Rough Cut Questionnaire Audience Response

Rough Cut Questionnaire: Responses

In order to gain a better understanding of our potentional audience and to be given an early opportunity to make necessary changes, our group released an audience questionnaire with a link to the rough cut of our film on the social media network Facebook for people to answer at their own leisure. Upon sharing the questionnaire, our film was not fully completed, so critques about the lack of music and credits were expected but suggestions about how and when they could be incorporated and comments on the cinematography, editing and performance were valued by our group, as it meant that we could add to our film before our coursework deadline.

The first question that we sought to ask our potentional audience was if they enjoyed Aftermath. Of our eight responses, all of the people stated that they enjoyed the film fairly well, with the most percentage going to eight out of ten on the scale. Even though we are pleased that our film has been positively recieved, we wanted to know how we could make our film more entertaining, so we followed this question with ways that they could add their imput to the film's production, with open questions such as 'what do you think was successful about our film' and 'what suggestions could you make to improve it?'

87.5% of the people that watched our film understood it's plot and the twist that came at the end of the clip. Georgie's PTSD means that she can be prone to hallucinations which we attempted to represent through the inclusion of Charlotte's character. Although, we tried to make Charlotte's death subtle in order to capture the sensitive and heartfelt nature of Aftermath, due to the limited time that we had for the running time of the film, we had to make the ending of the film more of a revelation so that the message could be understood. Most of our responses said that they wish that Charlotte's status had been referenced earlier in the film so that the ending was more clear. This could be done through including more moments such as, Charlotte's sudden apperance in the kitchen, throuh the use of jump cuts in editing.

75% of the people that took part in our questionnaire were between the ages of 18-20 while 25% were between 15-17. This adheres to the 15 certificate that we have given our film and shows that it's plot is appealing and understandable to young adults. The majority of the audience agreed that our film should be a 15 certficate which shows that our film has successfully fit into the BBFC guidlines and would be suitable to show in cinemas with this rating. Although, our film was aimed to appeal to both a male and female audience, 75% of the responses were from females. This could possibly be because all of our cast was female which could possibly mean that it was less relatable towards a male audience.

The genre of our film was understood to be a War Drama which matches the one intended for Aftermath. This shows that our film has been successful in displaying the conventions of the genre, such as using the army jackets and the sound of gunshots in the opening scene, and thus suits the context of the film. Individuals generally expected to see our film in the cinema or through film festivals, which is what we too expected for our film, as War Dramas are a popular and successful genre but the low budget of our film would probably mean it would have to be an Independent project.

Because of the serious subject matter, the occasional use of profanity and the implication of violence, we believed that our film would generally appeal to a more mature audience. Looking at the research gathered from our questionnaire, we found that audiences thought our film would be mainly watched by teenagers and young adults. As a group, we wanted our film to be able to appeal to a wider demographic and so we chose to explore how PTSD can affect individuals day to day lives. This is a relevant subject for audiences as it can be the result of anyone who has gone through a traumatic expoerience. 

Throughout the film, Georgie displays feelings of frustration, anxiety and anger. Her difficulty in opening up to Charlotte about how the PTSD is affecting her life creates a very sombre and almost mournful tone to the film, which we needed to project through the use of similar music. Many people found that the music suited the film and that it went well alongside some of the film's more solemn scenes. However, some suggestions were made from audiences to remove the clock ticking from the counselling scene as it was distracting and made our actors difficult to hear. They also suggested reducing the volume or replacing the sound of ringing after the gun is fired in the flashback scene, as it dosen't quite fit the cut from the war scenes to the bedroom.

Finally, we inquired from audiences their thoughts about what was successful in our film and what scenes they felt could be improved or changed. Audiences complimented our filming techniques (particularly the use of camera angles and lighting), the storyline and the well placed fade at the end of the film. Nevertheless, they felt that there could have been more close ups included in our film in order to create more intimacy and that the scenes where our characters are walking from one place to another needed to be cut or reduced. Again, they felt that the film needed more music and that the volume could be highered in the counselling scene. We will work to make the neccessary changes appropriately.