Rough cut footage - audience questionnaire & analysis

Analysis of rough cut audience questionnaire

When I showed the rough cut of my film to an audience, I questioned 'Was it clear that the man in the dressing gown will be the film's antagonist?' 80% of the audience voted for 'yes' and 20% voted for 'no'. The majority of the audience agreed that the addition of a red colour corrector to the scenes made it clear that he was the antagonist, whereas some of the audience believed that additional trailer conventions, such as voiceover, would help to explain that the man was the film's antagonist.

In addition, I asked the audience 'In the antagonist's scenes, do you think the red gradient tone should be changed?' 10% stated that 'the red should be lighter', 40% though 'no changes should be made' and 50% thought that 'the red should be darker.' Consequently, I will listen to the advice of my audience and make the gradient tone darker, although I will be careful not to make it too dark as this might upset the 40% who believed that the gradient tone should not be altered.

I questioned 'What is your opinion of the amount of transitions in the trailer?' to the audience of the rough cut. 10% replied that 'there should be 1-2 less', 10% replied 'there should be 1-2 more', 80% believed that 'no changed should be made' and 0% of the audience said that 'there should be 3 less' or 'there should be 3 more.' Most of the audience agreed that the number of transitions was effective as it allowed the camera position/angle to change enough times to be interesting and not annoying.

For the question 'Do you think that a voiceover would help to explain the film's narrative?' 100% of the audience replied 'yes' and 0% disagreed with the addition of a voiceover. Subsequently, I could combine this response with the first question and use a voiceover to help explain that the man in the dressing gown is the film's antagonist.

I asked the audience 'When do you think the trailer's titles should appear?' 20% said that the titles should appear 'before the scale-up effect starts' and 80% said 'during the scale-up effect.' The 'scale-up' effect is the animation that I used for the trailer titles and I wanted to know if the audience believed whether the titles should appear before or during the animation. The 80% who said that the titles should appear 'during the scale-up effect' noted that this would prevent the titles from being on the screen for too long.