Since the completion of our Horror teaser trailer, we have recieved feedback from not only our media class who has watched this and discussed it as a group but also our family and friends. There has been a critical analysis in class which we have talked about elements which we like and are effective as a horror text and those which are not successful as a horror text. Outside of college, each of us have shown our trailers to our family and friends to get their honest opinion. It has also been published on the website youtube for the general public to see and leave comments on.
The positives to our groups trailer 'Skin Deep' have definitely outruled the negatives however it is important to take them on board constructively because if we were real distributors then critics opinions would be valued so that we were able to change or improve our teaser trailers.
Positives +
Our classmates thought that our trailer has a good pace as it gets faster towards the end to build up the tension. They liked the elements of mise-en-scene such as the forest and tree location and the bloody hand. They thought that the close up's of faces and unexpected camera angles made it look disorientating as the angles constantly changed and differentiated throughout the trailer. It was mentioned that the beginning of the trailer is very professional-looking and continuity based as all of the shots link to tell the plot and are very detailed. We did spend a lot of time and effort making sure that there were no continuity errors and that all of our storyboard shots were stuck to. We also were told that all of the shots in our trailer link together well to convey the narrative very clearly and make the trailer look frightening as they are all related. The soundtrack also combines with this to build tension.
We were praised for the shot where the protagonist is running as the camera is handheld which gives a shaky feel and shows her point of view as she is running. It looks effective.
Although i was not keen on the intertitles of our teaser, people said that the way in which the second one grows makes it look like seeping blood. They also liked the way in which the sentence was seperated into two intertitles and clauses so that the phrase was not given away straight away. Our class picked up on the fact that Binary oppositions were present in our trailer and they liked the juxtaposition between desire and death (the model shots before death shots). The main thing which made a lot of the class jump is when out monster is first revealed. They liked the way that it was unexpecteded.
Negatives -
Our classmates thought that the use of the camera clicking during the model shots were too overused. They also did not like the sound effect of the 'booming' as the monster appears, as it too 'in your face' as described. It was mentioned that some people did not realise that the monster appeared in the mirror, and there was some confusion as to whether it was outside, on the windscreen or in the back of the car. Once confirmed that it was the mirror then people began to notice it more. People thought that the soundtrack begins to lose pace nearing the end of the trailer and doesn't fit in. This was the same with the closing eye at the very end of the trailer. Although i personally liked it and disagreed, people thought that it didn't make sense and didn't undersand what it meant. It was orginally added to show the fear in her eye and to close the trailer with questios, however this didn't seem to prove effective. A main problem that needed to be sorted, given the time was the films title. It was mentioned that it was too small and hard to read, not making it stand out any different to the intertitles. I agree with this as i do not like the font and it looks very weak.
Given more time, i would change the factors which did not suit the audiences taste's and keep those which were praised.
Overall, our teaser trailer has been successful as most of the target audience spoken to has liked the trailer, and said that it would be something that they would probably go and see at the cinema with their friends. Although not every single part of the film appealed to them, most of them really liked the plot. They also thought it looked easy to relate to as the characters are of a similar age to them, making it seem like it could happen to them. They thought that it would also be easy to recognise a following trailer for the film at a later point due to reocurring elements and that it would be something they'd look out for- taking notice of advertising to find the release date.
Begin by saying who your target audience was and how you researched them. Then explain how you got the feedback - was it ONLY through the class discussion or did you gather it from elsewhere too? Conclude with how effective your TA felt the product was - would they have gone to see the film, or wanted to know more about it and looked out for the main trailer, based on the teaser?
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