Audience Feedback

Audience feedback is important to a production as it gives the creators of the media product the chance to reflect on their work and see what they did well and what they could have done better. Media companies that go on to create further media products use all positive and constructive criticism that they receive to improve further creations.

We received feedback from our target audience by screening our film and collecting feedback from a questionnaire. The audience involved a group of approx. 25 people, divided into groups averaging 3 members each; groups filled out the questionnaires together. They answered questions involving positive and negative comments about our production. This feedback benefited our production as we were then able to reflect on what we did well and what we could have done better. This allows us to reflect on our production and how we could do better if we were to create another film.

The following are examples of 3 positive comments that we received about our film:

1. Good, unique narrative and characters
2. Well-balanced conventional and unconventional aspects
3. Appropriate use of sounds

I feel that the first comment is due to our unconventional and therefore "unique" narrative. Our narrative follows an unconventional plot of a mentally unstable woman killing for revenge (the story is told through her point of view) because he ex-fiancé left her just before the wedding. She kills people close to him, working her way up to killing him. This is the plot of the opening sequence, as it ends with her surprising him at his home. Furthermore, the killer in thriller films is not usually female, so this our film challenges conventions and becomes interesting for the audience. Moreover, we have both unconventional and conventional aspects in our sequence, which the audience appears to find engaging, as proved by the second positive comment that we received. We have conventional aspects such as low key lighting, tense music, and the traditional kitchen knife weapon. These are all familiar to the audience and they will engage with the film as it will create a pre-established idea of the kind of atmosphere a thriller film should create. However, intertwined with these conventions are unconventional aspects. These include the representation of characters, narrative, etc. This helps maintain the film's engaging atmosphere and keep the audience interested and enjoying the film. Lastly, after watching our film and receiving feedback, I have concluded that our use of sound throughout the film was appropriate for the atmosphere that we wanted to create. The tense soundtrack within most of the sequence was helpful in maintaining the frightening, tense atmosphere for the audience. Our use of diegetic sound in this sense was good and appropriate. Furthermore, our use on non-diegetic sound at the start of the film (showing the flashbacks of the bride and her best friend getting ready for the wedding) was also helpful in creating a contrast and making the audience curious about the future plot of the sequence/film.

The following three statements are examples of negative/constructive feedback that we received:

1. Music is too loud
2. No sound at the end of the sequence: ruins atmosphere, boring
3. Too much dialogue

With help from the first criticism, we discovered that the music during our sequence was too loud. This was easily solved, as we re-edited the sound in our sequence. This then helps to make the final product more enjoyable for the audience as they can focus more on what is happening in the scene. However, music was still important for the scenes, so we made sure that the soundtrack was still audible. Next, we realised that the lack of sound at the end of the sequence takes away the shock factor of the ending (when the bride surprises the ex-fiancé), and this was reinforced by constructive criticism #2. To fix this, we found a copyright-free mp3 file of a 'shocking' sound to add to the end of the scene (as non-diegetic sound). This increased the levels of tension and fixed the problem of the end of the sequence being "boring". Lastly, at the last minute, we cut a short scene from the sequence because our target audience found it to include too much dialogue. Too much dialogue in that scene evidently ruined the tense atmosphere of the entire sequence, taking away the shock and surprise element that thrillers must include. This is the reason that we chose to remove that scene; now our film 'flows' better and is easier to understand, while also remaining suspenseful.

I followed the aims of the brief in my creation of the opening two minute sequence to a thriller film. My group and I researched and created the thriller film without any outside help, and our final products both uses and challenges conventions of the thriller genre.