As Media studies blog- Jess Travers
Questionnaire Analysis
As you can see from the pie chart the majority of our respondents were female, this will be directly linked to the environment we gave most of our questionnaires out in. We go to an all-girls Grammar School so most of the paper and online responses would be girls instead of men. However there were still some boys that replied (although only 8) and this adds some variety into the results found.
Respondents were mainly from ages 13-18 (71.2%) which means that they were mainly teenagers, we aimed our questionnaires at this particular group in the population because they are our target market. We gained some responses from other ages, such as 40-60 which insured that the results were not completely pin pointed on the specific views of teenagers.
My partner and I planned for the main protagonist to be female and this fits perfectly in with the responses from this question in the questionnaire. The majority of people had ‘no preference’ which means the protagonist can be female and at the same time satisfy the needs of the audience. This is exactly what we aim to do with our production. Our intentions with the protagonist being female are to follow a distinct stereotype- leading heroine who battles against social expectations. Although this may not be as clearly seen within the first 2 minutes, our predictions for the rest of the film are leaning towards this character development.
20-35 was the most chosen sub-category of this question. However, my partner and I have chosen to base our character in the 16-20 bracket. Although 16-20 isn’t the top picked option, we had the opportunity to work with an experienced actress which will significantly boost the quality of our 2 minute opening. Yet we were placed with the problem of our actress being younger than the popular age chosen, therefore we went with the second most popular response: 16-20 (at 36.5%). We believe that this will be a logical and beneficial choice for our production.
The stereotype of Russian Spies is one that has developed from real life to fiction. James Bond, the Blacklist and Mission Impossible are all examples of where various interpretations of the Russian Spy stereotype are used. My partner and I wanted to exploit this idea and use Russian speaking and writing in our film, to add to the spy genre we are attempting to portray. While more people wanted ‘no’ than ‘yes’ (by 17.3% difference), the ‘no preference’ sub-category was chosen more (at 51.9%); we are able to go ahead with our ‘Russian Spy film’ plan without upsetting the audience. It will add a factor of suspense and interest into the production; all while exploring the techniques involved with producing a film incorporating a foreign language.
These results were very varied; according to the collected responses, the opening titles over someone talking in a phone booth (38.5%) is most wanted by our audience. However, knowledge obtained in our media lessons contradicts this decision; it would be boring and might cause disinterest in the audience. With this information, my partner and I have decided to shoot the protagonist walking over the titles. With quick cut editing and using various different angles we can add tension and introduce our main character at the same time which will be beneficial to the production.
48.1% of people didn’t mind what the gender of the antagonist. It has been decided that the protagonist will be female so, as there was mainly no preference, my partner and I decided that the antagonist should be male. This is to ensure a balance in gender throughout our 2 minute opening and will not be excluding one gender from our production.
We took the results into consideration; with ‘Business Man’ and ‘Mother of two’ being the most popular choices from the sub-categories, nonetheless my partner and I decided to choose the second most popular response (teenager at 15.4%). This is a combination of convenience and practicality; ‘A mother of two’ would be very hard to replicate on film as we may not have access to actresses for this role.
The majority of respondents voted for ‘Yes’ when asked about whether we should include a cliff hanger at the end of our 2 minute opening (71.2%). We decided to follow their suggestions and end with a cliff hanger; this creates suspense, tension and entices the audience to watch more. This will increase our viewings and overall positive attitude towards the 2 minute opening.
Psychological thriller was the most popular choice at 50%, but this is a very common genre in AS Media since it is simple and easy to replicate. We decided to differentiate from the ‘norm’ and challenge ourselves to hopefully achieve a better outcome. Hopefully, this will make our film stand out and carry more skill and technique; therefore achieving a more refined and exciting piece.
Dialogue is an important part of any film or opening so this question was very important within the questionnaire. 51.9% of people said that it should be evenly balanced with diegetic sound; we reached the decision that we would follow this advice. Between the beginning voice over and background chatter in the café scene, the even balance can be accomplished. We chose to not just revolve the sound around speech because it would divert focus away from the action and overwhelm the audience. In contrast limited speech and increased diegetic sound creates a suspenseful atmosphere with the tension of a thriller.
Black coffee was found to be the most popular drink at 50%. This is what my partner and I predicted and wanted to happen. Black coffee is usually associated with a professional character; the man drinking this particular beverage will be in a suit and waistcoat. This is in attempt to help the audience associate him with business and the polished professional attire/life. We will be using black coffee as the hot drink consumed by this mysterious man in the café scene.