Question 3: What have you learned from your Audience Feedback
Getting feedback from the audience is highly significant to any media industry. Without the use of audience research and
feedback, I wouldn't be able to reach the demands of my audience. The target audience for this media was those aged
16-24, both males and females. This is because those within these age groups are the ones who mostly an extreme fan of
such horror films. We would like to be targeting a larger target group so that we have a larger audience.
Here is how I got my audience feedbacks:
feedback, I wouldn't be able to reach the demands of my audience. The target audience for this media was those aged
16-24, both males and females. This is because those within these age groups are the ones who mostly an extreme fan of
such horror films. We would like to be targeting a larger target group so that we have a larger audience.
Here is how I got my audience feedbacks:
Survey Responses
To be able to get a wider range of feeback from my audience, we produced an online survey where our audience were able to
answer a questionnaire once they have finished viewing the movie trailer. This website (SurveyMonkey.com) enabled me to create my own 10 questioned survey on-line. I got back 18 participants who gave me feedback on my survey which was
shared on my Facebook page. These questions consisted of open and closed questions which enabled me to get back
qualitative (detailed) and quantitative (statistical) data which I am able to analysis upon.
answer a questionnaire once they have finished viewing the movie trailer. This website (SurveyMonkey.com) enabled me to create my own 10 questioned survey on-line. I got back 18 participants who gave me feedback on my survey which was
shared on my Facebook page. These questions consisted of open and closed questions which enabled me to get back
qualitative (detailed) and quantitative (statistical) data which I am able to analysis upon.
Analysing the data I got back, I found out that : (Please click images to make them larger)
In the first question, I asked how old my participants were according to a range of ages. This was so that I will know whether we targeted the right target age group through the final produced teaser trailer. According to this question I believe so. This is because out of the 18 people who responded to this question, 12 of them are aged 17-20 which was precisely the wanted target group for our teaser trailer.
According to this data I have now realised that if these statistics are correct then therefore 66.7% of our audience were aged 17-20 and following the 2000+ views we got back from this trailer over 1333 views could've been from those aged 17-20 because I am following these statistics which proves otherwise. This therefore means that the following questions after this were from the majority of those aged 17-20 so shows that the responses from participants are valid. |
With this question, I was able to get back personal thoughts on the trailer from the participants who took part in the questionnaire. Thoughts such as "very good", "its OK", "good", "well made" were all positive feedbacks and thoughts from those who took part in the questionnaire.
I also then got back constructive comments from my participants saying how well the trailer is but the use of special effects was a bit too fake and didn't seem realistic:"very good, really made me want to see the full length video. However some of the special effects were a bit iffy" . However there were a few negative response about the trailer itself such as "it wasn't scary enough, it didn't feel like a horror movie" made me realise that if I was to express more gore within the trailer I will then be able to emphasis the horror within the trailer because according to my feedback I didn't express enough gore to show that this is a horror trailer. |
Moreover, I asked my participants to give an overall rate of the trailer, 10 being perfect and 0 being terrible. In this question, I got back 13 responses. Both 1/10 and 3/10 received a response which shows that some people didn't favour the trailer, however most of those who responded to the survey question believed that it was a 7/10 because 6 out of 13 of those who responded picked this rating. |
13 participants answered this question, stating whether or not they managed to finished watching the trailer or not.
This gave me a chance to understand whether or not those who actually watched the trailer enjoyed it from start to end. 10 participants answered with a yes (that they did finish watching it) and 3 said no. This shows that not everyone actually watched the trailer from start to end which shows that there may have been some down side to the trailer that it didn't get people watching it all the way till the end. Relating this to the graph, mostly everyone dropped out from watching the trailer in the beginning and the amount of people who continued watching the trailer decreases as the time goes along. This graph was print screened from Youtube. |
To understand what the issue was with the trailer itself, the poster and the magazine front page cover. I asked participants on Facebook, whether or not the 3 different media worked together.
This will give me a chance to know whether or not the audience would be able to spot the film itself if it was distributed on bus stops to show of the film because if the audience watch the film trailer but wasn't able to know that the film trailer was the same film as the one shown on the poster. I wouldn't be able to distribute the film as much in different use of media. According to my survey, the poster, magazine and the trailer all sort of linked together but according to a few it didn't which shows that there will be a need of work to get participants as well as the audience to understand that the 3 different media all link together - some suggested having the use of zombies in the poster and the magazine. |
Apparently, the props which were used in the trailer (including the fire extinguisher, baseball bat and gun) were presented effectively. Due to the fact that we are a independent group, the budget was very low which set us barriers from producing a well realistic teaser trailer. Moreover, because of the lack of gore within the trailer there was also no sense of fear presented in the trailer which the particular participant is stating in the survey. The genre zombies also didn't seem realistic to some because they believe that zombies don't exist so if the trailer is on something which doesn't exist then it wouldn't seem realistic. |
Out of the 12 people who responded to this question about wanting to watch the trailer if they saw it on the TV, only 7 people wouldn't mind watching the film itself if they were to see the trailer on the TV.
This means that nearly half of those who see this trailer would want to go and watch the film. That means that if the trailer was shown on TV, the amount of money which will be lost instead of gain from the distribution and marketing stage will be high because not alot of people would want to pay to watch the film itself. |
So that I understand what I will need to add on to the trailer to make it seem more gory and exciting for the audience, I asked them what there it needed for the trailer to seem more realistic and up-market. The responses I got back included the use of gore to emphasis the horror in the trailer, less effects because it seems more like an action trailer rather than a horror and more fear within the trailer to get the audience to be horrified by it. Others on the other hand suggested that there isn't a need for change within the trailer which I believe is great because only a handful suggested that there is a need for improvements and if some agreed that it was OK, then that will show that there are some people out there who would see the trailer and thing that it is OK and that there isn't any need for change. |
Facebook Feedback
Our trailer was also posted on Facebook to enable our friends to view and give feedback on the final project. The reason we posted this on Facebook was not only because it promotes them to share it to others but because it is a more social network which mainly most of our target group are aware of. This encourages a wider range of feedback from people we know as friends and from friends of friends.
Here are a couple of feedback which was given from our friends and others on Facebook:
Here are a couple of feedback which was given from our friends and others on Facebook:
(Please click images to make them larger)Firstly, this project was described to be frightening, freaky and terrifying by one of my facebook friends after they have seen the trailer. This shows that they are telling me that we have completed our goal to create a frightening trailer which will get our ideal audience to go and "see the movie" like this male stated he would.
Though he claimed that it was frightening, if it wasn't for the title I believe it would've been hard for him to notice that this was a horror teaser trailer, therefore this comment was just the tip of an ice berg compared to the rest of the feedback I've received. |
In addition, after posting this project on another friend's page, I even got some positive feedback about the use of sounds and visuals which gives the best out of the project because it makes it more lively and interesting to watch. Therefore I believe that the visuals and the after effects were the best sell out in the project because it even motivated my friend to share this trailer to other friends without being questioned to so that they can see it; who then described the project as a scary trailer due to the "jump" it gave him at the end.
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After posting the finish project on friends wall I got messages from people I don't know saying how lively the trailer seems. This shows that the trailer may have been very dynamic for people I don't know to be informing and telling me this. Comments such as "look forward to seeing the final piece" shows that there could be a chance that a high rate of our target audience would be willing to go and watch this if it was in the market.
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Along with the positive feedback, we also got some negative and constructive cristisms about our final piece. These feedback will be helpful if i was willing to make this trailer again so that I can improve towards it. For example, this person said that after the start of the trailer when it shows "Flatline Cinema", it goes straight to Nhien looking around cluelessly which could've been better if there was a fade it because the cut changed too quickly as a starter to the trailer.
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Here are few more motivational responses towards the final project which shows that some of our target audience actually appreciate the final outcome of our trailer.
This helps me to understand that it is also favoured because there a also a number of people who also liked the trailer that we have completed which shows that the audience actually liked it. Without this method which had been used to get feedbacks, I wouldn't of known whether or not our audience like the trailer. For example if the trailer was completely terrible and was produced to screen on TV for publicity and wasn't given any feedback, the producers wouldn't know what they are able to do to improve it all so that it targets the audience more. |
Youtube Responses (Please click image to make it larger)
To gain feedback from our audience, our first goal was to upload our final piece onto Youtube so that it give a chance for those who are watching the video to comment on it and give back some opinions and constructive comments about the teaser trailer.
The advantage of me posting the video onto Youtube meant that this project was enabled to be watched by everyone and anyone who are drawn to this link. This gave me the chance to get positive and negative criticisms from those who have commented on the Youtube video which will give me the chance to improve the teaser trailer in the near future.
Here were the feedback giving to us by those who commented on the video:
Here were the feedback giving to us by those who commented on the video:
According to some of those who commented our trailer wasn't even half bad, they not only gave of motivational response on the video but they also stated what they enjoyed best about it. For example, the captions were professional for some which shows that it is at a high standard in their own opinion which is a good feedback because it gives us the idea that our trailer is at the standard to be screened on television.
Moreover, the pacing of the sounds fitted well with the actual trailer stated another person which shows that it builds the tension of the teaser trailer, building the attention of the audience. Finally we also got some positive notes on the sound effects and special effects which were added to make it seem more exciting. This gave people the impression that it is too good to be a school project which shows again, that professional standard work. |
On the other hand, one viewer stated that the title of the trailer is too common as it seems like it was picked up from another trailer called "high school of the dead". This could then express the terms of lack in individuality and uniqueness which will drive people not to want to watch it because it seems like an obvious outcome for those who have seen high school of the dead teaser trailer.
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Twitter Responses
Our trailer was also posted on Twitter as a link to enable our friends who follow us on twitter and many others who follow us to view and give feedback on the final project. The reason we posted this on Twitter was not only because it promotes them to share it to others but because it is a more social network which mainly most of our target group are aware of and because we would also be able to get out trailer pooted in a further addition. This encourages a wider range of feedback from people we know as friends and from friends of friends or even strangers.
Here are a couple of feedback which was given from our friends and others on twitter:
Here are a couple of feedback which was given from our friends and others on twitter:
These feedback relate to the good use of after effects and the motivations which were given to us. It helps builds our self concept in doing better in the next experience because I learnt that having the after effect made it more exciting for our audience to view.
These comments show that they really find it "amazing" and these comments were all from females and I've learnt that it is mainly the females who find this trailer fantastic rather than the males. |
Reaction Videos
To have a visual response to how someone may have reacted to the trailer if they have seen it for the first time. I got a participant to watch the trailer on a MAC computer with a webcam on so that it shows their reaction to the teaser trailer.
This video shows a reaction to the trailer which corresponds to the reaction my group were expecting from each and every viewer. As you can see, he seemed to be impressed and shocked by the thrill of the trailer which means that the goal to get my target audience interested and intrigued by the trailer was emphasized in this reaction video.
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On the other hand, this reaction shows how interested but laid back the viewer looks as she watched the trailer. This is completley opposite as to how I intended the audience would respond to the trailer. This again could be the reason why certain viewers decided to tune out of the video before it reaches halfway whilst watching it on Youtube. Therefore I decided to ask her why our trailer product didn't have much of an effect on her.
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I learned that if I was to add more zombies and thrill within the trailer, I will then be able to get the audience off their feet and get them horrified.
Poster Feedback
Our poster was also posted on Facebook to enable our friends to view and give feedback on the poster when there see it on their homepage. The reason we posted this on Facebook was not only because it is a more social network which mainly most of our target group are aware of but because its easier to view online if they wanted to see it . This encourages a wider range of feedback from people from my friends list and from those who had been tagged onto the link to view the poster.
The first feedback I got from the audience was the fact that it lacked the sense of horror within the poster because there isn't anything horrific in the poster. Moreover, he also states that because there isn't anything honorific in the trailer it looks like it is a poster for an action film rather than a horror film. He also claimed that the use of technique (photoshop skills) made the effects look very fantastic to emphasis the gun shot. He goes on to say that he likes the fog and mist within the poster because it give that sense of uncertainty. This shows that there is a bit of horrifying stuff in the trailer but there isn't enough.
On the other hand, some other members of the audience liked it and thought that it looks very professional, one even rated it a 10/10 which shows that there isn't anything she would change about the poster.
Finally another person who gave me some feedback said : " It seems more like an action thriller with some Kung-fu scenes. I would suggest a couple zombies in the background possiblly and maybe darken the picture a little to really emphasis the theme" This helped me a lot because he gave me advice to really express that this poster is made for a zombie film. It also helped me because he is part of my target group, for him to give me feedback like this means that I will then be able to improve on this poster to make it more directed to my target group.
On the other hand, some other members of the audience liked it and thought that it looks very professional, one even rated it a 10/10 which shows that there isn't anything she would change about the poster.
Finally another person who gave me some feedback said : " It seems more like an action thriller with some Kung-fu scenes. I would suggest a couple zombies in the background possiblly and maybe darken the picture a little to really emphasis the theme" This helped me a lot because he gave me advice to really express that this poster is made for a zombie film. It also helped me because he is part of my target group, for him to give me feedback like this means that I will then be able to improve on this poster to make it more directed to my target group.
Again, feedbacks such as this poster refering to an action film rather than a horror trailer has been pointed out. This could be due to the lack of gore being expressed in the poster. Also, some believe that the flash from the gun was a bit too much so I learnt that if I was to dim down the effect of the gun, it would look more realistic.
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Magazine Feedback
Our magazine was also posted on Facebook just like our trailer and the poster to enable our friends and friends of friends to have a look at the piece of media and give us feedbacks. This encourages a wider range of feedback from people from my friends list and from those who had been tagged onto the link to view the poster.
In addition, feedback from the audience who commented on the magazine on Facebook roll around the issue on the gun and it not looking realistic because of the orange tab which was added on it. I learnt that if I was to do some sort of edit to the gun it'll be able to then look more realistic for the public.
They also discussed how they like the use of secondary images of different front page covers of horror posters because these front posters express the horror within the magazine. It makes it seem more horrofying and enjoyable to have a look into for those who enjoy horror films.
They also discussed how they like the use of secondary images of different front page covers of horror posters because these front posters express the horror within the magazine. It makes it seem more horrofying and enjoyable to have a look into for those who enjoy horror films.
Whereas for the magazine, feedback such as the horror scheme seemed to work out but the only negative thing which was brought across during this feedback was the actual main image itself becuase it doesn't express the fear within the trailer or the magazine, it makes it look more action - according to those who gave me feedbacks.
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Conclusion
Overall, I learned that the use of response from my audience and target group helped me because I was able to know the weakness within my media content and the advantages so that I will then be able to improve my work if I was to be intended to repeat the work again in the near future. The main disadvantages of the media according to my target audience is the fact that the main teaser trailer lacked the gore within the horror genre, the posters and the magazine lacked zombies in them which meant that there wasn't any way that my target group would be able to tell whether or not the poster and the magazine were based on a horror genre. This meant that it seemed more like an action film rather than a horror.
If we had the opportunity to improve our trailer we would then be able to add more zombies with a bit more gore expressed in the footages so that it is clearer for the audience to see. We will also reduce the amount of affects in the gun shots so that it looks more like a horror film trailer rather than an action one. Furthermore, we will also make sure that we see more gore when the zombies are feeding on human beings so that it looks more gory and horrific. For the poster and the magazine I will then also be able to add more zombies and fake blood into it so that it looks more gory to the audience and scary.
Many media companies which make movies and film need audience feedback to be able to illustrate whether or not their content fits their target group and to also see what the majority think about the content itself before it is completely distributed into the market.
If we had the opportunity to improve our trailer we would then be able to add more zombies with a bit more gore expressed in the footages so that it is clearer for the audience to see. We will also reduce the amount of affects in the gun shots so that it looks more like a horror film trailer rather than an action one. Furthermore, we will also make sure that we see more gore when the zombies are feeding on human beings so that it looks more gory and horrific. For the poster and the magazine I will then also be able to add more zombies and fake blood into it so that it looks more gory to the audience and scary.
Many media companies which make movies and film need audience feedback to be able to illustrate whether or not their content fits their target group and to also see what the majority think about the content itself before it is completely distributed into the market.
For example, as shown on the right hand side, a zombie horror film like my own called: dawn of the dead used critical feedback so that the producers can also learn from what they have been told by their audience in order for them to do better when remaking it or making another film in the near future.
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In our case I referred the audience feedback to those I believe who would be interested in our final project and this was those within the ages of 16-24 years of age and who live in UK. Due to the unsuccessful profit and distribution to ll type zombie films which have been distributed nationally, outside the regions of the UK.
As you can see, the table above demonstrates where the views are coming from and what ages groups they are at. Relating this table to our set target age, this shows that the audience feedback we got from our aduience was signicificant because most of the views were coming from those within the ages of 13-17 and 18-24, and live in the UK. Therefore means that my research and response from my audience feedback was valid and what I've learnt was useful because it was feedback from my audience - those who are meant to be finding our trailer interesting.
Overall we have received a range of different responses through the use of audience feedback, and this was a great help as we were able to find out what we would have to do to make our product better as a whole.