Audience Feedback

After we uploaded our rough cut to our blogger, we had to get audience feedback so we could redo certain parts of our opening thriller 'The Last Chapter' and make it to the highest possible standard. We did this by getting our class mates to watch our opening thriller and review it by writing down the strengths and weaknesses of it on a piece of paper which was in front of our computer screen. By getting both strengths and weaknesses we had an idea of the effective parts within it, which created tension by the music, camera angles and effects and also the unsuccessful parts which we had to re-think and re-do.

Strengths:
When we looked at our audience feedback we had a lot of positive comments from people.

• Everyone in our class said we had a good, clear narrative which was easy to follow. We also felt that it was clear and we were happy that other people were able to follow it easily and understand what was going off at each stage.
• Some people said that we had a good range/variety of different camera shots, angles and movements for example to match on action shot when the stalker/serial killer is walking through the gate. People said that it flowed well, and it showed a good editing ability.
• Our class mates also commented on the credits which we used, they said that it looked very effective by how we have done it. They said that it linked and tied into the narrative as the credits were done on a Polaroid picture which was tea stained to make it look more gritty and have a sense of decay which links in with our narrative as the victims are also dying and because we have used Polaroid picture within our opening of the victims. They also commented on the writing on the credits, being done in red blood which was slightly smudge, as the red stands out from the tea stained background, and also drawing the audience in due to the 'ken burns' crop effect which we used to make it zoom in.
• The clip of the serial killer studying and trying to find information about how to kill the victims was also a part of the narrative which people picked up on. They said it was very effective as we used a range of different shots such as a mid shot, close up of book, and also over the shoulder shot. They mentioned this bit as they said the props which we used were good. They said that the dark, low lighting was effective as we used the prop of a candle to light up the area which he was working on, and also the rope which gives you an inside of what he does when killing the victims.
• The final point people commented on was the burning the Polaroid picture scene. People in our class said this was a strong effective scene, which created tension as it drawed them in. They said the fade out which we used as the flame nearly ended was good as it ended the scene good and flowed on to the next scene. People said this was different and  unexpected and it was imaginary and that we should definitely keep this part.

Weaknesses:

When we looked at our audience feedback, we also had a couple of weaknesses.

• The first negative point which everyone commented on was the final scene where the victim was walking in the park. Everyone said we could of used more variety of different shots instead of just long shots which would have made it more effective. The victim looks around as she has a sense of someone following her, however the audience feedback said that the acting was quite poor, as the victim looks around and sees the serial killer walking from the first tree to the second tree, when the victim is not meant to see the killer at all. People have also commented on the wind in the background. They said that it was too loud and off putting, and it wasn't effective due to this and that we should re film it at night to make the serial killer seem more mysterious. 
• The next negative point which we had was about the credits. A couple of people said that  the credits looked to still and unrealistic and that we should do the credits by using the camera hand held. People said this would be effective as it would create confusion, and a distort effect.   
• Another negative we had was that when the killer walks through the gate on the match on action scene, it is done at night and then it suddenly changes to daylight which meant we have to re-film this as it looks unrealistic and not effective. 
• The last weakness which we got given was about the music. We got told that in certain places the non diagetic music was not in time with the filming, for example the music was meant to stop as the match got lit, however it stopped half way through the match scene. 

By getting audience feedback and reviewing what they have said, it will help us to achieve the best possible grade. We felt like the audience feedback was very reasonable and we agreed on everything which they commented on. We felt like the positive points which were commented on were done effectively and that we did not have to re-film them. However, the negative points will help us a lot as we now know what we have to do to improve on our opening as people have pointed out which parts did not work and was not effectively done, which helps us out as we now know what we have to re-film and what changes we do have to make to make them more successful in our final cut.