Hannah Cousins

8 Mar 2011

Our Friends In The North...

BBC produced 'Our Friends in the North' stars the likes of Daniel Craig and Christopher Ecclestone. It followed the lives of 4 people in Newcastle, through the 1960s - 1990s. It featured such events as The Minors' Strike, The Great Storm, political events and police corruption. It is commonly regarded as one of the greatest TV dramas of the 1990's. It was controversial because it featured story lines based on real political events and politicians.

The 160 cast and 3000 extras required £8million for the year's filming, so it was a massive investment for British film both in monitory value, and getting British film some credibility.

3 Mar 2011

Audience feedback...

With my original cut of 'Abduction', I screened it to people who I believe would be in my target audience - so people above the age of twelve, a mixture of males and females and also people who I knew specifically liked the thriller genre.

Some of the feedback was very positive which was good to know that I had addressed audience well.

However some people suggested improvements.

One suggested that the music track I had used in the background didn't have enough rhythmic movement, and so didn't really add suspense to the piece. Therefore because he was a frequent thriller watcher, I trusted his judgement because he is used to watching so many successful thrillers (which obviously I aspire mine to be like). So I went and found a new music track to use and with a faster tempo and more substance. And I have to say that I personally preferred the second track with the footage!

Also I had originally used some transitional effects (cross-dissolves) between the shots of the little girl playing on the park and the mother calling her name. Two people in the group had said that this lost pace and subsequently lost a little suspense. To change this, I took the effects out so they were just straight cuts between shots.

I played the piece again to my 'target group' and they all said they preferred it much more second time round. Some could tell that it was the music that had bettered the piece, others just thought the film as a whole ran at a better pace.

This to me just proves that audience feedback is so crucial when creating a film. If your film doesn't please your audience, then they won't go out and pay money to watch it - which is ultimately the aim. As a producer of film, you have to trust that your audience know what they like and if they don't like something about your piece, you'd rather they tell you in a focus group, than after the film has been mass produced and is having poor box office sales!