Analysis of sample audience watching final product

                            


After producing my final product I recorded a small sample of my audience watching the product and then discussed the film and gained feedback from them. I asked the group to think aloud whilst watching my film so I can make critical observations of their reactions and interpretations of their opinions. 
They seemed to be amerced throughout the whole experience and a number of times they all expressed their fascination with the film through words such as 'oh wow' 'I like that'. 

As scene 3 progresses it is clear that one member of the audience is easily taken back by the establishing shot which shows the protagonist walking like a zombie. As the flash back scene appears, I can tell that the use of editing and adding filters was highly effective as the audience members say: 'that's good editing' and 'oh that's her before', as well as commenting on the visual effects and making their own interpretations of 'it's distorted' and 'it makes you feel so..' and as they agree with each other.

It can be argued that my audience form part of the 'preferred readers' group, the theory put forward by Hall, (however it became clear to me that they’re negotiated readers after obtaining their opinions when I asked whether they idenitifed well with the protagonist one meber said that they feel as though a boy would also do the same thing- be curious and look for his friend). One member says 'that must be symbolic or something, why would she take that' in reference to the teddy bear, the reason they form put of the preferred readers group is because my intention with the teddy bear is to show that the teddy is a representation of the protagonists past life- which is symbolic in understanding the past and present in the film. 

As the zombie scenes appear there is a gradual raise of eyebrows and withdrawal from the audience connoting that they are somewhat frightful by the location and mes en scen of the shot. All the audience members jumped a little a the scene where the protagonist is alone and a sudden whack on the face appears, the sound which becomes low and hollow followed by an abrupt and sharp movement was effective in making audiences engaged with the film. The comment of 'it's so dingy' and 'the darkness is really good' reassures me that the use of locaion and mes en scen worked effectively in portraying a horror style setting. 

The member who says 'oh' when she realises various aspects of the film she didn’t know before this signifies how she had a few unanswered questions that made sense as the scene with the scientists appears. This tells me that there was enigma built throughout the film and the questions are now answered as the film comes together during these scenes. One member says 'it' like she can't hear' when the protagonist is trying to wake up out of the conditioning this implies that the use of editing sounds creates a major effect on the way characters are portrayed in my film. 

Overall, through this ethnographic observation I found that there was positive feedback in both verbal and facial expressions in regards to my short film as the audience members said they enjoyed watching it and thought it was a well produced film.