Final Evaluation Q3

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback has proved to be vital when it came to creating our entire coursework-from start to finish. I realized that when it comes to creating your own work, it tends to be hard at first to accept constructive criticism. However when you take a step back and look at your work from different points of view, it becomes easier to see the flaws and you begin to see the changes that could make your work that much better. The feedback we received goes all the way back to the very first pitch we ever created. This was a completely different story idea that we had but decided to go with a new direction due to too many complications and problems with the first treatment. Looking back now, it is so apparent that the first treatment was never going to be successful due to the massive amount of questions we received during the pitch- there were just too many holes! If it is too difficult to describe a story in one sentence it will probably be just as hard to describe the story in two paragraphs.
After the initial feedback we tried to recreate the story to be something possible to create, however due to all the negative feedback we decided to create an entirely new plot line. The story of Monster came after watching numerous short films on the BBC Film Network. However when the story came, it seemed so flowing and simple. This was reassured due to the excessive positive comments received after the pitch. The only negatives we received were how we would get a grown woman to play the part of the teacher, and how we would show the punch/hit of the dad towards the little girl. I believe these two problems were easily fixed with using a shadow scene with the hitting and using an older looking 6th form student for the part of the teacher. The positive feedback such as ‘keeping the girl sweet will allow for audience to relate to her better’ allowed us to exaggerate the positive parts of the film even more. A very positive feedback that we receive was that we were going to make this with ‘passion in our hearts’. Making a film with such a strong and emotional message will not be successful unless everyone involved is truly passionate and caring about the project.
The next big feedback we received was for our script. The main feedback that really affected us was that it did not have enough narration. And as this was a major part of our film we definitely listened to our classmates opinions and extended the narration as well as added a lot more stage directions. The feedback once again proved to be correct as when we finally got to the editing stage of the post-production, we need to add even more narration as the screen looked a bit empty with just the girls playing in the park without a voice over. (Once again proving how important feedback is!)
The storyboard was very important to have on hand while shooting, that is why the feedback we received for it while creating it helped us make it the best it could be. The main issue with our first storyboard was the missing of cut away shots. There was too much repetitiveness going on and unnecessary shots of the same things. When redrawing the storyboard, you can instantly see how much more interesting the story become when you add cutaway shots of reactions, other places, etc. Having the insight of a fresh mind and fresh ideas is vital when creating a work of art; otherwise the project will be so narrow minded and shallow.
We received much of our feedback throughout our ancillary texts stages. The poster was redone about a dozen times to adhere to the audience’s feedbacks. When starting out with the idea for the poster we were very passionate about having the fist in the layout. This seemed to be very appropriate due to the fact that the film was about child abuse. However we received feedback that it seemed too much like a boxing film and did not hold the true representations of the story. As we took this into consideration, it was decided to stray away from the first idea and begin a new poster involving the tree and the girls. This received more positive feedback such as “It holds a good representation of the film without giving too much away”. The poster campaigns all went through vigorous feedback sessions that would be altered after each one. Even minor details such as adding more leaves to the posters were considered. I believe this feedback helped us make the best of our poster. The main feedback we received for the film review page was that it looked very professional and fit the style of the magazine very well. The only alteration that they suggested was to make the “Total Film” icon in the top right hand corned bigger to take up the empty space. However we considered and we did not change this because that is just how it looked in the actual magazine.
I believe receiving lots of feedback during the preproduction stages was extremely important, because at this stage it is still not too late to change your ideas or even go to a completely different direction. (As we did) However the feedback we received during editing helped us so much in terms of solving issues that may have arisen or just help us get out of a rut if we had trouble being creative. All of the editing feedback (that is located on my blog) was all highly considered and alterations were made where necessary. Overall I believe evaluation has shaped the look of our entire film, from start to finish. Without people’s feedback we would probably have a horrible film about an old man on his deathbed!