Target Audience Research

WHY?

I created a questionnaire of 19 questions to try and find out relevant information on my target audience according to the film introduction I will be making. This included finding out about their viewing habits, their likes and dislikes and their knowledge of the social realism genre.

PROBLEMS I FACED

When I first sent out my questionnaire, to reach a wide audience over a short period of time, I decided to send it by a message on ‘Facebook’. However as there were many other questionnaires going out at the same time, I got a limited response. To make sure I did have some sort of market research I sent out the questionnaire in paper form. As I had a very short time to get the replies back I only got 9 replies out of 24. If I had the chance to do my research again I would have sent out the questionnaire in a mix of paper and electronic forms with at least a two week wait till I had to collect and analyse the information. This would not only mean the questionnaire would not only reach a large audience, but I would also have a sufficient amount of data to analyse.

THE RESULTS

I have now analysed the data that I gathered and have put them into graphs. I did this to help me understand exactly what my audience wanted and to help present the information I gathered.

THE RESULTS...

GENDER

I asked a mix of both males and female to get a clear understanding when looking into different opinions that different genders have about film. However as I got a larger response from the male gender, it may seem that my data is bias. If I was to do the research again, I would make sure that I had an equal amount of both genders to rule out any bias.

AGE

When I first sent out my questionnaires I did it so that I had a equal amount of varied ages. However as i got a limited response, I mainly had responses within the 11-20 bracket, specifically 16 year old. This may be seen to bias my data, but as my film idea is supposed to be targeted at the younger generations this gave me a direct response from my target market.

FREQUENCY OF VIEWING

This was a closed question. From the 9 responses, everyone watched at least one film a week. This tells me that the majority of my audience are interested in film as they watch them frequently.

VIEWING PLACES

This question was closed, but you were able to pick more than one option. The majority of the responses used more than one type of media platform to view the films. This means that my film must not just be made for technology for the cinema, but for technology for home viewing via DVD/Blu-ray, TV and the internet.

TIME OF VIEWING

I asked this question to try and find out exactly when my audience will watch my film. From the data, I can see that most people watch films in the evening and everyone watches them after midday and not in the morning. This means that when my film is screened it should be screened mainly during the evening as this is when the majority of my audience will be free.

HAVE YOU SEEN ANY SHORT/LOW BUDGET FILMS

I as am making a low budget film I decided to ask this question. The response to this was about equal. 5 people had not seen one and 4 people did. However the extension to this question was ‘If ‘yes‘ how did they compare?‘ From the response to this question they all felt that the films compared well and all had a ‘more realistic feel’ to them. This works well with the genre my film will be based in, social realism, as it will add to the realistic effect trying to be created.

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A SOCIAL REALISM FILM

All of my audience said they had seen a social realism film. However from the responses, I can see that the films that they have seen are all hybrids of the genre. This means that my film may have to be a hybrid for it to not only be commercially successful but also appealing to my audience.

DO YOU ENJOY FILMS THAT PORTRAY SOCIAL ISSUES AND WHAT ISSUES WOULD YOU EXPECT TO BE RAISED

From my data, I can see that the majority of my audience like films that portray social issues. I still have to take in hand the two that did not feel they enjoyed films of this nature. When asked why, they thought that the issues did not relate to them. However to fix this, my film tries to raise issues that relate to the youth, to attract them to the film. Then when asked what issues they expect to be raised, the main one that came up was ‘Drugs and Alcohol’. This means that within my film there will need to be a element of this issue, to help attract my audience.

ARE THERE MANY SOCIAL REALISM FILMS AIMED AT YOUTH

Here I asked this question to try and find out whether my audience felt there was a lot of competition within the market I aiming to release my film into. There was about an equal response to this question. However it was clear through a few of the responses that the films were not true social realism films such as ‘Kes’ or ‘Poor Cow’ , but were now hybrids that tried to attract a wider audience. This shows me there may be a gap for a true social realism film that raises issues that interest my audience.

SPECIFIC QUESTIONDO YOU FEEL A FILM INCLUDING ISSUES SUCH AS THE STRAINED

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MOTHER AND TEEN, DRUGS AND MONEY

PROBLEMS WOULD BE INTERESTING TO WATCH?

I asked this question finally to see whether my audience felt the idea for my film would be interesting to them. The majority of the audience liked the issues that would be raised within the film. From this I can see that my film will attract my audience as it raises issues that are relevant to them.

Evaluation of Research

From the research I have done, via my questionnaire, I have found out that the film I am creating should not only fit in well with the social realism genre, but should also attract my audience as it contains issues that are relevant to them. I have also learnt a lot about my audience. I now understand that they watch films on many different media types, meaning that my film should be able to be viewed on all of these different types to reach all of my audience. I also now know that they prefer to watch films in the evening, meaning my film should be mainly screened then. I have found that my audience have a wide knowledge of the social realism genre however when presented with the word they do not have a definite understanding of the term. I understand that they believe that their is a gap in the market for a true social realism film that raises issues of the younger generations. My film will have to include and use the information found to attract my target audience and be successful.