Evaluation Question 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback? Film Poster

Here is the original film poster:

Here is the audience feedback that I received on the original film poster:

From my audience feedback I have learnt that the background of the poster needs to have lees on it because it takes the impact away from the rest of the poster. Also there were some complaints that people weren't able to see the characters face, however this is an element of the poster that I would keep because it adds a sense of obscurity  and mystery to the poster and the main character.

Here is the  film poster based on my audience feedback:

With the film poster above, I have taken the audience feedback into account. I have done this by creating a whole new poster all together, because I thought it would be easier to instigate the suggested changes:

• I have retaken the main image so that the shirt of the main character (Dr Jason Foster, as played by myself) doesn't go into the background, as this makes the main figure in the poster easier to see. Also the main image is of a better quality and therefore isn't blurred anymore.
• I have made the background simpler and tried to imitate splotches of blood with red dots around the main figure. I changed the background because, there were some complaints that the background took too much away from the main image and the text on the poster.
• I have included a range of texts with the only text that is the same being "Ripper's Replica" and "Coming Soon" as it was noticed that my text was too similar to each other and also by having three different fonts I am adhering to the rule of thirds.

However, after making the "Ripper's Replica" film poster that was created based on the audience feedback that I received, I decided to revert back to my original film poster.

Original Film Poster                        Film Poster that was influenced by my Audience Feedback

The reason that I have decided to ignore my audience feedback is because I believe that the original film poster portrays the genre more and includes more conventions and technical ability. This is because the original film poster doesn't abuse the the organised layout of the poster as it sticks to the Rule of Thirds. The original poster sticks to the Rule of thirds unlike the new poster because; the hash-tag, billing block, and the age rating are aligned into their respective thirds. This is unlike the new poster as the billing block takes up the whole of the bottom third of the poster cover. 

Furthermore, despite the audience being able to see the face of the sole figure on the poster I believe that the obscurity of the character in the poster adds a sense of mystery to the poster. This is because the character doesn't know who he is and has 'lost' his identity and thus by covering his face he is taking away any emotional connection with the audience with the removal of any means to identify him. However, I believe that this probably disadvantaged me in the audience feedback due to the lack of emotional connection between the main character and the audience, yet I also believe that it is vital for the story. This is a stark contrast to that of the new poster as in the new poster, even though the audience can make that connection with the main character the poster doesn't convey the story of the film in the way that it should. Also the picture on the original poster is blurred to a certain extent, as this was a feature that I wanted to add to the poster due to the character's blurred personality. But it looks scruffy according to my audience feedback and retook the picture and didn't blur it in the editing software. It works to an extent as the audience is able to see the main character, but to reiterate the point that it doesn't convey the story in the way that I wanted it to as the character doesn't know who he is anymore and therefore has a blurred sense of reality.

Additionally, the text that I've used on the original poster looks a lot more professional and genre specific then that of the new poster. This is because, the main font on the original poster looks like its drooping down with blood. This is important as the genre in psychological thriller and the main character's paranoia has turned him into a murderer obsessed with being the best. Also with the text on the original poster I have used a range of colours as well as fonts. The text on the original poster was credited by my audience feedback as being a highlight of my film poster, because it is clear and easy to read, yet keeping genre specific. This was one of my reasons for choosing the original poster as my main poster for my film Ripper's Replica.

Despite learning from my audience feedback and taking the advice into creating a new film poster I decided to keep with the original poster due to the uses of conventions and how it conveys the poster to the audience. This opposes the audience feedback that I received, but I believe that the way the poster uses and challenges conventions and the way it conveys the story over to the audience is vital for the promotion of my film through cross-media convergence.