Usually, film screeners are used to showcase completed films. But in this article, we suggest using them for a work-in-progress analysis. Our platform Screenable allows such tracking, although other analytical tools can be used as well.
Traditional focus groups ask people what they think after they’ve watched your film. Screener analytics show you what they actually did while watching it. This behavioral data is often more honest than verbal feedback — people might politely say they enjoyed a scene while their viewing pattern shows they were checking their phone throughout it.
This approach transforms your editing process from intuition-based decision making to evidence-based storytelling. You’re not guessing what works; you’re seeing it in real-time through the actions of viewers who don’t know they’re providing feedback.
We have laid out some principles for “reading” the viewing data of film screeners in a way which will help you refine the film in the editing process.
