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

ATTENTION: Audience Feedback/Screening

Hi everyone,
Just a reminder that the screening to gather audience feedback will be in the media block on Friday 25th January. At 12:45pm. So don't forget.

Also we need to put out notices in the register/on the intranet to get people to come?
Also I will check with Ms Blackborow that Friday is ok for her.


Stephanie

also any problems with that see me or blog it.


EDIT: I spoke to Ms Blackborow and Thursday at 12:45pm is the earliest free time. So as long as that is ok with everyone then it will go ahead. We need to be there early (at 12:30pm) to run the DVD through, sort out questionnaires and organise the room so please don't be late.

------------------------
Right, dudes, we're now going to try and do it this lunchtime, remember. Has anyone checked with Miss B yet? I have double free now (periods 4 and 5) so will try and get stuff sorted out a bit.

-Angela x

Feedback on Rush

This is our rush again, and Mrs Blackborow gave us some feedback on how she thinks it went which we discussed as a group:

• The girl needs to be walking faster in the shots
• The outside shots are too dark so we decided we need to set up an extra porch light or film earlier on when it is lighter (although if we film earlier it will be hard to keep continuity between the shots as it will get darker whilst we are filming) - however she liked our change of angles throughout that section
• The closeup shots at the beginning of her waking up are too still and we need more variation in our camerawork at this point - so we plan to use more varied types of shot and we plan to include more tracks and pans as well to introduce movement
• There should be a longer shot on the alka-seltzer fizzing in the glass

After this feedback as a group we also discussed some more points which we feel we should include/improve upon in our actual shoot:

• At the end of the sequence the girl shouldn't be dragged out of the frame, but rather the last shot of her is the kidnapper's hand on her face and then the title would flash up on a black/blank screen
• The hallway shot of the girl leaving her room and walking down the hallway should be moved to a slightly different position - we can move the camera into a doorway which gives us a better view of the hallway to make this sequence run smoother in the editing
• The credits should possibly go over the action rather than on a title screen to keep the opening moving at a steady pace
• There should possibly be a closeup on on the girl's face when she is being grabbed by the kidnapper in order to show her expression more

- Steph