Media evaluation question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

When creating our media product we aimed to make a trailer, magazine, and poster, which adhered to our chosen genre of social realism. We looked our chosen demographic of 16-25 for feedback. In order to see whether succeeded we held a screening to exhibit all three products together, we invited fifteen fellow students however we found that this did not give us a wide enough response. Following this we decided the best way to gain a wide response was to conduct a survey on survey monkey. Fifty people participated in our survey and this is what we discovered from the responses the following:

` One of our aims was adhere to our chosen genre of social realism, after collecting the data we felt confident that we had succeeded to do so because 84% of people chose Social Realism as our genre. In our qualitative data it was evident that people recognized the social realism genre through the choice of setting, the use of everyday settings such as the park and the urban area. Additionally we conveyed the genre of social realism using the props such as the dog and costume of both of these were down to earth and were not ostentatious like many main stream Hollywood blockbusters therefore connoting social realism.

With regards to this question we gave our audience a choice of three answers Yes, No or Neither, because we felt that attention needed to be drawn to this theme however we recognized that some of our audience would be neutral towards the matter. The majority of 72% agreed that social disability was not portrayed negatively; we think that through the use of the narration we enabled the audience to create a relationship between our protagonist and audience. The narration gave the audience an insight into the character of Noah. We aimed to use our media product as a vehicle to create a connection to Noah to show social disability as something to accepted and that there is no such thing as normal. Through the results above I think it is apparent that we succeeded in our aim.

These answers were crucial to our understanding of our media product because all three of these themes are presented in our media product. Our focus when making our trailer was to represent the questioning of normality especially as our chosen demographic was 16-25, many of within this age bracket will have experienced conforming to pressure of normality, and what is deemed normal.

From this feedback, we are glad to know that our audience recognise our main aim but also the other themes such as friendship and social disability are also being recognized. In our qualitative feedback said that they could identify the questioning of normality through the definition of normal at the beginning, which established the tone of the trailer, accompanied by But what is 24 hours of being normal. After collecting this data we felt confident that we achieved our main aim.

A large majority of 92% agreed that the title was appropriate; this confirmed that our choice in our title was the right one because it directly correlated with the themes within our media product. We later asked people who said no why, many of them who said no didnt understand the relevancy of it, or were confused seeing as the main theme was normality but the title related mainly to social disability. Although this may not directly link we felt that all the themes were very closely intertwined therefore we stand by the choice of title because we feel that it is a rounded and truly represents what our media product aims to represent. We later asked people who said Yes why, many said that they thought it was relevant because of the autistic spectrum and felt that it was subtle but relevant in representing the themes.

It is apparent that we achieved our aim with reference to music with a majority of 92% agreeing in its relevancy and effectiveness. The audience said that they felt that the music complemented the trailer and amplified the themes when appropriate through the placement of ducking and the beat of the music. They felt the upbeat tempo at the beginning added a positive feel to the trailer but the segway into the new track emphasized the climax of the narrative and represented the genre of social realism. Additionally it aided the development of the protagonist and the themes through the volume changing at the significant moments.

An outstanding percentage of 98% said they wanted to see the film, when asked why the audience responded by saying that through the use of the trailer and the ancillary tasks they said that they felt an attachment with our protagonist through the personal nature of the voiceover. In addition, many said that the depth of narrative made them want to invest in the film and the themes that it represented. This proves that our purpose of intriguing the audience and creating a complex narrative, which was clear, has been achieved and that the audience can identify with the themes.

A majority of 93% agreed that the trailer was an appropriate length for a full trailer instead of a teaser trailer. When enquiring about the length with the recipients they said The trailer was long enough to include all the fundamental themes but it was not long-winded. When we reviewed our footage, we had a lot of choice concerning angles and different scenes so we wanted to include the whole scope but we did not want the elongation to take away from the key themes, therefore this feedback was vital for us and whether we had made the right choices.

A large percentage of 96% agreed that they felt the narrative was clear within the trailer. When enquiring to how the narrative communicated effectively they responded by saying through the use of sound bridges which correlated with the images on screen. We had researched in depth different trailers within the social realism genre and this was present in all of them therefore we used this as a mechanism to communicate our narrative. We were concerned that maybe at the beginning there maybe a bit of ambiguity about that narrative and the genre, however after this feedback it is apparent that we successfully depicted our narrative.

One focus that we felt was essential to our success was the three media products complementing one another, 84% of recipients agreed that they did complement one another this percentage was encouraging. Alternatively, 16% disagreed and said they did not think that all three products complement each other. When enquiring further we discovered that those said No didnt see many of the elements which are evident in the trailer and poster in the magazine such as the font of the colour scheme. Instead of making the magazine adhere to our themes and motifs we adhered to the usual conventions of Variety magazine because this is makes it look more realistic.

When asking how respondents felt the social realism genre was connoted, they said that the plain and the simplistic angle used throughout was a key signifier of the genre. Social realism recognizes real life and tries to present everyday events in a natural and accurate way. For example, with reference to the poster the plain white background suggested the bare nature of our media product and the motifs that it represented. Additionally, concerning the poster the brick background suggested the everyday setting, which is a key convention of the social realism genre. Through conducting this survey it has confirmed to us that we have achieved our fundamental aims which we set out do to.