How did the interactive screening go and what was my role?
Our Interactive Screening for The Polar Express (The Polar Express, 2004) that took place on Tuesday 17th December 2019 went very well and for the most part completely according to plan except for a few minor parts of the screening that didn't go completely right. My role was the sub-team leader of Interactive Actors and as part of my role I decided what costumes we would buy to use in our Interactive screening, making sure all of the Interactive Actors knew what they had to do during the screening and what their role was and just generally ensuring people knew what they had to do in the weeks leading up to the Interactive Screening if Ella who was the producer asked me to do so. Also, I acted as Santa Claus throughout the whole of the Secret Cinema and took part in the two pieces of interaction that we planned, the first piece involved dancing into the room along with Rory, Aiden, Reegan and Bela then standing at the front of the classroom while still dancing and clapping in time with the music during the scene in the film when the children are served hot chocolate on the train.
Then, for the second piece of interaction Sam did a backflip as he walked into the classroom first which was then followed by me entering the room during the scene where Santa Claus makes his big entrance in the film and walking to the front of the room with Rory and Sam, wishing the audience "Happy Holidays!" as well as exclaiming "Happy Families" as I had my arms around Rory and Sam in a very loving way. My role besides acting as Santa Claus was helping set up the room to resemble the layout of a train in order to make it feel like the audience are on the train from The Polar Express, I also handed out some hot chocolate to the people at the screening who wanted some while trying to not been seen as I was obviously still dressed up as Santa Claus so the audience might have thought that was part of the Interactive Screening when it wasn't originally but it worked well as it was spontaneous while being funny as well which made it enjoyable for the audience. I think that overall I gave a good performance as Santa Claus with the acting ability that I possess and I feel I did my best to make sure the other tasks I had were done successfully and everything that was my responsibility ran smoothly so I did my part in making sure the event went as well as it did.
How effective is market research when tailoring a product or event to a specific audience?
The Market Research conducted for the Interactive Screening was the allergies and dietary preferences or requirements survey was added to Facebook by Kinga in order to find out whether anyone who came to the Interactive Screening was vegetarian, lactose intolerant, vegan, eats halal food and any other form of dietary preferences or requirements and allergies. A poster was also made by Jack that we put up around the college, only on E floor however. Tenzin also made a Facebook event for the Interactive Screening which he posted twice, firstly a week before the screening and then the morning of the event was the second time he posted about it on the TV and Film Facebook. I also went around with the other members of the Interactive Actors to different TV and Film and Journalism classes in an attempt to persuade them to come to the Interactive Screening. The other piece of Market Research that we did was after the Interactive Screening when we handed out feedback sheets with questions on including 'How enjoyable was the screening?', 'What was your favourite part of the screening?', 'How did you find out about the screening?', 'Was the interaction better or worse than you expected?', 'Did you gain anything from the experience?' and 'How could the screening have been improved?'.
Our Market Research proved to be effective because for the the allergies and dietary preferences or requirements survey the results showed that five people who answered were vegetarian, five people were lactose intolerant, three people were vegan and two people eat halal food. We were able to prepare options for people who were vegetarian, lactose intolerant, vegan who came to the screening with this information so that they wouldn't be left without anything to eat if they wanted food while watching the film. The poster did a good job of getting people to come to the Interactive Screening who weren't in the classes that Me, Rory, Aiden, Reegan and Bela went into dressed as our characters as they might not have seen that it was happening if it wasn't for the posters put up on E floor. The Facebook event that was posted to the Facebook was able to persuade people to come to the Interactive Screening who are all on the course and because they have to check Facebook frequently to keep up to date with the course it made sense to post it to get people who visit the page practically daily anyway to hopefully come to our Interactive Screening which I think worked.
The final piece of Market Research that proved to be successful was the feedback sheet that was given to the audience at the end of the film and the answers to the questions went as follows, for 'How enjoyable was the screening?' eleven people said they had a great time, fifteen people said they had a good time and two people said it was OK. For the next question 'What was your favourite part of the screening?' six people answered the film, seven people answered the food, fourteen people answered the interaction and two people answered all of it. Then, for the question 'How did you find out about the screening?' seven people responded Facebook, ten people responded posters, four people responded word of mouth and six people responded the visit from the Interactive Actors to the classroom. For the question 'Was the interaction better or worse than you expected?' nineteen people said better, six people said worse, three people said both and one person said n/a. 'Did you gain anything from the experience?' had eighteen people saying they enjoyed it, five people saying they didn't gain anything from the experience, three people saying they gained a better understanding from it and three people who felt it wasn't applicable to them so they answered n/a. The final question 'How could the screening have been improved?' had twelve people pick the answer that it would have been better without any technical difficulties, eleven people picked the answer meaning they thought it could have been more interactive, four people thought the choice of film could have been better but two people thought the screening was as perfect as it possibly could be.
This shows us that the interaction was the majority of people's favourite part of the Interactive Screening and that the posters worked best at getting people to come and the quality of the interaction made them stay and the way it could be improved is if there was more of it and if there weren't any technical difficulties which shows us that the forms Market Research that we did worked as it attracted a good amount of people to come to the screening due to how much and how differently we advertised it which we were always going to have to do for an event as unique as the Interactive Screening so we did a good job to making it as successful as it was being. (Be there or be square, 2011)
Is film spectatorship merely a passive entertainment activity and what can audiences gain from films/interactive screening?
It could be argued that the activity of watching a film is just purely for the enjoyment of the viewer but actually it is both altering your mindset and fulfilling your needs as a human being whether you realize it or not. The feedback sheets that we gave to the viewers to complete show that they got a lot of enjoyment out of the interaction part of the Interactive Screening which shows that the way that the Interactive Actors interacted means that the audience was able to the fulfill needs found on the Blumler and Katz Uses and Gratifications theory to the including the psychological, safety, love/belonging, esteem and self-actualization needs. The Hypodermic Needle Theory suggests that the audience of a film is being lead to believe that something which may be the wrong and immoral is being implanted into people's minds which leads them to believe that what they're being told is right when it isn't necessarily.
The different reception types include dominant (or 'hegemonic') reading, negotiated reading and oppositional ('counter-hegemonic') reading. Then, you have the Cultivation Theory which is the idea that a theory can gradually be ingrained into the a person's head by subtly and subliminally by implying it is the correct answer to eventually make it seems as if it is true and that it is the right thing to do even when it's not and it is extremely wrong if they have been convinced well enough they will believe it is the right thing to believe and do. Personal relationships are the way in which relate to people and bond with people over pieces of media, personal identity is seeing yourself in a character in a media product and idolizing them as a role model too, diversion is the process of escaping mundane life through media and surveillance is what you learn about take away from the media product and what you learn about it. The personal relationships, personal identity, diversion and surveillance is definitely something our audience achieved from watching our Interactive Screening of The Polar Express and the film also allows the audience to fulfill the needs labeled on the Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratification theory pyramid includes.
Are there any skills or key information you have taken from this project that you will use in the future?
In conclusion, I feel like being part of the Interactive Screening and having a key role in making sure that it went well and that it was a success and I feel that it has given me the skill and ability to deal with a lot of pressure as well as being able to balance different roles and responsibilities at once. Another skill that I developed while working on the Interactive Screening was working as a team to achieve the best result possible which I already knew as a skill but during this project I improved upon the skill by working in cohesion with everyone in the class, from my fellow Interactive Actors to the set designers to the catering team. I also acted as a sort of Personal Assistant to Ella who was the producer to ensure that not all of the pressure rested on her shoulders and that I could help make sure that people knew what they were doing and through that I learn that I have good initiative when it is most necessary which I feel is a very important skill that I will take definitely use a lot in the future.
Bibliography
Be there or be square. (2011). Strategic Direction, 27(10), pp.9-11.]
The Polar Express. (2004). [film] Directed by R. Zemeckis. United States: Castle Rock Entertainment.
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