Question 3 - What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Feedback for overall film....

My first feedback video is taken by my Media Teacher, Mrs Rolfe. In the feedback she compliments various points in the film, but also gives constructive criticism. Mrs Rolfe has been a media teacher for 10 years so her understanding on the expectations for a short film is high. Mrs Rolfe also enjoys watching many films, and with a husband in the film industry she is forever analysing and giving feedback on films.With the points she made in mind, it is clear that she has an understanding of the expectations for a short film and how, if we were to re-shoot the footage, we could ultimately improve.

Mrs Rolfe commented on the problematic issue regarding the title of our short film, the issues she raised was a point we didn’t initially think of, nor did we think it concerned our production, but after hearing Mrs Rolfe’s verdict it has become clear to all of us that the name of our short film isn’t as affective as the whole project itself. Furthermore, she continued to compliment our jump cuts and how they conveyed Lucas’s anxiety. Mrs Rolfe also noticed the continuity issue of the difference in lighting from the outside compared to the inside. When editing we tried to alter this, but it wasn’t as successful as we would have ideally liked. However, the idea of using fades was to represent a different day. Mrs Rolfe wasn’t keen to compliment the use of these fades, but as a group we can easily justify our usage…. We decided that the fades were symbolic to a change in day and a digression in Lucas’ mental state and emotions. Interestingly Mrs Rolfe discovered a continuity issue we didn’t notice when editing, the calendar that is positioned in the kitchen appeared to be a huge distraction for Mrs Rolfe and ultimately could have the same affect on other viewers. The same problem has occurred from many when watching our short film and this is the identification of the “forgive” written on the leaflets that are on the floor. Our choice of leaflets wasn’t ideal as it became clear that not only Mrs Rolfe’s eyes, but others too, were drawn to the fact that the leaflets said “Blood Donor” instead of “forgive”. It would have been more benefital for us if the leaflets were simplistic and “forgive” was highlighted more obviously. To conclude, Mrs Rolfe complimented our ending and the use of music and the final shot for our short film. This was encouraging to hear as we were unsure whether the shot would work to its full capacity as the face of actor Kelly wasn’t seen. However, we were proved wrong and it was a success and was complimented fully!  

After hearing Mrs Rolfe’s feedback, I thought I would benefit more if I structured a selection of questions for my evaluation, allowing those I ask to elaborate in as much detail as possible. Furthermore, this encouraged different opinions and analytic responses to take place and be justified throughout.

The first response is taken from a regular short film viewer, Helen. Helen gave a very encouraging response to “Closer” and complimented it fully. Helen did however, comment on a continuity issue regarding the photographs Lucas’ looks at when standing at the table. Helen is correct in saying that it isn’t the same girl as used in the remainder of the footage and with this in mind I would ensure that if we were to re-film our short, we would make sure that the photograph would be exactly the same person as used throughout. The reasoning behind using a different girl is justified with the lack of rescores on the day of filming. This however resulted in weakening a shot in our film, causing audiences to potentially loose concentration at a vital time. Continuing, Helen overall compliments the use of music for our short film, but does comment on the limitations of dialogue from Lucas’ friend Graham. Saying this, as a production group we decided that less dialogue from the friend would be more affective and allow audiences to raise questions in their head. Even though Helen commented on this and raised it as an issue, my personal thought is that the lesser dialogue we have, the more affective the piece actually is. Similar to Mrs Rolfe comments, Helen parallels with her response and raises the confusion raised about the films title. It has now become clear that the title could be a possible problem for our film. We have now created various advertisement properties, but if we were to be given the chance to edit those and change our film through the use of titles, it has become clear that the title would need to be justified more through the plot or either be altered to something more specific and  appropriate.

My second feedback response comes from a student at Kings Langley School, Lauren Jade Ash. Lauren complimented our film, especially highlighting our choice in music. Lauren also highlighted the issue we already were aware of, being that the dialogue that takes place outside is noticeably quiet and difficult to hear in comparison to the remainder of the film.  Through editing there was no more we could do to manage the sound levels, but as a group we agreed if we were to be given the opportunity to film again we would ensure that the dialogue was a lot louder so it wasn’t so awkward for viewers.

Photograph of me geting feedback.

Feedback for postcard....

I decided that before I made my final decision on my post card design I would receive feedback on the designs I made templates. The feedback I received encouraged me to follow my initial idea of using the post card design where we use the fridge magnet letters to show the title of the film. Even though my feedback was a demonstrated two different opinions, I felt that the justification of the design where I including the fridge magnet letters was a lot stronger as apposed to the vodka bottle design template.







After taking all the feedback into consideration I created my post card, to ensure it was off good quality I asked a regular short film viewer their opinion on my post card as a whole and whether she thinks it includes enough information, whether it is visually satisfying and any other additional comments with regards to its conventions.



Feedback for Film Review....

After creating my film review I again received feedback on the effectiveness of my product as well as the overall style and layout.  I sent an email to a friend of mine who regularly reads "Sight and Sound" magazine. I was assured from her knowledge that she would have a good understanding of the specific conventions the magazine articles include.

Personally I would like to highlight that if I was to redo my film review, I would ensure I still followed the conventions of a “Sight and Sound” review, but would also improve my technical language and critical analysis of the film itself. Overall though, I am very satisfied with the layout of my review and am overall glad I chose that specific layout.