Feedback Analysis

So I presented the idea below to my media group, and they responded with feedback towards my ideas via a feedback sheet that I created. I am going to analyse and act on this feedback to make my thriller the best that it can be.

My first question on my feedback sheet was “do you think that my film would work as a psychological thriller/horror hybrid and why?” all the people who answered this question said that yes, it would work well, but several different reasons were used. One person said that it would work because it fits the stereotypical storyline, and another said it would work because although it looked different to anything they’d seen before, it looked like it would work well. Another person said that it would work well because all my elements could contribute to the confusion created by the average thriller film, and several said that it would work well because it included lots of conventions used in these sorts of hybrids. Since all the feedback here was positive there is no need to alter the ideas I already have to make my film work as this particular hybrid.

My second question asked my group what my best idea was, and also asked if they had any ideas for me to improve it. Some of my ideas were presented by speech and were not on the pitch because I did not want my presentation to be like reading an essay off the board, so I will continue to explain my ideas as I go on.
Four people commented that my best idea was seeing the storyline from two aspects (common society's and my main characrer's).
For my film, I had an idea to at one point rotate the actual camera anti-clockwise to present the instability and confusion inside my main character's head, and one person commented that this was my best idea.
Two people commented that my idea of flashbacks was my best, because it would be 'scary'.
One of my ideas for the opening sequence was to use a canted angle when seeing the world from my main character's eyes to show his madness, and four people commented that this was my best idea.
One person particularly liked the idea that my main character was going to be presented as a social outcast.
I suggested in my pitch that I was hoping to create a sinister mood to help create anxiety, and one person described this idea as 'good'.
Another thing I suggested in my pitch was that I may use isolated locations in my movie to represent the isolated state of my main character's mind. Two people commented that they liked this.
My feedback shows that my most popular ideas were the use of seeing two sides of the storyline, and the use of the canted angle. Because of this I am definitely going to use them in my film.
Only two people suggested things to me for improvement, and one of these suggestions was to make my main character an old man because he would fit the mentally disturbed convention and also fit the socially outcasted convention. Although I like the reasons for this choice, I don't think I will use this age group for my main character because I want my character to be socially outcasted because of his mental state, not his age. I also want him to be younger and stronger as opposed to weak and frail as an old man may be, because I want my character to appear menacing by looks.
The other person's suggestion was to make the lighting black and white/washed out when we see the world from my main character's eyes. I really liked this idea, but I decided to build on it rather than to stick to it. I have decided to make the world appear grey and dull from common society's point of you, to represent that their state of mind is also dull and dreary. From my main character's view, the world will be bright and colourful and interesting, and this not only represents his difference in mind but it still adds to the sinister edge, because although things will appear happy there will still be disturbing things in view such as bodies or weird clowns? My feedback inspired this but it was also inspired by Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride, where the living world is contructed in dull colours in contrast to the bright colours of the underworld. I also decided that my first flashbacks can just be slightly bright, and get brighter and more colourful as they go along to show that the occurances in my main character's flashbacks are the things that made him this way.


The Corpse Bride's living world


The Corpse Bride's underworld


The next question on my sheet wondered what people thought was my worst idea, and I ask what I should do to improve it. Nine people left this section blank/commented that all of my ideas were good, whereas one person stated that it might be a bit too confusing to see the shots from his perspective. Due to a high percentage of my media group saying that this was my best idea, I'm not going to let this opinion affect my work apart from maybe putting more effort to make the difference between his and society's perspective bigger. Two people commented that unfortunately my ideas might not work because my overall idea was very similar to another girl's in the group. I know for a fact that my ideas were original and I know that this girl's ideas became similar to mine specifically after I told her what my film was about. This is an inconvenience but I will have to include more ideas to make my film dissimilar to anybody else's. 


My next question asked if my media group thought that my film matched my target audience (mid teens-mid twenties). Ten people answered 'yes', and some also commented on why. A couple of people mentioned that this age range would be able to relate to this film as this age group are most likely to include individuals who feel socially outcasted like my main character. One person commented that I should make the protagonist younger in order for the film to relate to my target audience. I do see their point but I think that I will keep my protagonist as an older man to seem more menacing. Another person commented that they think my target audience should be a bit older but did not offer any other comment so I cannot build on this idea well. 


My next question asked what my media group thought I could do to improve my plot and to make my film more effective. One person commented that my plot was a bit confusing, so I must work hard to make sure my narrative is clear in my production. Three people told me to use more specific events, and as I have progressed in my production I have included a lot more specific events because I agreed with these people. The same people also said that if I was able to pull off my ideas then my film would be very effective, so I need to put effort into making sure my ideas come across well and run smoothly. 
Another person commented that I could really make my main character go crazy and use really expressive moments to shock the audience. I like this idea but I don't think that I will use stereotypical anger to make him seem crazy, but rather his subtle actions so the audience know that he is thoroughly disturbed in everything he does.
One person left this section blank so I believe that they think my plot will be effective enough as it is. Other people also left comments like "don't change it, it's brilliant as it is". 
Another person told me to include 'gruesome murders' in my thriller, and I genuinely liked this idea. I have used it as my planning for my thriller went on. They also commented that my representations were already good but that I might want to add to them. I believe good representations are a good aspect of effective films so I will work on all of my character's representations through aspect such as mise-en-scene. 
Another person commented that I should use urban locations to emphasise the isolation of my main character's mind. I had already thought of this idea and the fact that somebody else backed it up made me more keen to use this idea in my production. 
One person advised me to make the difference between my main character's mental state and him just being plain nasty clear. I will definitely take this advice because otherwise it would defeat the idea of my film being a psychological thriller. 

I also asked people outside of my media group to give me feedback on my overall idea. Here is my questionnaire. I asked 20 people for their feedback and the charts show their answers. I based the questions on the feedback from my media group.

The majority of my feedback was positive so I am happy with these results :-)