Audience Research 1

Finding and Targeting my Audience

Questions One and Two

My first two questions were very basic questions which allowed
me to see the area which answered my survey. From this it allows
me to see the target age of my film, meaning I can cater my film
towards the older age range, this could also allow my film to be a
bit dark and more gritty in content.
Also, the fact that there is an exact 50/50 split between male and
female helps in the way that I have received answers from both
genders evenly, meaning I get a good range of results.

Question 3:
What is your favourite treasure hunt film?
For my third question I ask what their favourite treasure hunt film is,
out of the 28 people who answered my survey, Indiana Jones
received 55.56% of the votes, leading on all other choices
significantly. This was followed by Tomb Raider and Angels &
Demons which both had 18.52%. Behind those were The Mummy
and a film which wasnt listed, and right at the bottom were
Uncharted and National Treasure.
This tells me that the audience prefers a male
leading role as shown by the significant boost of
votes for it. However the fact that Tomb Raider
Comes second could suggest they also like a
Female lead, so this gives me a question for my
next research. But the fact is Indiana Jones
heavily pushes the storyline where the hero goes
all over the place following a trail to get to the
end treasure, which is the exact story arc that Im
going for in my film.

Question 4:
What is it about treasure hunt films that appeals to you?
My fourth question was different to my others in the fact that there

were no set answers like my other questions. So responses for this

varied far and wide, but the general consensus was that people
liked a good plot, seeing the story develop and how the hero gets
to the end goal. But as well as this is also the mystery associated
with it, the tension and anticipation that goes with the story and
the historical references and contexts of the treasure.

Question 5:
Out of ten how much of an effort do you make to watch new
trailers
So this question was put in to give me an idea of how much my
audience interacted with trailers, and this result surprised me. The
fact that there are answers right across the board is promising to
show that there is variation. But the fact that most of the votes are
towards the bottom and the average of the 28 answers is 4.39
would suggest that people are not overly keen to watch a new
trailer as soon as they can, they might just watch it when a friend
shows them, but this is a question I can ask in my next research.
But the fact that they do not watch trailers of their own accord
means that my trailer would have to stand out and make people
want to go and watch it.

Question 6:
Which recent film trailers have you seen?
This question gave me the opportunity to see what kinds of trailers
my audience have seen, the fact that the trailer for Fantastic
Beasts and Where to Find Them came at the top is of little
surprise, this is because it is a franchise film with the entire Harry
Potter saga behind it. Doctor Strange came next and that didnt
surprise me much either, the fact that it is the next instalment of
the Marvel Cinematic Universe, although it is
the first film of
that title. Assassins Creed
was understandable as it already
has the
gaming fan-base behind it. Guardians of
the Galaxy 2 is again an instalment in the
Marvel Cinematic
Universe. Logan is the
next film in the X-Men film series.
The only films that arent part of a franchise
are Passengers and
Life, which have come
out at the bottom of the watch list.

Question 7:
Which of these have you heard of?
This question moved away from my general finding my audience
questions and moved onto questions which revolved more around
the story for my film. All of these has some kind of relevance in my
film, so by asking which they have heard of I can understand how
much audiences would know before actually going to the cinema.
As clearly seen below 100% of people had heard
of
Merlin, and 92% of people had heard of
Camelot and King Arthur, then 89% of
people had
heard of Excalibur. This is all
great for me to hear
as it shows that people
know the general story. The
figures
significantly drop to 59% and 40% for
Avalon and Tintagel, which is even better for
me to hear as it shows that people know the
general
story but not the fine detail, leaving
some level of
mystery for the audience.

Question 8:
What do you look forward to in films?
By asking this question it gave me some better idea of where to
direct my story and trailer to aim it better towards what the
audience wants. 92% of people answered that they look forward
the Storyline, 68% said Character Development, 57% said
Character Relationships and 50% said Emotional Connection.
The fact that these four came top in this
question is
great news for me, as it means
I need to focus on
writing good parts and
characters rather than
having to spend a lot
of time on editing in Special
Effects and
explosions or choreographing big chases
or fight scenes.
However because of this, I now want to ask my
audience what makes a good story or a
and connectable character.

good

Question 9:
How much of the story do you like to be given away in the trailer?
This question allowed me to get an idea of how much story from my
treatment should be included in my trailer. Although the measuring
system wasnt in great detail it still gives a strong indication. This
was shown through 50% of people saying A bit and 35% saying
Very Little with the remaining 15% going for higher options.
However the majority
went for smaller options,
suggesting to me
that not much of my storyline
has to be
shown in my trailer, just enough to keep
them interested and give some idea of the
general story to make them want to see it.

Question 10:
Do you prefer film trailers to......
My final question dealt with what audiences like to see in trailers
themselves, with the options of highlighting the story, locations,
actors, action or a mixture.
53% of people preferred to see a mixture, then 35% preferred to see
the story, this fits in well with question 7 as it
reinforces the fact that people like a
strong
storyline.
However this also reinforces the fact that I
now
have to come up with a story which
would please
people, along with
characters they can feel
connected to
and feel as if they are on the
journey
with the main character.

What have I learned?

This first batch of audience research has taught me a lot of
things from what age range my film can target to the kinds
of things they like to see in movie trailers.
There is a lot of information from this that I will now need to
go away and apply to my treatment or plan for my trailer.
This includes making my storyline interesting and engaging
as the vast majority of my audience said they like to see a
strong storyline in films. But I also need to write and create
interesting and engaging characters for the audience to
connect to while watching.
Aside from this I know that I must include a mixture of story
and action in my trailer to appeal to audiences and catch
their attention.