Ancillary Product: Audience Feedback on Magazine Cover (2nd Draft)

After improving my magazine cover from the comments that I received after uploading it on Flickr, I then wanted to make sure that my next draft is definitely suitable and effective for my genre and target audience. Therefore, I have created a questionnaire that I can now ask people around my school, students aged 15-18, to fill in. I decided to ask a wide range of people in that age demographic, from different areas and social groups within my school, some who I may not necessarily be friends with so I can prevent any biased opinions. I also asked people who had previously given me feedback on my previous draft, as well as people who have not seen any other previous versions to further ensure that I have a wide range of feedback. Below are the results:

1. Does this magazine cover follow the conventions comparing it to other film magazine covers, such as Empire and Total Film?

YES: ||||| |||||
NO:

2. Does the focal image intrigue you and make you want to watch the film/read the magazine?

YES: ||||| ||
NO: |||

3. Is the cover eye catching?

YES: ||||| |||
NO: ||

4. Is it clear that the magazine is specifically a horror film magazine?

YES: ||||| |||||
NO:

5. Is all of the information featured on the magazine clear against the focal image?

YES: |||||
NO: |||||

6. Do you think the focal image effectively relates to our film's narrative and themes?

YES: ||||| ||||
NO: |

7. Is it clear that the film is a supernatural horror film?

YES: ||||| ||
NO: |||

8. Do you like the magazine cover?

YES: ||||| |||
NO: ||

I am fairly pleased with the results that I have collected based on my second draft magazine cover. It is clear from certain questions, 1, 4 and 6, that my magazine cover effectively resembles that of a real horror film publication, and that it represents the narrative of our film effectively through it's focal image. As the focal image is similar to a scene within the trailer in which Melissa and Josh are sat together on the sofa reassuring each other, I'm glad that our target audience picked up on this and felt that it was recognisable of Occupied and it's themes.

For question 3, it is clear that most of my target audience felt that my cover was eye catching, however, from looking at question 5 I can see that quite a few people felt that some of the information still got lost within the focal image, despite the efforts I made to make it stand out more. When asking about the response each audience member made for that question, many of them mentioned the magazine's logo and how they felt it should stand out more, similar to the feedback I have previously received. This means I am going to have to make further attempts at trying to make the logo and other information on the cover stand out.

For the other questions, the majority of my target audience voted yes and therefore I will take on board that my magazine cover is clearly for a supernatural horror film, that the focal image intrigues the reader and that many of my audience liked the overall product.