Primary Research

I've already got an understanding of my audience, after examining both national successes and international successes in the film industry. However I don't think it will do any harm to gather some primary research about more local preferences and see how this correlates with my current ideas about my target audience. 

I intend to use a simple and easy to answer questionnaire, because I know from personal experience that people don't like taking their time to answer questions on things which don't interest them. Therefore I want to keep the number of questions low and the answers basic without being too wordy. Questions I want to use are:

1. Do you consider genre as a primary factor that makes you want to watch films? (Yes/No)
2. What interests you most within a film? (Actors/Character Development/Plot/Visual Spectacle/Script/Other)
3. What genre are you most likely to watch? (Drama/Thriller/A mix of the two)
4. Do you watch short films? (Yes/No/Sometimes)
5. Which do you think would make the best genre for a short film (Drama/Thriller/A mix of the two)

I have asked 7 adults (family and extended family), 4 of whom are middle aged and 3 of whom are elderly. I have also asked 10 friends, who are either 17 or 18, and my little brother, who is 14. This gives me quite a range of age groups and should present a diverse range of preferences. 

Do you consider genre as a primary factor that makes you want to watch films?

Out of the 18 people I asked, only 2 people said 'Yes', and these were both my elderly relatives. This could be a confirmation of the stereotype that older generations tend to stick with what they like, without branching out or watching something new. When I pressed them to ask what they liked, I found out that gritty British crime stories were their favourites, or historical dramas. So it seems the elderly are quite patriotic in their viewing with a strong sense of national pride and heritage. My other grandad said 'No'; this is because he is a film buff and regular cinema goer which tells me that he is more open minded and engaged with cinema as a form of entertainment rather than just at a cultural level. This suggests that those who enjoy films and frequently engage with them aren't limited by cultural factors, no matter their age. 

What interests you most within a film?

This question resulted in the most diversity. 6 people said actors, 2 people said character development, 4 people said plot, 3 people said visuals, 3 people said script, and 0 said other. The people who said actors were mostly teenagers, demonstrating how they are growing up in a celebrity defined culture and their consequent awareness and attraction to films are shaped by their familiarity with the stars. The adults seemed to be mostly split between script and plot, implying that they like a clever and thorough narrative both visually and verbally. My own brother, rather interestingly, said character development. I think that this is because at the moment he watches lots of television shows and one of the essential factors to their longevity is the character arc that spans across the series, which is why he enjoys the shaping of the protagonist. 

What genre are you most likely to watch?

12 out of 18 said a mixture of the two, including all of the adults, my own brother and 4 friends. 4 of my friends said they'd prefer to watch a thriller, and two of them (both female) said drama. From this there is a clear preference of my hybrid proposal over one of the individual genres. It suggests that, particularly among the maturer audiences, suspense and emotivity are more favourable together than apart. The two of my female friends who said they'd rather watch drama could be influenced by a dislike of thrillers in general or by a general enjoyment of real and engaging situations over suspenseful events. 

Do you watch short films?

1 person watches short films, and even then only sometimes. That means 17 people said No. And I myself must confess that until this coursework short films were of no interest to me either. It was only one teenager who on the odd occasion watched short films. And when I asked him why he said that it was because he wouldn't have time to watch a whole film or was just watching random videos on YouTube and stumbled across an engaging short film. This information tells me that short films tend to be watched mainly by those who actively seek them out, because they aren't as easily accessible as slotting a DVD into a DVD player or clicking on the Netflix app. It also confirms that I need to target the younger audiences rather than the older, who are less likely to have confident abilities on digital platforms and consequently unable to access the short films. Short films seem to be actively consumed rather than passively accepted. 

Which do you think would make the best genre of short film?

There was a rather odd reversal here. A hybrid of the two was the least favoured option, gaining only 3 votes. 9 people opted for thriller, leaving 6 for drama. In fact there was quite an even divide between the adults and teenagers who voted for each, which makes it difficult to draw a correlation in terms of age and preference. That being said, it does tell me that people are quite unsure about the idea of hybridising for a short film, and when I asked some of my friends why they thought that there would perhaps be too much going on if I tried to condense both genres into one brief narrative. Although I can see their argument, and it is one I have contemplated myself, it actually incites me more to try and prove them wrong. 

I think that this research has supported my audience proposal. A combination of peers and adults said they were more likely to watch a hybrid film of drama and thriller, rather than a film adopting just one of these genres. However when applying this to short films, most people opted for one genre or the other, showing that despite liking the idea of a hybrid drama and thriller, when applied to the constrictions of a short film this concept becomes less appealing. That being said if I were to narrow down my genre I feel like I would be reducing the quality of my short film, and keeping both genres involved expands my audience to fans of both. My research has also proven my suspicion that short films generally attract quite a niche audience of the film industry and so are more available to those with active knowledge of both filmmaking and the digital era, which appears to be categorically teenagers. Since I will not have any renowned actors starring in mine, I shall eliminate the actor category from the most popular element of the film. That leaves quite an even split between plot, script and visuals, establishing a need for the semiotic and narrative cohesion to be quite engaging. 

With this in mind I don't think I will change my audience. If the market is already quite niche, I think that limiting it down would be a counterproductive move, since those who want to watch it are actively seeking them out at festivals or on websites. So my audience will still be 15+ 

Other audience demographics may be decided at a later point, like gender or class, but I don't want to risk confining the audience more just yet.