8 Tips for a Successful Feedback Screening
Showing people your film in progress can seem intimidating, but it’s an important step in the post-production process. There’s truly nothing like watching your work with other people. They can help you see what’s working and what isn’t, drill down and isolate what your film is really about, and step back and appreciate the work you’ve already done (seriously. You’ve made it this far! That’s amazing!). You get to see it in a whole new light, with a real sense of how it’s being received, and when it’s done, the responses you get will help you to take it to the next level.
We made a short documentary several years ago and showed it to some friends in very casual settings and got great notes. But then when we made a feature a year or so later, those same friends had a lot less to say. Fifteen minutes of content is a lot easier to wrap your head around than 90-120 minutes. It’s a totally different ask, and you should handle it totally differently.
You’ll want to have your film in a good place before you show it to people—if you know that you need to lose an hour and have a pretty good idea of where that hour is going to come from, don’t drag a bunch of people in to watch it. But don’t wait until you think you’re on the final draft and just want to show off your finished film. The idea is to get and implement feedback; not have a screening and just get pats on the back (but hey, you still might get some of those!). If you’re at that spot with your project, take a look at these tips for having a successful feedback screening.
Get a group together
Showing your film one-on-one has limited benefits. You want to get a conversation going, and that’s hard to do with only one or two viewers. We’ve held two screenings for our current feature—one with nine people; one with seven. Those are nice numbers. It’s enough to get some differing opinions and good dialog, but without people fighting for a chance to speak or feeling intimidated by the crowd size (honestly seven felt better than nine). It’s a lot of pressure for your one friend on your couch to hear, “so what did you think?” after 90-120 minutes of content, but the group is ready to go. They will build off each other’s comments and keep the discussion going. Everyone will agree that this section is working and this one isn’t, confirming your hopes and fears. Two people will bicker about a moment you’re not sure about, bringing up points you hadn’t considered (it’s amazing to see third parties in an impassioned debate about your story arc, yes, but also useful). This is the magic a group provides.
Some of your invitees won’t be able to make it, and they might ask for an online screener. If you’re able to provide that, that’s great. But in our experience, those aren’t very successful. It’s a lot easier to show up at Sunday at 11am than it is to carve out two hours of your free time to watch someone’s rough cut, and even if your friend or colleague gets that far, their valuable voice was missing from the group discussion.
Rent a space
When we were working on our first feature, we invited friends over to our house to view our film, and it was too casual. The atmosphere was a lot more “hey, check out our movie!” and less “how is it working?” Bringing people to a different location than your living room changes the vibe and helps your audience take the experience more seriously (this can be a little tricky if the space doesn’t come with a TV or projector. We have a little mobile screening kit that we use that we’ll go over in a future post). A rented room will also probably provide more space, and a bathroom that is not your own.
Get it out of your living room
Renting a space for your screening helps everyone focus.
Think about who to invite
This is obvious but worth mentioning. Invite someone who intimidates you. Invite people with different creative styles. Invite peers. Invite a thoughtful non-filmmaker or two (they may not have a ton to say but they’ll have one or two insights that your filmmaker friends won’t. And in theory, they are your intended audience!). Having a mixed group that doesn’t already know each other also keeps the vibe professional instead of too chummy.
Provide notepads and pens
It’s not possible to remember every thought you have during a 90+ minute screening, so give your guests something to take notes with. It can even be helpful to provide scripts, though your mileage can vary with this. Some people (myself included) can’t help but read along with a script instead of watching the film. But others will use it to note redundant dialog, underline favorite bites or mark where they got confused.
Take a break and get some food
Provide your audience with some lunch. It doesn’t have to be fancy (though that’s a nice thank you, if you can swing it)—it just has to keep your guests happy and not looking at the clock with a growling stomach. Taking five and letting everyone dig into their meals (and take a quick bathroom break) is important, too. Your audience gets a few minutes to decompress, check their phones, and let the film settle in their minds before you’re asking anything else of them. Discussion can start naturally as people get back to their seats.
Get some food
Buy your guests lunch to keep them engaged.
Record it
Ask first, of course, but throwing down your phone and recording audio of the discussion is a huge help. I’ve taken the audio from our feedback screenings and typed up helpful notes both times. It allows you to be an active listener in the moment instead of furiously typing or scrawling notes (and missing half of what’s being said). And when listening to the comments later, it’s easy to organize your notes based on topics, who said what, what was agreed on most, or whatever metric is most helpful for you.
Just listen
You’ve already had your say—the film is your say. Don’t worry if someone gets a fact wrong when they’re telling you their opinion. Think about why they didn’t understand that section and what you can do to improve the clarity (and if they’re the only person who misunderstood, someone else in the audience will do the correcting for you). You can ask some leading questions, of course—you asked everyone here for a reason—but don’t waste valuable discussion time on minor corrections. It’ll give the impression that you’re defensive, and your viewers will start to clam up, since they’ll think you don’t want to hear what they have to say.
Take it all with a grain of salt
Some feedback will click with you immediately, and you’ll say, “of course! That’s exactly what we should do! Why didn’t we think of that?” But someone might give you some feedback that really doesn’t jibe with your vision and style. If you’ve got a room full of filmmakers, you’ve got a room full of differing styles and opinions, and they aren’t all going to mesh with yours. There’s still value in those notes but you don’t have to execute them to the letter. For instance, someone suggested we use interstitials on our first film, which wasn’t something we wanted to do. But maybe that meant that our transitions between scenes weren’t working, or the scene topics weren’t clear enough. Some notes might feel way way off, and that’s fine, too. You don’t have to agree with everyone’s opinions—some people hate your favorite movie, after all—but just politely nod and move on. Don’t make someone feel like they’re giving you feedback ‘wrong’.
Hopefully you’ll walk away from your feedback screening re-energized and ready to do the hard work of improving your film!