What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

In order to gain audience feedback on what our target audience (16-24 year olds) thought of our horror trailer, we conducted a screening of our teaser trailer in class (around 20-30 students) in which our audience would then fill out a sheet and write down things that they liked about the trailer and things that they felt could be improved to make it better. This was a good way of conducting audience feedback as everyone in the class was within the age group of our target audience so therefore our feedback was fitting with our target audience. I also enabled us to take on board any criticisms so we could therefore improve/change them if need be.

Most of the comments we received from our audience feedback were positive comments and particular elements of our trailer were repeatedly commented on as being an effective part of our trailer and how its been put together. These were elements such as:

Use of sound

• A lot of people commented on the suspense that was built within our trailer as the main vibe was it created enough suspense in the beginning of the trailer for it to then begin the fast-paced editing shots and create a scary ending for the trailer. We were really happy to have achieved this within our trailer as without the build up of suspense it would not have been as effective as a horror trailer.

Narrative/Storyline

• We also had various comments on our storyline we had chosen for our trailer as people were saying they found it easy to follow what the background story was within the trailer. This was an important aspect for us to get across in our trailer because our characters are closely related to the age group of our target audience so therefore they could connect well with the narrative of the trailer.

• We also received various positive comments on the ending we chose to present at the end of our trailer where you see a girl starting up the car engine but then the killer appears from the back of the car and grabs the girl round the neck. We were told from our feedback that this was an effective clip for them due to the use of camera shot we had used for the scene as well as how it made an effective jumpy ending. 

Intertitles

• We also received comments on the effects of our intertitles as the general feedback was they were effective text effects that fitted in with our horror trailer. We felt that including intertitles within our trailer was an important element as they divided up bits of footage as well as helped to build up the tension within our trailer which was one thing our audience frequently commented on saying they liked.

As well as positive comments about our trailer, we also received a few criticisms on things our audience felt could be improved within our trailer. These were elements such as:

Voice overs

• One of the criticisms we received was our use of voice overs within the trailer in particular shots where the characters were discussing events that had happened within the house as our audience found them to be a bit unclear and hard to hear due to the background music being too loud when the voice overs were being said. When screening our trailer we did have some technical difficulties which influenced the fact that they weren't very clear, however we have looked back over the original copy and found that the sound may not have been high enough for the voiceover so this is something which we will now adjust in order to make them more clear and improve our trailer.

Deaths and Final Girl

• Another criticism we received was that our audience felt that too many deaths were shown within our trailer and that they would have liked to have seen a 'final girl'. In our original group planning we did intend on having a final girl named 'Charlie' who is the girl seen in the end shot getting strangled in the car, however in our storyline plan we wanted her to escape the car and survive but this wasn't shown in our trailer which is why all of our characters appear to be killed.

Newspaper Clippings

• Some of our audience felt that the shots of the newspaper clippings towards the beginning of the trailer were too repetitive and didn't need to be shown quite as much as they were. We included shots of newspaper clippings in order to get across the background story of our trailer and the house that is featured in it. However, we do agree that these were perhaps shown a bit too much than needed so therefore this is something we can easily resolve.

Overall, I would say that the majority of the feedback that we received from our target audience was positive as we had some shots that they felt were very effective such as the jumpy scene in the car at the end and an effective scary killer. I believe that it is good that we also received a few criticisms as these are things that we can take on board and improve within our trailer to make it even better and more effective as a real horror film trailer. It was also nice to hear what people thought overall of our teaser trailer as this was our first time making a horror trailer so therefore we can learn from the comments we received.