Back After a Hiatus

[OrangeMango]

Hey everyone,

Just writing to say "hello" and that I'm back after quite a hiatus. I'd been working for quite some time on my 30-minute "short epic," but now I'm not working on any films at the moment. So here I am, back at IndieTalk!

We screened the film at my student film festival. Initially, I thought the reaction was poor, because so many people were laughing at the wrong parts, and blatantly laughing at the actors' amazing performances. But when I spoke with people afterward, I realized that the laughing-folk were simply immature college students and that even one of my professors very much enjoyed the film and wanted a copy!

Quite encouraging I think

Anyway, so that's what's been going on in my film life. And to spark some discussion, I thought I'd throw out a question or few: have you ever screened a film and received what you thought was a poor audience reaction, only to find that many audience members (whose opinions you particularly respect) actually enjoyed the film? To what extent do you value your target audience's response over the general public's? When you make films, do you have a target audience, or do you hope your film touches as many people as possible?

 

[Nique Zoolio]

Welcome back!
answer to question - yes, but not for a film.
at the Red Telephone comedy club gig, the stand up triumvirate of which i am one third, did a 20 minute set, and left stage to little apllause (in turth the audience was split 50/50 demographically and was almost to get for the first 10 mins both sides laughing at same time). then the ruddy next act asks if the audience was offending by any of the act...to which there were some noices of disatisfaction.
then we where in the toilets (don't ask why) and some big guy comes up and tells us he is going to glass us over for being "&"&"&"!..anyway, we then have a few drinks and go round and ask the audience what they thought. apparently people enjoyed it, especially the U.N delegate The Sheath Man character.
but they may have been lying, we did look quite intimidating in full uniform.and they may have been tempted by the free sheaths we were giving away too....

edit -
ah, your question seems to have changed a bit now.....erm.......

 

[indietalk]

back!

 

[Spatula]

I usually write films for the target audience of Me. It's actually not me writing at all, but some cosmic force surging through my fingers with the sole purpose of amusing me. It seems I have an energy who has taken quite a bit of amusement making me laugh.
Therefore, in turn, anyone sharing my sense of humor and writing will enjoy my films. Anyone not touched by this energy will find it "dumb" or "stupid" or "nonsensical".
I showed my contest submission to a friend from high school and was actually privvy to seeing his webcam when he watched it... not even a smirk. After watching he said "So, are you ever going to try to do something serious with your films/life?"
He's an engineering student at McMasters.. I guess if a made a movie about the construction of a bridge or a circuit board I would have had a better chance at amusing him. He did however like the one sexual reference in the movie. I'm sure I'll get a much better reaction from you guys here.
However, on the flip side... we screened our first "real" short (King Lear 2000) to two classes in our high school. People laughed... even one girl said she cried... that was totally unexpected. We knew we had some funny stuff, but we got an even better reaction than we had ever anticipated.

You can never predict how an audience will take something. People are unique and have different tastes... every story will mean something to someone. The best strategy for success is to make your story as UNIVERSAL as possible (no Zool, not that). Try and find the common root of the human condition and exploit it for all it's worth. Even then, half the audience will be like, "Hey! I thought we was gonna see some titties!!" but you just have to realize that it's ok not to cater to everybody. Make art for yourself, and people like you will be the ones to come and enjoy it. Unfortunately most artists are poor, so you probably won't get rich, but that's where luck comes in, eh?