Ashamae Swyer 13U

Question 3 What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The response that our production team got from our target audience has been
crucial throughout the process of constructing the three media texts, and has
proven to be very important data to enable us to construct media texts that
our audiences could take pleasure from.

Research and Planning

During the research and planning stage, we placed a lot of focus on

conducting research on the target audiences that are appropriately used for
our genre, and the many factors that needed to be taken into account before
making a final decision on the target audience that we felt would gain the
most enjoyment from our media texts.

During our research of the our genre, Romantic Drama, we found that almost
all of the popular films made under this genre in the past two decades were
awarded a BBFC certification of 12A, which was typically given to films that
contained some form of profanity, mild sexual content, or mature content. As
we were exploring mature themes in our short film, we felt that it would be
appropriate to also give our film a BBFC certification of 12A. Based on these
findings, we also made our target audience range from 12 to 80, as we felt
that we could successfully construct media texts that would appeal to a mass
audience, and having a mass target would allow for a more diverse range of
feedback during all stages of creation, which would help our production to
construct media texts that people want to view.
Ashamae Swyer 13U

We formulated a questionnaire during this pre-production stage to allow our

chosen target audience to voice their opinions about the final decisions wed
made with regards to our short film, and certain aspects that we could
perhaps do further planning for in order to ensure that our target audience
would be able to take some form of gratification from the media texts.

The entire questionnaire consisted of 12 closed questions that addressed the

demographic that members of our target audience fit into, and gave us their
basic opinions of the choices wed made for our short film. The use of closed
questions allowed us to categorise our target audience and see what it is that
draws them to our short film, prior to watching it. We also made reference to
the theory created by Young and Rubicams of Four Consumers that use
media texts for different reasons.
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In terms of our media texts, we determined that the majority of our target
audience would fall under the category of Mainstreamers, as they seek
security and as a result will tend to conform to the social norms that are
represented through the media. The category of Explorers is also appropriate
as consumers within this category are seeking self-identity and will therefore
look upon many media texts to gain a better understanding of who they are as
individuals. We felt that this was appropriate as we expected the majority of
our audience to be young people (between 12 and 25 years old), which would
greatly impact the way in which we would promote the short film through the
use of the film poster. However, we also felt that there would be a significant
percentage of our target audience that would be Resigned, as they would
seek familiarity through media texts and as the category typically consists of
the elderly, they can relate to the mature themes being explored in the short
film.

Based on our findings from the Pre-Questionnaire, they indicated that there
wasnt much discrimination from demographics that stereotypically wouldnt
watch Romantic Dramas (Males and the elderly), but also indicated to our
production team that further planning was necessary to make our media texts
appeal to everyone.

Post-Production

We also created a Post-Questionnaire that was made up of 10 closed

questions that allowed us to fit our audience members into the appropriate
demographics, gain their opinions on aspects of the film and the film in its
entirety. From the Post-Questionnaire, we gathered that, similarly to the
responses to the Pre-Questionnaire, we had a diverse range of people who
watched the final film and had varying opinions on it. We found this very
useful because there were a lot of varying but valid aspects within the final
production that the audience gave as points of improvement, and it was
important to hear lots of different ideas so that we could work better at
creating a product that could be enjoyed by many.

In addition to getting audience members to complete a Post-Questionnaire

and summarising the info we gained from it, we also conducted filmed
Ashamae Swyer 13U

interviews with a selected group of four individuals who had all viewed the
short film and had different overall opinions on it.

This first question in our video interviews, along with the following question,
provided us with very differing opinions of the film. Half of the interviewees
stated that they found the storyline to be the most enjoyable part of the short
film as a whole. When asked about it following the interview, one interviewee
stated that instantly I was placed right there with the characters, I could feel
Karinas sadness and by the end I was sad myself. It showed us how deeply
the film resonated with half of our audience, and that they may have used the
short film as a means of understanding themselves, which is especially
relevant for the younger members of our audience. In contrast, 25% of our
audience stated that they did not find anything specifically enjoyable about the
film which, taking into account our extensive research, was seen as worrying.
However, after talking with the male interviewee, he informed us that he had
chosen to watch the Romantic Drama with his girlfriend as a Valentines day
gift, and therefore had not chosen the film himself. He also stated that while
he did not find anything enjoyable, he believed that the film itself was
constructed professionally.
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In response to this question, all of the interviewees stated that the most
noticeable improvement that could be made was the shots used, whether they
are re-filmed or completely new shots are used. After the interview, many of
the interviewees stated that while the idea behind some shots was
understood, they couldve been executed in a better fashion to make them
clearer to the audience.
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As was expected, all of the interviewees stated that they could identify the
genre before the end of the short film. After the interviews, one interview
stated that As soon as I saw the main female character put on the heart-
shaped locket I could tell it was a Romance film, but then the film got to the
graveyard scene and I realised that it had elements of a Drama too.

A majority of the interviewees gave the film between 4 and 4.5, showing that
overall the film was successful and all of its components fitted well together to
construct a media text that many could enjoy. However, one interviewee gave
the film a total of 1, showing that while we did appeal to a majority, there was
still a significant number of people who felt that a lot couldve been further
developed so that it would appeal to them as well.
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Once again, all of the interviewees stated that they would recommend the film
to a friend, with one interviewee also stating that they would if they were
female. This statement was particularly interesting as it told us as a team that
there are still many people who perhaps see the genre as being for Girls
only.