Evaluation Question 3: What did you learn from audience feedback? (part 2: Target Audience Reception)

This post deals with the feedback we recieved from our TARGET AUDIENCE once the final trailer was ready to be shown.





Once our Trailer was completed we could show it to the intended Target Audience that we set out to make this Trailer for. This range was of course 15-17 year olds, and we were able to collect feedback from a total of 24 people.

Naturally, we were going to get a range of responses from the audience, and this comes as a result of Stuart Hall's reception theory, which states that the audience will vary between three general responses: the Dominant, Negotiated, or Rejected readings. Of course, the Dominant (or preferred) reading that we wanted our audience to take away from the experience of having seen our trailer was that they had been 'thrilled', that it had created a tense atmosphere for them, and that (most of all) they would be curious/interested to see what happened next/to watch the full length feature.


The range of responses that we received had a degree of diversity though there were some common themes.


The positive comments that we received were generally that the audience:

• Felt that the atmosphere was tense and engaging; this was important because one of the main jobs of any film (trailer) within the thriller genre is to create such an atmosphere so the fact that the audience generally agreed that this job was done by the trailer shows that the trailer was effective
  
  
• Thought that the music was effective in serving to create a tense/suspenseful atmosphere; this is important because the music/soundtrack is one of the biggest make or break elements both in the case of its role for a trailer - trailer soundtrack needs to grip the audience and feel synonymous with the film - and its role in creating the desired suspenseful atmosphere for the thriller genre.
• Liked the wide variety of different shots; this is important because a trailer needs to show that there is a lot going on and that what is going on visually appears to be both dynamic and exciting which can be created in part by effective camerawork
• Felt as though it was easy to understand what was going on; this is important because a trailer needs to set up the general plot and themes of the full length feature film in a way that the audience can follow whilst also being constrained to a 2-2½ minute time frame.
• At least some felt that the story was interesting and original (especially good considering the number of films feel as though they are very similar in plot/style to existing films) and a couple said that they would be interested to see what happens next/see the full length feature.

The Complaints/suggestions received included:

• Generally some people felt that some of the audio quality was poor or that the audio transitions could have been smoother, with one person specifically suggesting that white-noise reduction might be effective so that you can't tell when shots transition from one to another.
• That the text that we displayed on screen felt too much, that the quality of text could have been better (too bland), that the text felt inconsistent (whether that was consistency with each other or with the genre) and that generally the text served to cause damage to some of the tension that we were working to try and build up - this is particularly bad due to the fact that every element of the trailer (to a thriller film especially) is supposed to serve as building up to the trailer's climax.
• That we could have done with using a wider variety of different locations or that in some of the shots you could visibly tell that it had been recorded within a school environment (given that 90-100% of the trailer was shot in a variety of different locations within school). This again was particularly negative because it takes away from the authenticity of the trailer, and it is really important for the trailer to feel authentic in order for the audience to be able to fully immerse themselves in the world that the trailer helps to setup and create.

Overall, I think that the trailer was generally accepted as being a success with the majority of our audience feeling at least somewhat interested in the trailer that we had shown them. Whilst it was not entirely perfect, there was clear evidence from the feedback that we received that the trailer we produced was at least somewhat effective in carrying out the tasks that it is designed for: creating tension the audience, and whetting the audiences' appetite.