Saving Grace Final Film

A2 Media Studies Final Short Film 

Saving Grace Official Film Poster.

Saving Grace

April 2017

Saving Grace Radio Trailer

Evaluation Question 1

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7V9hSwkgxvDMDhFTVpPQklpSmM/view?usp=sharing

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation question 3 from hannahpellegrin07

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation question 4 from hannahpellegrin07

Audience Feedback from Final Cut

Audience Feedback 

Throughout the process of production, we have asked our audience and target audience what they thought, recording their feedback and analysing it. We asked them a questionnaire pre production after being read the synopsis, we asked them a questionnaire after showing them a rough cut of the film, and this post is an analysis of the feedback from the audience after watching our finished short film, Saving Grace. 

We asked the audience questions not only about the film that they watched, however we asked them questions about themselves, this is in order for us to distinguish what an audience of different Ages, Genders and Occupations think about our film and their honest opinion of it as a whole. This would also tell us if our expected target audience had positive reactions to our film rather than the survey being completely anonymous. The survey was created on SurveyMonkey and shared on different types of social media as well as word of mouth, ensuring that the audience wasn't biased in any way in order for our results to be completely valid in terms of participants. The questions that were asked are as followed: 

This questionnaire was shown to people via social media and the audience, without being spoken to by one of the members of our group, filled in the questionnaire after watching the whole short film. The questionnaire includes questions with multi choice for quantitative information and comment boxes for qualitative information, this allows us to gain more information from the audience and allows us to analyse further what they believe about the film. We included simplistic questions such as "What rating would you give our film?" and also included more intricate questions such as "What was your favourite part of the film?" which requires the audience to think about the short film and what happened, which raises more awareness of the topic issue of dangerous drinking. 

Over the hours that we gave the audience to complete the questionnaire, we collected 32 samples of survey answers, with an audience of different ages, genders and occupations, this gave us a variety of different results. Due to the questionnaire being anonymous and the survey being posted on social media, we understood that not all answers are guaranteed to true or accurately present how they felt about the film, we recognised this within the results. The results were as followed. 

 The first question that we included in the questionnaire was "What is your age?". Our questionnaire is anonymous however we thought in order to gain an idea of our audience and what specific people thought we should ask the audience key factors such as age. Our film has a certificate of 12A, meaning nobody under the age of 12 should be viewing the film unless accompanied by an adult. Our film also had a target audience of people aged 15-25, as we assumed a younger audience would enjoy the film more, which was proven as the majority of the audience were aged 18-24, however we also had a varied audience of different ages.

 We also asked the audience about their gender, which wouldn't reveal too much about the audience however tells us wether our audience was predominantly male or female, when planning the audience research we said our film wouldn't be favourable over genders and didn't predict a larger audience of either gender, however it is evidenced that there is a much larger audience of the female gender, and a smaller audience of other genders. 

The final question which was personal to the audience asked them about their occupation, this could potentially tell us how much free time that person has, and could tell us wether they watch films often and if their opinions are from an experienced film watcher. We predicted that the majority of the audience would be students as our target audience was of ages 15-25 and a large amount of people this age are students. The questionnaire revealed to us that the majority of our audience and participants are in fact students, as we predicted.

After we had gathered general information about the audience, we decided to ask a simple question first of all to the audience and ask them if overall they understood the film. We decided to ask the audience this as our film isn't of linear structure, therefore some of our audience may be confused about what is happening in the film. The results displayed that the majority of the audience understood the film which is very positive feedback and tells us that our film was edited well and made easy to understand, for the majority of our audience. 

 In pre production of the film, we conducted research into genre and while writing the synopsis of the film we decided that our film was of the Thriller genre, and realised that it had aspects of a Drama. From the audience's feedback we found that the majority of the audience believed that the film was a Drama, and around 2/5 of the audience believed that the film was a Thriller, this told us that the codes and conventions that we included in our film were more suited to a Drama genre than a Thriller, for example setting and mood of the overall film.

We asked the audience if they overall enjoyed our short film, the majority of the audience said that they enjoyed it, however we had some of the audience saying they were unsure. We also had an audience member which said they didn't enjoy our film. Within the questionnaire we had inappropriate comments, which we understood might happen due to the questionnaire being posted for anonymous comments on social media, however we also took into consideration that there might be a reason for an audience member to genuinely dislike our short film.

We also asked the audience what they would rate our film out of five, similar to a star rating. A very large amount of the audience gave the film 5/5, and the majority of the audience gave a positive feedback number which we were pleased with, however there was an extraneous result of 1/5 which we questioned if this was a real result. However we looked further into the questionnaire to look for negative as well as positive feedback as we understood that the concept might not attract every single person in the audience.

After gaining some potential negative feedback we analysed a question which allowed the audience to give criticisms to us, the majority of our audience told us that there was nothing specific within the film they would change. However minor comments told us that we should've been more accurate within filming which was useful criticisms. We also gained feedback which told us the audience member didn't quite understand what was happening in the film as we didn't make it obvious, this criticism helped us thoroughly. 

Gaining negative feedback helped us understand why our audience might not have liked our short film, however asking the audience gave us a chance to understand what the positive comments were from the audience. The majority of the audience claimed that their favourite parts were "The nightclub scene"'s, and "The ending", which is where most of our editing and techniques were, which told us that our film displayed shots and different types of editing well, especially towards the end where the scenes begin getting increasingly intense and high energy.

The final question again asked the audience wether they understood the film, but also asked them if they understood the message of the film, this is in reference to our group wanting to raise awareness of safe drinking and the risks of drugs. The feedback told us that the majority of the audience understood what the film was about and the message that the film had with it. However it also told us that some of our audience didn't understand or so much, which made us understand that in order to get a message across to an audience we must be more straight forward with our storyline rather than being non linear.

After analysing the questionnaire results from the 32 audience members, we gathered that the majority of the audience enjoyed our film, understood it and had overall general positive feedback for our group. We gained feedback that told us that the way our short film was shot and edited was very good overall, also from the feedback we can assume that our film made an impact on the majority of the viewers and hopefully we raised awareness of the topic involved. 

Online Rough Cut Questionnaire.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/F3V79TX

Online Survey. 

This is an online questionnaire created in order for us to know what our demographic like/ dislike about our club scene example. This will enable us to make necessary adjustments to make our short film more appealing. 

Online Rough Cut Questionnaire analysis.

As a group we had hoped to get more responses with our online questionnaire, however we believed that after analysing the results we did not need to accumulate any more as we had a substantial amount of information about what individuals liked and disliked about our club scene example.

Firstly we asked our demographic "Within the club scene what did you particularly like?" From the results we received we found that 63% (7 people) liked the editing the most. Because of this, within the final editing of our final film we will use the same methods we used within the editing process for this extract. Along with this, 27% (3 people) said that they liked the lighting, luckily for us we already had a generous amount of shots of the lighting. This was helpful to us as we did not need to do any re-shoots. Sadly, 0% of people we asked liked the music used within the club scene example, from this we decided to change the music used in order to fit to the demographics preferences. Finally, one person said that they liked the shots, although this is only one persons personal opinion we understand that people who are not familiar with the subject do not know the correct terms for the shots used, due to this we eliminated this question and focused more upon the other responses.

After this we asked our demographic what they think we could change. These results enabled us to understand that in order to please our audience we need to focus on changing the music used, this is shown in the results as 5 people said they thought we should change the music. Aside from this, 3 people thought that we should change the lighting within our club scene, this result we discussed wether or not we should change the lighting however thought that it portrayed nightlife well and decided to keep it in our scenes. Finally due to the low number of people wishing we could change the editing and the shots, we decided that within the editing process we should only make subtle changes.

Because nightclubs tend to have upbeat music on, we felt it was necessary to include music within this aspect of the film. The only question was, should the shots be edited to the music. From our results we found that 10 people believed it should be, and we agree. Editing the scenes to the music will make the club scene more realistic. 

After this we asked the demographic "Should we add more music effects in the editing process?" From this survey 8 people said no. We believe this is because doing this will mean that too much is occurring at once within the scene, keeping it to a minimum will allow our audience to focus more on the drama occurring on screen. 

From the question below we understood that everyone whom watched the club scene extract liked the fast paced editing. Due to this we are going to keep it within the scenes occurring within the club.

Here below are our responses for the questions "What was your favourite part of the clip?" and "Why was this your favourite scene?" These responses allowed us to know what different individuals liked within our scenes and also what we should consider adding into the final editing process.

Finally we asked our demographic how long THEY thought we should have the scenes in the nightclub for. By asking this, we knew that 1 minute - 1 minute 30 seconds was the most popular. This could possibly be because the audience was getting bored after a long time or they were too anticipated to know what happens next.

As in all questionnaires, we asked if the respondents were male or female and which age group they sit in. This is done to see who our film will interest most.

Another Rough Cut of our Film

Another Rough Cut of our Film 

Editing process is underway. This is a rough cut of what our film will look like, minus a few shots. I hope for the final film to look better and achieve more of a 'film' look as i believe we have a high potential to create a good film. 
 

A Rough Cut of Our Film.

Radio Advertisement Idea.

Radio Advertisement Research.

Radio Advertisement Research

Radio ads are an effective, low-cost medium through which a business/company can reach a target consumer. Radio creates emotional reactions in listeners and therefore they seem to perceive the advert as more personal and relatable to them.

A successful radio ad can increase profit and popularity in whatever is being advertised if appropriate techniques have been carried out to ensure the radio ad is as marketable as possible. 

Some techniques included in a good radio advertisement:

1. Production value and voiceover talent 
Through data that has been collected it has been found that there has been an inverse relationship between production value and ad performance. Production must enhance believability and catch attention.


2. Originality

Having a creative approach towards the radio ad will increase the chances of the advert becoming popular and liked by listeners. Advertising the same type of product in the same ways as every other company will not offer anything different, therefore may not advertise as well.

3. Simplicity

Radio ads aren't long (most are under 60 seconds) so it is important that there isn't too much packed into the advertisement as this could overwhelm the audience.

4. The opening attention grabber

The first impression of a good radio ad must catch the readers attention - instead of tuning out they should want to listen until the end. If the audience's attention is not grabbed it risks their brain categorising the radio noise as something they've heard too many times before. Try and ensure the most impactful part of the ad is included early on, instead of halfway through.       

Poster Idea.

Thriller Film Poster Codes & Conventions - Taglines & Reviews

TAGLINES & REVIEWS

Most thriller posters have a tag line and at least one review featured on them. It is important that the best reviews are included, especially ones which come from popular companies that audiences will recognise as it increases the chance that they will watch the film if they notice a well-known company has left a positive review.

The tagline that features on the film poster indicates to the audience what the film may be about. It is important that the tag line makes an impact and resonates with the audience, for our short film ‘Saving Grace’ we used the tagline ‘have you ever woken up not knowing where you are?’. We chose this because our film is about a girl who has her drink spiked during a night out and then she is kidnapped. A rhetorical question is effective because it encourages the audience to think about their own experiences regarding safety and may influence them to go and see the film to find out what actually happens to Grace.

One film that used the same technique as us and included a rhetorical question as their tag line is The Last House On The Left (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EZyJxabVck)

Thriller Film Poster Codes & Conventions - Lighting

LIGHTING

Lighting used in thriller film posters is often low key lighting to create a mysterious and tense atmosphere as the audience will be not be able to fully understand who or what the danger is.

Not only does low key lighting provide the intended atmosphere, it also acts as a way to encourage the audience to see the film – if the poster has the ability to create mystery and suspense for the audience, it may influence them to go and watch the film to see if it is just as good.

The lighting offers characters a kind of cover between them and the audience. The full identity of the character cannot often be fully shown as it could risk the feelings of tension and suspense to dissipate which would be a let down to the audience.

An example of good lighting used in a film poster is Shutter Island (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iaYLCiq5RM) where Leonardo DiCaprio's character is featured on the front in low key lighting so only part of his face is revealed. 

Thriller Film Poster Codes & Conventions - Font/Text

FONT/TEXT

The fonts used are typically large and bold in order for the audience to clearly be able to read what it says.

The title is usually in capital letters and either in the colour red or white as the background of the poster for a thriller film is more often than not black.

Font styles can range from scratchy and thin to bold ‘in-your-face’ styles depending on the themes included in the film. Generally, if a thriller includes spirits, more specifically child-spirits, then the font will be thin and rough giving off the effect that the spirit has scratched the title out. However, if the film is centered more around gore and death the font is more likely to be big and bold (and probably red).

Examples to prove this can be taken from the poster advertising Orphan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ywOPNNii9w) and the poster advertising The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKqFfkassgo). The title ‘Orphan’ is in a scratchy style that looks like a child has scrawled it across the poster while the font used on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre poster is big, red and bold.

Thriller Film Poster Codes & Conventions - Picture

PICTURE

The poster can typically include either the two main characters of the film (often the antagonist and the protagonist) or just one of them. The picture of the character/s will be the main focus and will most likely take up the majority of the poster.

Sometimes the poster will also include a setting that is prominent in the film as a background. This gives the poster more depth and reveals a little bit more to the audience – a tactical way of increasing their curiosity.

Thriller film posters may often use a glowing light to brighten up a specific part of the character that is featured on the front. For example, it may be to highlight a face, or even a specific part of the face like an eye or a mouth. This can be seen in the film poster for Mirrors (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O92QxxgeCO8). The antagonist of the film, a demonic spirit, is featured on the front and takes up the majority of the space. Low key lighting is used and only one glow of light is included to highlight the spirit’s creepy wide eyes. 

Thriller Film Poster Codes & Conventions - Colour Schemes

COLOUR SCHEMES

Posters advertising films that are coming from the thriller genre often include dark colours such as black, white, red and blue.

This is because the dark colour scheme links in with the genre of the film. Including the colour black could represent mystery while the colour red could represent danger throughout the film.

Also, the main character of the film is often featured on the front of the poster. It is effective to have dark colours on the poster as the main character will most likely be the antagonist which is an individual who tends to be shrouded in mystery and give off a threatening vibe. As the poster is supposed to advertise the film and entice people to go and see it, it is essential that the audience are curious and intrigued by what is being shown on the poster.

An example of a successful thriller film poster that follows a typical dark colour scheme is the one that advertises the 2014 thriller-horror Annabelle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paFgQNPGlsg)