I gave 8 people questionnaire upon seeing my final piece, and I've looked through the results to see the general opinion of the short film, and see what I can draw on and use if I were to continue working on and improving it.
Are you:
Male – 4
Female – 4
I wanted to ask an equal amount of males and females, to determine whether either of them would favour the film and I would know whether I had inadvertently aimed it towards girls, which was a danger with the fairy logo of Fairytale films and the overall storyline of a lost doll.
What is your age?
Under 16 – 2
16-30 – 5
31-50 – 1
I tried to ask more of a range of ages so that the reaction was more varied, however as the majority of people who saw my film were my age 16-30 year-olds make up the majority of the audience. If I was going to redo this I would ask an equal amount of people from each age group, however the number of responses from each age group best represents my target audience of young adults.
Did you like ‘Missing’?
Yes – 8
No – 0
This presents an overall positive view of my short film, however some negative feedback may have been helpful in giving me points to improve on or little aspects which didn't fit. I feel a more honest response would have been given in a more anonymous setting when gaining feedback, for example, something simple like leaving the completed questionnaires in a pile or box instead of handing them back to me themselves.
Did you understand the storyline?
Yes – 8
No – 0
This, again, gives a positive outlook of my piece, as easy to understand even from the under sixteens (both aged 11) perspective.
Did you like the ending?
Yes – 8
No – 0
Other comments – make ending clear – show walking away with bag?
I found this particularly helpful, as the ending (as you will have seen in previous posts) took a lot to organise. The fact that people liked it was a relief, as I wasn't sure it would work as well as the original idea, and the small amount of feedback also helped, and gave me something to work on.
Did you think the film was a good length?
Yes - 7
Too short - 1
Too long – 0
Another thing I was concerned about was the length, as my piece is much shorter than most other short films used in research. The majority of the audience thought the film's length was okay, however one thought it was too short. I would agree with this feedback as whilst the length was good for the simplicity of the storyline, more could have been added to both increase the length and add to the storyline.
Have you watched short films before?
Yes – 4
No – 3
Don’t remember – 1
I wanted to know whether short films were new to my test audience, to see whether they had other short films to compare mine to. The majority had, which meant they weren't just evaluating something new and had some previous experience. This means the previous answers to questions are reliable, and not just guesses.
Any other comments?
“I would have like to have seen the film develop more over a longer period of screen time, but I liked it – some interesting camera angles/framing etc.”
This was good feedback, as the criticism allowed me to see why the short film would have worked longer. Had my original ending worked, I think the film would have lasted around 3 minutes, and so in this respect it worked better, however I think the storyline the finished piece ended with worked well with the overall simple storyline and style.
The comment on camera angles and framing showed that the way I had filmed some scenes fit together well and worked well with the overall piece.
The comment on camera angles and framing showed that the way I had filmed some scenes fit together well and worked well with the overall piece.
