In-Sync Publications

22 F i l m a k i n g 1 0 1 T E S T Y O U R A U D I E N C E R o b e r t C a s p a r i One of the final steps of post production is to actually test your picture in front of a live audience. This is a critical step because we must know how the audience is going to react to what we have just done. There really is no substitute both for the filmmaker and the film itself. In order for the filmmaker to grow he must see the effect of his work on the audience. I well remember a project on which I was working. The script was for a drama in which we hoped to inject a comic element. In the picture a young writer has suffered turn down after turndown. In the picture the young writer doesn't know it, but his young daughter has taken stories he has been telling her and with the help of his soon to be girlfriend has had the stories typed up and has submit- ted them to a publisher! The publisher likes the material and decides to have a little fun with the writer. He calls the writer and tells him how terrible the stuff he submitted in the past has been. Then he tells him the real purpose for the call. He loves the material that his daughter has submitted and the company is willing to publish it. The minute we screened it for the audience we realized we had a problem. Nobody laughed! It wasn't funny because the poor writer had gone through so much that the audience considered it a form of cruelty. We thought it was funny but it sure didn't go over. It should have been pulled from the picture. So When you set up your test screening here are some important things to consider: First make sure the right audience is in the house. It does little good to test your latest horror picture in front of an audience that is going to the theater to see "Mrs Doubtfire!". Not only will you enrage the audience, you won't have a clue as to how the picture plays in front of it's intended audience. Next make sure your monitor or projection equipment is in proper working order. The last thing you want is a technical problem in this presentation. It will interrupt the flow of your story and throw off the test. Try to screen out bloggers and other people who will rush to the internet to do reviews since this may not be the final version of the movie we will be screening. Make sure that the audience knows this is a work in progress. Finally while you may use audience reaction cards, always remember that watching the audience react to the movie will tell the real story. Audience members may lie on the cards and conceal their real feelings. There actual reactions will tell the truth. Audience testing is important not only for the film but for the filmmaker. Seeing what really works is important.

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