Survey Analysis

In November, I collated questionnaire results to gauge what an audience expects of my short film. Such a preliminary survey would give me a foundation with which to work from, to understand audience expectations in regards to the fairly niche short film sub-genre. Using social media allowed me to get a range of results, from different ages, genders, ethnicities and occupations, giving me a more absolute and substantial set of results. The breadth of opinion I got from the survey helped me to get ideas for my short film, working out was popular and would correlate with my audience. Consequently, I feel that making a survey was productive and advantageous, giving me the opportunity to get ideas that, otherwise, may not have come to me. A thorough analysis of each question can be found below.

Gender Question

The obligatory gender question (male or female?) came first in my survey. For this preliminary survey, it was fundamentally important that this question featured an equal split between male and female. Equal male and female participants would mean I got a range of results and opinions, which was necessary for the purpose of the survey- note that this was likely to change in a secondary survey. Consequently, I was pleased that there was roughly similar numbers, meaning that my survey was a more accurate representation of views, which is hopefully reflective in the rest of the survey.

Ethnicity Question

For the same purposes as above, I wanted to achieve a sense of equality between ethnicities. This was slightly more difficult to achieve, given that, realistically, a large proportion of social media friends and followers are White British. Therefore, it was unsurprising that the majority of responses featured 'English' or 'White British'. Whilst this wasn't ideal, it's my opinion that I don't think the diversity in opinion between ethnicities is as much as the diverse feedback seen between genders. As a result, it's more important to me that the gender question was split, and overall I'm pleased with the limited difference in ethnicities that there is.

Occupation Question

In regards to participants occupation, I was unsure what to expect, and the only real key objective I had this question was to achieve a sense of range. From students to librarians, to civil servants and a call centre worker, I feel that I successfully gleaned a number of responses from different people. In regards to theses three questions, I was massively pleased with the difference I had survey participants.

Age Question

I already had a preconceived target market before creating this preliminary survey, and so I was particularly interested in responses from the 26-35 age bracket, which makes sense given the premise for my short film 'Before'. Unsurprisingly, given my method of distribution on social media, the majority of responses came from a younger demographic which, to an extent, included the 26-35 age group I was most interested in, with 22% of participants of this age. However, this diversity, particularly at a preliminary stage, meant that I could achieve a range of opinions that would help me to formulate more comprehensive idea of how to create my short film.

Question to discern how often survey participants watched short films

This question was designed to work out the popularity of short films; moreover, it was able to discern which of my audience were regular viewers of short films, as opposed to the more casual viewer. The result makes it clear that the majority of participants weren't regular viewers of short films, meaning that my preliminary audience perhaps weren't as knowledgeable about the genre. Whilst this may have been impacted on the depth of knowledge in responses, the reality is that my target audience won't be regular short film viewers either. Consequently, I don't feel the lack of short film fans in my survey was that significant on affecting the usefulness of the questionnaire.

Genre Question

This result of this question revealed the diversity in participant's most favoured genre. Whilst Crime was most popular, the vastly different genre's such as the Thriller, Comedy and Documentary means that I don't think my decision on choosing a genre for my film would make a vast difference with my audience. However, the lack of popularity for Westerns, Musicals and Sports films means that I'm unlikely to write a script along thee lines. Therefore, as a consequence of this question, I've deciphered which genres not to include, whilst coming to the realisation that selecting a genre isn't that important.

How many characters?

The response to this question has been put into practice in my short film. 2-3 was by far the most popular reply, and I agree with this- especially with such a short time frame, five minutes, it's fundamental that a smaller cast of characters is used in my short film, partly to make it easier to identify and discern one character from another, although I also believe a smaller cast makes it easier to relate and empathise. Empathy is one of the key emotions I'd like the audience to take a way from the short film. 

Favourite aspects of a short film

Another key question; this query made me realise what was most important to an audience to place priority on those top factors when constructing my short film. Evidently, with 26%, 23% and 20% of the vote, storyline, characters and genre were most popular with participants. A focus on substance over style is apparent from these responses and, whilst I hope to make my film have an aesthetic look, I want the film to have a sufficient plot and narrative that's engaging. If I were to answer this question, Music/Soundtrack would be in my top three; the importance of music to complement an atmosphere or mood within a scene is often underestimated, and so I'd like to select appropriate music to make the film illicit the desired emotions from the audience.

Extra Comments

Briefly, these comments were significant in giving me specific pieces of advice. I agree that simplicity is key in a short film, especially within five minutes which, from my research, is short-even by short film standards. Additionally, I thinks its important to capture the audiences attention immediately; my first scene is one that's ambiguous, foreboding and menacing and so, with any luck, the beginning of my short could be described by viewers as starting with a 'bang'.

I remember this preliminary survey having a significant impact on the direction with which I took this project. An insight on audience-goer's tastes were invaluable in making me more aware of audience expectations, as well as the codes and conventions within the genre. In the future, I'd like to continue creating more in-depth surveys, almost like screen-testing, to gauge audience's attitudes of the rough-cut before I turn in my final cut. This would mean that I could attune the film more finely towards my audience, and having feedback from an outside-perspective will also be useful, as so often in the creative process you lose sight of whose opinion really matters- the audience's. Consequently, I'm glad I undertook this survey, and hope to use survey's in the future.