What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Evaluation Question 3

*Positive Comments

*“The trailer looked and felt very professional. The voiceover professionally set the scene for each character and it had a very Hot Fuzz-esque feel.”

*“The characters were constructed very well, and the introductions for each character quickly helped you to establish who they were. Each character had relatable elements about them for different people.”

*“The music has clearly been carefully selected. A good range of popular music; each appealing to a different audience. The music helped to add to the story behind each character and was cleverly fitted to the type of person they were.”

*The mise-en-scene was very creative, as I think I noticed some fake posters on the wall during one of the scenes mid-way through the trailer. The trailer reminded me of Shaun of the Dead and how you notice something new each time you watch it.”

*Constructive Criticism

*“The trailer overall was a bit long for a teaser trailer.”

*“The fight scenes dragged on a little towards the end. They could’ve been a bit more snappy.”

*“Perhaps a few comedy-punches would’ve suited the genre and added a little more comedy to the already funny trailer?”

*My response and assessment of feedback

I was very pleased with my audience feedback as it was mostly positive, and they managed to pick up on a few things that I worried were too subtle for a teaser trailer.

Firstly, the constructive criticism was very helpful, as I agree that the fight scenes could’ve been a bit more snappy. I wanted to include each fight scene that I had filmed on the day, as I was proud of how we had choreographed them, which in hindsight, may not have been the best decision, as I can see how having all the fight scenes in this teaser trailer could’ve caused it to drag on a little at the end. I could have either shortened each fight scene or even used a couple of jump-cuts in the fight scenes to make them more fast-paced or I could have cut out one of the fight scenes altogether to make the overall trailer flow better.

I agree that the overall length of the trailer is a bit long in comparison to the average teaser trailer. However, it isn’t necessarily too long, as the trailer that I based my structure on, ‘The World’s End’, was about 2 minutes 30 seconds long. ‘The World’s End’ teaser trailer structure greatly influenced mine – as there was: an introduction to give you some idea of the characters and story; a look into the characters’ versions of normality and everyday lives; a change to that normality, a problem arises; a possible solution arises, a quest for the characters; the struggle to find/get to the solution; and lastly, the audience are left with a question about the story.

I’m also glad that some of my audience picked up on my mise-en-scene; such as the ‘fake posters’ on the wall during the ‘lazing around’ scene. Inspired by the way Edgar Wright sneaks in foretelling things in his films as to what happens later on, I thought I’d slip in some foretelling mise-en-scene by creating fake posters that suggest what happens later in the film if you watch it – ‘Bitter Regret’, ‘Face-Off’, and ‘The Disloyal Hounds’. Also inspired by Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s films; I hoped to put in elements that you may not notice the first time you watch it, and it may take the second or third time or maybe more to notice. Specifically, I did this with sound editing; the song ‘What Doesn’t Kill You’ by Jake Bugg is playing prior to the ‘lazing around’ scene, and when it cuts to the trio on the sofa, I made the music sound as though it was playing through a radio. I also made my newsreader voice sound like it’s coming through the TV when he announces the end of beer. There are many more things I hid in my trailer, but another important sound-edit is during a fight with the Seekers, when Winston adjusts his tie; the song ‘Daddy Cool’ by Boney M briefly returns, before the music returns back to ‘Robot Rock’ by Daft Punk.