(Please ensure that you click on the links as the information will help you understand my answer more)
Initial audience research:
- Audience feedback was vital throughout every stage when creating my media products, in the research stage I needed to gather data about the demographics of my target audience so that I could see what my audience wanted in all three products. I did this at the research stage as is helped me to achieve what my target audience wanted in all three media products from the beginning of the my coursework. In order to see what my targeted audience wanted in my horror trailer, I created a survey on survey monkey called ‘the horror trailer film questionnaire’.
- Because of this survey I was able to make decisions about the basic things that were to be involved in my horror trailer, such as it being a psychological horror, eerie settings and scary music, and the man being at large. So, I chose my horror movie to fall under the psychological genre, to be set in the woods and my main character to be a and 18 year man . I did this so the audience could relate to my main character more as he was in the age group between 18-34.
- I also used audience feed back throughout my planning stage as the main purpose of this was to continuously interact with my target audience so that I was able to always see what my targeted audience liked and as a result the audience feedback aided me to make key decisions for when I was ready to start the creation process. I did this by creating drafts for each media product, this allowed me to develop my ideas through my planning as I was able to see what my audience liked and disliked about all three of my products.
- The amendments told by the audience ensured me that I was on the right track for producing very-well targeted products. Within these blogs posts I make known of the amendments made to each media product, so that I could see what I needed to create for my final product and to further achieve the needs of my targeted audience.
- For my poster drafts as I was stuck on how to portray Josh’s psychosis, I gathered a focus group together and asked my class mates which picture was best to use for my poster.
- I think the audience feedback helped me a lot at this stage because it helped me confirm my suspicious about various different things. The audience feed back also at this point was essential as it helped me to confirm ideas for my ancillary products and therefore enabled me to move on with the construction process.
- As the medium of a magazine targets a much wider mainstream audience I had to get my front cover just right to meet the needs of my target audience, therefore I did a lot more research for my horror magazine than for any other of my media products because the conventions were not as easy to subvert, therefore in order to involve my audience again, I created a survey on survey monkey once more, to ask my audience what picture they felt best fit my horror magazine front cover called ‘choosing the main image for my magazine front cover’, as I was unsure about which picture to use, I felt it was necessary to ask my targeted audience as, after all, its not what I want, it what my target audience want
- In the construction process it was crucial to have constant reassurance about what looked good and about what didn’t look good so that I knew that I was on the right track for all of my media products and without it I would have perhaps ended up with products that none of my target audiences wanted; so it wasn’t worth taking the risk. Because of this, audience feedback was very important as it pointed out any issues that I needed to change in order to improve my products that I may not have noticed myself.
- As I chose my product to be distributed by and independent magazine publisher and an independent film distributor it gave me much more of a creative license. However, even though my film magazine was created as the NO1 alternative magazine it was still necessary to fit the fundamental conventions that came along with a magazine as it targets a much wider audience. Because of this, I had to ask for more audience feedback throughout the construction process of my magazine as I wanted to 100% make sure that it was what my target audience liked.
- At the very final stage of the construction process for my magazine I was unsure on what magazine front cover looked best and more striking, therefore I left it to the public to decide, I posted a snapshot of both edited versions onto my Facebook (as looking at my demographic research too Facebook was one of the most ideal places to target my audience) and waited for responses. Overall my audience feedback aided me to make the right decision when picking which version looked best for my horror magazine, and without the feedback I may have made chosen the wrong version.
- Before starting my project there was always an awareness to consciously consider the audience at every stage of pre-production and production. So where decisions and revisions were made I had to put together a small focus group from my audience and consulted them and there preferences were taken into consideration.
- As the people in the focus group were all in my targeted demographic, I used this to my advantage and constantly asked for their advice. This finalised the choice of what draft I wanted to be my horror poster, and as a result gave me more confidence when going onto create my other media products, here are the different versions:
- Other than my class mates, I also posted the different pictures on to Facebook, (as looking at my demographic research I saw that Facebook was the most ideal place to target my audience) and left it to people online to choose which image was better in showing Josh’s psychosis for my poster, I got a lot of different responses which aided my decision. I learned after this audience feedback that although it was scary, a connection between the audience and the character will not be easy as his eyes aren’t fully shown. I also learned that the picture on the right looks more realistic, without this feedback i would have perhaps not have had such an effective combination of products and therefore would not have reached a wide enough audience.
Audience Feedback post-production stages
I put together a focus group of 3 different students, male and female and from the ages of 18 -20. This qualitative approach to asking my targeted audience allowed me to get a more detailed answer and explenation into what I did well and what I didn’t well. I ased a range of people and different genders to mae my feedbac fair and varied.
Overall I learned that the things I did well on were:
1)
Things i did well:
- The use of effects when Josh knocked on the camera as it portrayed the horror genre and made it more scary
- He was represented well – as he was shown as vulnerable
- I stuck to the psychological horror whilst also still being able to create tension through the minimal use of gore
- Making it scary
- The prominent use of the eyes in all three of my media products
- I haven;t used the stereotypical, traditional horror story
Things i could have improved on
- better quality
2)
Things i did well
- The sound effects
- The typical conventions in a horror trailer
- Josh was represented well and fitted into the psychological horror genre
- Making it scary because the disorientating factor
- Built suspense
- Used the same colour scheme and the same character throughout all media products,
- Deeper meaning
Things i could have improved on:
- The lighting
- The pixalated shots
- Clearer narrative
3)
Things I did well
- different camera angles
- breaking the barrier between character and audience
- Represented as someone who is normal but doesn’t show all underneath
- Making it scary
- The idea of my character being portrayed as normal in all three of media products
- Fulfilling the conventions of a psychological horror.
Things I could have improved on
- Add a couple more of the flashed to add more fear
What have I learned from this audience feedback?
- Overall I learned from this focus group that all three of my media products relate very well and that its definitely scary, however I also learned that perhaps I may have rushed a few things and made the narrative a bit too confusing.
- I also made a questionnaire and handed it out to 8 different people and showed them all of my media products. As I will not be able to build up a rapport with these respondants it will be more honest feedback. However, as the majority of questions asked in this questionnaire the responses may be rushed and not answered in full detail. However, as I’ve used a mixture of quantitative and qualitative such as a questionnaire and a focus group I will have varied responses from my audience.
- In order for my audience to answer these questions I sent the file to them over the internet so that they could reply online, this was a much better way to access my audience as its easier to target them online.
Here is the questionnaire that I handed out: Questionnaire
I have compiled a list of documents of the 8 different responses:
Here are my responses (this is the link https://infogr.am/post_production_questionnaire)
What have I learned from this audience feedback?
- Overall from this questionnaire I have learned that I have correctly fulfilled the sub-genre of my trailer through the use of editing, props and character types.
- 100% of people from my questionnaire all stated how they thought it falls under the pychological horror genre.
- However, on refelection, I have also learned from the responses of this questionnare that 50% of the people asked didn’t fully understand the narrative of my trailer, and looking back, I should have planned for a more clear story.
- I am very pleased to have found out that 100% of all respondants belived my trailer was scary. Both the focus group and the questionnaire have shown me how my trailer was scary and how I have successfully managed to fulfil the conventions of a horror trailer whilst also being able to experiment and subvert conventions too.
Sarah A2 Media 