Audience Research: How Audiences Comsume Media (Method 1)

Audience Research: How Audiences Consume Media (Method 2)

Audience Feedback: Audience Feedback From Our Film

Method

We showed our nearly completed thriller to eight people in our year at CNS to gain some opinions on what they thought of it so far, and what they think could be made better. We tried to ask either media students and film fanatics so they had an idea about what should be in a thriller film (such as signifiers). We are aware this is not our ideal target audience, but we collected the data during school times so we could not do this.
We asked five males and three females our questions, and we thought this was sticking to our target gender which is male. We asked three females too, as although our target gender was male, females could enjoy the film, too.
Even though it was not the perfect sample to ask, we still think it was a useful exercise and gave us a good source of information on what to improve and what was already good.

We asked each person to watch our film, and then answer our short questionnaire we prepared.

Here are the questions we asked:

Gender:

Was the Mise-en-scene appropriate?

Was the music effective?

Was the narrative readable?

Was the lighting effective?

What aspect of it did you like the most?

How could it be improved?

Findings


We found that we ended up with very positive feedback from our participants. Everyone answered that the Mise-en-scene was appropriate. For the question “was the music effective?” everyone again agreed that it was and particularly good comment from one male was “it built tension and a good atmosphere”. A female participant thought that our music could have been better. Everyone agreed the narrative was readable except for one male, but he added to this by saying “not knowing what is going on adds mystery to the film” which was a positive comment. Knowing whether the narrative was readable was the most important question to us because you have to make a link between the building, man and the dead body. And although it is obvious to us, we wondered whether it would be to everyone else. Every participant answered that the lighting was very effective. I was very glad about this as I thought this was a strong point in our film.

For the next question which was “what aspect of our film did you like the most” we got very interesting feedback.
Two males and one female picked music as their favourite aspect of our film.
While another three picked the extreme-close up on the man at the desk as their favourite.
Another favourite from the remaining participants was the quick editing and flashing transitions and the slow motion effects of the man at the desk, and the fast motion effect of the boot being closed.
Our final question was “what could be improved?” some people did not give an answer to this question as they thought nothing could be improved we did receive one that said the cast could have fit the age description of the characters better, and the costumes could have been more authentic. We know there is nothing we can do at this point but it is something we would take into consideration if we were to do this again. Another suggestion we received was to extend the slow motion sections, we took this into consideration and made some of it longer, and agreed that in the end it did look better and was an improvement to our film.

Conclusion

We were pleased with all of our positive feedback, and thought that the negative feedback was also very helpful. Overall the exercise helped us improve our film. And was a good idea to carry out. The feedback has given us more confidence into finishing our film as best we can.

Film and thriller genre questionnaire

Here is my questionnaire I produced for my audience research:

Please circle your answers.

1. Gender: M/F

2. Age: ________

3. Occupation:
Student
Working
Other: ____________

4. Aspirations:
Going to university
Travelling
Getting a Job
Other: _____________

5. How many times a month do you go to the cinema at the moment?
More than 6
5-6
3-4
1-2
Less than once

6. Who do you go to the cinema with?
Friends
Family
Girlfriend/boyfriend
Alone
Other ________________

7. Which certificate of film do you normally watch?
U
PG
12A
15
18

8. Which genre was the last film you saw at the cinema?
Action
Comedy
Thriller
Western
Documentary
Romantic Comedy
Horror
Adventure
Science Fiction
Musicals
Other: ____________________________________

9. Which type of Media do you most frequently consume?
Radio
Television
Cinema
Video
DVD
Newspapers
Internet
Other: _________________________________

10. How many hours a week do you consume media? (e.g. T.V, Radio)
1-5
6-10
11-15
16 +

11. What type of advertisement would attract you to a film?

Picture in a magazine/newspaper
Trailer on the television
Billboards
Reviews
Internet advertisements (E.g. Pop ups)
Word of mouth
Director
Actors/Actresses
Other: __________________________

12. Do you enjoy thriller films?

Yes/No

13. What was the last thriller film you watched, and what did you think of it?

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

14. Have you ever watched any of these thriller films?

Sin City Layer Cake Essex boys No Country for Old Men

Vertigo Panic Room Rock N Rolla V for Vendetta

The Godfather Chinatown

If you have watched one of more of these films which was your favourite?

__________________________________________________________________-

15. How many thrillers do you think you have watched in the past 6 months?

1-5 6-11 12+

16. What thriller signifiers do you recognise?

Plot Twists Internal Monologues Mystery Femme-fatal

Good Vs Evil Tension building Spirals Enclosed Spaces

Chiaroscuro lighting other: ________________________________