EVALUATION QUESTION 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

GENRE:

It was stated by 60% of the research population that our film genre was most likely to be Film Noir which proves that our adherence to the genre was successful. This also highlights that our decision to include key features of the film noir genre, such as the Femme Fatale character, the bar setting, and the theme of alcoholism were clear enough to bring forward our intentions of the genre. We first intended to address our chosen genre by bringing forward the central themes of isolation, alongside the common portrayal of romance between the Femme Fatale and male protagonist. Since 32.14% stated that this film adhered to the Romantic Drama genre, we can argue that the key romantic relationship between the protagonists was also portrayed successfully. We first wanted to establish this relationship by making the feature of time slow down during the embrace scene; highlighting the strong bond between the two. The romantic genre was also adhered to through the close up of both characters, in order to bring forward the tension between the two.

These techniques were successful as the highest chosen response was in fact our chosen genre. This therefore concludes that we portrayed our chosen genre well, paying attention to the way in which the audience would portray our intentions, as well as interpreting the key themes correctly.

FILM INTEREST:

This was a successful question, as it directly enables us to see the popular interest the film would have. The vast majority of the researched audience (96.43%) stated that they would in fact go and see this film if it was to be released.

This pleasing result highlights that the film was successful in raising interest in the audience, due to the key adherence to the structure of a trailer , as we paid close attention to the tension reaching a climactic moment, as well as the subtle adherence to key themes.
This result also shows that the trailer was successful in using professional editing techniques, such as the layering of shots between John and Vera, during the bar scene. The sound was also key when adhering to the conventions of a trailer, as researched in Black Swan. The result of this questions highlights that the research into other film noirs was vital in successfully enabling us to use professional techniques for our own project.

Only 7.14% of the audience stated that they would not view this film, this is significantly outweighed by the 96.43% who stated that they would, therefore highlighting the particular marketing success of the film, as well as coherence to other Hollyowood products.

AGE DEMOGRAPHIC:
This was another successful question as we in fact chose the age demographic to be 15-20 year olds. This selection received the most responses, with 53.57% of respondents choosing it. This highlights that our intentions to appeal to a teenage, young adult audience was successful . We wanted to do this by including the theme of romance, alongside the use of upbeat, slightly heavy non diegetic music. This therefore adhered to the target audience and appealed to them due to the romantic themes, and use of soundtrack.

However this result was contradicted by the 14 respondents that answered 21-26 year olds. This answer may have been due to the themes of isolation, alcoholism, and the use of soundtrack to create tension and mystery. Our intention was to use sound in order to portray both romance and tension, thus explaining the very slight difference in response results. This could have been improved by making the romance between the protagonists more prominent, thus appealing to a slightly younger audience.

ADHERING TO TRAILER CONVENTIONS:

Our research into other films was particularly useful here as we were able to take concepts used in the professional industry, in order to create a successful trailer of our own, on a smaller scale. The responses here suggest that the research was key when making our own project. 96.43% of the respondents stated that the trailer did adhere to the necessary conventions. This alone suggests that our research into trailer products was vital, in order to create the right tones and atmosphere necessary for our narrative. The research into Todorovs Narrative Theory was also key here, as we were able to analyse the typical structure of a film, paying close attention to the simplistic nature of the equilibrium at the very beginning. We adhered to this through the slow, quiet soundtrack and the mid shot of the male sat alone in the bar. This then rose the disequilibrium shown at the very end, adhering to the conventions of a typical trailer.

Therefore, this question highlights that we successfully adhered to the brief of creating a trailer, whilst incorporating our own creative elements, such as the layering of shots, and slow motion effect.

CHARACTER MOTIVES:
This was a key element of the trailer, and therefore the feedback of this aspect was also important. We as a group, found it particularly hard to portray the mystery, and illusion surrounding the character of the female protagonist. We were first unsure how to portray this theme of illusion, however we then decided to create the layering of shots of the bar scene, as well as the flicker (rapid single shots) of Vera sat next to John. We decided that this would be the bets feature to suggest this characters illusory nature.

78.57% of responses stated that the illusion of Vera was clear, making our use of editing techniques successful. We were first unsure as to how the audience would interpret these attempts, however it is now clear that although 7 members contradicted this statement, our use of rapid jump cuts was vital when portraying this theme.

We could have improved this theme by including more jump cuts surrounding the character of Vera, however we did include the institutional information Reality and Illusion to bring forward this theme. Therefore although 25% respondents stated the answer no, our intention was clearly highlighted in the trailer through both text and visual imagery.

USE OF BLACK AND WHITE:

This response was extremely successful in reassuring our choice to convert the trailer to black and white. We had used this technique in our AS project, Edward in the barley scene, however that was only for a short amount of time. This year we advanced this technique and chose to include it throughout the entire duration of our trailer. Our intention here was to significantly adhere to a true film noir film, such as our researched Psycho. Not only did we believe that black and white fully adhered to the conventions of a film noir, but it also gave the trailer an element of sophistication and simplicity. 100% of the respondents stated that this conversion worked well, highlighting our correct choice. I believe that this conversion served to illustrate the genre more closely, as well as creating the mystery and tension needed to bring forward the themes of isolation and illusion.

This technique was used in Psycho due to the lack of colour used in the 1960s. This was a good film to research as we were able to see just how tension could be created even without the use of colour, as well the use of chiaroscuro lighting. We replicated this lighting at the end our trailer; the violence between the John and Vera.

POSTER:

This was another extremely successful response, this time focusing on the branding image of the poster. We created the poster in order to focus on the need for a cohesive branding image across all three products. The poster enabled us to use colour, as we chose to use warm tones in order to create the sense of familiarity with alcohol.

100% of respondents answered that the poster was successful in promoting the trailer. This is a vital response as it concludes that our choice to include warm tones worked well when foreboding the dependency of alcohol and the familiarity of the bar scene.

Our poster also needed to include the key elements, such as the website, Twitter/Facebook links, release dates, and all the necessary institutional information. We had never created a poster before, therefore the research into the part of the package was vital. Since 100% of the respondents answered that the poster promoted the film well, it can be concluded that our use of fonts, colours and photo worked well to link to both the trailer and the magazine. This would be vital when releasing a film, as researched with each of our film packages.

POSTER COLOURING:
The colours of the poster were chosen in order to represent the growing theme of dependency upon alcohol, as well as suggesting the warmth of the romance between the male and female. We chose the bright, yet comforting tones of yellow and orange, to compliment the brown of the bar setting, in which the photo was taken.

The vast majority of the respondents (96.43%) answered that the colours of the poster were successful in adhering to the film package as a whole. This highlights the clarity and understanding received when presenting the key themes. It also emphasises the complimenting nature of the font, with the rest of image. We chose the font to be a warm yellow colour, again to complement the brown of the background. The white also worked well in order to stand out against the dark, sinister background.

MAGAZINE:
As shown here, a vast majority of the research population stated that they would purchase this magazine. The magazine worked to complement both the trailer and poster, and enabled us to reflect on a sophisticated magazine brand, W. We researched this company as we felt that it would reflect the sophistication of our film noir genre well, as it is a prestigious brand. Since 74.07% stated that they would buy this product, it can be argued that our choice of female appearance, and use of glamorous colours fitted the branding image well.

Whilst creating this magazine poster, we paid close attention to the original cover of Mila Kunis, promoting Black Swan, another film noir film. This meant that we could take inspiration from their use of black, along with another brighter colour. We have reflected this in our combination of stark grey, and gold.

The popularity of the cover suggests that not only was the photo itself successful in presenting the lead female as a bright, natural actress, but it also connotes the sophistication of the brand, through our choice of sans serif font, and female targeted cover lines. These features enabled us to create an aesthetically appealing magazine cover.

FEMALE COVER:
This question aims to ensure that the audience accepts the link between the female branding image of W magazine, and our own interpretation. We ourselves, chose to feature our main female character Vera on the cover, in order to highlight the sophistication of W, and its female target audience. Had we chosen to feature the male actor of John, not only would the magazine choice be unsuitable, but it would not reflect the glamour of film noir.

It was stated by 71.43% of the respondents that we chose to feature the female, since W is a female targeted magazine. This is in fact the correct response, thus highlighting our particular focus on the glamorous choice of gold font, along with the natural, yet sophisticated appearance of the model herself. This result is pleasing, as we were initially unsure how the audience would respond to the reasoning behind our choice, however the 17.86% total for the last statement, emphasises our success. We knew that by featuring a female, we would be fitting the conventions of the brand itself, as well as her Femme Fatale character.