Research Techniques in Film

Quantitative Research – Quantitative research is a form of research which uses numerical values and statistics.

Qualitative Research – Qualitative research is a form of research using more in depth information for example, asking for a reason for an answer in a questionnaire.

Primary Research – This is research that is carried out by the person themselves, for example questionnaires or interviews.

Secondary Research – This is research that has been carried out by someone else and used by another person, for example, if you searched something on Google then that would be secondary research as someone else has carried the research out prior.

Types of Audience

Mainstream Audience – An audience that is Mainstream would be widely targeted and wouldn’t have a set type of person that the product is aimed; it would be aimed at male or female. An example of a mainstream film is the James Bond series, there is not a set target audience to this film as men and women of all ages can be interested in it. Another example would be Star Wars.

Alternative Audience – An audience that is alternative would be targeted at a more refined audience but would still be successful. The first saw movie would be targeted at a niche audience as it was the first of its kind which then blew up into a mainstream franchise. Another niche film would be A Clockwork Orange; this would be targeted at a small audience as it is a rather controversial film.

Niche Audience

An audience that would be niche would be a very small audience and the film wouldn’t necessarily be very successful compared to a blockbuster film. For example, the film “Ronaldo” is targeted to a niche audience as the target audience will be fans of football which is not as big of an audience as, for example, a horror film. Also “The class of 92” which is also a football based documentary will be targeted at a niche audience.

Audience Profiling

Gender – Produces might target audience based on gender as females usually prefer to watch certain films such as romance films compared to males who would prefer to watch an action film.

Age – A film may be targeted at a certain age group based on certain content, for example a cartoon film with no violence or strong language would be aimed at younger children.

Social-Economic status – Producers may choose to target their films at either upper class or lower class people, for example, a film that is about a gang of hooligans in bad areas of London would most likely be targeted at lower class people.

Geo-Demographics – Geo-Demographics is all about where you live, producers will target their films at different locations, for example, if a film was to be made about life in a north west town, then the target audience would be Northern people as they could relate to it and would want to see how their surroundings is portrayed.

Psychographics – Film producers would have to consider people’s attitudes and aspirations when making a film, for example, a struggler would usually watch films about lower class people where as a succeeder would usually watch a film about rich and famous people.

Religious Identity – Religious identity is a rather controversial audience type as it can cause offensive, for example if a film about the Muslim culture was made, it would be targeted at Muslims but if anything was wrong with the film it could cause offense.

Exit Poll - https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/DJ8BGRW

I carried out an exit poll for the horror film Blair Witch to find out information about the target audience. I asked 8 questions to try to gain an understanding of what a film producer looks at to try to make a film that attracts to people.

Firstly, I asked about the gender of the watcher, this was to gain an understanding of what gender the film is aimed at. From my findings, I came to the conclusion that the film was more targeted at male watchers, as 70% of my responses where from males. Horror films are usually more preferred by males as females would usually prefer to watch a romance film. The 2016 Blair Witch film is classified as a 15 and from my survey I have found that the majority of watchers were teenagers under the age of 18, in fact 90% of my responses were from under 18s. This suggests that the film is targeted more at the younger generation than older people even though the original film was released before most under 18s were born. Blair Witch is a fictional horror film therefore it is thought that the film will be targeted at fans of scary jump scares and tension building silence, however, 40% of the responses were from fans of comedy films compared to 20% for horror, 30% for action and 10% for romance. This gives us the impression that the film isn’t just targeted at fans of horror but a more varied audience. Film producers will think carefully on how to market their film, and what technique will get them the most publicity. In this case, TV adverts was the most popular, this is because most people watch TV and will most likely see the advert at one point.

From my findings, I can come to the conclusion that Blair Witch (2016) is aimed at younger people aged under 18, mainly males who have a varied preference of genre and noticed the film on TV.

Poster Analysis

Primary Optical Area – This is the area of the poster that we first see, in this area it includes the name of the film and the name of the main star. This means that as soon as the audience look at the poster they are immediately drawn to the main person in the film.

Strong Fallow Area – This is the second part of the poster we see, this usually

What are the main colours used in the poster? What do they connote?

In the poster, the main colours are rather neutral, except from the colours of the American flag, the red on the flag could suggest that there is some danger to come to the soldier however accompanied with the blue can suggest that there will also be happiness to come. The white also suggests safety and innocence however it is accompanied with black which could suggest otherwise. All the colours seem to clash against each other. There is a sense of mystery to the poster and there is minimal detail and colours, this means the audience don’t really know much about the character, they don’t know why he is alone carrying the flag and they don’t know why he hasn’t got a gun with him.

What symbols are used in the poster?

The flag is the main symbol in the poster, it shows the power he possesses and could also mean the freedom he has. The fact he is holding the flag could show his loyalty and legion to the country, army and maybe also his family as he may only be in the army to provide for his family.

What are the main figures/objects/background of the poster?

Primary Optical Area – This is the area of the poster that we first see, in this area it includes the name of the film and the name of the main star. This means that as soon as the audience look at the poster they are immediately drawn to the main person in the film.

Strong Fallow Area – This is the second part of the poster we see, this usually

In this poster, the main focus of the poster is the colour representation. The use of red and black throughout represents danger and death, along with the vein-like branches which could signify that the humans are in danger. Given the fact that there is no real information or detail on the poster, this creates a sense of mystery to the audience, the poster does not reveal any characters or any potential plot. In the middle of the poster, there is a cross like figure which could suggest there are religious connotations in the film. However, the figure also looks like a person which could link with the vein-like branches and add to the symbolism of human danger. In this poster, there is anchorage which is the juxtaposition of the images or sound to define meaning for the audience. In this poster, we are “anchored” to the colours and their meaning as there are no images of any characters. The line under the title reads “There is something evil hiding in the woods tonight” we can link this with the colour representation and the idea of the veins and the figure in the centre of the poster, the “evil” which is in the woods may be out to kill hence the red and black colours and the figure in the poster could be the “evil”.

The main figure in the background is the main character, Bradley Cooper in a soldier’s attire carrying a large American flag. Snipers in the army tend to always be hidden alone in spots, this could be the reason why he is alone in the poster.

Are the messages in the poster primarily visual, verbal, or both?

Most of the messages in the poster are visual, a lot of the messages come from the flag and its colours and what connotations they have to the film.

Who do you think is the intended audience for the poster? Why?

The intended audience for this poster is older teens and adults as it is a rather simplistic poster that has minimal colours and minimal details.

Given that the aim of a film poster is to get audiences to go and see the film - what persuasive techniques are used?

The line after the title is used to persuade the audience, it says “the most lethal sniper in U.S history” this would make people want to watch the film as he is an iconic figure in American army history and it would be interesting to watch his story from a viewer’s perspective.

Which genre conventions are referred to?

From the poster you can tell that the film will contain action, the soldier looks dirty and his attire looks worn out and tired, this suggests that he has been in the warzone for a while. However, from his facial expression, you get the sense that there is an underlying sadness to the film.

Is a star used as a USP?

In this poster, the star, Bradley Cooper, is used as a unique selling point to show the audience the main star of the film. A USP is usually used to drown out any competition, for example if another American Sniper was made with an unknown actor as the main star, the original would be more successful as they have a unique selling point.

How is attention gained (humour, shock, surprise familiar face of a star)?

The attention of the audience is captured by the familiar face of a star accompanied by a large American flag.

How does the tagline work? (humour, pun, alliteration etc.?)

The tagline give the audience an insight into the film, it says “the most lethal sniper in US history” this informs the audience that the film is following the most lethal u.s sniper.

Trailer Analysis

Blair Witch

Setting – This film is set in a far out woods in America where one of the character’s sisters went missing years prior to them going, the group are looking for a house where they believe the sister could be. The woods are portrayed as dark, scary place which shouldn’t be entered alone or in groups. This creates underlying tension for the audience who go to watch the film, they will know the danger of the wood before the characters enter. Nick Lacey introduced a repertoire of elements when analysing genres, the setting is one of the main elements that helps set the tone of the film and helps establish its genre conventions. For example, the anchorage of fear onto the audience draws them in and makes them want to watch on. From the trailer, we learn that the students will inevitably die, so the fear in the audience is not when they die but how they will die.

Character – The characters in the film are young students who are filming a documentary about finding the missing sister of one of the characters in a dark forest in the middle of nowhere. In the trailer, the characters are shown as calm and collected at the beginning but as the trailer continues the characters are then shown as broken and scared, which follows the typical horror genre convention.

Narrative – The narrative of the trailer follows the typical conventions of a horror film. The beginning starts calm and there is no sign of anything bad happening, until they enter the woods and the story changes and the horror kicks in.

Iconography – In the trailer, the plot cannot be spoiled as it wouldn’t just stop people watched the film as they would know what happens. Therefore, only some key parts of the film can be shown in the trailer to attract the audience and to make them want to watch the film to find out what happens in the end. For example, in the trailer, it shows all the characters screaming but it doesn’t actually show why, this builds up tension and mystery in the audience as they want to know why the characters are screaming and what is happening in the forest.

Style – The style of a horror film usually consists of a lot of close up shots and establishing shots of the scene to show the audience where the characters. There is also a lot of pauses of sound to build up the tension in the audience just before something pops up or jumps out at the characters as this builds the adrenaline in the audience.

Range of Marketing Techniques

To summarise, the marketing of films is vital to its box office figures. In terms of the Blair Witch, I believe its marketing has been successful in attracting an audience, it has gained 35 Million USD in box office which is a success for a film which had a budget of 5 million USD. The film poster for the film was successful as it was mysterious, it didn’t reveal any of the plot to the audience which made them want to watch the film to find out the plot. There were many different marketing techniques used to sell the film, namely; TV adverts and multiple YouTube trailers. One clever marketing strategy used by the producers was to upload an untitled snippet from the film that had no association with the film itself (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0MayhTqL1Q) , it included a clip of a camera recording of someone running through an abandoned house. The clip began to do the rounds of the internet with many people having different theories about the clip, until then the first official trailer was released which included the same clip and stopped any theories about the

clip. This will have caused a big interest in the clip and when it was revealed to be a clip from the film, this will of attracted people to watch the film to find out what the clip is about.