Question Three

Q3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback is crucial to the post production stages of a film as it gives us their opinion of the film and indicates the changes we need to make according to their expectations of the British Crime Comedy genre. As a group we collected and noted feedback at different stages of production from story ideas to editing.

Our initial story idea was one based upon domestic abuse and neglect told in silence in an animated comic style. Once pitched to a group, they came back and said that the story was not interesting enough, was very gloomy and did not have a creative USP they felt we were able to achieve as they expected that our group could create a product that was exciting and something that audiences have not seen previously. From this feedback we learned that just because the film had to be silent does not mean that it had to be gloomy and dark. We also realised that we had to make that transition and progress from our AS to A2 production, by increasing in entertainment and technical value. So we developed and explored the silent aspect and previous films from the pre-‘talkies’ period and came across classic 1920s slapstick comedy. As a solution we regrouped and came up with better ideas on being a thriller based on obsession and lust, yet it was still to dark. Then after our research and thinking about my favourite films and genre, I pitched the idea of Heist to the group.

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Subsequently, we expanded on the idea, giving it the slapstick edge and once ready, pitched the idea, treatment and first script draft to classmates and teacher. From their feedback we knew we had landed on a good idea that was both believable and doable with the equipment and locations we had. Others commented on the fact that it was a ‘well liked genre that have not been done for a while’ yet it was felt that we had ‘lost sight of the slapstick edge’, so they suggested a few classic elements like the flick of the eye and more comical sound effects to regain it. The final amendments made to the script was to change a comical prostitution scene to the blind man scheme, swap the punch my a customer at the door during the cookie scene to a flick by Frank, as it would be more effectient to film, and we also decided on the sound effects to be used throughout each scene. The next thing changed was the name. The comments on the name Heist was largely positive saying was as fast paced and slick, yet our film weren’t as slick and it did not have a lot to do with our film. From that feedback Esther came up with the name Switch as it connects with the switching on of the light bulbs, suitcases and Frank and Charlie switching their dingy clothes for slick suits. Once agreed we proceed with the production of SWITCH!

Moreover, from previous experience during the production stages of Silent Play, my year 12 production, I had learned that time management was crucial in maintaining a successful shoot and keeps us on schedule. So we made sure we knew when and where we would be for each shot.

Finally once production was over we made sure we got a lot of feedback from many people. We noted points of feedback from other students to make sure the story was clear after editing. The technical issues were majorly to do with editing cuts, sound bridges and using a variety of shots. Firstly, as our film was too large so we had to cut down time and from the comments on our editing cuts we learned that we had to cut a point where all the information that the audiences needed had been shown. For example, to show that the duo were following the bodyguard we did not have to show the whole clip as after 2-3 seconds, the audience would gather what was going on and so we could cut to next shot, shaving down 3 seconds at a time which did mount up to a lot and we manage to successfully cut down 5 minutes. Second technical feedback I learned from were the sound bridges, we realised from the feedback that the music does not connect the scenes smoothly so we extended their length and faded the soundtracks into next scene. This could be heard on the ‘idea two’ scene where Frank gets his idea for the ‘Blindman’ scheme idea and a reggae soundtrack begins and continues through the Day2 caption and into the outside Blindman scene then fades slowly once the new music comes in.

The final technical feedback was about using extra shots. I learned that having a variation of shots for one scene can make it more interesting for the audience and so we had to digitise more rushes from our tapes to show more angles. An example would be the small scene after Frank and Charlie failed at selling cookies, we originally had one shot of them walking down the road, but on set we decided to shot from two different angles, one static and one panning shot) which gave us more angles.

However when it came to editing the second side angle shot didn’t look right so we cut it, but we later found a section that was usable and so we put it on the timeline and it made the scene more interesting to watch instead of a static shot.

Once the technical side was sorted it came down to getting feedback on the actual story line, as since we produced the film we know the story and the significance of certain objects but we needed fresh eyes. So we had year 9 students watch the film and it turned out that not all was clear as initially thought. They did not understand the ending of the film and why the duo were running with the briefcase. I realised that it was the fact that the money was obscured by the black and white effect on the shot. As the briefcase was only shown open for a few seconds we realised we had to make it obvious that it was money so the effect was taken off showing the colour of the money and the cliché red bank holding each wad of money together. This proved successful as the story became much clearer to our final audience who all laughed at the right parts and understood the storyline whilst simply enjoying the film. Thus proving we learned and improved from feedback making SWITCH a good media production.

Once our film was finished we were able to create our ancillary tasks. The first produced was my film review that I had written to be placed into Total Film magazine because of its entertaining and informative writing style which I tried to replicate. One written, I collected feedback for it and was told that it was very good, witty and that they enjoyed the fact that I had mentioned other films that linked to Switch. The feedback I received for my layout was also positive as audiences mentioned that it belonged within that magazine and I had captured the house style well.
My original poster ideas on the other hand were not as well received as many said that they were too busy and they could work out what the film was about. This feedback then led me to look back on my research and get simpler ideas or designs. That was when I found extra posters for Reservoir Dogs. Their poster campaign was similar to the idea that I had in mind, with the use of minimalist colours of black and white and silhouettes they were able to create a slick and sharp poster, that clear gave the audience an indication of what their film was about. Therefore, I started afresh and began creating simple poster that used minimal colour by only using black white and silver, however I wanted there to be glimpses of red as it is see on the titles of the film.