WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?Evaluation – Question 3

Eleanor Huggan

Establishing the target audience.

Target Audience: 15-24 years

Secondary Audience: 25-34 years

Gender: Suitable for both males and females, although predominantly aimed at the female gender.

Class: Middle-to-higher working class (C1)

My film represents a ‘contemporary life’ genre that will attract a wider audience as they will be able to relate to the characters and the situation.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Using Abraham Maslow’s theory of basic human needs, I have determined which need my short film will accomplish. The Bridge breaches the need for safety and security by placing the body in an unsecure and potentially dangerous situation. The incident then becomes more dramatic for a person to witness as it plays with their comfort levels and manipulates their sense of security.

http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs

My Questionnaire

My questionnaire posed to the audience on their film preferences was given to twenty people to complete for use in my research. The questions referred to matters of:1) Gender2) Age3) Weekly TV viewing habits4) Weekly film viewing habits5) Recently watched film6) Attraction elements of films7) Favourite genre8) Least favourite genre9) Attraction to favourite genre

10) Gender perception in film11) Same age character effect12) Interest in real-life programmes13) Preferred ending types14) Building suspense/tension features15) Viewing preferences16) Inappropriate contemporary life events17) Kidnapping/sexual assault issues18) Certificate preference

Questionnaire FindingsI made the questions included in the questionnaire as specific to the genre of film I intended to make as I possibly could. This way I was able to gain an insight into specific wants and needs of my target audience on my intended product idea.

The results show that the sample I chose to answer my questionnaire were equal numbers of male and female participants to gather good quality answers.

These results show that the sample of people who I included in my questionnaire response were of similar ages to my target audience. This way I was able to gather responses significant to my target audience to be used in my research and production for my short film.

The pie chart shows that my target audience would prefer for the victim in my short film to be female and the ‘villain’ to be male. This helped me to determine my characters for The Bridge based on the needs of my TA.

This pie chart shows that my target audience would prefer the characters in my short film to be of around the same age as them. This helped me to determine Louise’s age in the film which in effect worked to help her character seem more vulnerable.

The pie chart shows that my target audience were interested in watching programmes that tackled real life situations. This therefore, reassured me that my short film would be popular among my TA and that my idea was good enough to commence production with.

Findings from Audience Research• 15/20 of my questionnaire participants said that they would not find anything

inappropriate to contain in a contemporary life film. This was important to note as I would not want to include any material in my short film that would offended or insult my target audience. Of those who would find some material inappropriate, they commented that as long as help/advice is offered at the end of the programme, then they would not have a problem viewing it. This is an element that needs to be considered within my own short film as it tackles sensitive topics that may offend some audiences.

• 14/20 of my questionnaire participants claimed that they were willing to watch a short film based on the kidnapping/sexual assault of a young girl. The shows me that my short film would be appropriate for my target audience, although precautions would need to be taken as to how much of the incident was shown.

• Overall, my questionnaire helped me to understand and re-evaluate some of the elements of my initial idea for my short film in order to make it appropriate for my target audience. My results showed that my target audience will be able to relate to my short film and that it will be a success amongst that age group.

Methods of Gathering DataQuestionnaire Interview

- Offer easily quantifiable responses- Inexpensive process of gathering

information.- The same material can be sent in

mass production to a wide sample.- Eliminates demand characteristics as

response can be given anonymously. - Gathers both quantitative (form:

numbers and statistics) and qualitative (form: words/pictures/objects) data.

BUT…- Answers will usually overlook the

underlying meaning of the question.- Usually gain answers that lack in

detail and personal opinion due to boredom and fatigue.

- Allows for a more elaborate, detailed and personal response.

- Allows the interviewer to see the physical response to their product.

- Allows the interviewer to gather meaningful and accurate data by guiding the question and answers and probe with follow-up questions.

- Interviewees may feel comfortable on one-to-one viewing and will be willing to give more detailed answers.

BUT…- Interviews can be extremely time

consuming as they will have to be performed one at a time.

- Requires well trained interviewers to gain accurate material.

vs.

Forms of DataQuantitative Qualitative

- Quick/easy to gather

- Easy to process

- Obtains a general view of opinions about the subject matter.

BUT…

- Does not provide a detailed response

- Doesn’t allow the respondent to elaborate on their answers explaining why they gave the answers they did.

- Enables the respondent to give thorough and detailed response to questions.

- Allows for a more personal perception of views to be expressed

- More reliable that quantitative data

BUT…

- Hard to process the information quickly

- Time consuming

vs.

Feedback Questionnaire

I devised a questionnaire for my sample target audience to complete once they had viewed the final version of my short film

along with the subsidiary articles.

A questionnaire would provide me with both quantitative and qualitative data using both open and closed ended questions that

will help to benefit the overall general response to my media coursework.

Questionnaire Results

Male Female

15-17

18-20

21-23

24+

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

The sample for the feedback questionnaire, just like my research questionnaire consists of equal numbers of males and females to account for difference in opinions between gender.

Of the 20 participants in the sample, 17 were accountable as

part of my intended target audience for my short film. I

included some participants of an older age to gain extra insight

into the film from a more mature perspective.

Questionnaire Results

YesNo

19/20 of my sample said that they were willing to watch my short film once they had read

the film review that I created for my ancillary text. This tells me

that my film review was extremely effective in promoting

my short film.

YesNo

75% of my sample said that they were encouraged to watch my short film once they had viewed the film poster. ¼ of my sample were still not so convinced.

Questionnaire Results90% of my sample said that they enjoyed watch The Bridge once the viewing was over. This suggests that my short film was very successful in its purpose. However, for the 10% that didn’t enjoy it, when asked to elaborate on their response in a group discussion claimed that they found the storyline “too disturbing”.

YesNo

What did you like about my short film?

The music really emphasised the drama.

The storyline was really believable, it was horrifying!

It was smart of you to leave out all the gory bits and just leave it to the imagination of

the audience.

You made the scenes feel really spooky by making

them longer than the average scene.

The confusion that is created soon after the kidnapping

makes the film really intense.

Questionnaire ResultsWhat did you not like about my short film?

Parts of the editing were slightly scruffy, possible slight technical error?

The driving scene was a little too long for my liking.

The beginning of the film seems to progress very quickly and I was

unsure of what was going on.

Some of the scenes were a bit slow in pace.

YesNo

16/20 participants in my sample said that they found my short film fit the

typical conventions of a horror/thriller contemporary film, whilst 4/20

disagreed. When ask to elaborate on their answer and say with convention

they found most prominent, the majority said that the use of eerie

music helped to intensify the story.

Questionnaire ResultsWhat would you change about my short film if you had the opportunity?

I would increase the amount of props used in the interview room to make it seem more like a police station environment.

I would shorten the length of the driving scene and have more attention focused on

the driver rather than where we were driving to.

I would eliminate all evidence of scruffy editing and tidy up the transitions.

I would make the title scene longer. I would include more

characters to evolve the story and get more people

involved in the situation. I would make the scene in the

garage more action-packed and really work to emphasise the horror

of the rape scene.

Questionnaire ResultsYes No

Insightful 18 2

Informational 16 4

Interesting 17 3

Slow-paced 7 13

Fast-paced 10 10

Unrealistic 2 18

True to the situation 15 5

Easy to understand/follow 20 0

Scary 13 7

Horrifying 19 1

Thrilling 18 2

Able to relate to 10 10

Reflection of FeedbackFrom my audience feedback, I have concluded that:

• My short film overall gained a respectable amount of positive feedback from my target audience who, for the most part stated they found the film a joy to watch.

• My film review had more of a promotional impact on the target audience than my film poster as it encourages a higher percentage of my sample to want to see the film. This suggests that people are more easily persuaded to experience a new film idea when presented with an expert opinion. However, together as a promotional package, my ancillary texts seem to work to positive effect.

• From the criticism’s I did receive about my coursework, I was able to gather a number of things that I would change about my short film to improve it and make it more adaptable and enjoyable for my target audience.

• I must take into consideration that although the feedback from my short film and ancillary texts was predominantly positive, the sample that I used to view my film and answer my questionnaire were of a similar age group. In this sense, the feedback that I received cannot be generalised to all age groups as opinions may vary with age.

Reflection of FeedbackFrom my audience feedback, I have concluded that:

• As some questions in my ‘Feedback Questionnaire’ rose some confusion and I found myself having to elaborate on some questions in order to gain decent information, I would create a pilot questionnaire to test the success of the questions and then create a final questionnaire upon the success of the questions in the pilot drive.

• I would gain extra and a more accurate representation of my target audience response if I were to ask a larger sample of people. If I were to do the questionnaire again, I would increase the number of people in my sample.

My audience feedback allows me to gain an insight into the opinions of others as to what I could change in order to improve my short film. I benefited greatly from my audience feedback as it shows that my target audience are the most essential element of my media production. Audience input into a film can help to increase the popularity of the product.