I received the notes from Lights Film School on my last assignment, “A Broken Oath”. One of the instructors, provided some actionable notes that I am currently addressing in the edit. Overall, there was some positivity:
“Quite a creepy story! With a humorous twist at the end. Nicely done - I like how you fundamentally kept things simple; it primarily takes place at a dining room table. I also think you did some good things with sound design to emphasize atmosphere, and I appreciated your lighting diagram as well. Way to be crafty with the garden hose!”
Good or bad, feedback is worth its weight in gold, as long as it is actionable. My ‘issue’ with art is that it’s subjective to the viewer. If your work produces a reaction whether love or hate, you are doing well as the film evoked an emotion. What you should fervently strive against is their opposite: indifference. Although negative feedback strains your heart, it’s usually when you learn the most and prevent those sorts of mistakes later on.
Subjective feedback can also be of value. Ensure you are advertising any public or organizational feedback you receive. For Grease Ghoul, we linked to or re-posted any reviews to the micro-horror’s FilmFreeway page; thus, lending some credibility in our favor. If we look at the above review, we can parse out a few noteworthy quips. The first is the marketing line that gets posts to the FilmFreeway page: “Quite a creepy story! With a humorous twist at the end.” The second is a reference to the location, which I used to touch up the film’s genre description: “Genre: A single location, no-budget, dark comedy.” The other references to sound design, FX ingenuity, and lighting will all find its way into a cover letter, which adds more weight and professionalism to the document.
These are just a few ways that feedback can be incorporated into your marketing strategy!
Project Updates:
I’ve returned to the editing room with “A Broken Oath” and started to address a few actionable feedback items. The short will be uploaded to a critique short-film festival next week. Their responses will be fed back into this short’s marketing.
I will be shooting (again) for my upcoming documentary at the end of the month. We’ve received great support from the location and I can’t wait to get on-site!