray the message that people with this illness aren’t crazy and frightening, like the stigma attached to them in the media.

After my first poster draft, I got both positive and negative feedback. “it shows the dark and serious nature of a drama” however, “it doesn’t represent Schizophrenia well/doesn’t come across clearly.” When receiving this feedback, I re-drafted the poster to make it more suitable to these comments as in the end this product needs to attract the audience. The re-draft I completed from this feedback was improved, as I asked for feedback again and the audience said “you can tell there is something not right about this character as he is playing chess alone, so it hints at an illness without giving it away.” This comment showed me that this poster improved from the last draft, making me realise how important audience feedback is.

Once all of my tasks were complete, I carried out a group feedback session, whereby I showed young adults both of my posters, magazine film review and my short film.

First poster feedback:

- “It links well with the concept of the film, as you can see the chessboard and that no-one is on the other side playing with him, which shows Schizophrenia more clearly.”

However…

- “I think the house is too in focus; it isn’t as relevant as the chessboard or anything else in the frame.” – From this comment, in the future I would blur the house or even take it out.

Second poster feedback:

- “This is a good alternative to the first poster, has the same links, for example the chessboard.”

- “I think it’s too dark, however it does fit with the theme because it has a dark subject matter.” – If I were to do it again I would lighten the image slightly so that it is a little clearer.

However…

- “You can’t really see that he is alone unlike the other poster.” – As this is the alternative poster for my film, I decided to keep it how it is, because it is a different angle, showing the chessboard more in focus than the first one, which is a key symbol in my film, as it represents Schizophrenia: the two different colours on the chessboard can be seen as the ‘split’ mind attached to the illness.

When preparing my magazine film review, the feedback I got was positive. They said “it looks like a typical magazine review” and “I like the layout because it looks simple and easy to get around.” Because I got positive feedback from my first draft I knew I was on the right track and would only need to change a few things in production.

From the group feedback session, I got a lot of positive feedback as well as some improvements I could have made.Magazine Film Review feedback:

- “I like the black and white theme, it’s simple and thought-provoking.”

- “Good critic quotes, I like the layout of them and how they are more noticeable than the other text.”

- “Good detail in the writing about the plot etc.”

- “Font is good and easy to read.” – This is good because it needs to be clear for the audience.

However…

- “It should be more than 3 ½ stars.”- Perhaps I should have put the rating higher, so that it makes the film more appealing.

- “I think the pictures are too dark, can’t see the chessboard clearly, so there needs to be more focus on the chessboard.”– If I were to do this again I would brighten the photos, however I wanted it to come straight from my short film.

I also showed the group my short film, these are some of the comments made:

- “You have a good use of locations.”

- “The camera angles are good and effective.”

- “The music creates a good ambience.”- This is good because I decided to add some background music in nearing the end of post-production so that it adds some drama to the film, so now I know the audience like this I know I made the right decision.

- “When the character is talking on the swing, it could be louder.” – I attempted to do this, however it was very difficult to make his voice louder than the background.

- “The noises of camera feedback are a little distracting.” – From this comment, in the future I would look closely into the sound and remove this noise as much as I can.

- “I think that you demonstrated it really well by whispering to show he has voices in his head, and the colour f the film is good and how he is always lonely. This chess aspect was really cool too.”

To widen my audience feedback, I then put my short film on YouTube, followed by sharing it on my Facebook page, where I got a few comments from both young adults my age, and older adults as well, which is good because this is my target audience. These were some of my comments:

- “Good editing! Good use of camera angles! Mise-en-scene for mental illness is good too.”

- “Good cinematography. Very thought-provoking.”- “I feel really emotional, fantastic.”

- “This is great! Awesome cinematography and mise-en-scene, really creates a professional look and the way you brought the mental illness connotations into it made it really interesting to watch.”

- “Very good…not an easy subject to portray.”

- ”Excellent portrayal of a very difficult subject.”

All of these comments are really helpful, I have learned that audience feedback is very important as the product needs to please them so that they are attracted to it. From all of the positive feedback I have heard from both young adults, older adults, media students and non-media students, it proves that getting feedback throughout the process was effective in making my products better.

I received more feedback of my film via YouTube, from a young adult. This is important as they are part of my target audience so their opinion was crucial.

- “Well what a very well thought out piece of cinematography, very interesting shot angles when walking on the street. Well done!”

After I posted my film on YouTube, I got an email from Sam Richards, who studied media at University, and now works for a film company in London. He reviews films and documentaries and writes a blog about them.

This piece of feedback was very useful, as it comes from somebody in the industry, meaning they know what works well and what looks effective. I learned from this feedback that I managed to convey what I wanted in my film, as he described that it created tension, which was one of my aims, and also that he understood that ‘the chess game was conveying the battle between the subject and his voices’, which was what I was after when choosing this piece of symbolism.