1. Amy Longworth
Short Film Questionnaire - Report
I carried out this market research task to gather opinions of the target audience of my short
film so I am able to give the audience what they would like to see in order for my film to be
a success. The opinions of students from college will allow me to create a general idea of
what appeals to my target audience and I can then put these ideas into making my short
film.
Designing and using a questionnaire with multiple choice answers as well as answers that
the reader can answer specifically allowed me to collect both quantitative and qualitative
research which I could then write into my report and turn into graphs. The qualitative
research came from questions such as ‘What is your favourite film?’ where the reader was
required to write an answer rather than tick a box. The answers I get from this question will
be recorded differently in my report to answers with multiple choice tick boxes. I can record
these answers into graphs as qualitative data by counting the percentage of people that
ticked each box.
All of the people that completed my questionnaire were aged between 16-25 so this is the
target audience for my film and the age group that I will be basing my ideas for the film on.
Gender
Male
Female
80% of the people who completed my survey were female, which means the majority of my
results are based on a female opinion. This will help me to determine the storyline of my
film and I will choose a story that is likely to attract a female audience.
2. Amy Longworth
How do you watch films?
Cinema
DVD
Movie Channels
Downloads
Netflix/Lovefilm
How many films do you watch per week
0 films
1 to 4
4 to 9
9+
My research showed that a higher percentage of people watch films online than any other
way. This reflects on the change in media consumption and that the rise in the use of web
2.0 technologies has resulted in less people watching films in traditional ways such as buying
DVD’s and going to the cinema. Watching films over the internet is less time consuming for
viewers and easier and cheaper to distribute. Based on this research I will distribute my
short film over the internet and upload it to YouTube instead of copying it onto DVD’s for
people to watch.
3. Amy Longworth
Preferred Genre
Horror
Comedy
Action
Romance
Sci-fi
Other
My questionnaire results show that the most preferred genre for my target audience was
comedy. To make my short film successful I will include stereotypical conventions of a
comedy so that the audience get to see what they are expecting to see. This will create a
preferred reading for the target audience. However, I will also include conventions of a
romantic film to create a hybrid-genre. This could create a negotiated reading for the
audience as they may not accept both genres however it could make the film more
successful which is more likely to happen because the second most preferred genre after
comedy was romance.
How much would you be willing to pay for a
DVD?
£4-£8
£9-£12
£13-£17
£17+
4. Amy Longworth
Based on who my film is targeted at, I would keep the cost of my short film quite low and
sell it for no more than around £6. From the information that I gathered from my
questionnaires, I figured that this is a price that my target audience would be willing to pay
for the film. However, based on the information I found when researching the most popular
way of consumption within my target audience, streaming the short film online would be
cheaper for distribution and consumption.
Narrative
Linear
Non-linear
When the structure of a film was explained to my target audience/the people completing
the questionnaires in terms of a linear or non-linear narrative, most people decided that
they prefer to watch films that have a linear narrative. This means that the events of the
film run in chronological order with no flashbacks etc.
However, to make a rom-com successful I have decided that a non-linear narrative would
be more effective by using flashbacks for commentary to add comedy. The target audience
prefer a linear narrative so using a non-linear narrative could create an oppositional or
negotiated reading. However, using commentary of a main characters thoughts and feelings
would create a sense of personal identity for the audience with them being able to relate to
what is happening in the film. This will follow Blumler and Katz theory of Uses and
Gratifications which could keep the audience drawn to the film and bring back a preferred
reading.
5. Amy Longworth
Ideal Short Film Length
10-15 mins
15-45 mins
45-90 mins
2 hours
3 hours+
I based the research to be specific to the film that I would be making. I predicted that most
people would like the film to be no longer than 15 minutes taking into consideration that it
is a short film. My research proved this and as a result my film will be no shorter than 10
minutes long but will last no longer than 15 minutes.
Preffered Ending
Happy
Tragedy
Cliff hanger
The results from my questionnaire show that the majority of people within my target
audience prefer to watch a film that has a happy ending. I have planned for my film to be a
rom-com therefore this is the ending I was aiming to have. This gives the audience what
they want and what they are expecting to see and will hopefully ensure it creates a
preffered reading.
6. Amy Longworth
What is your favourite film and what genre does it fit into?
- The Notebook x2 (romance)
- Dirty Dancing (romance)
- Pan’s Labyrinth (drama)
- The Beach (adventure drama)
- Elf (comedy)
- Big Daddy (comedy)
- One Day (romance)
- Step Brothers (comedy)
- No Strings Attached (rom-com)
- Friends with Benefits (rom-com)
This question was qualitative research on my questionnaire. It helped me to get a more in-
depth idea of exactly what films my target audience are interested in rather than just asking
what genre they prefer. These results show that comedy and romance are preffered by the
people I asked therefore this has helped me to determine the genre of the film I am going to
make. I will watch clips of short films within the same genre and clips from some of the films
above to give myself an idea of what to include in my short film to create a preffered
reading for the audience.
Evaluation
Carrying out questionnaires and then using both qualitative and quantitative data to write
up a report has helped me to gain a clearer idea of what I am going to include when I create
my short film based on what the audience want to see.
I think if I was to carry out this task again, I would have chosen the genre beforehand and
then based the questions I asked people around that specific genre so that I had a more
detailed idea of what people expect from only one genre.
Fortunately, my target audience gave similar answers so that I had enough data to
determine the genre of the film and an idea of what the audience expected to see. This has
helped me out when planning my short film and I will carry out further product and market
research in order to make the film as successful as it can be. If I spend enough time on
researching audience needs and expectations within the genre I have chosen, hopefully I
will create a successful short film.
