Final Edit of Our Film

Audience Feedback

As a means to retrieve audience feedback, we showed our piece to 12 people in our school, and we asked them to give us feedback on it. We created a survey on SurveyMonkey which we asked them to complete after watching the film. These were the questions that we asked, and some of the results that we got:

Question 1 - Did you enjoy the piece?

Every person that we showed our piece to said they found the piece enjoyable, as 100% of them answered 'Yes'. 

Question 2 - Did you understand the narrative? What did you think it was?

"Showing how jealousy can affect people deeply"

"Exploring the serious effect that jealousy can have on people and relationships"

"The girl on the floor had taken an overdose because she was jealous of another girl"

"From the pictures, I got the context that the characters grew up as close friends, perhaps both girls had an attraction to the boy, so there was always unspoken tension between the girls, especially when one was with the boy”

From these comments, I can see that as a whole, people understood that the narrative was based around jealousy, and of how that one of the girls was jealous of her two friends being in a relationship. However, the comment about Jazz having taken an overdose tells me that the enigma code that we intended to plant, as to whether Jazz had taken her own life, or whether she had been murdered and it staged to look like a suicide, was successful. I know it was successful as the audience were conflicted between what they thought had happened during our opening sequence.

Question 3 - Did you like the editing that we used? What did you like most?

"I loved it. It flowed very nicely and was used in a great way to create suspense"

"The shot of the pictures was a nice way to set context without a long winded backstory. The shot of the two eyes implicitly suggest a connection between the two characters without explanation, which was effective. The shot of the girl with drugs being allude set a presence over the main narrative which set tension for the piece well."

"I loved how it transitioned from one thing to another and I loved the opening!"

"Yeah, everything that was done editing wise fitted with the tone and helped the explanation of the narrative" 

These comments tell me that the audience generally thought that our editing in our piece was appropriate. It tells me that the photo montage at the start of the piece was one of the most successful elements about the piece, along with the editing of it. Additionally, these comments suggest that the editing we used had explanatory benefits for the narrative and helped to create 

tension in the audience effectively.

Question 4 - Did you feel that our use of sound was appropriate?

“Yes. It was haunting”

“The song was about jealousy which helped set the tone of the piece. The sound being one continuos track helped unify the piece. Personally thought the piece would have been better if it was all silent besides the music, as the added subjectivity would have added more tension”

“Yes - the music really helped to embed the theme of the piece into the mindset of the audience, so everything was shaped by it, which was really effective”

“Yes, however, there was a slight moment when the music stopped, and I thought it was a glitch”

From these comments, I can deduct that people generally thought that the wound we used was appropriate for our piece, and how that “Jealousy” helped to tie in the narrative of the piece. Someone pointed out how part of the music we used was ‘haunting’ which shows that we have effectively used music that is stereotypical of the thriller genre, that creates a sinister atmosphere. However, some interesting points were also raised. Someone mentioned that they thought that the dialogue should have been taken from the piece to build more suspense for the audience. Personally, I don’t think  this would have been effective as I think that the bit of dialogue we included helped to cement the basis of the narrative. Additionally, someone mentioned the slight pause in the music, which Hannah and I have previously reflected on in our video titled “Things We’d Change”, as they thought it was a glitch. As Hannah and I discussed, this was an error in fine editing in which we did not get the music to come in at exactly the right time, causing a very slight delay in sound.

Question 5 - What was your favourite part of our piece?

“The bit of dialogue in the middle, it was just enough and helped me to understand the piece a bit more”

“I like the ending when it got progressively closer to the eye and then backed out to the male”

“The way the pictures were used to set the context of the narrative”

“The scene with the pills and phone ringing, and when the camera was filming through the glasses lenses - very mysterious”

The answers to this question told me that people had varying opinions about what the best bit of our piece was. There was a divide between the photo montage, zooming in and out of the eyes, the shot inclusion of dialogue, and a different variety of shots. The photo montage was a popular favourite as people commented that it helped to tell the backstory of our narrative efficiently. The zooming in and out of the eyes were popular as people seemed to like how it was an unusual shot. The shots filming thought the glasses were favoured as people commented that they added mystery to the piece. A stand along comment talking about the use of dialogue surprised me. They mentioned how they thought we had included just enough to explain the narrative, and I felt that this meant that our decision to include dialogue was the right thing. 

Question 6 - If there was something you could change, what would it be?

“A total lack of dialogue would have built extra tension”

“I would maybe say a bit of the narrative in words on the screen, so people aren’t left to make their minds up and come up with the wrong scenario”

“Maybe experiment with locations where there is a clearer background”

“Maybe the shadow on the font credits at the start of the video to make it a little easier to read - but otherwise everything worked well! Really enjoyed it :)”

The comments that were made in response to this question raise some interesting points that people would change if they could. I do not personally agree with the comment about using no dialogue at all, as I feel that the little bit we did use helped to establish the narrative. Neither, personally, do I agree with stating part of the narrative in text on screen, because as this is only the opening to the film, we can’t give the entire plot away at the beginning. I understand the comment about experimenting with using locations with a more clear background, as the background in the garage is not very clear, but I feel that an unclear background of the shot adds more focus onto the main focus of the shot, in this case the body, and adds mystery as to wear the scene is set. I do agree with altering the shadow on the credits, as I agree that when they pass over certain photos, they are hard to read due to the colours that are in some of the photos in the montage. 

Question 7 - Do you have any other feedback comments?

“I like the idea, the editing and the video. It shows that you are creative and have much knowledge about filmmaking”

“It was a very good video, well done”

“Great work for an AS piece”

“Nice work”

I left answering this question as optional, as I simply wanted to leave a method in which people could add any extra thoughts they had that did not fall under any of the questions that I asked. The answers to this question were all extremely positive, and complimented our work. This leads me to believe that overall our piece is effective and enjoyable.

Evaluation: Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Evaluation: Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation: Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

In order to attract and address our audience, we used a variety of different techniques. 

Firstly, we ensured to use characters in our piece that our target audience would find relatable. As our target market are teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19, we included characters of this age so that they could connect with them and the challenges that they may face in this time of their lives. Hannah, Josh and I all fit within this age bracket, and this is the reason that we acted in the film, as it makes the film seem more realistic. Our audience would also be able to relate to the emotions that the characters face, and that would make them engage with the narrative more.

In our film, the range of character personalities we have used means that nearly everyone will be able to relate to one character, or relate one of the characters to someone in their life. Whether it be Jazz, the vulnerable female, Josh, the dominant male, or Hannah, the unstereotypical, head strong female. Using a diverse set of characters, that are both stereotypical and non-stereotypical, keeps the piece interesting, and ensures that it is as close to real life as possible.

Jazz - The Vulnerable Female

Josh - The Dominant Male

Hannah - The Head Strong Female

The narrative of our piece is designed to be interesting and relatable for our audience, by including themes and issues that are commonly faced by teens between the ages of 16 and 19. As is told by the title, the main theme of our piece is jealousy. Jealousy is a common emotion encountered by teenagers, whether it be about possessions, friendships or relationships, and we felt this would mean that the audience would be able to relate to the narrative. 

The title screen of our film, displaying the title 'Jealousy', which represents the theme of the narrative

The theme of friendship in our piece is something that all teens will experience. Friendship is portrayed heavily by the use of a photo montage in the start of our opening sequence, that show snapshots of the characters lives, and portrays their friendship. As Josh, Hannah and I were the ones acting in the film, and we are all close friends outside of our media group, the photos we have used are all photos that we have taken when we are out together as friends. This makes the friendships seem more real, as the photos are not faked, and capture true happiness. When Hannah’s emotions are manipulated by Josh, she turns against Jazz under his influence. This is something that happens all too much in teenage friendship groups, as this is the stage in life at which people are changing most. Also, like Hannah in our piece, teenagers often feel like they need to change their views and the way they act in order to please other people, especially o the subject of romantic relationships. In our piece, when Hannah then realises that her friendship with Jazz is more important than what Josh thinks of her, she tries to help, but it is too late. This reflects how, often, teens realise that they have been acting out of order, and go to apologise to their friend for treating them badly, but it is too late for them to be forgiven, as they have already destroyed the trust and hurt their friend. By raising this issue we hope to show ur target audience that they should not change what they are like, and who they are friends with, just to please someone, as it is more than likely that they will regret it but they will be unable to revoke the hurt that they have already caused.

In our piece, we have included the topical issue of controlling relationships, as these are something that our target audience may face. During the ages between 16 and 19, individuals are vulnerable to influence by and pressure put upon them by people they care about. Putting this issue in our narrative serves to educate our target audience that they should remain resilient to pressures put upon them, and should only do things because they want to, not because someone wants them to. Additionally, they should not let others control their social life, etc, as this is entirely unhealthy and will becoming damaging in the long run. We hope that raising these issues will help to prevent people succumbing to a controlling relationship. 

In our narrative, we have a strong focus on the theme of murder. We used this as a way to attract our target audience, as when I conducted a survey during the research for this project, I found that the narrative theme that was favoured by people was murder. Additionally, when speaking to our peers, we found that they agreed with this, and they are the same age as our target audience. This prompted us to include the theme in our narrative as we know that it will entice our target audience to watch the film, and will keep them engaged and interested in it. 

The use of cinematography in our piece was designed to attract our audience, as we used a range of different camera shots and angles. The variety of camera shots and angles used ensures that our piece is interesting and that will make sure that our target audience are interested. By using alternative and unique techniques, such as the 360° pan to make the cinematography of our piece alternative to what you would typically see in a thriller, which would add to its appeal for our audience. 

360° pan:

The use of editing in our film ensures that it will attract our target audience, as we use a variety of techniques, such as fades, jump cuts and editing of speed of footage. We used jump cuts and fast paced editing, which are both stereotypical features of thriller films, in order to build tension and to excite the audience and make them anticipate what will happen next. We used fades to switch between shots to add a sense of suspicion, and to make the audience feel anxious as to what will happen next. The use of editing the speed of footage allowed us to make in more intense. 

Example of fade:

During the 360° pan shot, we increased the speed of the original footage by 100%, as this made it catch the attention of the audience, and make them pay attention as to what was happening on screen. 

Original Speed:

x100 Speed:

Finally, the use of both stereotypical and non-stereotypical music for thriller films makes our piece interesting to the audience. The non-diegetic rock ballad, ‘Jealousy’ by Frankie Miller, that we begin the piece with is not stereotypical to the thriller genre. This unusual feature does not fit with the typical conventions of a thriller, as it is neither eerie or sinister. We found that the lyrics of the song fitted extremely well to our narrative, and would give our audience an insight into what the film would be about, without directly stating anything. Additionally, using a piece of music that links to the narrative will plant enigma codes for the audience, and make them question what will happen in this film, hence keeping them wanting to watch as to find our the answers to the questions. 

The stereotypical non-diegetic instrumental music that we used, ‘G321 - Thriller Opening Music’, acted as a direct contrast our other track. This conventional piece of thriller music had a high pitch, in order to make the audience uncomfortable, and to make them feel a sense of anxiety and suspense, as we only played this track accompanied by shots related to Jazz’s death. This highlighted a connection to danger whenever the audience heard the piece and would make them anticipate something bad would happen, or be shown on screen. As was highlighted by Hannah when we chose the two tracks, the contrast between them reflects the contrast between life and death, due to the change in tempo and pitch. Despite the first track being about jealousy, the music that accompanies the lyrics is upbeat and full of life. The other track is a total antithesis to this, as it is lifeless and haunting. 

Evaluation: Question 4

During my research at the begging of the project, I carried out a survey using Survey Monkey, in order to help me decide what the target audience of my piece would be. When my group came together, we compared all of our questionnaire results and found that we all had quite similar results. It was through this, that we were easily able to decide what our target audience for our piece would be. 

When enquiring about gender, my results were equal with male and female both totalling 50%. This was also similar to the results of the other members of my group. It was for this reason that we decided that the target audience would be equally both males and females. We featured both male and female characters in an attempt to make sure that our target audience were able to relate to at least one of the characters in the film.

When enquiring about age, my results indicated that the majority of people surveyed were in the 16 to 19 year old age bracket. Again, this result was the same as the other members of my group, so we decided that this age bracket would be our target age bracket. We catered for this by including characters of this age bracket, so that our audience would be able to relate to them more, and that they would understand the time of life that they are in. Additionally, it helped that our film was acted by members of our group, as we all fit the 16 to 19 year old age bracket. 

In my survey, when I asked ‘What is your preferred Thriller sub-genre?’, I found that the people I surveyed preferred crime thrillers more than any others. It was for this reason that we made our thriller film a crime thriller, as we felt that it would mean that it would appeal to the larger majority of people. The crime aspect of our thriller is obviously projected by Jazz’s murder. Also, when speaking to people in our year at school, we found that the majority of them also preferred to watch crime thrillers. 

Finally, in my survey, I found that the thriller narrative that people preferred was murder, closely followed my romantic triangles. For this reason, we included both murder and romantic triangles in the narrative of our thriller. These are represented by, of course, Jazz’s murder, and by the romantic triangle between our three characters, which is the spark of the whole situation. We were surprised that romantic triangles were so popular, however, after to speaking to our peers, we found that actually it was a narrative that people thoroughly enjoyed watching. An example of a popular thriller film that features a romantic triangle is ‘Safe Haven’. 

Evaluation: Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Production

As a group, we decided that we would like our film to be produced by Film 4 Productions. In the past, Film 4 have developed and co-financed many very successful films, including a few Academy Award winning ones, such as Slumdog Millionaire. Film 4 Productions have been responsible for the production (or co-production) of a variety of thriller films including: 'Black Sea' (Adventure thriller), 'Dead Man's Shoes' (psychological thriller) , 'The Crying Game' (Political thriller). The company is currently in production of 'The Oath', which is a psychological thriller. Having produced not only a variety of thriller films, but also a variety of thriller sub-genres is a reason that we would choose Film 4 Productions to produce our crime thriller. Not only this, but 'The Crying Game' won a BAFTA, an Academy Award and had multiple Oscar nominations. This is proof that films produced/co-produced by Film 4 Productions, previously know as Channel 4 Films, are successful. This would give us hope that our film could end up as an award winning piece, if it were to be produced by this production company.

Film 4 Productions is a British film production company, which is an accessible company for us to aim to get our film produced by. As the budget for our film would not be particularly high, nor is it directed by anyone particularly famous, nor does it star any well-known actors, it would be unrealistic for it to be produced by one of the ‘Hollywood Big 6’ such as Universal or 20th Century Fox. Although this would be ideal, as it would mean our film would automatically gain a large audience due to the prestige of these production companies, and their large budgets for extravagant marketing campaigns, it is simply not realistic. Film 4, as a British, independent company, are known to deal with films that have a lower budget, and that are starring up and coming talent, yet they are also a successful production company. The multiple successful films they have produced, and their co-productions with some of the ‘Hollywood Big 6’, enticed us to choose Film 4, as opposed to any of the other British, independent production companies.

Distribution

Distribution is key to the success of the film as it heavily influences what audiences the film reaches. During the survey on the thriller genre that I conducted using SurveyMonkey, I included a question about the distribution of media products:

From the answer to this question, I could see that the most popular method of distribution for our target audience was the use of online streaming sites. This heavily influenced our decision on what the primary distribution methods of our film would be, as it made us aware of what was most popular within our target market. We also talked to our peers in school, as they fit the profile of our target audience, and they agreed that the method of distribution they prefer is the use of online streaming sites due to its convenience. Our target audience, 16 to 19 year olds, use the internet regularly, and therefore, this means that it is the best place to distribute our film. 

As mentioned in a previous post about the distribution of our film, we are interested in using hybrid distribution in order to distribute our film. This would mean that we would keep the rights to our film, and would be able to release our film on DVD and for digital download, but it would mean that we could use specialised distributors, such as Netflix, to distribute our film to a wider audience.

As our primary method of distribution, we would use online streaming sites such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. Netflix is one of the most successful online streaming platforms, and reaches an incredibly wide audience, due to its 93 million users worldwide. Not only is Netflix most popular with our target audience, but it is a platform that will allow our film to be seen by people that would not have otherwise viewed it. Many independent films, that are either British or European, have reached a greater level of success than expected due to their release on Netflix. We would hope that distributing our product on this streaming site would increase its chances of reaching a wider audience, and a greater success, than we suspected for it.

Marketing

Successful methods of marketing are key to the success of a media product reaches its target audience, and gaining views. During the survey on the thriller genre that I conducted using SurveyMonkey, I included a question about the marketing methods of media products:

From the answer to this question, I could see that the methods of marketing that my target audience most engaged with were social media platforms and the use of YouTube. It tells me that 16 to 19 year olds mostly find out about new films that are being released on social media, and by watching their trailers on YouTube. 

Luckily for us, we have found that our target market mostly engage with below the line marketing techniques. Due to us not having an extremely large budget, marketing techniques such as displaying our film trailer on TV, or having our film poster displayed on large billboards in cities, are simply unrealistic. To successfully market our piece, we will use below the line techniques, which will either be entirely free, or have very little cost.

With our target market heavily using social media, we would create accounts across most social media platforms in order to market our film. This would be costless for us, as making an account on social media is free, but it would be extremely helpful to us in reaching out target market. Following the example of Pitch Perfect 2, we could use Snapchat as a means to market the film during the process of its production, as this proved extremely successful for the film. It is unusual for companies to market their product until it is post-production, which is what makes that method attention grabbing and unique. 

The use of YouTube for film marketing is becoming incredibly popular, and incredibly successful. We have found that our target audience engage heavily with products that are marketed on YouTube, due to watching the trailer of the film on this platform. The trailer can be marketed on YouTube in two different ways; it can be uploaded onto a channel, or it can be used as a YouTube advert, which is placed before videos. Uploading it on a channel, means it can be linked to by social media platforms.Using it as a YouTube advert would cost considerably less than a TV advert would, and it would reach my target audience more successfully at the same time. In order for monetisation on YouTube videos, adverts are placed before them, and YouTube monetisation is how ever more popular ‘YouTubers’ earn their money. Watching ‘YouTubers’ is popular with the age range of our target audience, which means that it would be likely for them to see the trailers if they were used as an advert for monetisation on a popular YouTube channel. Additionally, using monetisation adverts to market our product could help it to reach people that it would not otherwise reach. There are such a large variety of people that use YouTube to watch various videos, and this means that if our trailer was used as an advert, it could be viewed by people that would not otherwise be aware of our film. This could help to increase the diversity of the audience of our film, and could possibly lead to an increased success of it, too.