Daniel Vidmar A2 media blog 2015: April 2015

In this question, I have been asked to show what I have learned from my audience feedback. This basically means that by looking at all the feedback that I/we have received during this course, how have I and the rest of the production company responded to every feedback in order to improve every piece work that I/we have produced.

To do this I have answered two different questions:

1. What were the different types of feedback that we collected?

In order to answer this part of the question, I will be looking at all the different methods that I/we have created

Picture-in-Picture Target Audience Response & Feedback Screencast

The is a screen-cast of our peers analysing and assessing our work that we have produced and by doing so, they'll give advice and constructive criticism so we can improve the work that we have produced. We used this method to receive feedback from the film idea, rough cut of short film, first print of the film review and the first print of the film poster.

Reliability

This feedback is shown to be reliable because all of the class members have had previous experience when producing a film (AS course) so they would understand if our work that we have produced is good or not. This would also mean that they will be able to ask relevant questions and are able to point out any major risks with the work. However, one of the risks that come with receiving feedback from the class is that they are also my friends, therefore they might not want to criticise our work as much because they might think it will hurt my feelings. That being said, they would also want for the production company and I to receive a high grade and in order to do this, their response must be as honest as possible therefore the class’s feedback can be seen as reliable.

Survey Monkey

Survey Monkey is an online software that allows the user to produce surveys so consumers can complete it. From this, the user is able to present their findings through tables and statistics. We used this method to receive feedback from my film idea, rough cut of short film, animatic and on the first print of the film poster.

Reliability

Using Survey Monkey can be seen as reliable because we don't know who is completing the survey which means they are more likely to give an unbiased response to the pieces of work that we have created. Another point is that we are able to receive feedback from consumers that are not near our location. This is because Survey Monkey is done online, so anyone who has access to the link of the survey will be able to complete it. However, this also creates a risk because we might receive feedback that is inappropriate as some consumers might not take the survey serious. We have prevented this issue by sending the links of the surveys to the consumers that are more likely to take it serious and complete the survey that would actually be helpful.

Commissioning Interview

The commissioning interview is basically when the production company meets with the commissioner (media teacher) to pitch a certain idea so they can get commissioned and continue to produce their idea. Throughout the pitch, the commissioner will constantly raise any enquires that they are concerned about and if we don’t answer appropriately, the film does not get commissioned. This type of feedback was used when pitching our short film idea to the distributors.

Reliability

This type of feedback is one of the most reliable methods in order to receive an honest response. The distributors want this film to be successful as they are also going to be benefited from it. This means that the distributors will be as honest as possible, as this will help us, the production company, achieve a high quality film and from that, more audience members are going to want to see it, which will result in the distributors making more money from it.

Questionnaire

Questionnaire is a written document that includes questions based on the product that we have created. The questionnaire will be completed by random consumers who have seen the product in question. This type of feedback was used for the rough cut of the short film and the first print of the film review.

Reliability

The questionnaire can be seen as reliable because those who answer the questions have just seen the product which means it will be fresh in their minds and more likely to remember what is included in the product. It is also reliable because they have the option to be anonymous so they are more likely to give an honest response if there names are not known. However, one risk of using questionnaires is that they might give inappropriate answers because some of the responses can be made anonymous. We will prevent this by giving the questionnaires to people that we trust will give an honest and unbiased response.

Target Audience Interview

The target audience interview is when we, the production company, interview consumers who are part of our target audience and ask them questions about the product while recording it on a camera. This is so we can look back the videos to see what their opinions are for each product that we have produced. This type of feedback was used for the rough cut of the short film.

Reliability

This type of feedback can be seen as reliable because we have carefully chosen which consumers to interview as we personally know some of them so we know which ones are more likely to give a helpful and honest response. Another way that this type of feedback can be seen as reliable is because the audience have just seen the product that we have constructed, so they are more likely to remember what areas are included in the product than other types of feedback. The only risk in using this type of feedback is that the target audience member might feel a little nervous about answering questions as the production company will be there, as well as a video camera recording them. We will attempt to prevent this by asking each target audience member to be as honest and as calm as possible.

Actor Interview

The actor's interview is when we, the production company, interviews the actor in the media product about how we performed as a group and as individuals. From that, we are able to see if we, as a team, are effective in what we do and if we are capable of working in future projects. We used this type of feedback on the filming side to Life of Hermit.

Reliability

This type of feedback can be seen as reliable because the actor has spent the most time with us than anyone else so, the actor will be able to clearly identify how we work as a production team. However on the risks is that the production company will be there when interviewing the actor so he/she might be intimidated by us and could give a biased response. We will try to prevent this by asking the actor to be as honest as possible.

2. What was the feedback and how did we respond to it?

In this part of the question, I will be assessing on all the feedback that I and Laconic Productions have received during this course.

Here are all the questions that I will answering for each feedback made:

What is the importance on receiving that particular feedback?
What positive response was given during that feedback?
What negative response was given during that feedback?
How did I/we respond to that feedback?

Film Idea

Before starting production on the main task, we firstly had to think of a film idea for the short film. To do this, I had to pitch my film idea to the class, as they are seen as a film institution. We did this as it would become easier to choose the right short film when production teams are made and it will help identify areas of development with the film idea.

Picture-in-Picture Target Audience Response & Feedback Screencast

Here is the feedback from the class video:

What was the feedback?

The positive reception that was given with my film idea is that they believe the concept of the storyline was well thought out and that the locations needed for the film would be accessed easily. Another positive response from the class is that the shots that I would use in the short film are creative and clever such as the graphic match between each scene. However some of the negative reception that was given with my film idea is with the number of actors needed for the film because they believe that it would be difficult to manage the shooting schedule with a large cast as one member might not make it at that specific date so the shooting schedule would constantly need to be changed and this would be a time consuming process. Another response to my film idea is that they believe it would be difficult to film some of the shots as it would take a lot of time in order to create an efficient graphic match as the shots would have to be perfectly filmed or else the effect cannot be achieved. One more negative response is that it would be extremely difficult and time consuming to think of dance choreography for the main protagonist without it ruining the effect of the film to the audience because if the quality of the dancing isn't good then this would decrease the quality of film.

How did I respond to it?

After much consideration, I decided to drop my film idea because by looking at the class feedback, I have realised that my film idea would be extremely difficult to achieve as I have not thought of the dance choreography for the main protagonist and this would overall become extremely difficult and time consuming to accomplish the level of quality that I would want. I also think that the large cast would prevent productivity as it will be extremely difficult to manage the shooting schedule so it fits in for everyone else. By looking at the other film ideas by my peers, I believe that their concepts can be achieved much more easily than mine. I find it more efficient to work with someone else’s idea than my own as I’ll be able to identify the risks and find the solution to them with their idea whereas I’ll be blind with the faults in my film idea.

Once I received my feedback for my film idea, I was then placed into a production crew and from that, we were able to choose our short film idea and pitch it to the distributor.

Short Film Pitch

Once we were placed into production teams, we had to choose which short film idea we wanted to produce from each team member. We decided to use Tina Vidmar’s short film idea as everyone in the team preferred her idea and we all believe that we can successfully create a high quality short film with that idea. Our next step is to present our short film idea to the distributor because in the real world, we would need funding to a make a short film, so production companies usually receive that funding from the distributor. It is important to collect feedback from our short film because we would be able to identify any problems that the distributor has with the film and then have time to prevent the issue.

Commissioning Interview

Here is the commissioning interview for our short film idea:

What was the feedback?

Here is a list of all the positive reception that was given in this interview:

If everything that we want can be achieved during production, then results would be highly rewarding
All of the scenes that we have pitched are possible to achieve
The actors that we would be using in the film can actually act

However, while a few positive points were made, we received a lot of criticism with the film idea including:

The idea of the short film is perhaps too ambitious for a piece of coursework
Some of the settings that we want to use might not be easily available to us
The audience of the film might think the story is too complicated
It would be extremely difficult to show how time has changed between each scene
If one of the scenes doesn't look good in the end, then there is a risk that a lot marks will be lost

How did we respond to it?

Unfortunately, we were not prepared for the film pitch as the team was stuck on which of ours film ideas that we would want to continue with therefore we only had a rough idea of the film's narrative. As you can see above in the video, we were unprepared and unhappy with our film pitch so overall we believe that it is best that we do not carry on with this film and instead produce a completely new short film which would be easier, less time consuming and actually possible to make. As you can see in the video, we were not commissioned by Mr Hood and we actually expected it so we were relieved in a way as this film would take a lot of time to make and it would be very stressful.

After receiving the feedback, we begun to think of new ideas and after many hours of thinking, Life of Hermit is born. All we have to do is present our new film idea to the distributors and get commissioned so we can continue on with production.

2nd Commissioning Interview

Here is the second distribution interview for our short film, Life of Hermit:

What was the feedback?

Here is a list of the main positive reception that was given in this interview:

The storyline of the film is really good
The locations used in the film are easily accessible because most of the filming will be done at school or at one of our homes
The commissioner believes that we don't have to rely on the acting for each actor/actress because most of them will be wearing masks
The masks that we want to us really do portray different emotions so this will help us achieve on what we want to present
The costumes used in the film will also be easily accessible because the clothes are of stereotypical teenagers so this is something that we all have

However, as no film idea is perfect, we also received some negative feedback. Here is some of the main negative feedback that we received in the pitch:

The swimming pool scene has the potential to steam up the cameras
The exam board may not like it when people under 18 will be wearing swimming costumes as it can be seen as inappropriate
If everything that we say is going to be included into the film then there is a risk that it could go over 5 minutes
We don't have all the actors for the part yet

How did we respond to it?

We decided to go ahead with Life of Hermit as we are al passionate about this project because we believe that is something that we can achieve with high quality however, we do understand some of the risks that is given in the pitch. With the swimming pool scene, we can definitely see how it can be appropriate so we decided not to go ahead of this scene. We also decided not to go ahead of the capture the flag scene because it would extremely difficult to achieve especially as filming would take place in the winter. By dropping both of these scenes, it would also prevent the risk of going past the 5 minute limit and we were able focus more on achieving high quality shots with the other scenes.
Overall, we were very proud of the film idea and once we got commissioned, we was then able to continue on to production.

Animatic

Receiving feedback for the animatic is extremely important as it would be able to give an idea of whether or not the shots would look good in the actual film and without it being a biased opinion. If the animatic is well received then we would usually get full support in the film industry and it will give us confidence that we are on the right track. However, if the animatic is largely panned then we would have start the storyboard, script and film treatment again so the quality can be improved.

Survey Monkey

Here are all the feedback made from the Survey Monkey:

100% of the audience feedback likes the way the animatic is presented

Most of these comments praises the music, editing and the drawings.

100% of the audience feedback understands the story by watching the animatic.

Most of these comments praises the voice over as it makes the story more understandable.

Fortunately there was no negative response made from the survey, which means that we are on track to what we want to achieve. This would also increase motivation for us as we believe that so far, all of the work in producing the storyboard and script has paid off in the end.

Now that the animatic has been completed, were then able to actually start the filming process of Life of Hermit.

Production Interview with the Actor

In order to see how effective Laconic Productions is in working in a group, we decided to interview the lead actor of Life of Hermit to see what he thinks on how each member of the group worked like individually and as a team. This feedback is important to receive because it can give a good idea if we, Laconic Productions, are able to work together in the future or not.

Actor Interview

Here is the interview of the actor talking about the production company:

What was the feedback?

David Twohey (Hermit) believes that we worked efficiently together as we got everything we wanted to achieve on time and at ease. He also commented on everyone's performance individually. He states that I was in charge of the shots, Robbie was in charge of the mechanics of the shots and Tilly was more helpful of the direction of the filming. Overall the reception was positive.

How did I respond to it?

This isn't a feedback that we would respond to because it gives an evaluation of how we acted in the past however, by looking at what David says, we are confident that we are able to work well in the future on projects such as the film poster and the film review.

Rough Cut Feedback

This is one of most important parts to receive feedback for because this part of the course is worth 40 marks overall so if we don't achieve a high quality short film then it we will lose out on a lot marks. We decided to receive 4 different types of feedback, as this will ensure that we get an honest and unbiased response and that we will be able to use all of the information and apply to the final cut of Life of Hermit

Picture-in-Picture Target Audience Response & Feedback Screencast

Here is the class video response to the rough cut:

Here are the main positive responses that was made in the video:

The narrative really pushes the story forward and makes it easier to understand, especially the final scene
The soundtrack is really good and it plays really well in each scene
The repeated scenes actually look the same but without the emotions being there
There are moments in the film that are really well edited

Here are all the main negative response in the class videos and our response to them:

"When they are doing spin the bottle and the camera is going round are we suppose to see Dave's (Hermit) fingers going round and round quickly, because you can see its sped up. A bit jolt at times?"

We had a problem overall with that shot, we had to speed it up because it was too slow and time consuming, but we wanted it to hold on Hermit, but because we didn't have any footage of where it is held on him completely still we had to try and slow the clip down at the end. This caused some problem as Hermit's fingers were moving, so we added the clip over the top but didn't speed it up, but this shows a clear divide from the sped up clip to the slowed down. But we are now aware that we will be able to slow the clip down at the end instead of adding a clip and will be doing that.

"I think you need a more natural yawn at the start because it sounds a bit false."

We are either going to record the actor yawning, and over dub it with that. Or we may be taking out all the diegetic sound out as suggested later on in this video. We are going to experiment and then see what we prefer in the final cut editing process.

"The credits at the end maybe you should put the masks emotions and not just mask 1, 2, 3 etc."

We were originally going to do this, but we didn't have time to list the masks but in our final cut editing process we are going to be changing this.

"What is that random noise in the soundtrack?"

The sound is from the soundtrack, we tried to fade it out but you can still clearly hear this noise, so we are going to either shorten the music or try to fix it some other way but shortening other clips.

"You know the clicking when they're eating the popcorn, is that the popcorn?"

The noise you hear is from the cinema projector soundtrack because we didn't want the sound of the mask putting their hands in the popcorn. We will use a different part of the cinema projector soundtrack for this in order to change it.

"The crane shot at the end is really good, but it would be better if it finished when Dave is still in shot, or if he full leaves the shot."

We are thinking about re-filming this scene, but there may be some issues and we feel if we can't re film we will edit it the screen goes blank when Dave is completely out of shot.

"The volumes on some of the sounds need some changing,"

We are aware of the volume changes, either in the music or the narrative and will work on this during the final cut editing process.

Target Audience Interview

Here is the target audience interview for the rough cut:

What was the feedback?

The positive response that was made from our target audience is that the story was very creative and original with a deep meaning. This is something that we are very proud of because one of our purposes of making the film is to create something that is both original and entertaining. The most memorable moments of the film is the plot twist and the final scene with the monologue.

Whilst there was no negative response made from the target audience, they did give us some critique on how to make the film better. One of these critiques is that we need improve on some areas of the soundtrack as well as the scene in which the two Hermits are looking at each other as they believe it was poorly edited.

Questionnaire

Here is the feedback from the questionnaire:

What was the feedback?

One of the main positive receptions that was made during this feedback is that they enjoyed the plot twist of the film as well as the acting throughout it. They also think that the story was very creative, original and overall a great film to watch.

However they also made some negative responses, including the reveal scene as some of them believe that the editing was poorly done in that scene. Another response is that there were a few sound errors throughout the film, including some of the narration. One more response is that we should change the brightness of the final scene, as they think that it is too bright.

Survey Monkey

Here is the feedback made from the survey monkey:

This shows that everyone who completed this survey is in our target audience range.

This shows that the majority of our target audience really enjoyed Life of Hermit.

This shows that our target audience understands the plot of the short film.

While the majority liked most of the short film, some believe that the sounds were a little quite so it was difficult for them to understand the plot.

The majority of our target audience loved the style of the short film however one believes that the sound must improve.

One of the improvement that have been suggested is that Hermit should be more clear when narrating the film as this is mainly due to the low volume of the narration. Another suggestion is that the scene in which the two Hermits are facing each must be altered so they have the same height.

How did we respond to it?

By looking at all four of the different feedbacks that we have received, we have decided to main change five parts of the short film. These parts are:

The reveal scene
Credits
Spin the bottle shot
Sound errors
brightness in the final scene

1. The reveal scene - one of the main complaints of the short film is with the shot where the two Hermits are looking at each other because it was poorly edited. We decided to prevent this issue by re-filming the whole scene again in order to improve the quality and to prevent any continuity errors.

Here is us re-shooting one of the scenes for Life of Hermit.

2. Credits - one of the responses made from the rough cut is that we should alter the credits from 'masked friend 1' to the actual emotions that actors have played. We decided to do this in order to meet the needs of our audience.

The new credits for the short film

3. Spin the bottle shot - one of the complaints about this shot from the feedback is that they believe Hermit's fingers are moving too fast so in order to prevent this issue, we decided to change the speed of the shot, so it looks like his fingers are moving at a constant speed.

This is the how we altered the speed of the shot

4. Sound errors - this was another dominant complaint throughout the feedback as there were many moments of the film where the sound didn't sound right. This was the last alteration that we wanted to make because we wanted to take our time in order for this issue to be prevented.

This is how we altered the sounds for the final cut.

5. Brightness in the final scene - one more complaint that was made during the feedback was that the final scene was too bright so in order to solve this issue, we used colour correction on final cut pro so the brightness can be altered.

Rough Cut

Final Cut

Film Poster Feedback

Collecting feedback for the film poster is important because it will help us to identify on what alterations need to be made in order to create the film poster possible.

Picture-in-Picture Target Audience Response & Feedback Screencast

Here is the class video of response for the film poster:

What was the feedback?

Here is a list of the main positive reception that we was given in the class video:

The poster actually looks like a real film poster
The design layout is really good
The colours match with the themes of the movie
The mask has the right size
You are able to create an effective marketing campaign with the poster

Here is a list of the main negative reception that we was given in the class video:

The black band on the mask ruins the effect that we are trying to achieve
Some of the text sizes are too small
The colour of the credit block is too dark

Survey Monkey

Here is the feedback made from the Survey Monkey:

Everyone liked our poster and we got positive feedback from everyone about this.

We also got good feedback about the conventions and layout of our poster.

The main area of critic on this question is the size of the font, some people said it was okay but some had issues with the size of the font with the actors names, quotes, credit block and title. This is one of the main points we are going to make improvements on.

From this feedback, and improvements we are going to be removing the black bands on the side of the mask with the clone tool, we think this will have a bigger effect of 'what is that face' to the audience because it wont be obvious it is a mask. Also, we are changing the text sizes, so it will be easier for the audience to read and this was something that is brought up quite a lot. We will also be getting rid of some of the marks on the mask, but also leaving some to give it a more 'worn' look.

How did we respond to it?
By looking at the feedback, we have decided to alter four parts of the film poster, including:

The mask
Text
Credit block & website
Marketing Campaign

1. The mask - one of the main complaints about the mask is that the black band ruins the quality of the poster so decided to take the black bands away by using the clone stamp tool.

The mask, now edited without the black bands

2. Text - some of the feedback we received suggests that it is too difficult to see some of the text, including the tagline, cast and review so we decided to enlarge each of these elements to prevent the issue.

The text has now increased

3. Credit block & website - one of the suggestions that was made during the feedback is that the font credit block and website was too dark so we decided to prevent this issue by increasing the brightness of the colours.

The colours have now been brightened.

4. Marketing campaign - whilst this has nothing to do with the main poster, one of the suggestions that was made in the feedback was that we can create a really good marketing campaign with the other masks featured in the film. Fortunately, we had enough time to try creating a marketing campaign.

Here is one of the posters made for the marketing campaign.

The Result

Before Feedback:

After Feedback:

Film Review Feedback

Collecting feedback for the film review is important because it will help us to identify on what alterations need to be made in order to create the film review possible.

Picture-in-Picture Target Audience Response & Feedback Screencast

Here is the class video of the response to the film review:

What was the feedback?

Here is a list of all the main positive reception that was made in the class video:

It actually looks like a film review (aside lorem ipsum)
The image used doesn't create any spoilers
The caption, byline and drop text are well made
There are features on the page that differentiates yourself from other reviews

Here is a list of all the main negative reception that was made in the class video:

There is quite a lot of alignment issues
There isn't a pull quote, which is one of the conventions of a film review

Questionnaire

Here is the response made from the questionnaire:

This person likes the layout of the review and thinks that separating each section with symbols is a good idea. However his main criticism of the first print is the alignment issue with the page margins. This is something that we have noticed and we will attempt to the alignments in the review so the issue can be prevented.

The feedback above shows no complaints over the film review and believes that nothing needs improving however she did mention that there is a lot of text in the We have also realised this and we are thinking of adding a pull quote in the final print so the review looks more interesting.

The feedback above also likes the layout of the review and compares it with Empire magazine which what we were inspired from. She also likes the tagline under the title however she also criticises the alignment throughout the review so this is something that we definitely need to change for the final print.

The feedback above shows no complaints over the film review as she really likes the image and the title of the review. Finding the right image took a while for us so this is something that we really appreciate. She also likes the simplicity of the film review so we know that the layout doesn't detract anything from the reader.

The feedback above believes that the layout of the review is realistic and follows the connotations of a real film review. Another thing that has been well received from the feedback is the image as he believes it doesn't give any spoilers to Life of Hermit's plot. However, like the other questionnaires, he can also see some alignment issues that ruins the realness of the review which is something that we want to prevent.

How did we respond to it?
By looking at all of the feedback that we have received, we decided to alter four parts of the film review, including:

Pull Quote
Drop Text
Running Head
Alignment Issues

1. Pull Quote - one of the suggestions that was made during the feedback was that we should include a pull quote in the review as it would show that we have followed the conventions of a film review. We added a pull quote by including a quote about the final monologue of the film.

The pull quote used in the film review for Life of Hermit

2. Drop Text - whilst no one complained about the drop text, we believe that some of the audience will think the drop text is a subtitle, so we decided to bold the first sentence instead, as it will clearly show that it is the beginning of the review.

The new drop text

3. Running Head - one of the positive response that we got from the feedback was that we added small features to differentiate ourselves from other reviews. We wanted to continue this idea by improving the running head by adding a fold shape onto it.

The improved running head

4. Alignment Issues - this was one of the main complaints that we received during the feedback so we decided to tackle this issue last. In order to prevent this problem, we decided to use the ruler provided by the software and measure the distance between every section of the film review in order to have perfect alignment.

This is how we measured the alignments

The Result

Before Feedback:

After Feedback:

Daniel Vidmar A2 media blog 2015

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Monday, 6 April 2015

Evaluation Question 4 - How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Evaluation Question 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

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