Audience Feedback

After showing my opening two minutes to 34 year 12 and 13 students studying media studies. The feedback i got i am generally not suprised by the comments as i agree with most of them. Although some i do not agree with but can see that it just down to the persons personal opinion as there alot of contrisicting responses.

Positive feedback included:

Good shots 13
Good setting 3
Clear narrative 13
Good story 12
Good music 9
Voice and voice worked well together 4
Clear that it was an opening not trailor or music video 3
Didn't give away too much  2
Easy to follow 5
Emotive 6
Good actors 5
Good,clear mise en scene 3
Good range of ages 3

Negative comments included:

Not emotive enough 2
Too much speech 1
Bad font 7
Characters were too different 1
Shakey camera 2
6 years later? 2
Shots needed redoing 1
Cliche 1
Jumped to the point 2
2 boys? 5

I am very pleased with my positive feedback as it supports all the areas i was particually consentrating on, such as making the dialogue clear, uses a different setting not stereotypical, using a range of shots and building the emotion. Some of my negative feedback i will take on board but contradict other people so i take down to opinion, such as jumping to the point - where as 12 people loved the story. 2 people said it was not emotive but 6 people said it was emotive. I agree with the comments that the two boys did not look alike, i found this particually difficult as i had an actor but it had to be changed at last minute and i got the closest i could get to my younger actor. The six years later and dialogue clearly illustrates that the boy is him older, which some people understood but 5 did not.

My finshed opening two minutes

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

 My preliminary task was a task to learn how to operate a camera and put together, crop and edit footage that i have recorded, from this process i have learnt and improved alot. My Perliminary task consisted of a girl walking through the door sitting down and a few pieces of dialogue, although i did enjoy this process it did not increase my ability or help me to understand what i could potentially do. There was some dialogue amongst the shots but no added sound or music, although in my finished video i added a music track from an unknown unsigned artist in order to increase the tention and create a more emotional opening and microphoned voice over onto my video. I also did not use any effects or transitions throughout the preliminary video, although on the other hand in my video i have used transitions throughout, such as a dissolve from the GCSE results to the NHS letter, I also used the effect of colour palette to darken the shots when the boy is older to show a clearer difference of time to make it clearer for the audience that it is Michael at 16 and then again at 22. I also concentrated on mise en scene in my film as i was unaware and didn't have enough knowledge of this before hand, therefore i tried to include as many connotations as possible. Putting everything into perspective although my preliminary task was a great stepping stone in helping me to understand the using the equiptment, producing my video i have had to take into consideration alot of aspects to make my video more than a piece of footage but a highly rated video in which i hope it is.

How did you attract/address your audience?

My film will attract my target audience as i conducted a survey and went around speaking to my target to gage what they wanted from my opening film. I found that girls in the age range of 14-24 liked drama films and romantic. Therefore i have created a drama genres film with romance running through it, later on in the film. I have used boys aged around the same age as my target audience so they can relate and become emotionally attached to the characters as this is another thing i found that girls would go to the cinema if there is a 'good looking,hansome' guy as the main character. They also liked to see the main role to be a man so they could feel some passion and love towards this character, which can also lead the film to become a great success!  This is the aim of my film to play on the audiences heart strings and force them to feel emotion for Michael as if a person watches a film and becomes emotionally attached and possible cry then they will remember the film and therefore go out to buy it. I also found that 80% liked to be slowly introduced to the film but to be introduced to the characters and told what was going on. Although the other 20% wanted something to be left until the end. Other films such as my sisters Keeper a great success have a similar structure.  Which is where the romantic, relationship and saving of life will come later on in the film. Bethany Clark age 17 said the best part of the opening was being left not knowing what was going to happen afterwards making you want to watch the rest. Also the setting is in a school and in a park therefore it is relatable  to the audience, forcing the audicence to relate and become more attached to the audience.

I have taken on board the comments from each stage of my audience research and have tried to fit where is possible the feedback into my video to make it what the audience want, resulting in them wanting to watch and buy my film.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Definition of media institution: A company / organisation that produces, distributes or  exhibits films.

 There are many institutions whether they are low or high budget. For example the BBC have their own institution called BBC Films arm; Channel4's Film Four also produces films.This is very important as institutions such as Channel 4 and the BBC are able to show their own films  earlier than  films made by other institutions. They can also promote their films easier as they own most of the television that the  public watch daily.

As my film would be a low budget film, it would be backed by an institution such as UK FILM COUNCIL who have produced films such as Kidulthood, Adulthood and St Trinians. This is funded by the national lottery and consists of you pitching your idea to a panel and they then choose the idea they feel will be most successful giving you 15000 pounds, although you have to make the money back once your film is aired.

High end companies known as the 'big five' producing films such as the recent massive hit Avatar and TheHurtlocker would not work for my film. These include well known names such as Warner Bros and Paramount. Although if i was to produce my film i would use Curmudgeon pictures as they have produced similar films that have inspired me such as My sisters Keeper.





There are many ways to advertise, a new upcoming way is through social networking sites such as facebook, my space and twitter. On these pollings and questions arre circulated to gain an ida of how successful the film will be and what type of sudience are showing an interest. This also creates another type of advertising- word of mouth. This is when people talk,discuss or introduce a film to another person and this cycle continues. Other techniques include handouts, billboards,television, magazine appearences. Popular, well known celebrities appearing on different shows to promote a film and posters on buses and taxis.