AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE

Analysis of Results

WHAT IS OUR AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE?

In order to gather information from our audience, we created an online questionnaire using Google Docs, which was then distributed via Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus. The questionnaire consisted of a summary of the film’s plot, followed by a series of questions regarding their impressions of the film. Some of these questions were multiple choice while others required the respondent to type their answer. Before closing the questionnaire, we received 10 responses.

“WHAT IS YOUR AGE?”The most common age range was 21-35 at 50%, the second was 36-50 at 30%, and third was 11-20 at 20%. While the film is not directly aimed at a younger audience, it is likely to attract such an age range to due Brett and Lily being teenagers themselves. Among our responses however, it would seem that many of the respondents are in their 30s. The age of the respondents however is not linked to the age of our target audience (since the respondents were unaware of the film’s context before participating in the questionnaire); thus it will not be necessary to take any serious action upon this data.

“DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE STORYLINE OF ‘LILY’?”

It was pleasing to see that 90% of the respondents said that they understood our storyline. This is excellent news for us as it means that our story’s narrative is presented in a clear and coherent way, and it is unlikely that any alteration will be necessary. Only one respondent replied “No” to this question; which they then justified (see below). In order to cater for this, it may be necessary for us to include a better motive for Lily’s aggression towards Brett. On a later question, one respondent suggested that Lily’s delusions should lead her to believe that Brett is cheating on her, causing her to become hostile. This may be a good idea to incorporate into the final film.

“WHAT GENRE DO YOU THINK THIS FILM IS?”

We were happy to see that 80% of the respondents correctly identified our film as a thriller/psychological thriller. This would imply that we are following the codes and conventions of the genre in an effective and believable way; which is excellent news. 2 respondents incorrectly identified the film as a horror. However, this is not necessarily an issue as our film does indeed incorporate some traits of the horror genre such as death, murder and bloody knives; hence it is an understandable misconception. Furthermore, it is arguable that our film is in some ways multi-genre, so the true accuracy of these responses is debateable. These were the only two genres that were given as answers, which means that each respondent successfully perceived the disconcerting atmosphere surrounding the narrative; which is good news.

“WHAT AGE GROUP DO YOU THINK THIS FILM IS AIMED AT?”

All 10 of the responses to this question involved either teens or people in their 20s, if not both. This is very beneficial to us as the average age of our intended target audience is around the early 20s, meaning that the respondents were able so give a very close approximation of this value. This would imply that we are correctly catering for our ideal audience age range and alteration is currently unnecessary.

“WHICH GENDER(S) DO YOU THINK THIS FILM IS TARGETED AT?”

90% of the respondents believed that our film does not specifically target either gender; which is indeed true. The psychological thriller genre is appealing to both male and female audiences, therefore we chose not to specifically target our film to appeal to either genre as it would risk the loss of the other. One person believed that our film was targeted towards males. While their reasoning for their choice is ambiguous, it is not necessarily a problem for us. According to statistics gathered from databases on the internet, 57% of the psychological thriller audience is male. This means that both this data and our data have a slight skew towards the male gender; connoting that we are correctly targeting the ideal gender proportions of our audience.

“WHAT KIND OF MUSIC OR SOUNDS DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD INCLUDE IN THE

FILM?”Most responses involved suggestions of music and sounds that would create an unnerving atmosphere; which is exactly what we were hoping for. One particular idea that we liked was adding some whispering voices when Lily is having her visions and when she is behaving hysterically in order to create the impression that she is hearing voices in her head. This is a common symptom of many mental health issues, and would imply to the viewer that Lily is beginning to lose her mind. Another good idea was that Brett should let out a bloodcurdling scream when Lily kills him in the vision, which would then proceed to haunt her for the rest of the film; adding to her trauma. We plan to use the above ideas (along with some of the others) to create the eerie atmosphere that we desire for our film.

“WHAT AGE CERTIFICATE WOULD YOU GIVE THIS FILM?”

Pleasingly, 80% of respondents correctly identified our film as a 12A (which was a higher quantity than we were expecting). This would imply that the content of our film is appropriate for our intended age rating, and is not violent or disturbing enough to evoke a higher rating from these respondents. The other 20% categorised the film as a 15 (which is higher than we had intended). These people were perhaps swayed by the presence of violence and disturbing connotations into giving the film a higher certificate than the other respondents. Ergo, it may be necessary to keep the more mature content to a minimum to prevent the provocation of a higher age rating.

“CAN YOU THINK OF ANY FILMS THAT ARE SIMILAR TO ‘LILY’?”

The most popular response was definitely ‘The Shining’(1980), with half of the respondents naming this as a similar film. This was likely due to the fact that both films are psychological thrillers involving psychic abilities and murder (and likely also due to the film’s fame). Only two respondents gave ‘The Dead Zone’(1983) as an example of a similar film. This film was the main inspiration for our film, and it was a little disheartening to see that few respondents were able to identify the similarities said film has with ours. Although, it may simply be that this film is not as renown as other psychological thrillers, and thus many of the respondents were unaware of its existence. 2 respondents named ‘Carrie’(1976) as a similar film (likely due to the presence of a malevolent psychic), and one respondent named ‘Misery’(1990). Is seems odd that many of the suggested films are adaptations of Stephen King novels (although this is likely a coincidence as many if his novels involve psychic abilities).

“CAN YOU THINK OF ANYTHING THAT COULD BE IMPROVED ABOUT THE FILM?”

Two people suggested that rather than having a heart attack, the doctor should die via an unfortunate accident (they suggested slipping on a wet floor). However, staging an unfortunate accident for the doctor to have could bring about some health and safety issues, so it may be best to simply avoid this suggestion. Furthermore, one suggestion was that Lily should murder the doctor. However, this would not make sense at Lily has no motive for killing the doctor, and was at home at the time of his death. As mentioned previously, a couple of people suggested that Lily should have a better motive for attacking Brett, with one suggesting that she accusing him of cheating on her due to her delusions. If possible, we may try to incorporate this into the film in order to meet this improvement. Another suggestion was to include more than 2 visions to make Lily’s abilities more apparent the viewer. We had originally intended for a third vision, in which Lily would bump into a man in the hospital hallway, who she would see succumb to a heart attack while driving, and subsequently run over the doctor. However, due to the optimum length of our project being 5 minutes, we decided to remove this scene in order to allow more time for later events. Hence, it is unlikely that we will be able to act upon this suggestion. One person suggested that Lily’s accident should be shown onscreen, which again would be hindered by time constraints. However, the respondent suggests that the viewer should be able to hear it over blackness at the opening of the film; which would indeed be possible for us to undergo. Another suggestion was that rather than the knife being missing at the end, the shot should be of someone placing it back in the holder. Conveniently, this is one of our two endings to the film, so we were planning to shoot this anyway and then decide which ending we preferred. Overall, the suggested improvements are either unviable, or easily acted upon, the latter being very beneficial to us.

“OVERALL, WHAT IS YOUR OPINION OF ‘LILY’?”

We were very happy to see that nearly all of the respondents seemed very positive about the film overall. Those that seemed more critical justified their views by claiming that “a few changes need to be made” or that “it’s not [their] kind of film”. Nonetheless, it seems that overall, our film has been successful in meeting the expectations of its audience. After we act upon some of the improvements mentioned previously, we should be able to satisfy most, if not all of the respondents.

“WOULD YOU WATCH ‘LILY’?”Again, we were happy to see that most of the respondents answered positively, with 80% saying that they would watch the film. 1 respondent said that they were unsure, and another said that they would not watch the film. However, the latter justified their scepticism by saying that it simply isn’t their kind of film, and that they are not criticising it (see below). After we have made the necessary improvements, it is possible that we may be able to change the minds of at least one of these respondents. Regardless, it seems that for the most part, our film is satisfying its audience in the way that we had intended.