What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Paddy and I feel we had executed our ancillary and short film tasks as well as we had wanted, looking back at the end result. However we didn't receive enough feedback as we would like, constricting the variety of views on the texts and, perhaps, the amount that viewers thought should be improved upon. As I look back at this section of research, i feel that i should've been more persistent in gaining more feedback and hence aid the quality of my evaluation.


During the process of making our ancillary pieces, the development would be tracked by our onlooking tutors. Questions would be asked, such as "what components of your posters will magnify the story's style and meaning?". Receiving an outside viewpoint, especially during the editing process, really allowed us to judge our own pieces more efficiently and progressively sculpt the design to deliver the biggest effect, for example, rotating the film's title 90 degress to emphasise how 'atypical' the film is. With respect to our film review, it was recommended by a tutor to study other well-made film reviews such as can be found in 'Empire' and 'Total Film' etc. This influenced certain parts of the content we included, such as big punchy words and a star rating system.

It was far more difficult to receive regular feedback while editing the short film itself, as this process was carried out at home. My parents would have a look and make criticisms whenever they were available, but they didn't tend to pose very big questions, like a tutor would if i were at school. This left me relying more so on the feedback i would receive on our rough cut after a class viewing. This feedback was generally good, including comments such as "really like the story, didn't expect the twist at the end" and "good plot. Well edited.". But certain criticisms, such as "change in aspect ratio noticeable" and "certain shots at the beginning lasted too long" alerted me to clear areas of improvement. So i amended these faults and ultimately used these criticisms constructively to create the final cut.

The audio present in the film was a factor that both my fellow peers and tutors commended and criticised. A highlight of audio usage was, according to audience feedback, the council scene - sound layering was used to make certain key moments feel more natural e.g. The ruckus that occurs wasn't shot with every actor present at one time, but instead moulded from a collection of clips of individual actors. But certain views implied room for improvement e.g. Sound levels within the piece weren't quite as natural as they could've been. I realised that i had purposefully edited audio levels to make actors with quieter voices sound more profound. If i were to execute this task again, i would take more care within the production stage of the film, thinking more of how it will affect post-production.


Another criticism which not only became apparent about my piece, but among many others in the class was that of the picture quality. Due to not testing which output format the camera would produce for the film clips, i found myself trying to contend with a very pesky MTS. format. This simply wouldn't work in conjunction with any of my editing software, and so a file conversion application was used in attempt to salvage the situation. In using a .mov file format (appropriate out of limited selection), i found that the picture came out very pixelated and grainy. If i were to repeat the task, i would either find a way to change the output format on the camera or access a more user-friendly conversion application.


Overall, audience feedback has paid a huge influence on my creative decisions. I am very thankful for all the criticisms i had received as it could only be used constructively, and ultimately contribute towards the improvement of my work.