Audience feedback

Feedback from an audience is extremely important when having made a production. This is because, it needs to be known to you that your film will make a profit and that your chosen target audience would watch the film. Lastly, you'd need to be assured that your chosen micro elements applied to films succeeded and appealed to the target audience.

I recieved feedback for my sequence by forming a focus group. From this, people within the group discussed the positive points that they saw within my sequence. I also gained constructive critisism which can help me improve, next time. Overall, this source of feedback helped as the group was made up of my chosen target audience of 15+. Aswell as this, I formed a questionnaire that I gave people aged 15+ to fill out. This was extremely helpful as I gained more knowledge as to what my audience liked about my sequence. I asked questions such as 'do you think this sequence contains a high element of shock/surprise/suspense?' and I asked 'would you want to see more of this, if made into a full film?' I found questions like this important, as I could view if my production would make a profit and appeal to it's audience. Feedback such as this is considered benefitial for production companies and the industry. This is because, this feedback allows the company to see if their production would sell at the box office. Further from this, large industries that produce these films, make blockbusters, which expands their target audience as film success can spread worldwide.

Here are three positive comments that I recieved:
1) 'Good use of costume, it makes the opening more appealing to watch.'
This can be refering to the wedding dress used. I thought the costume used was extremely important and helped show the character of the bride in her destressed state.
2) 'Full of suspense. The music helps this.'
I analysed many different music pieces before choosing the appropriate non diegetic sound to play within scenes high in suspense. Suspense helps draw the audience in, as they start to engage with the narrative.
3) 'Unique plot, haven't seen this kind of sequence before.'
I aimed to create a narrative that was extremely unique. Although I added conventional micro elements for example, low key lighting, I didn't want to use the traditional thriller sequence. This is because, it has been viewed by many audiences, and another conventional narrative can disencourage them.

I also recieved constructive comments from this feedback:
1) 'Could add more shock rather than just suspense'
Although I believe that shocking frames and ideas are added, I could have added more of the shock/surprise element to engage the audience futher.
2) 'Less dialogue, more sound effects.'
In the beginning, I believed that dialogue was needed for the frames to make sense to the audience. However from feedback like this, I found that clearer frames and more sound could do this equally.
3) 'End scene was confusing'
The sequence ended with the groom and his knew partner sat on the sofa. Luckily, this is only the opening sequence therefore, this would be explained in the rest of the film.

Overall, I believe that I have followed the aims of the brief. This is because my opening sequence contains micro elements that are seen within other successful thriller films. Therefore, I used influences to create a strong opening sequence that would appeal to my chosen target audience. I have made a post containing my final sequence here. From this, it can be seen that the brief was followed as I created a two minute thriller secrets, containing researched conventional micro elements such as cinematography that would appeal to my target audience.