Wednesday 25 February 2009
Friday 13 February 2009
Method 2 - Audience Research
I carried out a questionnaire about thrillers as films and as a TV series and to gain opinions from my audience about the thriller genre, and handed them out to a select group (10 participants in total) to obtain their thoughts about the thriller genre and how they consume their thriller media. The data was collected at CNS, which was a convenient place to gather my data as all my participants live in Norwich. The age band of the audience was from 16-52 and there was an even balance of men and women in my audience (5 male and 5 female participants). I am hoping that the information I receive will help me in regards to my thriller opening coursework that I will be composing. I received the following results:
Question 1: Aspirations?
When asked about their aspirations, 6 participants of my audience wanted to go to university (age 16-19 and 46% of the total answer), 4 wanted jobs (3 out of the 4 already had jobs, the 1 person who wanted a job was 16), 2 wanted to travel (1 age 17, 1 aged 19) and none of the audience wanted any alternative. This suggests that the younger people of my audience are keen to experience adult life and further their education; where as the older participants from my audience, were focused on what they already have.
Question 2: Where do you watch film?
When asked where they watch their films, 8 participants from my audience watch films at home (40%), 8 watch films at the cinema (40%) and the remaining 20% watch their films using another method, of which 3 stated computer and 1 stated iPod. The male participant who suggested iPod was the youngest participant who took part in answering the questionnaire. Going to the cinema was the most popular choice within the audience, which suggests that the cinema is more appealing to my audience and that they may prefer to view their film as a group of two or more, this group perhaps consisting of friends, family and work colleagues as all of my audience are old enough to work. Therefore, my audience could also see viewing their media at a cinema as a social activity.
Question 3: How do you watch films?
When asked how they watch their film, 8 participants from my audience watch films via DVD, 4 watch films via PC (all under 19), 3 watch films by VHS (all over 48), 8 watch films by DTV and 8 of the audience visit the cinema to watch films (the two that don’t visit the cinema were both males under 18). DVD, DTV and Cinema all received individually 25.8 %; all three together totalled 77.4% of the audience response for this question. Those who didn’t answer cinema answered both DVD and computer. Cinema again proved to be the most popular as it did also in question 2, confirming that my audience prefers to watch their films at the cinema than at home or anywhere else, and also on the big screen in preference over DVD, PC, VHS and DTV.
Question 4: What attracts you to a film or TV series?
When asked what attracts them to a film or TV series, 6 participants from my audience answered advertising (26%) , 4 answered word of mouth (all under 19) and subject/matter/theme, 2 answered actor/actress and director (only women answered this), 7 answered genre, 3 answered report (all under 19) and 1 answered interview (male aged 17). This implies that the older aged participants from my audience select their TV and film media from what they confront on their daily basis lifestyle as they only answered advertising, subject/matter/theme and genre from the above (advertising and subject/matter/theme being daily basis, which they would come across through either their occupation or on their journeys between this occupation and home). Where as the younger generation in general have more leisure time, will socialize with their friends and view a higher level of media in a higher level of ways, therefore expanding their range of how they find out about films and TV series through such as reading reports online or through a friends opinion (word of mouth).
Question 5: Who do you watch films with?
When asked who they watch their films with, 8 of the audience answered family, all the audience answered friends, and 2 answered work colleagues, none of the audience answered alone or other. Those participants who answered work colleagues were all aged over 19. Friends therefore receiving 50% of the audience’s response and it would seem that watching a film is a social event (which is backed up with 40% of question 2 viewing their film at a cinema) most enjoyed when viewing with friends.
Question 6: Does cost affect your choice of what film you watch and where you watch it?
When asked if cost affects their choice to which film they watch and where, 7 participants (70% of the audiences’ vote) said yes cost does affect what film they watch and where they watch it, and the remaining 3 participants from the audience said no. Those who said no were all over 48, which suggest the value of the film is more important to them than the cost to view that film and they will appreciate the film for what it is rather than compare it to how much it costs them to watch the film. Because these participants of this age group are in a different lifestyle and occupation that allows them to explore a wider range of experiences compared to the rest of the participants, they would watch the film for the experience rather than letting the cost affect their decision to watch the film.
Question 7: How often do you watch films?
When asked how often they watch film, 2 people answered more than twice a week (all female), 1 participant answered once or twice a week (male aged 17), 3 answered once a fortnight, 4 answered once a month (all over 48 and making up 40% of the audience’s response for this question), and no one answered less than a month. This suggests that the younger section of my audience aged 16-19 all have more time to watch films (which fits into the typical cinema demographic of 16-25), compared to the 4 participants from my audience aged 48-52 who all have jobs.
Question 8: What makes a good thriller character?
For this question each of the audience members could give any response they wished to give, and when I asked them what makes a good thriller character, 1 participant from my selected audience answered innocent, 1 answered scary, 3 answered psycho (those who answered psycho all watch films once a week or more), 1 answered young male, 2 answered young female and 2 answered tough guy (both men over 50). Therefore, 30% of my audience’s response suggested that a good thriller character should be a ‘Psycho’ type character. As the audience who suggested Psycho watch films once a week or more, I assume that if the audience watched plenty of films direct to this genre, they will appreciate the codes and conventions that are allocated to this genre and to which character is most effective within the thriller genre.
Question 9: What is your favorite part of a film?
When asked what their favorite section and scene sequences of a film was, 4 participants from my audience answered intro, 3 answered beginning/middle, 1 answered middle/ending (1 female aged 48), 2 answered ending and no one answered middle or other. The introduction sequence therefore, proving to be the preferred part of a film with 40% of the response from my audience. This may be because the introduction is such a big part of the film as it set the theme, setting and tone to which the rest of the film will follow throughout, so a big impact has to be made to the audience to maintain their attention and focus.
Question 10: What setting or theme makes a good thriller film/TV series?
When asked what setting or theme makes a good thriller film/TV series, 3 participants from my audience answered claustrophobic, 2 answered a deserted town, 1 answered airport, 2 answered an old house (both men under 18), 1 participant answered busy city and 1 answered back alleys of a city. Claustrophobic proved to be my audience’s preferred setting for a thriller with 30% of the vote from my audience. When linked with question 8, it would appear that my audience favour a thriller in a claustrophobic setting with a psycho as the main character.
Question 11: Are thrillers best as a film or a TV series?
When asked if thrillers are best in the form of a film or TV series, 8 participants from my audience opted for film, meaning the remaining the remaining 2 participants from my audience answered TV series who are both male (1 aged 17 and 1 aged 52). Therefore, my audience (with 80% majority of the audience’s response) prefers thrillers as a film rather than a TV series. The males who chose TV series it appears chose to appreciate many individual and continuous installments of a thriller series over a regular basis rather than one large installment of a thriller medium.
Question 12: Are thrillers best in colour or in black and white?
When asked if thrillers are best in black or white, 6 participants from my audience answered colour (all under 20), the remaining 4 of my audience answered black and white (all over 48).This could indicate that this section of my audience were around at the time that classic thriller films were introduced, such as ‘Psycho’ which is a black and white film (and incidentally my audience do prefer a Psycho character in a thriller film as I found out in question 8). As the younger section have been viewing thriller media for a shorter length of time, only more recent thriller released over the previous 20 years would have been brought about with them as they grew up and therefore more related to them and their age group, such as ‘Seven’ that was released in September 1995. With 60% favoured response, my audience like thrillers best when they are in colour.
Question 13: Are modern or past thrillers best?
When asked if modern or past thrillers are best, 4 participants from my audience answered modern (all under 20), the remaining 6 answered past. My audience, therefore, have suggested to me that past thrillers make more of an impact on them than modern thrillers, with 60% of my audience answering past in the questionnaire. When linked to question 12, 60% of my audience voted that colour thrillers are preferred to black and white. Most of the past thrillers that have made an impact such as again ‘Psycho’ were in black and white, although past thrillers that have made an impact have been in colour such as ‘The Godfather’. Over more recent years such as over the last 10 years, it has been unusual to see a brand new black and white thriller film be released.
Question 14: What type of thrillers would you watch?
When asked what type of thriller film would they watch, implying if they were to direct a thriller film themselves or simply watch a sub genre of thriller film of their preference, 3 participants from my audience answered action (all male), 8 answered comedy, 2 answered crime, 2 answered disaster (both female under 20), 4 answered drama (all women), 5 answered horror, 1 answered legal/politics (male aged 52), 2 answered medical, 3 answered psychological, 1 answered supernatural (male aged 16) and no one answered other. It would appear that comedy would be the most accepted thriller out of my audience with four fifths of the group choosing it (80%).
Evaluation of Questionnaire
Overall, my questionnaire has helped me successfully research into and answer my objective of how audiences view thriller films. Finding a group of 10 participants evenly balanced between males and females was an advantage as I got an idea for each age group what their preferences are when it comes to viewing films and thriller films. However, to improve my investigation I could have had one male and one female grouped at one age, and a different pair of one male and one female a decade older and repeat this pattern. However this does stray from my target audience demographic and may not help to relating that further research to my thriller introduction. On the other hand, that idea could work because it would show how a male and female of the same age range view their media compared with other age groups.
Another idea that worked well with my questionnaire was the depth of each question as they produced some really interesting answers at times, such as questions 8, 10 and 14. Questions 8 and 10 the audience member could state an answer of their choosing which proved to make some intriguing answers. As in other cases, other participants answered similarly to a specific question which helped me to identify a common pattern, and link that pattern to corresponding patterns found in other questions. This worked in the case of questions 8 and 10, where I asked my audience about their ideal thriller characters and settings. My audience suggested in this case that a ‘Psycho’ character would be better in a ‘Claustrophobic’ setting. Later on in my questionnaire I found that I could link this finding to another of my questions I asked in my questionnaire about how often each of my participants watch thrillers. Those who answered ‘Psycho’ in question 8 all visited the cinema once a week and agreed that thrillers were best as a film. This indicates to me that those individuals from my audience watch films regularly, they will have watched a wide range of media which could involve the thriller genre, and so may have a strong indication of what characters and situations make an appealing thriller film.
From question 10, as my thriller opening will be located in some shots in an old house, it is good that I got a positive response of two votes making it the joint second highest scorer for that question (level with deserted town, but behind claustrophobic by one vote) from my audience as it shows that this would be an acceptable location to include in a thriller film. Also in regards to question 8, in my thriller opening I will be including a ‘tough guy’ and a ‘young male’. I am pleased that tough guy got a positive response of two for ‘tough guy’, but disappointed that ‘young male’ only scored one vote.
Question 1: Aspirations?
When asked about their aspirations, 6 participants of my audience wanted to go to university (age 16-19 and 46% of the total answer), 4 wanted jobs (3 out of the 4 already had jobs, the 1 person who wanted a job was 16), 2 wanted to travel (1 age 17, 1 aged 19) and none of the audience wanted any alternative. This suggests that the younger people of my audience are keen to experience adult life and further their education; where as the older participants from my audience, were focused on what they already have.
Question 2: Where do you watch film?
When asked where they watch their films, 8 participants from my audience watch films at home (40%), 8 watch films at the cinema (40%) and the remaining 20% watch their films using another method, of which 3 stated computer and 1 stated iPod. The male participant who suggested iPod was the youngest participant who took part in answering the questionnaire. Going to the cinema was the most popular choice within the audience, which suggests that the cinema is more appealing to my audience and that they may prefer to view their film as a group of two or more, this group perhaps consisting of friends, family and work colleagues as all of my audience are old enough to work. Therefore, my audience could also see viewing their media at a cinema as a social activity.
Question 3: How do you watch films?
When asked how they watch their film, 8 participants from my audience watch films via DVD, 4 watch films via PC (all under 19), 3 watch films by VHS (all over 48), 8 watch films by DTV and 8 of the audience visit the cinema to watch films (the two that don’t visit the cinema were both males under 18). DVD, DTV and Cinema all received individually 25.8 %; all three together totalled 77.4% of the audience response for this question. Those who didn’t answer cinema answered both DVD and computer. Cinema again proved to be the most popular as it did also in question 2, confirming that my audience prefers to watch their films at the cinema than at home or anywhere else, and also on the big screen in preference over DVD, PC, VHS and DTV.
Question 4: What attracts you to a film or TV series?
When asked what attracts them to a film or TV series, 6 participants from my audience answered advertising (26%) , 4 answered word of mouth (all under 19) and subject/matter/theme, 2 answered actor/actress and director (only women answered this), 7 answered genre, 3 answered report (all under 19) and 1 answered interview (male aged 17). This implies that the older aged participants from my audience select their TV and film media from what they confront on their daily basis lifestyle as they only answered advertising, subject/matter/theme and genre from the above (advertising and subject/matter/theme being daily basis, which they would come across through either their occupation or on their journeys between this occupation and home). Where as the younger generation in general have more leisure time, will socialize with their friends and view a higher level of media in a higher level of ways, therefore expanding their range of how they find out about films and TV series through such as reading reports online or through a friends opinion (word of mouth).
Question 5: Who do you watch films with?
When asked who they watch their films with, 8 of the audience answered family, all the audience answered friends, and 2 answered work colleagues, none of the audience answered alone or other. Those participants who answered work colleagues were all aged over 19. Friends therefore receiving 50% of the audience’s response and it would seem that watching a film is a social event (which is backed up with 40% of question 2 viewing their film at a cinema) most enjoyed when viewing with friends.
Question 6: Does cost affect your choice of what film you watch and where you watch it?
When asked if cost affects their choice to which film they watch and where, 7 participants (70% of the audiences’ vote) said yes cost does affect what film they watch and where they watch it, and the remaining 3 participants from the audience said no. Those who said no were all over 48, which suggest the value of the film is more important to them than the cost to view that film and they will appreciate the film for what it is rather than compare it to how much it costs them to watch the film. Because these participants of this age group are in a different lifestyle and occupation that allows them to explore a wider range of experiences compared to the rest of the participants, they would watch the film for the experience rather than letting the cost affect their decision to watch the film.
Question 7: How often do you watch films?
When asked how often they watch film, 2 people answered more than twice a week (all female), 1 participant answered once or twice a week (male aged 17), 3 answered once a fortnight, 4 answered once a month (all over 48 and making up 40% of the audience’s response for this question), and no one answered less than a month. This suggests that the younger section of my audience aged 16-19 all have more time to watch films (which fits into the typical cinema demographic of 16-25), compared to the 4 participants from my audience aged 48-52 who all have jobs.
Question 8: What makes a good thriller character?
For this question each of the audience members could give any response they wished to give, and when I asked them what makes a good thriller character, 1 participant from my selected audience answered innocent, 1 answered scary, 3 answered psycho (those who answered psycho all watch films once a week or more), 1 answered young male, 2 answered young female and 2 answered tough guy (both men over 50). Therefore, 30% of my audience’s response suggested that a good thriller character should be a ‘Psycho’ type character. As the audience who suggested Psycho watch films once a week or more, I assume that if the audience watched plenty of films direct to this genre, they will appreciate the codes and conventions that are allocated to this genre and to which character is most effective within the thriller genre.
Question 9: What is your favorite part of a film?
When asked what their favorite section and scene sequences of a film was, 4 participants from my audience answered intro, 3 answered beginning/middle, 1 answered middle/ending (1 female aged 48), 2 answered ending and no one answered middle or other. The introduction sequence therefore, proving to be the preferred part of a film with 40% of the response from my audience. This may be because the introduction is such a big part of the film as it set the theme, setting and tone to which the rest of the film will follow throughout, so a big impact has to be made to the audience to maintain their attention and focus.
Question 10: What setting or theme makes a good thriller film/TV series?
When asked what setting or theme makes a good thriller film/TV series, 3 participants from my audience answered claustrophobic, 2 answered a deserted town, 1 answered airport, 2 answered an old house (both men under 18), 1 participant answered busy city and 1 answered back alleys of a city. Claustrophobic proved to be my audience’s preferred setting for a thriller with 30% of the vote from my audience. When linked with question 8, it would appear that my audience favour a thriller in a claustrophobic setting with a psycho as the main character.
Question 11: Are thrillers best as a film or a TV series?
When asked if thrillers are best in the form of a film or TV series, 8 participants from my audience opted for film, meaning the remaining the remaining 2 participants from my audience answered TV series who are both male (1 aged 17 and 1 aged 52). Therefore, my audience (with 80% majority of the audience’s response) prefers thrillers as a film rather than a TV series. The males who chose TV series it appears chose to appreciate many individual and continuous installments of a thriller series over a regular basis rather than one large installment of a thriller medium.
Question 12: Are thrillers best in colour or in black and white?
When asked if thrillers are best in black or white, 6 participants from my audience answered colour (all under 20), the remaining 4 of my audience answered black and white (all over 48).This could indicate that this section of my audience were around at the time that classic thriller films were introduced, such as ‘Psycho’ which is a black and white film (and incidentally my audience do prefer a Psycho character in a thriller film as I found out in question 8). As the younger section have been viewing thriller media for a shorter length of time, only more recent thriller released over the previous 20 years would have been brought about with them as they grew up and therefore more related to them and their age group, such as ‘Seven’ that was released in September 1995. With 60% favoured response, my audience like thrillers best when they are in colour.
Question 13: Are modern or past thrillers best?
When asked if modern or past thrillers are best, 4 participants from my audience answered modern (all under 20), the remaining 6 answered past. My audience, therefore, have suggested to me that past thrillers make more of an impact on them than modern thrillers, with 60% of my audience answering past in the questionnaire. When linked to question 12, 60% of my audience voted that colour thrillers are preferred to black and white. Most of the past thrillers that have made an impact such as again ‘Psycho’ were in black and white, although past thrillers that have made an impact have been in colour such as ‘The Godfather’. Over more recent years such as over the last 10 years, it has been unusual to see a brand new black and white thriller film be released.
Question 14: What type of thrillers would you watch?
When asked what type of thriller film would they watch, implying if they were to direct a thriller film themselves or simply watch a sub genre of thriller film of their preference, 3 participants from my audience answered action (all male), 8 answered comedy, 2 answered crime, 2 answered disaster (both female under 20), 4 answered drama (all women), 5 answered horror, 1 answered legal/politics (male aged 52), 2 answered medical, 3 answered psychological, 1 answered supernatural (male aged 16) and no one answered other. It would appear that comedy would be the most accepted thriller out of my audience with four fifths of the group choosing it (80%).
Evaluation of Questionnaire
Overall, my questionnaire has helped me successfully research into and answer my objective of how audiences view thriller films. Finding a group of 10 participants evenly balanced between males and females was an advantage as I got an idea for each age group what their preferences are when it comes to viewing films and thriller films. However, to improve my investigation I could have had one male and one female grouped at one age, and a different pair of one male and one female a decade older and repeat this pattern. However this does stray from my target audience demographic and may not help to relating that further research to my thriller introduction. On the other hand, that idea could work because it would show how a male and female of the same age range view their media compared with other age groups.
Another idea that worked well with my questionnaire was the depth of each question as they produced some really interesting answers at times, such as questions 8, 10 and 14. Questions 8 and 10 the audience member could state an answer of their choosing which proved to make some intriguing answers. As in other cases, other participants answered similarly to a specific question which helped me to identify a common pattern, and link that pattern to corresponding patterns found in other questions. This worked in the case of questions 8 and 10, where I asked my audience about their ideal thriller characters and settings. My audience suggested in this case that a ‘Psycho’ character would be better in a ‘Claustrophobic’ setting. Later on in my questionnaire I found that I could link this finding to another of my questions I asked in my questionnaire about how often each of my participants watch thrillers. Those who answered ‘Psycho’ in question 8 all visited the cinema once a week and agreed that thrillers were best as a film. This indicates to me that those individuals from my audience watch films regularly, they will have watched a wide range of media which could involve the thriller genre, and so may have a strong indication of what characters and situations make an appealing thriller film.
From question 10, as my thriller opening will be located in some shots in an old house, it is good that I got a positive response of two votes making it the joint second highest scorer for that question (level with deserted town, but behind claustrophobic by one vote) from my audience as it shows that this would be an acceptable location to include in a thriller film. Also in regards to question 8, in my thriller opening I will be including a ‘tough guy’ and a ‘young male’. I am pleased that tough guy got a positive response of two for ‘tough guy’, but disappointed that ‘young male’ only scored one vote.
Wednesday 11 February 2009
Thriller Film Shooting Schedule
Shooting Schedule
Day 1
Arrive at 2PM
1st Shot: Shot 2 (2.10)
2nd Shot: Shot 3 (2.20)
3rd Shot: Shot 4 (2.33)
4th Shot: Shot 11 (2.45)
5th Shot: Shot 12 (2.50)
6th Shot: Shot 14 (2.55)
7th Shot: Shot 15 (3.10)
8th Shot: Shot 13 (3.20)
9th Shot: Shot 20 (3.40)
10th Shot: Shot 10(3.55)
11th Shot: Shot 5 (4.10)
Day 2
12th Shot: Shot 7 (2.30)
13th Shot: Shot 8 (2.50)
14th Shot: Shot 9 (3.00)
15th Shot: Shot 6 (3.10)
16th Shot: Shot 16 (3.25)
17th Shot: Shot 17 (3.30)
18th Shot: Shot 18 (3.40)
19th Shot: Shot 19 (3.50)
20th Shot: Shot 1 (4.00)
Day 1
Arrive at 2PM
1st Shot: Shot 2 (2.10)
2nd Shot: Shot 3 (2.20)
3rd Shot: Shot 4 (2.33)
4th Shot: Shot 11 (2.45)
5th Shot: Shot 12 (2.50)
6th Shot: Shot 14 (2.55)
7th Shot: Shot 15 (3.10)
8th Shot: Shot 13 (3.20)
9th Shot: Shot 20 (3.40)
10th Shot: Shot 10(3.55)
11th Shot: Shot 5 (4.10)
Day 2
12th Shot: Shot 7 (2.30)
13th Shot: Shot 8 (2.50)
14th Shot: Shot 9 (3.00)
15th Shot: Shot 6 (3.10)
16th Shot: Shot 16 (3.25)
17th Shot: Shot 17 (3.30)
18th Shot: Shot 18 (3.40)
19th Shot: Shot 19 (3.50)
20th Shot: Shot 1 (4.00)
Thriller Film Script
For out thriller film project, we deliberately decided against including any dialogue or voiceovers.
We did start to write dialouge, but found it difficult because by doing so, we found that it ruined the ambiguiety of the characters and narrative, thus disrupting the atmopshere of the situation.
We would have inserted this dialogue into the section of our sequence where the man situated inside the run down house is writing his letter, but having this dialogue we felt told too much of the story too soon and ruined the desired effect of mystery within what was written in the letter (this mystery was our main catch line to encourage viewers to view more of the film and discover what was written in that letter and about his link to the killing character as why we was killed).
We did start to write dialouge, but found it difficult because by doing so, we found that it ruined the ambiguiety of the characters and narrative, thus disrupting the atmopshere of the situation.
We would have inserted this dialogue into the section of our sequence where the man situated inside the run down house is writing his letter, but having this dialogue we felt told too much of the story too soon and ruined the desired effect of mystery within what was written in the letter (this mystery was our main catch line to encourage viewers to view more of the film and discover what was written in that letter and about his link to the killing character as why we was killed).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
