Audience Research - online survey - results

From our Online Survey, we've found that most people were more likely to watch films at home and were more inclined for those films to be blockbusters. However,100% answered that they do go to the cinema and more over, almost 45% go once a month and almost 17% go every week.

In terms of thrillers, 89% answered that they often watch them and 34% said that they have seen over 30 thrillers.

However, 100% of our audience that answered our survey was in the age category of 13-17 and only 3 persons out of 18 that answered said that they prefer social realism or psychological thrillers; the , majority (50%) said they preferred Action thrillers.

From this we can conclude that our target audience of 16-24 years old is perhaps too young. Meaning our social realism, psychological, urban thriller should be targeted at an older audience ( maybe 24-35 year olds).

Though our film would be certified a 15 and we are keen for it to appeal to young ages above 15 as well, we think that perhaps we should continue with our other Audience research to target our audience at an older age.

However, we will also interview some younger people to get their point of view and understanding on the concept of thrillers, especially social realism ones.

Audience Research

Yesterday Eliza and I created Facebook page for our film. We named it 'To Be Decided' as the film's name is yet to be decided! We hope that by creating a Facebook page we will be able to target our film at our target audience easier (16-25). We are posting photos and updates of our film's progress but also uploading links to our Online Surveys in hope that everyone will fill it out and give us the information we need to find out about our Audience's Likes and Dislikes.

We've already reached 90 likes!

We are also in the progress of compiling Vox pops, questionnaires, interviews and focus groups.

Here are some screenshots of our page:

Audience

My target audience is late teenager to late twenty year old, simply because of the idea of violence and meaning behind the character 'supposedly' committing suicide, though the audience never finds out. I wouldn't target  much younger as BBFC suggest that any use of the idea of teenagers self harming should be a 15 if there is only minimal, and for this reason I am also unsure on what exact rating it would be, as I am unsure to what extent the self harm will be shown, and whether or not the idea of suicide is darker than seeing it happen.

Sound

I want there to be dialogue between the two parents, but minimal so that the main sound is the tense music. The only things they should mention are the fact that their son / daughter is missing. i.e. 'She's late'.


For the teenager scene, I want there to be no dialogue, but only a soundtrack of some sort of pulsing beat, and distorted buzzing as if being unable to think when a short period of slow motion might be used. There will also be a lot of sound effects, to emphasis the opening of doors and running footsteps, as well as the stepping up onto the ledge.


I want to use lots of folly sounds with lots of noise to emphasis the chaos. I will open with a sound bridge of the soundtrack and running footsteps which will immediately get the audience concentrating on whats happening.

Graphics

Titles:

I want actors names to come up in the opening, followed by a short title flashing across the screen, which each new name scattered somewhere else on the screen in the negative space that the clip has. I want the text to fade in and out, with the main colours probably being white and black, or maybe streaks of dark red. Hopefully these quite natural colors will add a sense of tension. 

The fonts I have looked at are shown below, all quite similar in that I want to use some sort of distortion and broken letters to emphasis the cautiousness of the seen, with maybe a change of font for when the screen cuts to the family household. I want the font to be positioned so that it looks like it is part of the scene, as if printed on the wall and is made to blend in a little. 

The opening title sequences for True Detective are what have influenced me most, as I like the use of the titles positioned in negative space, and the use of slightly rough and disordered text.

Characters - Costumes - Porps

The characters that will appear in the opening of my film will be a teenage boy or girl, aged 17-18. There will also be two parents, a father and mother aged mid 40's. The contrast in Characters will be helped by the setting and colours, as the teenager will be wearing rough and dark clothes, while being surrounded by raw buildings, and the parents will be wearing classic patently clothes while surround by a well lit and colourful house.

Teenager:

I want the teenager to be a girl, though if this is not possible a boy will do fine. Him/her should have dark black or brown hair, with brown eyes and a rough edgy feel about them. This will add to all the darkness of the scene. 

He/she will wear a hoodie, with a dark jacket over the top and long baggy trousers. This will then represent a dodgy looking teenager, those which would mug someone or look like they would get onto some rough situations.

I was mainly influenced for the clothing once again by Kidulthood here, as shown by the picture below, which shows the kind of clothing I want to use.

Parents:

I want the parents to come across as being really open and stereotypical posh well raised parents. I want them to wear brighter clothes such as cardigans and jeans to stand out and contrast the darker colours of the grungy estate.

My inspiration for this is 'We're the Miller', where the mini van family are shown in their bright and pristine clothing. The parents are the two in the middle.

Style / Tone

The overall tone of my introduction will be dark and moody, with a real sense of threat to the teenager. In the estate staircase I want there to be flickering and dim lighting (Low Key) and the walls to be worn and possibly have some graffiti which will allow the tension and danger to be increased. The atmosphere for the teenager will be tense and chaotic which will also be helped by the use of music and emphasising panting, and a pulse. This will be largely contrasted by the cross cutting scene of the ,other sat around the dinner table, with little atmospheric sound or music, but still the idea that something bad is about to happen - such as the absence of a seat and the parents or mother worrying.

Staircase ideas:

• Dark and grungy, scary looking with limited light and dirty slitted lighting.
• This continues up onto the building roof which still feels dirty and as if it is in a rough area

       

Lighting:

• Low key lighting with lots of chiaroscuro to create more tension and add a sense of drama and as if something bad is going to happen in the near present.
• Try some flickering lights in the staircase? 
• When on the roof, a slight under lighting from the light from the street below
• lights all around to show the city, emphasising how high up it is as the teenager steps up onto the ledge.
• The lighting in the contrasting scene is well lit with key lighting and little shadow.
• This emphasises the contrast between the two scenes so that the teenager is emphasised to be in danger.

Camera Shots:

• I want to use a series of POV shots from the eyes of the teenager so that the chaotic feel is really shown strong which may be achieved by slight shaking. 
• Maybe some over the shoulder shots to get an idea of the height of the ledge.
• In the house hold environment I want to use some close ups with a low angle to show the lack of power that the parents have.
• For the phone call I want to use an extreme close up on the mothers face as the expression changes on the phone call. 

I have been influenced By Kidulthood opening, as I like the use of the POV shots with slight tilting and shaking which allows for the sense of a chaotic feel. I also have been influenced by the estate and shifty feel of the buildings which add tension. 

I was also influenced by several of the Batman films, where the key lighting creates a lot of chiaroscuro in the darker lit rooms and areas. The grungy feel of the buildings also inspired me to create the idea for this pre production. 

Outline - Pitch

My genre will be dark and moody thriller, with some sense of a physiological twisting plot. My opening will be constructed through the use of several cross cutting between two separate scenes, one of a high speed cut running scene of a shady looking character on a roof top, and the other a civilised household of a or several characters (maybe a mother) having dinner.

Detailed opening:

- Fade in from black
- Night time, dim lighting and flickering lights in the stairway
- Man or woman running up graffiti stained stair case in an estate
- Use of POV shots (to make it seen hectic and chaotic)
- Straight cut, short, to mother or several people at a dinner table
- Straight cut back to runner
- Opens fire escape door
- Runs up to edge of building and stands over the edge
- Cuts back to dinner table as mother shows concern
- A POV pan across London from the view of the runner on the ledge
- Close up of runners expresions (panting and in distress)
- Cuts back to dinner table, phone rings
- Mother answers phone (END)

Narrative / plot:

The Son or Daughter commits suicide in a frantic state when s/he jumps of their estate block. Police find markings on the body, signs of abuse and torture. The mother is called as she finds out the fait of her son/daughter. The police hunt down who caused the suicide  of the teenager, with the suspect doing anything to get away.