What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
Evaluation was a vital part of making our trailer The Possessed successful. To prove this we had both a focus group screening and a final evaluation screening. During the focus group about our trailer, we found that there was both positive and negative criticism. The praise which was most common from the screening feedback was that most people liked the transitions and effects we added on Final Cut Pro. The transition that appears to be most popular was the Bad TV effect with - amongst many similar comments - one watcher saying the “editing built tension well”. I would agree with this as by using these transitions we were able to cut out parts of the trailer we didn’t want the audience to see. This created restricted narration as an easier way of building suspense and creating tension through editing. It also made the trailer much more exciting to watch as the biggest highlights from The Possessed happen throughout.
The main example of the clever use of transitions in our trailer is at the end when myself and Jordan are looking for Elliot in the basement. We suddenly cut back from the moving film to intertitles explaining the story/reviews to the extreme close up of Elliot’s face which immediately makes the audience jump. This type of collision cutting is used at the start of Jaws when the scene is very quiet with the girl swimming, before the shark suddenly pulls her underwater and the camera cuts to a close-up. This contrast clearly worked in the focus group, as a few watchers can be seen jumping.
We also were happy the audience liked the realism of The Possessed and this was another thing helped by the Bad TV effect which make the camera appear jumpier than it actually is and the fuzziness of the effect also makes the camera look as if it hasn’t been able to
capture the footage as clearly as you would want to see it. This was obviously based on similar techniques in the Blair Witch Project and REC trailers.
Another praise we received was the use of body horror in the trailer and one person said “the make-up effects was [were] a good add to the trailer”. We weren’t basing our trailer around body horror as it is more of a thriller trailer but we was happy with this feedback as the little details we added into the trailer like the makeup effects on Elliot's face were effective and were noticed, which helped to make it a horror trailer that included plenty of stereotypical horror aspects.
One negative feedback we received was “Couldn’t see much within the trailer”. I disagree with this because we tried to show as much as we could within the trailer but also not to give too much of the storyline away. As we wanted to leave some of the narrative to the imagination of the audience, until they see the film. Another negative comment we received was “Could have been creepier”, which I do agree with slightly as since the first screening of are trailer we have added an effect onto the end of the trailer to make Elliot's scream even creepier and it is a last minute change that has really helped. Another negative comment we received was that "too much of the story is maybe given away". I was surprised by this and disagree with it as I don't think the auidence realised what else was going to happen in the film as we only gave short clips away to lead them into the storyline. For example they still haven't found out what has happened to
the other two teenagers which are in the start of the trailer, we only know that Elliot has become possessed.
I am very pleased with the final cut of the trailer. I think that it would appeal to our specific audience that would be interested in a low budget handheld horror, which our trailer is. I also think with the success of the current low budget/handheld camera horrors such as The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield is a high factor why I think that the trailer is a success. I also think that the way that the trailer ends is a real cliff-hanger, it makes the audience wonder what has happened to the three main characters Elliot, Jordan and Courtnay. Like all successful trailers, it makes the audience intrigued to want to watch the film. The sense of restricted narration during the trailer which doesn’t give too much of the narrative away, but just enough to make the audience interested in the film.
Evaluation was a vital part of making our trailer The Possessed successful. To prove this we had both a focus group screening and a final evaluation screening. During the focus group about our trailer, we found that there was both positive and negative criticism. The praise which was most common from the screening feedback was that most people liked the transitions and effects we added on Final Cut Pro. The transition that appears to be most popular was the Bad TV effect with - amongst many similar comments - one watcher saying the “editing built tension well”. I would agree with this as by using these transitions we were able to cut out parts of the trailer we didn’t want the audience to see. This created restricted narration as an easier way of building suspense and creating tension through editing. It also made the trailer much more exciting to watch as the biggest highlights from The Possessed happen throughout.
The main example of the clever use of transitions in our trailer is at the end when myself and Jordan are looking for Elliot in the basement. We suddenly cut back from the moving film to intertitles explaining the story/reviews to the extreme close up of Elliot’s face which immediately makes the audience jump. This type of collision cutting is used at the start of Jaws when the scene is very quiet with the girl swimming, before the shark suddenly pulls her underwater and the camera cuts to a close-up. This contrast clearly worked in the focus group, as a few watchers can be seen jumping.
We also were happy the audience liked the realism of The Possessed and this was another thing helped by the Bad TV effect which make the camera appear jumpier than it actually is and the fuzziness of the effect also makes the camera look as if it hasn’t been able to
capture the footage as clearly as you would want to see it. This was obviously based on similar techniques in the Blair Witch Project and REC trailers.Another praise we received was the use of body horror in the trailer and one person said “the make-up effects was [were] a good add to the trailer”. We weren’t basing our trailer around body horror as it is more of a thriller trailer but we was happy with this feedback as the little details we added into the trailer like the makeup effects on Elliot's face were effective and were noticed, which helped to make it a horror trailer that included plenty of stereotypical horror aspects.
One negative feedback we received was “Couldn’t see much within the trailer”. I disagree with this because we tried to show as much as we could within the trailer but also not to give too much of the storyline away. As we wanted to leave some of the narrative to the imagination of the audience, until they see the film. Another negative comment we received was “Could have been creepier”, which I do agree with slightly as since the first screening of are trailer we have added an effect onto the end of the trailer to make Elliot's scream even creepier and it is a last minute change that has really helped. Another negative comment we received was that "too much of the story is maybe given away". I was surprised by this and disagree with it as I don't think the auidence realised what else was going to happen in the film as we only gave short clips away to lead them into the storyline. For example they still haven't found out what has happened to
the other two teenagers which are in the start of the trailer, we only know that Elliot has become possessed.I am very pleased with the final cut of the trailer. I think that it would appeal to our specific audience that would be interested in a low budget handheld horror, which our trailer is. I also think with the success of the current low budget/handheld camera horrors such as The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield is a high factor why I think that the trailer is a success. I also think that the way that the trailer ends is a real cliff-hanger, it makes the audience wonder what has happened to the three main characters Elliot, Jordan and Courtnay. Like all successful trailers, it makes the audience intrigued to want to watch the film. The sense of restricted narration during the trailer which doesn’t give too much of the narrative away, but just enough to make the audience interested in the film.
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