Evaluation Q3: What i have learned from my audience feedback on the trailer - Shaquile

Here is a list of some of the positive and negative comments made by my target audience after releasing my horror trailer...

Good feedback:
unusual title
"good documentary style"

"good transitions with static effect"

"good POV shot"

"good grading"
"good filters"

"suitable soundtrack"
"clock ticking built suspense"
"strongest point was the 'POV' shot with girl running towards fence"

Positive Criticism:

unusual title
"not sure about zoom at the end"
"too long"
"could of sped up the end"
"deeper scream at the end"


My target audience did not comment on my products genre however, there were signs which showed that they acknowledged the conventions used and challenged in my trailer. For example, someone commented about the length of my trailer, they said that the duration of my trailer was too lengthy. Teaser trailers are usually between 30 to 60 seconds and my trailer was 60 seconds. The genre of my trailer was a monster horror, there was a comment from my target audience which commented on the documentary style i used with the voice over. This feature seemed popular as it directed the audience towards the narrative of the horror film however, i tried not to give too much information away by making the voice over very vague.

There was mixed feelings shown about the horror film title '3.15'. One person commented that they did not understand the title however, another person said that although they did not understand it, they liked it. This may be because the title '3.15' is very abstract, it gives the audience no hints towards the narrative, however, the voice over clearly tells the audience that "three school students were abducted from the school gates at 3.15" and so this may imply that the target audience did not effectively listen to the voice over or that the voice over was not communicated clearly enough.

Another convention that was acknowledged was the convention of building suspense. Someone from my target audience commented that they liked the ticking sound in the soundtrack as it builds suspense. This feedback shows that the ticking sound had the desired effect on the audience that i intended. Additionally, the audience liked the static transition that i used to give off the effect of a camcorder, yet they did not like the zoom transition that i used at the end of the trailer on the antagonist. this transition was used because i did not want to show the audience too much about the film, i wanted the antagonists identity to be hidden in order to tease the audience and make them want to go and see the film.

Based on the audience feedback there are a variety of ways which i could have made a more effective product. Firstly, i would have made my trailer shorter in length as i feel that the audience were given too much footage for a teaser trailer. Secondly, i would have experimented with more horror sounds used in most trailers i.e dark synths or more diegetic sounds like screams. I probably wouldn't do another voice over because i believe that teaser trailers shouldn't reveal too much information about the narrative and my voice over did. I also would experiment with the clip speeds by using the re time feature as this was a skill that i learnt after creating my teaser trailer. Using the re time feature i would have speed up the shot of one of the students being pulled from underneath that table to give off dramatic effect, i would have also used the same feature on the last shot of the antagonist instead of using the zoom transition as this was not favoured by my target audience.

In order to accumulate more effective feedback i would have changed the way in which i promoted the trailer. my main platforms for promotion was Facebook and twitter, in future i would have used more platforms such as Bebo, Myspace, Instagram, Skype and Blackberry.In addition, i would have made an online  multiple choice poll, asking the audience what aspects of my trailer they preffered and why i.e the soundtrack, the camera shots or the grading. this is because a lot of people don't have Youtube accounts and so allot of my target audience will be unable to leave comments on Youtube as you have to have an account to leave a comment. It would have also been possible to do a written survey however, the Internet is a much faster and efficient way of promotion if you can persuade your target audience to watch your product.