Film Evaluation Form - Rate your short or feature - single sheet Word document/PDF

mrmccormack

Active member
I recently attended a screener for a feature with a $ six figure budget.

They had a pretty good evaluation form to fill in, but I wanted to find or create a better one.

Searching the Net, there wasn't too much there.

Then I found this excellent site.
http://sonnyboo.com/downloads/downloads.htm
Tons of good free stuff there for filmmakers.

I built on the good work of Peter Ross, and asked him permission to publish my derivative work under an open Creative Commons license, which he agreed to.
via email "Sure, go ahead. I like the changes. - Peter "

So here it is, (attached)
[Updated to Zak's suggestions]

- ZIP file - contains Word Document
- PDF file

View attachment FilmEvaluationSheet2_doc.zip

View attachment FilmEvaluationSheet2.pdf

Here it is on Google Docs.

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1W0xVC47kfOllvkgarW2l_lcvIvNVbe4sCx19GvXpx_o


Google published this as a Google Docs, TEMPLATE... just search for Film Evaluation Form.

I may do as an online form, using Google Docs as well.

Any suggestions for improvements would be welcome.
You can modify the Word file to suit your production.

Rob




Screen shot 2011-05-15 at 5.59.43 PM.jpg

[files updated to Zak's comments]



PS:

http://sonnyboo.com is by Peter Ross.
About award winning filmmaker Peter John Ross
As a filmmaker Peter John Ross has produced, edited, and directed several award winning films. His debut feature film Horrors of War has worldwide distribution. Ross has written articles for Moviemaker and Videomaker Magazines, and has published his first book TALES FROM THE FRONT LINE OF INDIE FILMMAKING.
 

Attachments

Last edited:
Yup, I like the changes made and this makes a good form to use after a screening to people to allow them to anonymously give you feedback.

- Peter John Ross
www.sonnyboo.com
 
Last edited:
for me, it's missing one very important question that speaks to word of mouth. and that would be: "would you recommend this movie to friends and family?" with options for Definitely, Probably, Probably Not and Definitely Not. it cuts right to the chase as to how powerful word of mouth will be on it. the studios make this the first question on the forms the do for test screenings. and the "score" a movie based on the percentage of people who say "definitely". when they get over 80% they generally stop tinkering with the cut.

the rest is great, btw. thanks for posting it up.
 
for me, it's missing one very important question that speaks to word of mouth. and that would be: "would you recommend this movie to friends and family?" with options....

Hey Zak:

. Good call… thanks.

** I revised the attachments in my first post to reflect your suggestions. **

From Peter's form we did have:
"Did the movie encourage you to want to tell people about it?"

However…
I agree that of all the feedback,
this question may well be the most important.

So, I added a separate section for it with more choices than just
Yes Somewhat No

----
Would you recommend this movie to friends and family?
-Definitely
-Probably
-Probably Not
-Definitely Not
----

Screen shot 2011-05-15 at 8.23.51 PM.jpg

I wasn't aware of the "studios" practices - thanks for info.

Note:
I further improved the form by making everything to the RIGHT as GOOD.
like Excellent is now positioned on RIGHT side
and I reworked your list to position Definitely on the RIGHT also.
It takes very little to "confuse" people... so the repositioning was a good after-thought.

Filmmakers can further customize the form, it is just a Microsoft Word document and also a Google Document.

As with everything I seem to do…
getting things right is a very iterative but enjoyable process.

The form likely needs a few more iterations… :shocked:

~Rob
 
Film Evaluation Sheet - as an ONLINE form, not paper

Film Evaluation Sheet - as an ONLINE form, not paper

I used Google FORMS, to create an online version of the Evaluation Form.

Google will soon... publish this as a "Google Form TEMPLATE", so anyone with a gmail account could use it or modify it for their film.


Here it is:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spr...MwZC01YjUwLTQyNjAtYTdmMi0yZTk0ZGI5OTNjMWQ&ifq

And some screen shots, work OK on Mobile also...


Screen shot 2011-05-15 at 8.46.42 PM.jpg

Screen shot 2011-05-15 at 8.48.38 PM.jpg


NOTE:
The results of the form, are stored as a Google Spreadsheet, which can be downloaded, printed or summarized easily.

Here is a shot of that:

Screen shot 2011-05-15 at 9.08.20 PM.jpg


Google will also do a SUMMARY or responses, handy!
Screen shot 2011-05-15 at 9.14.44 PM.jpg

Maybe paper form is best... but if film was viewed online, the Google FORM would be fine.

~~ Rob
 
Last edited:
UPDATE:

Good news…

Today, Google published:
1- Film Evaluation Form (online/mobile version)
2- Film Evaluation Sheet (single sheet, printed version, can be downloaded to Microsoft Word)
as Google TEMPLATES.


Screen shot 2011-05-16 at 9.48.31 AM.jpg

This means, that anyone with a Google account, can create a NEW form or evaluation sheet
based on the two Templates - then customize it as much as they want.

--------------------
Are You New to Google Docs?
- Here is some brief information.

I use Google Docs for all filmmaking projects, budgets, personal documents,
for my business and extensively in my teaching.

One of the best things, is that all documents can be worked on collaboratively and shared privately or
published on the web. Google also saves a HISTORY of all documents automatically.

Trying to do projects by email is just too time consuming. Email isn't meant for that.

More info…

YouTube: Google Docs in Plain English
http://youtu.be/eRqUE6IHTEA

Take a tour here.
http://www.google.com/google-d-s/tour1.html
 
Those are all good questions, but only measure the cumulative overall impressions of someone and don't really help identify story problems that could ultimately increase those scores. For example, perhaps a character has a particular motivation for doing something in the story that's a critical element that the audience recognizes in order for future actions of the character to make sense. If an audience member never discovers that motivation they might consider the acting of that particular person to be below par, when in reality their acting was spot-on, the audience member just missed the motivating reason.

So, in addition to these broad sweeping general questions, there are probably a handful of questions that might be relevant for a particular film that would help the producer/director really gauge the effectiveness of their story's goals.
 
Those are all good questions, but only measure the cumulative overall impressions of someone and don't really help identify story problems...
So, in addition to these broad sweeping general questions, there are probably a handful of questions that might be relevant for a particular film that would help the producer/director really gauge the effectiveness of their story's goals.
Thanks Snazzy Flapper:

I understand what you are getting at. I have seen script evaluation forms (and even paid script consultants to review some of my scripts).
Maybe a "Script evaluation" form (in pre-production) might address some of these concerns about the story's goals. I will look for some good forms and maybe upload them in the same manner I did for this thread.
Rob
 
Version 2 of Film Evaluation Form - improvements.

Version 2 of Film Evaluation Form - improvements.

Been thinking about the evaluation form, and I realized that two very important
things may not have been addressed and audience may not necessarily assess them in the notes they fill in.

I recall the wisdom of a film prof, some years ago. He said to me:
"I must have seen hundreds and hundreds of student films over the years...
and you know... I never said these words:
I wish that one was longer."
​
It seems almost natural to make things too long, or longer than they need be...
I still fight with this tendency.

Also, a friend experienced in the film industry reviewed one of my scripts and wrote me saying...
"Well it was a nice, even heart-warming story...
but not much ever happened, and there were no surprises in the plot".


Here are my additions.
--------------

How would you rate the length of the film?
[ ] Too short [ ] Just right [ ] Too long [ ] Way too long

List one thing in the plot which came as a surprise to you.
-
-
-
--------------


You may preview revision #2, and download the Microsoft Word document here:
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0By...ZDMyMy00YmU3LWE4ZGMtYzA1YmMwMTcwZjA0&hl=en_US

Suggestion/comments/improvements are welcome.

~Rob

Screen shot 2011-05-25 at 12.06.57 AM.jpg
 
Back
Top