Audience feedback is a huge concept throughout the whole of A2 and AS. It allows us to have other peoples views about our products, and enables us to find out where we went wrong, and what we can improve, as well as the positive aspects we followed.
Synchronicity (short film) feedback
Below, you will find short clips of feedback from our peers in class. We had a viewing session in class, where we would take notes and note down what we thought about each others films, classifying what we thought was good and bad. After we had watched all of them, we needed to go away and get feedback (positive and negative) from the students in our class. We recorded this feedback on a piece of new technology called the mini flip video camera.
The feedback given by my peers was extremely helpful. We needed to keep in mind that is was a helpful took if they were critical, and they could pick up on things we could have done better, as a whole group. We asked a series of questions to our classmates, which we then could evaluate and put into context what we could have done better. A clear weakness was the actors, one peer stated that the actors went off script, and kept on looking at the camera. Thinking about if we had another chance to produce the film, we could have improved on this by running trials for cast, meaning that many people could come and try out for the positions of the different characters, where we could film them, and later decide which group of people would be best suited to the characters roles, and fit the storyline.
Another factor i learned from this peer feedback was the length of time Isabel was playing for her train set. One student said they thought the shot was far too long, and now looking back i realised it could be partly boring for the audience to watch, when they could be following the storyline better with an extra shot. This response lead us to think that we could have applied a variation of shots to show how lonely Isabel is, rather then producing one shot that went on for over 10 seconds.
However, despite many of these downfalls to the film, there were many positives that our peers could pick out. From the feedback given, many of the students related back to the camera work. The camera operator (Tim White) was a noticeable strong point to our film. His shots and framing were a huge positive according to many of the students we interviewed. Another positive factor that came out of this feedback was the music. One student stated that the music added to the overall theme of the film, and they enjoyed the way the titles came up with the beat of the music.
Overall, if i had the chance to do this project again, i would defiantly choose more experienced actors to play the roles of the mother and the father. Or failing that, have a series on run trough's so they are better scripted with their lines. Also i would change the shot where Isabel is playing with her train set, and make it much shorter, or add another shot in place which would make up for the length of the shot, and give the audience more of an interesting outlook of the film.
Teacher feedback on Synchronicity.
It was important that we got feedback from another source, a teacher. Mrs Wright agreed to watch our film, and give feedback. We asked a series of different questions about the film to get in depth knowledge of what she thought, and how we could have improved. She stated many positives about the film which is good.
One of the things i now realise we could have developed on was the ending. She thought that if the audience needed to know more about the character and the parents, we needed to get a sense of panic at the end, as we lacked in this, the audience may not have understood the storyline as much as we hoped.
A number of things i would have changed if we were to do this film again are listed above. However, something new came out of this teacher feedback. None of the students had commented on the ending, which is a positive outcome as we can notice what we could have done to improve. I would change the ending to a more dramatic piece, however, as Mrs Wright Pointed out it is hard to develop many aspects in a short film.
Postcard Feedback
It was also important that we got evidence for our postcards. I asked a series of questions to a class mate that was in our class, he also had the experience of making short films and postcards, which is useful as his knowledge can inform me of my strengths and weaknesses. He claimed that i could have made more of a conventional back to the postcard. He stated that i could have used s clearer background, which gave me the idea that he thought my background was too child like, and did not fit the storyline.
Despite this negative aspect to my postcard, Liam had noticed a fair amount of positives to my postcard. I learned that i followed many conventions which is a good sign, and a reality check that i was strong to understand my conventions of a short film postcard. Other positives that came out of this feedback was the Image i had on the front of the postcard. It showed the main character and her facial expressions gave a hint to the storyline.
Film review feedback
It was also important that i got feedback on my film review as well as my post card. Liam agreed to give me feedback on both my film review and postcard. This feedback was important as i only had a limited amount of time to change anything before the deadline. From this feedback i learned that i needed to think and plan more about the film review, as it was so close to the deadline, i could have planned more out before instead of rushing into things. One criticism Liam gave me was the caption which i had placed on the Picture. He said he did not really understand why it was there, and it didn't give anything away about the film either, this lead me to think that It wouldn't grip readers into wanting to watch the film, as well as catching their eye. Another negative Liam pulled out was my Image. He thought that i should have used a better image which was direct from the film, not behind the scenes, as this does not make readers interested.
Despite these negatives, i had some positives to my film review. Liam said that i followed many conventions and he particularly liked the layout. I included other articles from film reviews, and my image was an appropriate size for a film review. I also used appropriate writing, making it bold and i added a Shadow effect to the writing, and being white it stood out, making it the first thing he looked at when he saw my film review.
Having taking all of this feedback into account, if i had the chance to do this project again, i would change the picture from an image which is from the film. I would also take some more time to think about my caption i put on the picture. Maybe doing some more research into the caption, rather then creating one straight from my head.
I have taken into account that all of the individuals i have used are from the school environment. They are not necessarily the direct target audience and they may have an interest in short films, if they came from a film background.
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