Audience Feedback

As a group we organised a screening of Retribution in order to gain some audience feedback which would help us to analyse the effectiveness of our opening in portraying the plot, the characters & their relationships, the institutional identity and the themes.

Below is a summary of the feedback we recieved from twenty people.

Age:
The age of the people who gave us feedback ranged from 11-17

Gender:
Male: 7
Female: 13

Where do you think the film opening was made?
America: 0 Britain: 20 Europe: 0

Do you think this film is made by a more commercial company or an independent company and why?
Independent: 14 'looks low budget' 'less commercial themes'
Commercial: 3 'looks well filmed' 'musics, angles and light make it look more professional'
No answer/didn't know: 3

Who do you think it’s suitable for/ targeted at (age, gender, tastes, interests etc)?
Answers ranged from 15-25
Majority was both genders
Tastes and interests didn't seem to really matter

What genre do you think this film is and what leads you to this decision? E.g. Action Adventure, Comedy etc.
Thriller: 14 'the music' 'cliffhanger at end' 'tension' 'dark'
Horror: 2 'it looks like the girl will die' 'tension' 'dark'
Mystery: 2 'the music and you can't see much of the guy' 'tension'
Action: 2 'the girl is smoking and seems rebellious'


Can you identify the characters you have seen (who they are, the role they play, the relationship between them etc)
'Main female - damsel in distress'
'Both know each other'
'He is a Stalker'
'He is following the girl for revenge'
'He is a Killer'

Please describe what happens in the sequence
'Girl comes home from a party, has a cigarette after being woken up, there is a guy in her house who waits for her until she goes to the bathroom'
'drunk woman goes home, leaves the door open and the guy gets in'
'a woman comes home drunk, there is a man in her house'
'woman goes home, leaves the door open, goes to bed, gets woken up by friend needing help, goes to wash face, but doesn't get out of bathroom due to killer'

What do you think this film is actually about? What themes does it include? E.g. revenge, stalking, gang violence etc
revenge, stalking, murder, love, kidnap, voyeurism, gang violence

Do you think the opening sequence works in introducing the characters, the genre, the story?
'introduces the victim well'
'yes all'
yes, cliffhanger, but still informative'
'yes, gives a good insight without giving away too much of the characters'
'not introducing the characters but everything else'
'story behind why he is following her could be clearer'

What, in your opinion, works particularly well in this opening?
'music is timed perfectly for tension'
'the variation in shots and angles is good'
'the camera work from the killers point of view'
'the man being hidden'
'the colour balances'
'flash of man when he enters house'

What, in your opinion, could be improved?
'cliffhanger was a bit of an anti-climax'
'less movement of the camera would be more dramatic'
'could be lighter'

Would you want to watch the rest of the film, based on what you’ve seen so far? And why?
'yes it sets up the story well and gets the audience interested'
'yes to find out about their relationship'
'no, i don't feel any empathy for the character'
'yes due to the suspense created'

Can you rate this opening sequence out of 10?
We took an average of all of the marks out of 10 and this is our overall mark: 8.5

Stephanie