Evaluation question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The gain of audience feedback is critical when creating successful media texts because it is crucial to get information of what your decoders want and what they can fully understand. My trailer and ancillary task changed a great amount through the audience feedback I received, this helped me grow as a media creator and improve my products to something more accepted by the public.

When pitching our film trailer we created a PowerPoint presentation to show in front of our media class for audience feedback on the plausibility of our trailer idea. After presenting the pitch we then chose a few individuals to give us feedback on it that we recorded for our blogs; the feedback we received was mixed between the positive and the negative, such comments like ‘a creative, entertaining idea’ and ‘too complex for a simple trailer’ were mixed together therefore our group had to decide whether or not to go through with our idea, we gave it the go ahead. Our second dose of audience feedback was received when we presented the first 30 seconds of our trailer, the feedback was very negative therefore we decided to change our overall concept, this truly showed me the importance of audience feedback.

My trailer concept changed to something more simple, a horror trailer based on a recently watched, inspirational ‘Youtube’ video series called ‘Marble Hornets’ and this received a better audience reception. By learning what people thought about this new idea we were able to develop our planning and create a piece of film worth watching that would be positively received by our target audience. I learnt that there wasn’t enough range in my camera angles and this helped me be more creative and be able to shoot scenes in more interesting, visually attractive ways. My audience feedback also told me that the protagonists weren’t clear therefore I learnt that I had to assign costumes and clear roles within the trailer for the understanding of the audience. Our second trailer concept got a better audience reception than our first one therefore through this we were learnt what we were doing right, therefore we were able to experiment and continue pushing boundaries as they were being accepted by our audience in the correct way. The audience feedback we received helped us greatly in choosing the right type of trailer that would be successful to present for a plausible film pitch, making our product more effective.

I got audience feedback for my two ancillary texts to make sure that they went with my trailer, genre and target audience. I posted my products up on ‘facebook’ the popular social networking sight and asked people who have my account to comment on my poster and magazine cover, I received many comments with information that truly helped me in my creation of the media products. For my magazine cover I received very positive feedback from my audience, they described my product as “Professional” and “true to its genre” through this I learnt that I used the right signs to signify the horror genre. The connotations given off by my magazine cover were described as successful because they gave of the feeling of horror therefore enhancing the audience’s understanding and the connection to its trailer. The audience feedback I received for my ancillary texts really taught me a lot on what I accepted by the audience and what isn’t, making my products more successful. My poster alongside my magazine cover received positive feedback but unlike my magazine cover it also received negative comments. One comment made by most audience members was the my poster did not really combine with my other two products, through this I learnt that my colours were too light and the theme was too cheery for the horrific feel I was trying to give off. Through this audience feedback I was able to change various things on my poster and make it more horrific for a better audience reception from my decoders.

Audience feedback is truly important as it taught me a lot on what things to do and what things not to do, the feedback I received truly helped me create 3 effective media products.