QUESTIONNAIRE OF SHORT FILMS.

By Harry Beaumont

WHAT I DID AND WHY?

I had gathered primary research by asking 20 participants to answer a questionnaire surrounding short films. My questionnaire had consisted of a total of 8 questions, which were either open end questions or closed questions. This enabled me to gather detailed and specific data, of what the expectations of my target audience are; in order for my product to be appealing and entertaining to my audience, therefore making my product successful. The reason I carried out my primary research as a questionnaire is because questionnaires are brilliant at generalising and gathering enough information for me to make a clear understanding of who my target audience is. The questionnaire is to help me understand what expectations my target audience are for short films and what aspects they use to draw them in, in order for me to make my film successful in targeting the right audience.

WHO I ASKED AND WHY I ASKED THEM?

After carrying out secondary research I had found out that the conventional target audience for short films are mostly Film producers/directors, film critics and then a small percentage of the public. But as a result of me not knowing a lot of people in the film industry and film critics; I had decided to aim my questionnaire at media teachers and media students, who are most likely to have different opinions on short films but as well as having the same infatuation of short films. Therefore this had given me a broader result of different opinions to take into consideration when making my product. I had targeted my questionnaire at both genders as short films could be targeted at either male or female.

The reason for asking these participants is because if I am unaware of who I am targeting my film at then, I will not able to create a film which interests and entertains the audience making my film unsuccessful.

QUESTIONNAIRE I ASKED1) What gender are you? (please circle one)

Male Female2) How old are you? (please circle one)

Under 12 12-14 15-17 18-20 21- 25 over 253) Have you ever watched a short film? (please circle one)

Yes NoIf yes what was the name of the short film?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………4) Do you watch short films on a regular basis? (please circle one)

Yes NoIf no, why not?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………5)What was it about this film that made it your favourite?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………6) How do you access short films?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..7) What type of genre do you like short films or feature films to be? (please circle one)

Thriller Action Romance Si-Fi Horror otherIf other, what?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………8)What is it about this genre that interests you so much?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

MY FINDINGS – THE DIFFERENT AGED PARTICIPANT THAT SAID YES

TO WATCHING SHORT F ILMS.

Out of the 20 participants I asked 18 of them had said yes to watching short films. This cart shows that the more older generation prefer watching short films, telling that my product needs to be challenging and more appropriate for the older generation.

M Y F I N D I N G S - W H AT I S T H E N A M E O F T H E S H O RT F I L M Y O U WAT C H E D O R

Y O U R FAVO U R I T E S H O RT F I L M .

With this questions being open question, this gave the participants the freedom to chose any short film they have watched, and therefore giving me multiple answers. Even though giving them a chose of any short film a majority had chosen the same short film. 5 participants had said that their favourite short film was ‘Strangers’ and 7 participant had said the short film ‘Black Button’. This question has enabled me to gather many examples of short films that my target audience have grown fond of, therefore allowing me to analysise these short films, and discover what it is about them that appeals to my target audience, allowing me to apply the same technique in order to appeal and build up my audience expectations.

Out of 20 participants 7 had said that they don’t watch short films on a daily basis but 13 had said they do, telling me that short films are successful due to the result of my questionnaire.

MY FINDINGS - HOW DO YOU ACCESS FILM?

Majority of the participants I had asked, had said that they access films via YouTube and Vimeo. Which shows that in order to reach my target audience I will have to distribute on short films via the same websites in order to make sure that my product is being seen by the right audience.

MY FINDINGS – WHAT TYPE OF GENRE DO YOU PREFER?

Due to the fact that only 18 of my participants had said as to watching short films, only those 18 could answer this question. As you can see the majority had said that they prefer short films to have the genre Thriller and Romance, telling me that in order to make my product successful I should produce a short film with the genre Thriller and Romance, in order to gather a wider audience.

W H AT I S I T A B O U T T H I S M Y F I N D I N G S - G E N R E T H AT I N T E R E S T S Y O U S O M U C H ?

7 of the participants had said that they prefer the genre thriller, majority of them said that they prefer it due to the way it builds up tension as well as their expectations and ending in the result of giving them a thrill. Also this helps convey the moral message as it plays on their emotions and makes them step back and think about the moral message.

7 of the participants had said that they prefer the genre Romance, as short films convey love and emotions through unique ways which could not be conveyed the same way as a feature film. They said that it was conveyed through things like camera shots, special effects and the narrative structure .

HOW MY FINDINGS HAVE I N F LU E N C E D M Y S H O R T F I L M ?

From my findings I have found out that when coming to produce my short film I am going to have to take into consideration that I have to reach expectations of both females and males. Who are aged between 15 and over, due to the fact that the participants raging from 15 to over 25 had said that they enjoy watching short films. This also matches my secondary research as by the conventional target audience being film critics and film producers/directors, who would be in the same age bracket as my decided target audience, therefore making sure that my product is being targeted at the right type of audience.

I have found that the most popular genres are thrillers and romance, enabling me add these aspects, codes and conventions within my short film. Overall this questionnaire has enabled to discover who my target audience is, what is the preferred genre and how I can build up their expectations in order for my product to become successful. But due to the moral message I want to convey I feel that the genre of crime will work effectively within my product which will help to insure that my product is successful in conveying the right message.

EVALUATION.

If I were to carry out my primary research again I feel that I should of added more questions to give me a more broad suggestions to add within my short film. I would also make my question more detailed and collect a more wider range of data, as I had found that most of my data collected was generalised than specific and this was due to the questions I asked. I would also add more questions based around character and setting in order to find out what the audience expectations on character and settings are, as these are the aspects of a film that draws the audience in and keeps them watching. I would have also chosen a more wide range of participants to give me a more wide range of data as I had found that most participants I asked were mostly male, which could effect the content I put within my product, males and females have different expectations. Overall I feel my primary research was successful as it has given me ideas of what to include in my product to reach the expectations of my target audience.