Saturday 26 February 2011
Further Audience Feedback
After looking at our audience feedback, we have decided to expand it to gain a better idea of how successful the thriller opening was. We wanted to use a different form of media to display our findings, and therefore chose to create a small video. Over the next few days, we will be filming several people's opinions of our thriller, and will then be creating a video with the footage.
Tuesday 22 February 2011
Audience Feedback
To estimate how successful our thriller was, we asked several people for their opinions on our opening. We will try to show our findings in a variety of ways, as this will allow us to gain an in-depth and detailed response.
After showing our thriller opening to several people, we asked three people to answer some questions for us. The three people were of different ages: 17, 21 and 38. Moreover, two of the participants were female, whilst one was male. Below are the results.
What did you enjoy the most about the thriller?
Female, 17
"I enjoyed the scene where the girl was walking, trying to get a signal and then running back. I liked this because the editing matched the pace of plot, and built up tension."
Male, 21
"I liked the shots of the stalker's eyes, as it made us realise that the stalker was following the girls, and getting closer and closer to them."
Female, 38
"I like the opening, as I could see what was happening with the stalker, whilst the girls were setting off. This made me understand that the two sets of characters were related, and hinted at them meeting at some point in the film."
How do you think we could have improved the opening?
Female, 17
"I would have liked to have seen more of the other two girls, rather than the main one. I didn't really get to know them that much, and then they disappeared."
Male, 21
"The stalker's weapon was a bit unrealistic. I don't see how he managed to attack the two girls with his bare hands and a small piece of rope."
Female, 38
"The section where the girls walk from the house to the camp site is slightly slow. Maybe it would have been better to quicken it a bit."
Would you watch the remainder of the film?
Female, 17
"Yes, I want to see if the main girl dies or not."
Male, 21
"Yes. I want to know who the stalker is, and what happened to the two girls that went missing."
Female, 38
"No. Unfortunately, I don't see how the story could develop and continue for an extra hour or so."
Judging by the response from the three participants, the thriller opening was a success. As suspected, it was least successful with the eldest participant - the thriller was not aimed at her age group, therefore, we believed that she would be least likely to enjoy the thriller.
We asked these participants, and the others that watched the thriller, to state a few words that summed up our thriller. Using these words, I created a wordle, which clearly shows all the words used, and their popularity.
After showing our thriller opening to several people, we asked three people to answer some questions for us. The three people were of different ages: 17, 21 and 38. Moreover, two of the participants were female, whilst one was male. Below are the results.
What did you enjoy the most about the thriller?
Female, 17
"I enjoyed the scene where the girl was walking, trying to get a signal and then running back. I liked this because the editing matched the pace of plot, and built up tension."
Male, 21
"I liked the shots of the stalker's eyes, as it made us realise that the stalker was following the girls, and getting closer and closer to them."
Female, 38
"I like the opening, as I could see what was happening with the stalker, whilst the girls were setting off. This made me understand that the two sets of characters were related, and hinted at them meeting at some point in the film."
How do you think we could have improved the opening?
Female, 17
"I would have liked to have seen more of the other two girls, rather than the main one. I didn't really get to know them that much, and then they disappeared."
Male, 21
"The stalker's weapon was a bit unrealistic. I don't see how he managed to attack the two girls with his bare hands and a small piece of rope."
Female, 38
"The section where the girls walk from the house to the camp site is slightly slow. Maybe it would have been better to quicken it a bit."
Would you watch the remainder of the film?
Female, 17
"Yes, I want to see if the main girl dies or not."
Male, 21
"Yes. I want to know who the stalker is, and what happened to the two girls that went missing."
Female, 38
"No. Unfortunately, I don't see how the story could develop and continue for an extra hour or so."
Judging by the response from the three participants, the thriller opening was a success. As suspected, it was least successful with the eldest participant - the thriller was not aimed at her age group, therefore, we believed that she would be least likely to enjoy the thriller.
We asked these participants, and the others that watched the thriller, to state a few words that summed up our thriller. Using these words, I created a wordle, which clearly shows all the words used, and their popularity.
Monday 21 February 2011
Evaluation of Finished Production - Question 7
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the product?
Looking back at our preliminary task, we noticed a lot of errors, and vast amounts of work of a poor quality. When comparing the task to our thriller opening, we can see a big improvement in every aspect of our work.
Our preliminary task was not really prepared that well, as we only had half of our storyboard completed. This meant that when we were going to film, we had to improvise and make the shots up as we went along. This resulted in a lack of variety with regards to the type of shots and angles used. When we prepared our thriller, we made sure the storyboard was completed, so we knew exactly what shots we had to shoot. This helped us later on in the project, as we always had a handful of shots to select from, as we not only filmed the shots on the storyboard, we also added a few spontaneously.
Sound was a major stumbling block during our preliminary project. When we were editing, we were not able to hear the sound properly, so had to guess when to cut the sound. After we uploaded the piece to YouTube, we noticed that the sound lacked continuity, and some of the dialogue was cut off. To prevent this from happening again, we made sure that the computer we were working on had functioning speakers. Moreover, in some scenes, we also used the sound from one of the pieces of footage, and used several different shots. This provided us with the continuity we were after.
One way we could have prevented the sound problems in our preliminary task would have been to add music. We did not use music at the time, which meant that we had to keep the sound we had already. We used music in our thriller opening, however. This created a tense atmosphere, and meant that our thriller wasn't boring, and held the audience's attention.
The quality of our shots was something we wanted to improve drastically. Our two pan shots were of a low standard, which meant that overall, the piece was also of a low standard. We worked hard on our filming technique, and often filmed scenes multiple times to make sure we had the perfect take.
Our editing skills improved drastically, as we began to understand the types of transitions and effects available. This helped our product reach a higher quality.
During the filming process, we also tried to improve our framing, by obeying photographical rules such as the rule of thirds. This would make our thriller more pleasing to the audience's eye, and give the piece a more professional feel.
Looking back at our preliminary task, we noticed a lot of errors, and vast amounts of work of a poor quality. When comparing the task to our thriller opening, we can see a big improvement in every aspect of our work.
Our preliminary task was not really prepared that well, as we only had half of our storyboard completed. This meant that when we were going to film, we had to improvise and make the shots up as we went along. This resulted in a lack of variety with regards to the type of shots and angles used. When we prepared our thriller, we made sure the storyboard was completed, so we knew exactly what shots we had to shoot. This helped us later on in the project, as we always had a handful of shots to select from, as we not only filmed the shots on the storyboard, we also added a few spontaneously.
Sound was a major stumbling block during our preliminary project. When we were editing, we were not able to hear the sound properly, so had to guess when to cut the sound. After we uploaded the piece to YouTube, we noticed that the sound lacked continuity, and some of the dialogue was cut off. To prevent this from happening again, we made sure that the computer we were working on had functioning speakers. Moreover, in some scenes, we also used the sound from one of the pieces of footage, and used several different shots. This provided us with the continuity we were after.
One way we could have prevented the sound problems in our preliminary task would have been to add music. We did not use music at the time, which meant that we had to keep the sound we had already. We used music in our thriller opening, however. This created a tense atmosphere, and meant that our thriller wasn't boring, and held the audience's attention.
The quality of our shots was something we wanted to improve drastically. Our two pan shots were of a low standard, which meant that overall, the piece was also of a low standard. We worked hard on our filming technique, and often filmed scenes multiple times to make sure we had the perfect take.
Our editing skills improved drastically, as we began to understand the types of transitions and effects available. This helped our product reach a higher quality.
During the filming process, we also tried to improve our framing, by obeying photographical rules such as the rule of thirds. This would make our thriller more pleasing to the audience's eye, and give the piece a more professional feel.
Sunday 20 February 2011
Evaluation of Finished Production - Question 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Evaluation of Finished Production - Question 5
How did you attract/address your audience?
We used a variety of thrillers conventions to capture and hold the audience's attention.We included a false build up of tension, hidden identities, suspense and more tension. These, and some others, help to create a tense and interesting build to the climax of the thriller. I also think that the music we used help create a more interesting experience, as it was of a fast pace and matched the editing.
To make sure we were addressing our audience, we referred back to our survey. By casting three females all of similar age to our audience, it allows the viewer to become more attached emotionally with the character. The audience can sympathise and be scared for the characters, and may also be more thrilled as it could happen to them. This was another reason why we chose ordinary-looking girls. We didn't want the characters to seem out of place in the setting - we wanted our thriller to look at real as possible. We believe that the more real something is, then the more likely people are to believe it, and immerse themselves into the world of the film.
As the protagonist and supporting actresses were female, we thought we should cast a male for the role of the antagonist. This would be more daunting for the female audience, as men are generally stronger than women physically, therefore at an instant disadvantage. This would mean that the audience would sympathise further with the female characters, and would be interested in finding out their fate.
The locations we used added to the overall realism of the piece, as they were a house and a park. These places are common in our target audience's lives, and are not out of the ordinary.
Our think that our thriller opening would encourage the viewer to continue watching the remainder of the film. I think this because our opening finishes on a cliffhanger. The protagonist screams as the screen cuts to black, and the audience do not know whether she survives or not. Moreover, there are a number of unanswered questions that will entice the viewer into watching more of the film.
These questions include:
We used a variety of thrillers conventions to capture and hold the audience's attention.We included a false build up of tension, hidden identities, suspense and more tension. These, and some others, help to create a tense and interesting build to the climax of the thriller. I also think that the music we used help create a more interesting experience, as it was of a fast pace and matched the editing.
To make sure we were addressing our audience, we referred back to our survey. By casting three females all of similar age to our audience, it allows the viewer to become more attached emotionally with the character. The audience can sympathise and be scared for the characters, and may also be more thrilled as it could happen to them. This was another reason why we chose ordinary-looking girls. We didn't want the characters to seem out of place in the setting - we wanted our thriller to look at real as possible. We believe that the more real something is, then the more likely people are to believe it, and immerse themselves into the world of the film.
As the protagonist and supporting actresses were female, we thought we should cast a male for the role of the antagonist. This would be more daunting for the female audience, as men are generally stronger than women physically, therefore at an instant disadvantage. This would mean that the audience would sympathise further with the female characters, and would be interested in finding out their fate.
The locations we used added to the overall realism of the piece, as they were a house and a park. These places are common in our target audience's lives, and are not out of the ordinary.
Our think that our thriller opening would encourage the viewer to continue watching the remainder of the film. I think this because our opening finishes on a cliffhanger. The protagonist screams as the screen cuts to black, and the audience do not know whether she survives or not. Moreover, there are a number of unanswered questions that will entice the viewer into watching more of the film.
These questions include:
- Who is the antagonist?
- Why are they stalking the protagonist?
- Where have the two friends gone?
- What will the antagonist do the the protagonist?
Saturday 19 February 2011
Evaluation of Finished Production - Question 4
Who would be the audience for your media project?
Before filming our thriller, I created a survey using surveymonkey. From the results, we could easily identify our audience, and what the audience expected from our thriller.
The audience of our thriller would be teenagers and young adults. We believe this is correct as this age range tend to watch a large amount of thriller films. Moreover, the type of thrillers they watch are either horror or disaster. Psychological thrillers came fourth in my survey. From my results, it is easy to see that teenagers are highly interested by the genre. Also, we believe that a large section of our audience will be female, as the survey results indicate a majority of females.
Before filming our thriller, I created a survey using surveymonkey. From the results, we could easily identify our audience, and what the audience expected from our thriller.
The audience of our thriller would be teenagers and young adults. We believe this is correct as this age range tend to watch a large amount of thriller films. Moreover, the type of thrillers they watch are either horror or disaster. Psychological thrillers came fourth in my survey. From my results, it is easy to see that teenagers are highly interested by the genre. Also, we believe that a large section of our audience will be female, as the survey results indicate a majority of females.
We believe that our target audience would want to watch our thriller as we have catered to them. Our protagonists and antagonist are teenagers, and three out of the four cast members are female. The characters are of a middle or low working class, and are therefore relatable - something which is fundamental in a character.
One question in my survey asked the participants to state three words they associated with 'Thriller'. I would then try to implement the useful ideas into our thriller, to create a film designed exactly for the viewer. The wordle I create at wordle.net is below.
From the wordle, I can easily see that mystery, action and suspense are key elements that must be included. Also, other answers such as 'Michael Jackson' and 'rollercoaster' may seem useless, but they do help us get a better understanding of what the audience wants. When people say 'rollercoaster' they mean a series of high and low points within the film, as well as the theme park ride. From this, we can see that the audience do not wish to be thrilled from start to finish, and do want some parts of the film where they can be more relaxed. The term 'Michael Jackson' also leads me to think of Jackson's 'Thriller' music video. The video was, and still is, iconic and pushed many boundaries. Therefore, I believe that we should be striving to create an iconic scene, or entire film, as well as challenging the limits of thriller films.
Another question asked in my survey was why the participant liked a particular genre the most. One participant stated "Beacuse its so lifelike and it could happen in the future." This indicates that the audience want to witness something that isn't completely ludicrous. I hope to create a balance in our thriller, where something unlikely, yet possible occurs. Moreover, if the victim is just an average individual, the film seems more authentic and real. The film 'The Strangers' for instance, uses two ordinary characters as their protagonists. The antagonists, and their motives are unlikely to be found in the real world, yet it is not completely impossible. This leaves the audience with doubts in their mind during the film, and for a long period after.
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