What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

The target audience for our 'film' was teenagers and young adults, around 15 - 24 years old, because they not only visit the cinema most often but they are also the age group most attracted to horror films. So when we felt our trailer was finished we played it to the rest of our class as they had an age range of 17 - 20 and were therefore within the range of our target audience. We did this for a few reasons, but mainly to see what the reactions of people outside the project, but within the target audience, would be. This included anything good, bad or even anything they felt was missing.

The first critical point we were met with was in regard to the scene towards the end where Jake is crying into

the camera. One member of the class felt this could be seen as funny, which would be a problem for the trailer of a horror film. However after talking to the rest of the class and watching it again it seems the humour derived from this shot was a product of knowing Jake, and not to do with the shot itself. This theory was supported further when I played the trailer to people who didn't know Jake as they didn't find it funny at all.

The second point was to do with the following shot of the hand appearing through the tree. At the time of showing our trailer this shot was longer and was focused more on Jake's face, like the previous shot, before the hand appeared. However some members of the class felt that as the camera moved from Jake's face to the hand it looked too deliberate as he was holding the camera and wasn't supposed to know it was there until it appeared. We reviewed this as a group and decided to shorten the clip so it isn't really focused on Jake's face and therefore looks more like an accident that it moves to the hand.

The third point was also to do with the hand. This time it was suggested it may look better with more of a jolt as this would make the audience jump and be more in fitting with the horror genre. We thought about this and although we decided we liked the visual the way it was we did move the impact sound around a bit so the effect was more jolting.

The fourth point was to do with lighting. Originally, and at the time of showing, our trailer was quite light because it was shot during the day. However the class felt that it would possibly look scarier if it was dark, especially as a prominent convention of horror is that bad things happen in the dark. Once again we reviewed this as a group and decided it was a valid point. So in response to this we added a gradual grading across the trailer. This made it seem as if it was getting darker whilst still looking natural.

The fifth point was in regard to the 'Blair Witch Project'. It was felt by one member of the class that our 'film', and therefore our trailer, was quite similar to 'Blair Witch Project' because it used POV all the way through and was set in a forest, and therefore they felt it didn't have anything unique to advertise. However this point was discussed by the whole class and the majority of people felt that this was not the case because our trailer has elements that made it different, such as the source of fear being more defined through David's behaviour.

The sixth point was that there was a possible lack of police activity. One member of the class felt that the shot of the police tape began to establish a link between the forest and previous police activity but then didn't build on it, which they felt may have been a good thing to do as one conventional horror setting is a place with a 'past'. However we felt this was the effect we wanted because we wanted to hint at previous activity without it becoming too obvious and giving away too much of what had happened in the forest.

The seventh point suggested was adding more glitches, to both the inter-titles and footage, as they helped to give the impression of supernatural interference and hint at what was happening in the forest. However our group felt that if we added many more then the point would become overstated and annoying and therefore we decided to leave it as it was.

The eighth point was regarding the beep when the inter-titles glitch. One member of the class thought this may get annoying. However our group felt that the glitch itself needed an audio accompaniment to draw attention to it and make it seem scarier, and so we decided to leave them in.

The ninth point from someone in the class was questioning whether there was enough narrative to keep the audience interested. However we asked the rest of the group and they said they understood enough for this to be a good teaser trailer. Therefore we decided that nothing needed to be done because, if anything, the lack of narrative helped to keep the audience guessing about what would happen in the film, and this was the effect we were trying to create.

The final point was whether we should put a camera effect on, as this would help to emphasise that the 'film' was shot in a POV style. We thought this was a good suggestion and tried it. However once it was on we found it was too small and didn't look right, so we took it back off.

In addition to the points above the class also gave us feedback on what they liked. The first thing they pointed out was the camera dropping and the foot stomping. They said this was especially effective with the impact sound because it implied danger and helped to maintain that this trailer was for a horror film. The second was the soundtrack, especially towards the end when it speeds up and becomes more intense. They liked this because they said it built tension and put them on edge which made them want to see the film. The third point was the section where the running is interspersed with darkness and a heartbeat. They felt that the visuals in connection with the heartbeat again built tension because as the heartbeat gradually picked up speed the audience's heartbeat did the same. The fourth point was the inter-titles. They liked the clear, consistent font followed by the glitches and static, especially at the start as this was the first impression they had of the film and it helped to establish the genre and premise. The fifth point was the handheld POV camera effect, which isn't used very often for a whole film and therefore generated interest. This is not only a point of advertising but also again establishes the film as part of the horror genre because this is where this technique is most used. The final point they specified liking was the bit where David's eye opens, because the shot itself, the bad TV effect and the impact sound all worked well together and indicated to the audience that this is the moment where things start to go wrong and the horror begins.

In conclusion I learnt several things from the audience feedback. I learnt that whilst the opinion of a group does matter, the information has to be considered carefully. It would have been impractical and unnecessary to change everything that every member of the group suggested, and in some instances impossible as there were opinions that contradicted each other. However I did gain some invaluable information from the opinions of the class and I think our trailer was changed for the better because of them.