<> THE FILMS
The feature presentation was LAST STOP FOR PAUL, a travel/adventure comedy directed by Neil Mandt. A prolific award winner on the festival circuit, this film is unusual in that it was created for Internet release as well as commercial distribution. The thirteen webisodes (chapters) were skillfully edited together to create an 80 minute feature release.
As part of our new filmmaker showcase, the opener was A CONVERSATION WITH MR. D, a 14 minute short by local screenwriter/director Steve Maisch. Originally 30+ minutes in length, this suspense/thriller was cut down to present length to enhance film festival submission. This is the second film by Mssrs. Maisch and Meeks, of Get The Sword Studios.
<> THE SURVEY
Cincinnati World Cinema audiences were asked to rate the above films, in four areas -- Story, Acting, Production Values and Overall Impression of each film. Respondents were also asked to rate the Post-Film Discussion.
The rating system has five descriptors: Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor. Written adjectives such as "very" were discarded; when two scores for the same item were bridged or circled, the higher score was used for tabulation. Points were awarded for each rating as follows: Excellent = 5.0 Very Good = 4.0 Good = 3.0 Fair =2.0 Poor = 1.0. Average Scores are the sum of total points awarded in each category, divided by the number of respondents for that category.
<> RESULTS SUMMARY (scroll down for results table)
203 people completed the audience survey (thank you everyone!), rating both films. Demographics: 101 women, 59 men and 43 unknown (no name or gender provided). 67% Ohio, 11% Kentucky, 1% Indiana and 21% unknown. 25% of respondents are Cincinnati Art Museum members and roughly 50% heard about the event via CWC email and the CWC web site. 106 of the 203 respondents rated the post-film discussion.
Total ratings for story in "MR. D" averaged 3.00 (Good) but the overall impression for this film was 2.67, a notch lower than Good, influenced by problems with acting and production values. Continuity in these areas was no doubt affected by the filmmaker decision that reduced run time from 30+ to 14 minutes.
Ratings across all four categories for "LAST STOP" were generally Very Good, with the exception of acting. The overall impression for this film was 4.14, slightly higher than Very Good, consistent with this film's performance at numerous film festivals.
Post-film discussion ratings ranged from 3.79 to 4.17, highest for the evening featuring Greg Newberry and Chris Strobel; the average for all three nights was 4.03, Very Good.
The Wednesday night audience gave the lowest ratings of all three nights and the Friday audience had the highest, with a considerable jump for "MR. D" primarily due, as one might expect, to the number of filmmaker friends and family in attendance. Women's scores were consistently higher than men's, with the exception of the acting in "MR. D.", and anonymous ratings were generally lower than all others.
Evidenced by higher scores in all categories when compared to the total of all nights, those who stayed for the post-film discussion had a higher level of satisfaction and a more rewarding experience than those who did not.
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SURVEY RESULTS, Average Scores for Films & Discussion
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Averages Scores by Screening Date |
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Average Scores by Audience Segment |
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Weds
May 21 |
Thurs
May 22 |
Fri
May 23 |
All
Dates |
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Discussion
Attendees |
Men |
Women |
Gender
Unknown |
| FILM SCORES |
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| Respondents |
58 |
68 |
77 |
203 |
|
106 |
59 |
101 |
43 |
LAST STOP
FOR PAUL |
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| Story |
3.90 |
4.28 |
4.30 |
4.18 |
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4.23 |
4.00 |
4.31 |
4.12 |
| Acting |
3.53 |
3.90 |
3.92 |
3.80 |
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3.92 |
3.68 |
3.93 |
3.67 |
| Production Values |
3.81 |
4.07 |
4.10 |
4.01 |
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4.16 |
4.02 |
4.06 |
3.88 |
| Overall Impression |
3.90 |
4.21 |
4.27 |
4.14 |
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4.26 |
4.08 |
4.23 |
4.02 |
A CONVERSATION
WITH MR. D |
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| Story |
2.88 |
3.00 |
3.08 |
3.00 |
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3.20 |
3.03 |
3.14 |
2.60 |
| Acting |
2.22 |
2.25 |
2.69 |
2.41 |
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2.59 |
2.66 |
2.42 |
2.05 |
| Production Values |
2.17 |
2.22 |
2.65 |
2.37 |
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2.56 |
2.47 |
2.48 |
1.98 |
| Overall Impression |
2.34 |
2.63 |
2.94 |
2.67 |
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2.83 |
2.68 |
2.82 |
2.28 |
| DISCUSSION SCORES |
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| Respondents |
34 |
36 |
36 |
106 |
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106 |
36 |
56 |
14 |
| Post-Film Discussion |
3.79 |
4.17 |
4.11 |
4.03 |
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4.03 |
3.89 |
4.20 |
3.71 |
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<> Raw Scores, All Screening Dates:
Overall Impression, Last Stop for Paul: Excellent, 73; Very Good, 94, Good, 28; Fair 8; Poor, 0; Total, 203.
Overall Impression, Conversation with Mr. D: Excellent, 9; Very Good, 30, Good, 68; Fair 76; Poor, 20; Total, 203.
Post-Film Discusision: Excellent, 37; Very Good, 43, Good, 19; Fair 6; Poor, 1; Total, 106.