What feedback have we had?
The first question I suppose we should start with is what feedback have we had exactly? There has been much feedback for different elements of the course and trust me, its all be useful in helping us to address our audience and portray our film in the way we wished it to be received. So here is a Padlet of our different feedback gained, taken a look:
So we've had a large amount of feedback, but what's the point of it all? Well, if you waited long enough I was just about to tell you.
Film Feedback:
I'm going to take you through the different feedback we had during our film making process going from the top from the individual pitches. This way you can understand why the feedback was important for the decision making and production of the final product.
Individual Film Pitch:
Right then, for the individual film pitch I did, feedback was given to me as well as grilling questions about the film (thanks for that guys). I pitched my idea as you will see in the video and then questions were asked at the end about elements people weren't sure of or that could be improved. Take a look at the video below:
Why was audience feedback important here?
The audience were very useful in giving me feedback on what they thought of my film. It enabled me to adapt the idea to aim at a wider ranged target audience rather than it being an extremely niche market. I know it wasn't to do with the actual film but the feedback here enabled me increase my confidence during pitches. I know it's hard to believe, but we all get nervous at some point and so by having an audience to pitch the idea to, it enabled me to gather feedback on the actual pitch delivery and ways to improve. So all in all this feedback enabled the idea I had started to be developed into a much larger and clearer picture to give it the chance of it being created.
Documentary Feedback
Now this wasn't mentioned in the padlet, however we did gain feedback from this. This was when we were working on the dslr cameras and the final cut software. This was our practise run with the hardware and software to get used to it all before creating our final film. So here is the feedback video we got after creating the documentary:
Why was audience feedback important here?
This feedback was given to me and the production team for the first time of working together. It enabled us to get feedback on elements of our filming that were good and which bits needed improving. It enabled us to understand how the cameras worked and which shots we had created worked and areas we needed to improve on for when we filmed our actual film. The editing was also commented on so this enabled us to gather feedback on what we did well in the software and which areas needed improving. This meant that we then had time to go back and have a practise before it came to editing our actual short film.
Film Pitch (Commissioners meeting):
So this was the feedback given from the scary commissioner about our film. This was where our film was either commissioned or sent back to the drawing board. As stated in the padlet, we pitched our film, asked a few questions (grilled) and then given feedback on areas they thought were good and where improvements they thought could be made in order to make the film almost perfecto! So here is the feedback we got:
Why was audience feedback important here?
This feedback was really important in the fact that we were given elements within our film that we hadn't thought of before and ways to develop ideas within the film to make it a stronger storyline. Ways in which we could attract a larger target audience range were also given as well as giving us praise on elements of the film that worked well with the audience choice we had at the time. A better ending was suggested to the film which took into consideration the audiences feelings as well as strengthening the storyline.
Rough Cut Feedback:
Well after this feedback, the next lot was about our rough cut. The audience were within our target audience range and so it enabled us to gather their feedback on how a film aimed at them could be tailored to suit them more. The feedback below as you will see was screencast so we didn't miss anything the audience said:
Why was audience feedback important here?
Well this feedback was rather important due to it giving us changes to make on our film to make it more suitable for our target audience as well as to make it technically accurate. The feedback given also gave us opinions and ideas of things that we never thought of and so we were given ideas that could drastically improve our film and its storyline. The audience, due to them being our target audience, were also giving us feedback that would affect our target audience age range and so improvements could be made to suit them instead of being a general film for anyone.
Surveys:
For the rough cut, surveys were also filled out to gather audience feedback on specific areas. The questions were asked and answered to gather specific details about the film and what their opinion was. The people asked were within our target audience range and so this was useful in tailoring the film and including conventions that they would typically enjoy. Here are the surveys:
Why was audience feedback important here?
Like the feedback from the film screencast, this was collected from members of our target audience which meant their opinion must be taken into consideration to enable the film to be aimed at them. We were able to ask specific question to gain specific feedback as well as the answers given in the survey supporting those said in the media student target audience.
So with all the feedback given, we did follow most of the suggestions. The shots were a main issue that we needed to adjust as the audience were struggling to understand some of the storyline. Right then, in this video bellow these are some of the on screen changes made to our film. You'll see the before and after (like those rubbish makeover programs but these shots actually look better) of the on screen action of the rough cut and the final cut:
So we do pay attention to the feedback our audience gives us. By doing this we make our film more appealing to our target audience rather than doing it our own way and having two people turn up to the cinema to watch the film. By doing this we attract the audience so it just goes to show that our audience's opinion matters and impacts highly
Film Poster First Draft Feedback:
We move on to the ancillary tasks now. The next lot of feedback given was for our film poster draft. This was where we showed an audience our film poster and asked them if they understood the concept of the poster as well as the features within it. So here is the video we got as a screencast to gather all the comments made by our audience:
Why was audience feedback important here?
The feedback for the poster enabled us to gather information on ways in which our poster needed to be improved drastically. So much that I decided to start from scratch and create a new poster. The comments lead to this decision as not many of the features within the poster were said to be good and so by taking on board the comments, I decided it was wise to create a new poster in the style the target audience desired. By doing this, I think it aimed more at the target audience rather than keeping it the same and making a few changes to suit us.
Survey:
To gather just some extra details about the poster and our target audiences opinions, I created a survey on survey monkey to gather extra details. This way I could ask specific questions to gather specific answers that would help the improvement stages. Here are the surveys answers collected:
So like it was mentioned above, this was important as it just ensured that the ideas and developments we collected from our target audience . This target audience weren't media related either and so we could get the opinion of those who would just watch it for fun rather than for deconstruction.
Changes made to the Poster:
So from the feedback given from the survey and the feedback video, the audience had a large impact on the way in which the final poster looked. We needed to attract our target audience and so by listening to their feedback the final poster served its full purpose rather than previous ideas in the first draft. So here are some of the changes made.
'The title is too fine to see from a distance'
The audience couldn't see the title as the text wasn't bold enough. So following this feedback, in the final version of the poster, the title font was adjusted as well as its colour to ensure that this was one of the main features in which the audience saw when looking at the poster.
Draft poster title. As you can see the title is white and unclear to read from a distance.
Final version of the poster title after the feedback given by the audience. The font colour and style is changed to suit the film as well as making it clearer for the audience to see.
'Change composition of characters, think carefully about their poses'
The images of the actors within the poster were said to look like they were stuck on the poster rather than being part of the poster. The audience picked up on this and said it looked rather amateur. part of this issue was the background as you couldn't blend the photos well on the purple background so it was changed to black. Also the characters personalities and feelings weren't portrayed well in the first version as the audience said they were a little confused as to what the characters were doing. Following this feedback the positioning of the characters was changed as well as the removal of the one character to keep a little bit of secrecy about the second male within the film.
The first draft with the 3 characters on the poster, the audience thought this looked like they had been stuck on rather than blending into the poster. The positioning of the characters was considered wrong too and so changes needed to be made to show the correct mise en scene of the characters before the audience have even seen the film.
This is the new poster with the two main characters looking in love however there is something wrong as the male isn't looking lovingly into her eyes giving the audience a hint there is something not right. This gives our target audience the idea of a couple which is what they suggested when asking us to consider changing the pose of the characters.
'Overlapping text. White on white not clear.'
So with the fade between the background of the image and the background of the credits, the white text blends into the white of the shirt Alex is wearing meaning the credits couldn't be read very well. So the audience picked up on this and felt it would be a better idea to move the credits down or even change the blend from the image to the credit block colour to black and white. So as you will see this impacted as we changed this to ensure that the text could be seen by the audience to give those who were part of the film credit for what they did.
This is the credit block and blend between the image and credit block colour. They don't blend well and look a bit carless as the audience felt as well as not being able to read some of the credited names.
Now the credit block has been moved as well as a change in colour of the credit text and the background to enable the image and the credit block colour to fade into each other. All of the text can now been seen ensuring the audience can see all people and companies credited for the film.
'Last names aren't clear.'
In the audience feedback we were told that the last names of the actors were t clear enough to read. Conventionally, a film poster emphasises the last name of the actor as this is what defines them as an individual. The audience couldn't really see this and so it doesn't enable them to see which actor it actually is within the film. Most of the time, the stars within the film are what attract the audience to come and see it so we thought we'd better change the names to make them clearer to see.
So in the first one image we see the first draft, the colours weren't clear for the audience to see and so from a distance you couldn't really read the name of the actress. However in the second image, the change of background and font colour enables the audience to see the actresses name clearly as white on a black background is bound to be seen.
And finally the last set of feedback we gathered during this course was the feedback for our magazine review first draft. This feedback was minus the actual review text as unless you are fluent in loreum ipson, you wouldn't have a clue what it said! So this is the screen cast we got for our review:
Why was audience feedback important here?
The feedback like the film poster was important as it enabled us to develop and adjust areas of the review that were weak and could be improvement upon with different approaches. Different ideas were suggested that we hadn't thought of and so we could build upon the layout we currently had. It also enabled us to see what was good and what went down well with our target audience that made the review appealing to them.
Survey:
To support the ideas suggested above, I also created a survey for a different group of people (still within the target audience range though!). This then enabled me to see if what the first set of people said was accurate and agreed upon with the second set of people. So here are the survey responses we received:
Why was audience feedback important here?
These responses were important as they ensured that what the previous set of target audience members had said was accurate and what they really wanted. It just ensured us that what was said was what they would want from all ages within the target audience. Another reason why this feedback was so important was that it enabled us to see what the opinion was of people who weren't media related and would just be passive viewers rather than media critics.
Changes made to the Review:
Like the poster and the film itself, we gathered feedback from the audience on their thoughts of the review. The positives and suggested changes were taken onboard and had a major impact on the final product and the way that it looked. Without the feedback we wouldn't have been able to know what our audience wanted as well as knowing the positives and negatives of the first draft. So here are some of the changes made due to audience feedback.
'IN CINEMA too close to the bleed. won't be seen in the magazine.'
One of the first things the audience commented on was the IN CINEMA feature at the top of the review page. It was said that it was too close to the edge of the page and so would bleed over and not be seen when the magazine was put together. This would have ruined the conventional layout of empire and so was an important feature that the audience noticed was slightly misplaced. Due tot his the in cinema sign was adjusted to ensure that it wouldn't bleed over. There wasn't anything for the sign to block when we shuffled it over slightly and so this wasn't an issue to change.
So in the left hand image, this is the feature before the feedback. It was so close to the bleed it would only say N CINEMA which would have been pretty confusing to the audience. So with their feedback the final outcome in the right hand image shows this feature has been moved over to ensure that all of the sign can be seen when put together in a magazine (Empire).
'Need to space the pull quote over 3 columns rather than being in the gutter of the magazine'
The run around on the pull quote was one of the main issues the audience had. It was discovered that because the quote was finishing in the text gutter, it made the run around look larger than it actually was making the spacing look rather uneven and a little messy. So after the comments made, the run around and positioning of the poll quote was changed to ensure that an even run around could be seen. The quote was also changed as another issue they had was that the quote didn't actually make sense so was a good idea to change it!
Before the changes were made.
After the changes to the positioning of the quote and run around size.
'Justification issues, non matching lines.'
The next thing that the audience spotted was the line justification. They were all different sizes. I know it's nit picky but this will be noticed by the magazine and the audience. So with this in mind we doubled up on the lines and ensured that they were the exact same size, to the nearest pixel!
The image on the left is the before shot with the dodgy line sizes which isn't the standard of ornament a magazine review from Empire would have. So in the right hand image, these were the changes made after the audience feedback.
'Alignment issues.'
So this comment was just basically that the star ratings at the bottom of the page were out of line. They weren't on a specific side and had been randomly placed (the audience felt). The stars distance from the top line and the bottom of the page was different making it again look uneven and messy. So with this feedback taken onboard, changes were made to the positioning of the stars within the review to move them more central as well as ensuring there is an equal distance between the text above and the border bellow the star rating.
After the changes with even spacing
Evaluation:
So that was a hell of a lot of feedback received and all with different purposes. However there is one thing they all have in common; they have all enabled us to improve upon our products to ensure they are aimed at the target audience we chose for our film and the elements they would enjoy and dislike. By including both media students and passive viewers, we have been able to gather variety of evaluations which enable us to make decisions from two different perspective , the entertainment side of the products and the technical side.
Changes made to the Poster:
So from the feedback given from the survey and the feedback video, the audience had a large impact on the way in which the final poster looked. We needed to attract our target audience and so by listening to their feedback the final poster served its full purpose rather than previous ideas in the first draft. So here are some of the changes made.
'The title is too fine to see from a distance'
The audience couldn't see the title as the text wasn't bold enough. So following this feedback, in the final version of the poster, the title font was adjusted as well as its colour to ensure that this was one of the main features in which the audience saw when looking at the poster.
Final version of the poster title after the feedback given by the audience. The font colour and style is changed to suit the film as well as making it clearer for the audience to see.'Change composition of characters, think carefully about their poses'
The images of the actors within the poster were said to look like they were stuck on the poster rather than being part of the poster. The audience picked up on this and said it looked rather amateur. part of this issue was the background as you couldn't blend the photos well on the purple background so it was changed to black. Also the characters personalities and feelings weren't portrayed well in the first version as the audience said they were a little confused as to what the characters were doing. Following this feedback the positioning of the characters was changed as well as the removal of the one character to keep a little bit of secrecy about the second male within the film.
The first draft with the 3 characters on the poster, the audience thought this looked like they had been stuck on rather than blending into the poster. The positioning of the characters was considered wrong too and so changes needed to be made to show the correct mise en scene of the characters before the audience have even seen the film.
This is the new poster with the two main characters looking in love however there is something wrong as the male isn't looking lovingly into her eyes giving the audience a hint there is something not right. This gives our target audience the idea of a couple which is what they suggested when asking us to consider changing the pose of the characters.
'Overlapping text. White on white not clear.'
So with the fade between the background of the image and the background of the credits, the white text blends into the white of the shirt Alex is wearing meaning the credits couldn't be read very well. So the audience picked up on this and felt it would be a better idea to move the credits down or even change the blend from the image to the credit block colour to black and white. So as you will see this impacted as we changed this to ensure that the text could be seen by the audience to give those who were part of the film credit for what they did.
'Last names aren't clear.'
In the audience feedback we were told that the last names of the actors were t clear enough to read. Conventionally, a film poster emphasises the last name of the actor as this is what defines them as an individual. The audience couldn't really see this and so it doesn't enable them to see which actor it actually is within the film. Most of the time, the stars within the film are what attract the audience to come and see it so we thought we'd better change the names to make them clearer to see.
So in the first one image we see the first draft, the colours weren't clear for the audience to see and so from a distance you couldn't really read the name of the actress. However in the second image, the change of background and font colour enables the audience to see the actresses name clearly as white on a black background is bound to be seen.
Magazine Review First Draft Feedback:
And finally the last set of feedback we gathered during this course was the feedback for our magazine review first draft. This feedback was minus the actual review text as unless you are fluent in loreum ipson, you wouldn't have a clue what it said! So this is the screen cast we got for our review:
Why was audience feedback important here?
The feedback like the film poster was important as it enabled us to develop and adjust areas of the review that were weak and could be improvement upon with different approaches. Different ideas were suggested that we hadn't thought of and so we could build upon the layout we currently had. It also enabled us to see what was good and what went down well with our target audience that made the review appealing to them.
Survey:
To support the ideas suggested above, I also created a survey for a different group of people (still within the target audience range though!). This then enabled me to see if what the first set of people said was accurate and agreed upon with the second set of people. So here are the survey responses we received:
Why was audience feedback important here?
These responses were important as they ensured that what the previous set of target audience members had said was accurate and what they really wanted. It just ensured us that what was said was what they would want from all ages within the target audience. Another reason why this feedback was so important was that it enabled us to see what the opinion was of people who weren't media related and would just be passive viewers rather than media critics.
Changes made to the Review:
Like the poster and the film itself, we gathered feedback from the audience on their thoughts of the review. The positives and suggested changes were taken onboard and had a major impact on the final product and the way that it looked. Without the feedback we wouldn't have been able to know what our audience wanted as well as knowing the positives and negatives of the first draft. So here are some of the changes made due to audience feedback.
'IN CINEMA too close to the bleed. won't be seen in the magazine.'
One of the first things the audience commented on was the IN CINEMA feature at the top of the review page. It was said that it was too close to the edge of the page and so would bleed over and not be seen when the magazine was put together. This would have ruined the conventional layout of empire and so was an important feature that the audience noticed was slightly misplaced. Due tot his the in cinema sign was adjusted to ensure that it wouldn't bleed over. There wasn't anything for the sign to block when we shuffled it over slightly and so this wasn't an issue to change.
So in the left hand image, this is the feature before the feedback. It was so close to the bleed it would only say N CINEMA which would have been pretty confusing to the audience. So with their feedback the final outcome in the right hand image shows this feature has been moved over to ensure that all of the sign can be seen when put together in a magazine (Empire).
'Need to space the pull quote over 3 columns rather than being in the gutter of the magazine'
The run around on the pull quote was one of the main issues the audience had. It was discovered that because the quote was finishing in the text gutter, it made the run around look larger than it actually was making the spacing look rather uneven and a little messy. So after the comments made, the run around and positioning of the poll quote was changed to ensure that an even run around could be seen. The quote was also changed as another issue they had was that the quote didn't actually make sense so was a good idea to change it!
'Justification issues, non matching lines.'
The next thing that the audience spotted was the line justification. They were all different sizes. I know it's nit picky but this will be noticed by the magazine and the audience. So with this in mind we doubled up on the lines and ensured that they were the exact same size, to the nearest pixel!
The image on the left is the before shot with the dodgy line sizes which isn't the standard of ornament a magazine review from Empire would have. So in the right hand image, these were the changes made after the audience feedback.
'Alignment issues.'
So this comment was just basically that the star ratings at the bottom of the page were out of line. They weren't on a specific side and had been randomly placed (the audience felt). The stars distance from the top line and the bottom of the page was different making it again look uneven and messy. So with this feedback taken onboard, changes were made to the positioning of the stars within the review to move them more central as well as ensuring there is an equal distance between the text above and the border bellow the star rating.
Before the changes. Uneven spacing and alignment.
After the changes with even spacing
Evaluation:
So that was a hell of a lot of feedback received and all with different purposes. However there is one thing they all have in common; they have all enabled us to improve upon our products to ensure they are aimed at the target audience we chose for our film and the elements they would enjoy and dislike. By including both media students and passive viewers, we have been able to gather variety of evaluations which enable us to make decisions from two different perspective , the entertainment side of the products and the technical side.
