3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

As a Film Trailer


My audience feedback has been particularly useful in helping me to see where the sucesses in my trialer lie, and also highlight any weaknesses and improvements that may not have been picked up during the filming of the piece. Overall the feedback was posative, with the trailer 'teasing' enough and also made the plot farily clear and concise for viewers to consider watching the full release. 


The audience to which the trailer was shown to, were in particular extremly impressed with the use of classical music against many of the gore scenes, as it was a startling contrast between the two. Some even suggested that they could believe that this would be the type of calm music in the head of the killer as he carries out these horrendous attacks. Most also liked the use of the voiceover, which had been alterd to produce a lower tone, as it made the character seem insane and the audience feel uncomfortable at the fact the voice was so anonymous.


Some also commented on the varied use of camera shots, in particular the experimentation of using cantered and high angles. This added to the odity of the piece, and in some cases made the viewer feel uneasey and a strange sickening sensation. This feeling was added to through the use of sharp ediing which helped us to maintain a fast pace.


Despite some good positive feedback, the group also gave us some constructive critacism on how we coud improve on our trailer as a whole. A major problem that had caused some debate within the group was the inclusion of the intetitle that fades into the blood in the first cut. It was clear from the feedback that we gained that the audience also found this to be a problem, mainly due the fact that it was difficut to read and many felt as though it was 'Gimmicky' rather than adding to the piece. Some also felt that the trailer became too slow towards the end, and despite starting off well, this spoilt the flow of the piece and did not create enough suspense. There was also some confusion over the actual genre of the piece. Some of the audience felt as though it was more of a thriller rather than a horror due to all of the mystery and suspense created.




Adhering to the conventions of horror


The audience feedback also showed us ways in which our trailer both followed and challenged the main conventions of horror.

1. Use of Gore and SFX - In the whole the audience felt as though there was an evident lack of gore within our product, which  is commonly found within most horror trailers. Most felt as though a trailer of this type needed to show violence off, so it did not stray from the conventions of the horror genre and turn into a mystery film. Despite this many did comment that our use of stunts was a good way of creating shock, especially whenthe victim hits the wall and the blood can just be seen trickling down.

2. Music and Voice Over - In horror teaser trialers the music is often vital in helping to build up tension amoungst the audience. Therefore as a group we felt that getting the music right would be the most important factor in ensuring that this was done to maximum effect.

The music of our piece in particular recieved mixed feedback from the audience. Some believed that it went well with the piece, the classical ambient composition created a shocking comparison to the violence being portrayed. On the other hand, some of the audience feedback suggested that the music did not create enough suspense and that the way it changed at the end took away from the effectiveness of the piece. Most of the audience also liked the use of 'bangs' during tense moments such as the hitting of the victim against the wall, the special effects made them jump at the right moments where we intended to.

The voice over in the main was recieved well during our feedback. The way whe had altered the tone and added a echo effect made the voice become sinister, which worked well with the shots it was being played over.

3. Camerawork and shot range - The audiece feedback has shown my group that the use of camerawork and cantered angles is an area within our piece that stood out.

In terms of camerawork, those who viewed the piece felt that in particular the cantered angles and high shots worked well with the piece. The shot filmed through the mirror, the dragging of the body down the stairs and also the shot of the killer walking down the stairs through the puddle made some viewers feel uncomfortable, some even having a 'dizzy' sensation. They also felt that there was enough variety of shots included in the trailer to make them want to see more of the film. 

The cantered angles were also a success in the making of our film. It allowed us to expore different ways of portraying our visials and most of the audience agreed. The POV shots were also said to be effective, making the audience relate to the killers persepctive.

4. Characters and acting - The character types and acting are also important in a horror movie, however my analysis has shown that this is often not the most important feature within a horror movie with most focusing on the use of tension and gore.

The way that the killers identity is allways kept hiden is something that the audience felt worked well. We did this so that there was no relation to the killer, the mystery means that it could be anyone. We achieved this mainly through filming the torture scenes using POV shots that helped to make the trailer seem more realistic and filmed through the killers eye. The only real clue to the killers identity is through the end shot where the killers face appears on screen, although this is covered by a mask. However the audeince does not have much chance to take it all in, we put a distortion effect on to the end which we intended to seem like the end of a 'killer tape'.

One of the main issues to arrise from the viewing of our trailer was the challenging of the main traditional convention of the 'final girl', taking away the usual 'male gaze' element of many horror films. The feedback shows that this was a noticable difference, especially as most of the other trailers created in our group had female victims. Our group mainly decided to challenge this convention as it would have been difficult to complete some of the stunts in our trailer with a girl, and also recently the media has seen the breaking of this rule much more. Despite it seemingly being a big issue, I believe that it worked well within our trailer, helping us to stand out and also challenge the percieved norm.

5. Editing pace - The audience feedback has also shown that most audience members had some level of problem with the pace in which we edited the trailer. The main comment that was aired is that people felt that as the trailer went on, the pace slowed down when it did not need to, creating a negative effect.