During the research and planning stages of my coursework I used various processes to receive some audience feedback which helped me make key decisions when it come to the construction of my final trailer, poster and magazine front cover.
The first piece of research was conducted using 'QuestionPro'. This is a website that allows users to create surveys and then look at and analyse all the data received from participants. The answer to the initial gender question revealed that half our sample were male whilst the other half were female which was helpful as the Slasher genre is not aimed at a specific gender meaning that all the results for the rest of the questions would be helpful. It thus made sense to have some of our trailer filmed in line with the male gaze to appeal to the male demographic yet relatable female characters to still encourage a female audience to view our trailer. The general age range of those who had completed our survey were 17-19 year olds which encouraged us to make a film that had a 15 age rating as this widens our demographic significantly. The rest of the questions we asked helped to provide us with fundamental information in terms of decisions that had be made when constructing our main texts. The most preferred Slasher films of our sample were 'Final Destination' and 'Halloween' . 'Halloween' is one of the most famous Slasher films and is a classic in terms of its conventions (i.e. narrative, characters etc.) so it made sense for it to be particularly well liked whilst the choice of 'Final Destination' was intriguing. This is a film that subverts conventions of the Slasher film as the villain is death itself rather than an identifiable killer and there is no final girl. This led us to believe that in terms of structure, a formulaic film that occasionally challenges conventions would be ideal. Given this, we decided to subvert both Roland Barthes' semantic and enigma code by having most of the trailer shot from the killer's viewpoint and having the audience aware of who the killer is. Further questioning revealed that a neighbourhood everyday setting would increase the fear factor of 'Knife Camera Action' as nothing is more frightening than a violent atrocity taking place in a similar suburban neighbourhood to where the audience lives because it alludes to the idea that danger is always lurking around the corner and allows the audience to draw parallels between themselves and the characters in the film helping them to identify with the plot. A knife was also chosen as the killer's weapon of choice as it is an object seen in everyday life and an icon of Slasher films. The last question that really helped in the planning stages of my film was when most people go and see a Slasher film. The results revealed that winter was the most common season meaning that as I was making a low budget independent film it made sense to release it during the spring to avoid any competition with major films.
Another use of audience feedback was when I conducted a focus group and asked for opinions on my film poster and magazine templates. This was especially helpful in gathering more qualitative data from my audience and finding out in more detail what exactly it was they expected and required from the three texts. I managed to discover what exactly my demographic find aesthetically pleasing and what they disliked within the designs. They generally preferred conventional layouts and ones that helped to easily identify that 'Knife Camera Action' was a genre specific Slasher film.
Once my focus group were content with the templates and had agreed with any further decisions I wanted to make I was able to confidently go on and construct my film poster and magazine in Photoshop accordingly.
The final piece of audience feedback we received was when we conducted a viewing of our trailer and asked nine people to fill in a 10 question survey based on what they saw:
What do you like about the trailer?
Answers to the initial question varied quite a bit. Many people were a fan of the action content (i.e. dragging and strangling scenes), camera effects (such as night vision and fuzzy TV screen effect), plot and non-diegetic music. These responses were generally gratifying as my group and I felt that most of these aspects were things we had definitely tried our hardest to perfect to make the whole viewing experience pleasant for the audience.
What do you dislike about the trailer?
The general consensus for this question was that there was an issue with the sound quality. A lot of the participants felt the non-diegetic music was far too loud and over powered most of the dialogue and voiceover making the speech hard to decipher. We were in fact limited by the equipment we had at our disposal which was worrying as by not understanding the dialogue or voiceover it meant that it would be harder for the audience to make much sense of the narrative. However, there may not have really been a problem with the volume as when listening with headphones or on a smaller device (i.e. laptop rather than electric white board) there are no issues.
What could be improved?
Apart from lowering the non-diegetic music, some people felt that the trailer needed to be more scary and use more blood which is an understandable comment as it is not until the end of the trailer that we see the villain wiping blood from his knife. One partaker felt the camera quality could be improved and someone else believed that the editing was too fast. However, upon watching it back the editing seems adequate and conventional of the average trailer in that it speeds up during the montage sequence to increase tension prior to the climax shot so it could just be interpreted that the editing did not suit that person's particular personal preference.
What aspects of the trailer make it a Slasher film?
These answers were fairly pleasing as most of those who completed the questionnaire seemed to understand that they were watching a Slasher film trailer.This was mainly portrayed by us through the use of a knife, blood and music (which was albeit too loud but still managed to convey the genre). Also, they all seemed to understand straightaway which character was the villain (one of Propp's eight character roles) helping them to comfortably interpret the narrative.
Do you think the sound compliments the shots? Why?
On the whole the response to the fifth question was a resounding yes. The sound was felt to work well with the shots, in particular the final shot which contains our villain viciously stabbing into something unidentifiable on the ground as we used some sharp bass sounds to accompany his motions. This was reminiscent of the violin screeching sounds used in renowned film 'Psycho' but almost modernised to attract the younger demographic. Also, the use of fast paced music in conjunction with the montage sequence was deemed effective as it increased tension and apprehension.
What would you rate our editing out of the following options?
The most common rating our trailer received was good, with only one person selecting okay and one selecting excellent. This result seemed fair as although our trailer was professional to an extent it was still an amateur piece of text that although successful had margins for improvement.
Could you understand the narrative and storyline?
The majority of people said yes to this question whilst others felt that they were only partially able to comprehend any form of narrative and story. The main reason for this was that the dialogue was somewhat inaudible. However, the juxtaposition of shots and acting still conveyed the main plot to a certain extent.
Would you go and see this film? Why?
These responses were generally mixed. A few people answered no, not because of lack of interest but merely because Slasher is a genre that does no greatly appeal to them; this was understandable as everyone has different tastes. Even though we asked for a reason to support this answer few gave one and those who did states that it was mainly due to the intriguing plot and use of camera effects (such as a flashing red recording button, night vision etc.).
Did this look to be at a professional level?
Only two people wrote no for this answer whilst the rest either said yes, to an extent or almost. This seemed like an apt response as we did not have use of the highest quality cameras or editing software but still used them as best we could in the creation of our trailer. I feel that the 'Knife Camera Action' trailer was somewhat professional especially considering that my group and I had to put ourselves in the position of independent British film makers.
What would you rate the trailer out of 10?
The average score we received was a seven. The ratings were not too widespread and seven felt like a well deserved number given how much time and effort my group and I had put into the construction of out trailer. We were generally pleased with all the results in the questionnaire and agreed with most suggestions for improvement i.e. lower non-diegetic sound, more use of blood etc. Overall, the responses were positive and satisfying after all our hard work.
The final piece of audience feedback received came from social media where we uploaded our trailer to 'Youtube'. Within the first three days we received 124 views and 7 likes which we were considerably pleased with given that this was a completely amateur project. We even received a comment within the first few hours that told us our trailer was 'really good'. The feedback was generally positive with no dislikes and left us with a sense of gratification after all our effort.
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