AUDIENCE FEEDBACK - Final Rough Cut

Audience feedback from uni student friend I know.

Nationality: German/American  Age: 28 

1. What did you like, what didn't you like?
I very much enjoyed the poem in the beginning! In general I thought the introduction was great. The combination of poem, aspect to aspect transitions in girl #1’s room, and the slightly delayed up-beat music set the mood of the piece very well, and now has me expecting a contemplative, maybe even slightly trouble situation that will, in one way or another, will nevertheless have a positive outcome.Some of the credits and titles (“cosmic heat productions”, “in association with”) weren’t on screen long enough to take in properly.In some spots (the poem in the very beginning before the music; when girl #2’s inner monologue continues after meeting the guy) the volume of the voiceover drops and is significantly lower than the background music and therefore a little difficult to understand.
2. Did you recognize the genre?Coming-of-age high school comedy drama?
3. What would you say is the target audience in terms of age, sexuality, ethnicity and gender. Would you call it a mainstream film?I would say the target audience is 13/14- 18/19, so roughly high school age of mixed, mostly white background, maybe on the queer spectrum?
4. Is it clear which of the characters is protagonist?Pretty much, as we heard the inner monologues of three people, but if I would have to choose only one, II would say girl #1 (the one in the red dress), but that might just be because she is the one I most identified with.
(I would also not rule out the guy in the end who offers girl #1 his hand to become at least an important secondary character later on in the narrative.)

5. Did you feel any sympathy or hatred for any of the characters?Like I said, I had no trouble identifying with girl #1. Even though we are not of similar ethnic background (in terms of visuals), I nevertheless identified with her clothing (armor!) and the outcast attitude she displayed.As intended, I assume, I did not particularly like the guy whose inner monologue we heard.

6. What do you feel as a student about the school environment?It seemed more like a youth center than a school (too few students around and in the corridors).

7. Did you recognize the music?Nope.
8. Ok, now to reveal the genre: a common mixture of teen highschoolcoming of age and romantic comedyYaaay!9. Would you say you’re a fan of these genres? If not do you watch them at all? Do you know the classics such as in the teen genre: American Graffiti, The Breakfast Club, 10 Things I Hate About You, Napoleon Dynamite, American Pie, Juno, The Fault In Our Stars, in the rom-com genre: Some Like It Hot, When Harry Met Sally, Four Weddings & A Funeral, Love Actually, Bridget Jones and films by Woody Allan such as Manhattan and Midnight In Paris.I’ve seen quite a few of those, and did like many of them. I’m not a fan of things like American Pie, but mainly because I don’t enjoy “Fremdschämen”.


10. Would you watch this film if you saw a trailer of it?Yes.
11. What is your preferred method of watching films: cinema, TV, computer, tablet smartphone?Depending on the film, either cinema of computer.
12. Do you like the title, CrossWord. What does the title make you think of, without thinking of the film?To me it's something that needs to fit together someone, something where fitting in is essential, because if you don't, you have no place, no right to exist. (not sure if I could do it without thinking of the film)


13. What would u say about the representation of the characters, are they stereotypes or more than that?
I think that is difficult to say from such a short clip. The only character I see in danger I'd this is the guy. However, I think that a character that starts off as a stereotype and then further develops into a more multidimensional character isn't necessarily a bad thing. Actually, that kind of a character might prove to be of more value in terms of understanding the capability of change within a person.

14. Can you think of a teen film or any film you've watched where the main character wasn't hererosexual and didn't die in the end?Not out of the top if my head. At least no text that didn't have the characters queerness as main topic.

15. What age rating would you give the film?
In terms of age appropriateness? Any age.
In terms of who would be interested? Maybe 14 and upwards.

16. Do you like the titles, their design/font and how they appear on screen?I especially like the animation of your logo, a clockwork lemon, the rest of the titles were very colorful, but I think that befits the age of the targeted audience, and maybe even helps underline the queer theme. (See question #1 for further thoughts in the titles.)Is this kind of what you wanted?MUN 11:48IN THE EVENIN'yeah its greatbut some other questions. did u notice I tried to hint that the popular boy is bisexual?and that the protagonist masturbatesplus do u think that my portrayal of some of the female characters is sexist? That the older women are maybe even falling into dumb blonde stereotypes?TUES 9:07IN THE MORNIN'I was wondering about the hug that included him hitting another boy on the butt, if I remember correctly, but that happens in straight friendships as well, so I didn't think much of it. In retrospect, now that you ask the question, I guess the other boy waving at him in the beginning might have been a hint at that, but without your input I wouldn't have interpretrd it that way, no. Does she in the film, or just in general? I didn't notice her masturbating in the film at all. But the magazines in her room at the very beginning might hint at that. Not necessarily dumb blonde, but maybe gullible (female) adult stereotypes, I would say. It's something that you encounter a lot in shows aimed at young adults and children, the adults that don't see the "bad guys" for who they really are, because they only get to see their charming side. It's a way of pressuring the hero to deal with their problems in their own without adult intervention. I didn't even realize they were all blonds. All women, maybe, which might also reinforce the stereotype of only women working on clerk positions, though.