Presentation and Audience Feedback.

Presentation and Audience Feedback.

We created a pitch for our thriller opening sequence idea, and presented it to the rest of our class on Wednesday 23rd November. We created a questionnaire and handed out copies to each person for them to fill in whilst we were presenting our pitch. We brought all of the completed questionnaires together and have made a summary of everybody’s opinions. 

What did you think of our overall pitch?

People said that our pitch was good, clear and well detailed. Also mentioned was the strength of our pitch. They also thought that it was a good idea to use pictures on the presentation and to explain them verbally instead of reading from the text on the board as it allowed the audience to connect and feel more involved. However, they said that some points could have been clearer and some points and ideas better explained as sections were slightly confusing. Nonetheless, overall, our feedback for this question was positive.

What did you think was our best idea? Why?

The main answer to this question seemed to be the car crash for various reasons including ‘dramatic’, ‘realistic’ and ‘dynamic’. Next was the singling out of one person in a crowd – our audience said that this would be dramatic and effective if it was pulled off well. Camera shots including focus pull were also mentioned positively as this was said to effectively show emotion and isolation. They also seemed to like the idea of the sparkler burning down throughout the film. Some people liked the drug use as it allowed the audience to relate to the characters effectively and others mentioned the originality of the ideas themselves.

What did you think was our worst idea? How could we improve this idea?

The feedback seemed to suggest that the idea of graphic match through circles was our least effective idea as it was perhaps too complicated or irrelevant. However, on further explanation our audience seemed to like the idea and to understand the relevancy more. Other people said that the drugs made the events of the sequence too obvious and took the enigma –which is a key convention within the genre- away from it. Also mentioned as a weakness was the fact that our pitch didn’t mention a specific plot.

Did you think our ideas matched the genre? If yes, how? If no, why?

There was an obvious split in the answers to this question; however, the majority said yes. The reasoning for answering ‘yes’ was because it conformed to many conventions through different forms including psychological, flashbacks, memories, car crashes and audience relation through drugs. Those who answered no said that they could not see the connection with the ideas of childhood. Also stated was that they could not answer as they did not feel that the idea of circles had been given enough explanation for them to make a decision upon.

Was the sub-genre/hybrid clear?

Again, the answers were split; those who said yes mentioned conventions, psychology, and flashbacks. There were again also those who were unsure, and those who found that it wasn’t mentioned or was unclear.

Target Audience

Our questionnaire simply confirmed the fact that our target audience should be from the age of fifteen to the age of thirty.

At which stage of Todorov’s theory does our sequence come in?

Our questionnaire also confirmed that our opening sequence will come in at the second stage of Todorov’s theory; the disruption of equilibrium.