EVALUATION: QUESTION 4

Who are your audience & what have you learned from your audience feedback? 

We intended for the audience to able to distinguish the genre of the production and become interested in the story-line by noticing techniques used in films of a similar genre. I believe that we portrayed this well as we used props such as black leather jackets and gloves appropriate to characters in Gangster/crime/thriller films, which was our genre. Audience feedback also reassured us that we had clearly established the genre and themes we were trying to portray when we asked for feedback. They replied with answers relating to crime thrillers and films such as ‘Snatch’ were referenced and compared to ours. We believe that if people notice that the film is of this nature and will fits the genre it will appeal to the audience and fans of action/crime films.

Our production used techniques such as fast paced editing and intense music with crescendos to help create this effect and atmosphere for the viewer, which is how we will make them interested in watching the whole film. If they are interested in the basics seen in the trailer, without even knowing the whole storyline we leave them intrigued at the possibilities and enigmas so they are likely to want to watch the whole film once it has been released. In creating connotations and using techniques associated with the genre of crime thriller such as fast paced editing and an almost predictable storyline, we believe we attracted an audience, which was our intended outcome. We then had other techniques to build on this such as the way we portrayed the storyline to make our film different and appealing in comparison to other crime thriller films.

We wanted to emphasise that our production was British and we wanted it to be as realistic for the audience as possible, so to do this we used a range of stylistic techniques. In terms of props, we used very typical gangster clothing such as leather jackets, but this was just to provide reassurance for the audience and make sure that something as simple as character clothing didn’t confuse them and allowed for a clear distinction between characters, but at the same time was a stylistic feature. We also used a very common car seen on British roads as a getaway car, which added to the feel of British-ness. English roads where also seen in the trailer which were a massive representation of Britain as you can see very British pavements and traffic lights in the background. We also used fast paced editing in post-production stages to add to the feel and tone, and complying to the characteristics of the crime thriller genre. We did this by using clips which where roughly a third of a second long and playing them after one another. It partially reveals the storyline and teases the audience in true trailer style. We also used actors who where of a relatively young age which added to the realism of the production, as most of our target audience were in this age range (Though this was a neceesity as much as a choice we made the best of it through our planning). This also made our production seem interesting as it provided an insight into a teenagers life and something that we can actually imagine happening to someone. The characters where also very British in the clothes they were wearing and their accents and dialogue.

We can apply the uses and gratification theory to our production as it gives the audience an insight to life of criminals and at the same time the possible insight into an average teenagers' life. It educates them without them having to be in that situation and the fact that our characters are representations of everyday people it makes the sense of learning from the viewing more realistic. It also applies to the uses and gratification theory as we know that the audience are not going to watch the film and then carry out similar actions as they are already going to be educated on social situations, this will primarily be seen as entertainment but may also broaden their understandingof what can happen in everyday life to anyone, in particular teenagers as it is representation of youth culture.. It also goes against the hypodermic syringe model as that would suggest we would watch the trailer and learn from it, i.e, learn how to kidnap a teenager and become a gangster which we know is very unlikely to happen.



This is a screenshot of our soundtrack online on the SoundCloud website. 


We used SoundCloud as a website to host and stream the audio file for our soundtrack. As the track was made public, it allowed for  members of the public to comment on the track telling us which bits where the best and how they suited the trailer, as well as giving us as a group constructive criticism. These are comments we received, mostly from people who have knowledge in producing music.

-“I'd say this track's pretty urban sounding to me!

-"Sparse drum hits give it the tension that you're trying to create and the release-heavy synths work really nicely in conjunction with that.”

-“It'd be better if it was slower, especially for a film, more hip hoppy”

-“I'd say that the kick drum could perhaps do with being tightened up a little. As in, reduce the amount of reverb that's on there and perhaps increase the amount of low end frequencies coming through, maybe if there's any sustain on the wave, it could do with being reduced a little”

As you can see we had mostly positive feedback and we had achieved what we aimed to do which was create the sense of a threatening urban environment with gritty sounds. We can also take the criticism on our side and use it to rework the soundtrack, after all the people who left these comments are our target audience, which was also helpful for us as we can tailor it more specifically for our demographic.



This is the Facebook fan page for "Higher" as it was being constructed. 



We also used 'FaceBook' which is one of the biggest social networking website online. We made a fan page for our production in which our video was accessible by people who liked the page and some people did. This page was then a platform for feedback and a platform for a fan-base. This was beneficial to us as we could get audience opinions and we can see what in particular our audience was interested in through what they liked whether it be a certain picture or screenshot of the production. The group also had a wall where fans could discuss the production and it was a community for people interested on our production. This also allowed us to connect with our audience and we could learn directly from them.