Please sir, I cannot tell a lie
Even in polls, and polls about polls, where the consequences are trivial, I seldom lie - I don't have the imagination. Sometimes I wonder if there is a duty to mislead market researchers, but conclude that it wouldn't be in my direct interest to do so.
Anyway, last night I attended a film test screening (not a screen test). This was in the Great Room of the Royal Society of Arts, which must be the one of the statelier cinema experiences. The film was an underwrought medical melodrama called The Lazarus Child. No non-disclosure agreement, but it was too tiresome a film for me to bother spoilering.
The questionnaires were two sides of A4, and I was surprised to see free-response questions as well as tickyboxes. Who wants to read amateur film criticism, even at the level of 'which scenes did you dislike'? The friend I went with noted the abruptness of the ending. Would there be different endings ready to splice on according to our reactions? More likely, our responses would decide what went into the trailer. It must be difficult to market a feelbad film, never mind the lack of merchandising opportunities.
Test audiences attract odium for encouraging bland films. The only exceptions I can think of are the American viewers who requested a bleaker ending for 28 Days Later. But if you had had the mischievous power to point this film towards critical instead of commercial success, what would you have told the marketers?
Anyway, last night I attended a film test screening (not a screen test). This was in the Great Room of the Royal Society of Arts, which must be the one of the statelier cinema experiences. The film was an underwrought medical melodrama called The Lazarus Child. No non-disclosure agreement, but it was too tiresome a film for me to bother spoilering.
The questionnaires were two sides of A4, and I was surprised to see free-response questions as well as tickyboxes. Who wants to read amateur film criticism, even at the level of 'which scenes did you dislike'? The friend I went with noted the abruptness of the ending. Would there be different endings ready to splice on according to our reactions? More likely, our responses would decide what went into the trailer. It must be difficult to market a feelbad film, never mind the lack of merchandising opportunities.
Test audiences attract odium for encouraging bland films. The only exceptions I can think of are the American viewers who requested a bleaker ending for 28 Days Later. But if you had had the mischievous power to point this film towards critical instead of commercial success, what would you have told the marketers?