Audience Research - Questionnaire Results
Posted by Matthew Leigh | Posted in Planning and Research | Posted on
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1. What age category do you fall into? 
The chart clearly shows that I have a good age spread to draw data from, which will help me see what aspects of films have wide appeal.
2. Would you consider yourself a fan of the film medium?
A large portion of people asked like films, who would obviously be the target for my own film. Having film fans answer my questions causes the answers they give to my other questions to have increased validity.
3. Do you enjoy short films when they are aired before features in cinemas (for example the Pixar shorts)?
Once again, a large amount of my research pool enjoy short films, with only 5.71% of them actively disliking short films. This shows the data givers to be appropriate to my target audience, increasing the validity of the data I receive from them.
4. Do you prefer when films, specifically short films, have a comic element to them, or do you prefer serious drama?
The chart shows that out of the 35 people asked, only 10 preferred straight drama to a film with comic elements. This supports the intended use of comedy in my own film, although it would seem to make sense to give it some dramatic appeal to attract both sides of the divide. This may be achievable by not relying on slapstick alone, but adding a plot twist or some other creative or narrative device to my film.
5. In a short, do you prefer to see fast paced cutting, with many different shots in a short amount of time, or a slower paced affair with more thinking time?
As the chart shows, my audience's preference to editing style is somewhat split, with almost 50% preferring fast paced cuts and 50% preferring slow. It would be beneficial, therefore, to include both in my film, where appropriate.
6. Do you believe dialogue to be a necessary feature in short films, especially in terms of a narrative?
The chart shows that my target audience are, for the most part, not concerned whether a film contains dialogue or not. This information supports my decision to not use any dialogue within my own short film.
7. Do you enjoy music illustrative of the events on screen in shorts, no music, or merely incidental music that is separate to the events on screen?
The results, when plotted into a bar chart, show that my audience's opinion on the role of music in a film is somewhat split. The chart shows that while the majority enjoy illustrative music, it is not an overwhelming majority. What is shown is that my audience tends to prefer illustrative or no music at all as opposed to mere background music, with only 25.71% enjoying non-illustrative background music. I'll try to use a mix of illustrative music and silence for effect in my film.
8. Do you prefer film credits to be displayed at the opening of the film, only at the end or does it not affect you either way?
An overwhelming majority of my audience prefer credits to be shown only at the end of a film (74.29%). This further solidifies my decision not to have opening credits of any sort.
