After a period of four days, I had received twelve responses from the GR media social networking page that related to my post production audience research questionnaire. I would have liked to have left the questionnaire live for at least a couple of weeks, but because of tight deadlines, I was extremely pleased to have received twelve replies in such a short time frame. I have now deleted the post, so that people can no longer watch the rough cut of my film.
Age of participant
The oldest participant was 37 and the youngest participant was 17.
The mean age of the twelve participants is 19.91 years old.
The range of the ages is 20 years old.
The statistically median age is 18 years old.
The above statistics indicate, once again that internet based research mainly attracts the younger participant.
Gender of participant
Five females (42%) and seven males (58%) completed this questionnaire.
What was your first initial overall impression of the film?
I received eleven comments that found the rough editorial cut to be good. However, one participant just said it was ‘OK’. I would have liked some real feedback here, so that I could have done any necessary pick up shots.
At this stage I was reconsidering my decision and maybe I should have involved Media students, like I did at my AS level for some constructive feedback.
How effective was the music in the production?
Ten out of the twelve participants agreed, that the music was extremely effective and it contributed to the mood, emotion, tension and suspense. However, two male participants aged 17 and 18 suggested that it was just ‘OK’.
As no one gave me any negative feedback about the music, I will secure the individual piece of instrumental music that was composed for ‘Impulse’ in the final edit.
Could you relate to the mood and theme of the film?
All the participants could relate to the mood and theme of the film, giving it an overall positive correlation.
What did you find particularly effective?
There were many varied answers to this question, that all seemed to have a positive reflection.
For example the young male aged 17 who chose to say ‘ The gorgeous chick’ - Although I consider this to a childlike response I was glad that one participant highlighted the fact, that I had tried to draw attention of why Michael quite fancied Jessica and it was through my auditioning stage that the real Jessica was established.
Moreover, a male participant aged 22 also commented on the natural acting skills of all the actors. Without good actors, the best story in the world would be a disaster. I found the auditioning stage of my project quite time consuming, but reflecting back on this it was certainly worth the effort!
The mention of the mobile phone was suggested by two male participants aged 17 and 19. With the seventeen year old commenting that the mobile phone represented gender differences well.
The music and title sequence also had a mention.
What did you find not effective?
Six participants decided that the whole rough edit of ‘Impulse’ was effective and chose not offer any suggestions on what they did not find effective.
Two participants decided that they would have liked to see how Michael explains himself at the end of the film. I initially chose not to implement this factor, because the whole package would have contained an established beginning, middle and concluding end and I really wanted to challenge the general convention and leave the ending quite inquisitively to leave a lasting and questionable impression. Many short films are viewed and forgotten, but I wanted my own product to be a subject of debatable matter. I think I may have achieved this as two participants did want to see Michael explain himself.
How realistic did you find the film?
I chose to ask this question, subsequently because of my choice of genre – ‘Social Realism’
On a scale of 1 being very unrealistic and 5 being very realistic, the results of my volunteer participants were.
Scale Reading | Participants |
1 | 0 |
2 | 0 |
3 | 25% (3) |
4 | 25% (3) |
5 | 50% (6) |
Would the film be appropriate for a mixed target audience, aged twelve and over?
I chose to ask this question, subsequently for advertising purposes, that I will have to use for my ancillary tasks. I had decided that the content of ‘Impulse’ should be rated 12A because of the sexual taunting that Jessica has to endure and the fact that Michael behaves unethically in the first instance, by taking Jessica’s mobile phone.
Eleven participants indicated a positive yes option, while an eighteen year old male chose the option ‘No’. However, he did not offer any suggestion why he had chosen this option in the section that asks my participants, if they have any other comments to make.
Any other comments?
Several participants decided to write a positive assumption with two participants commenting that the actors were quite natural and fitted their roles. However, one eighteen year old male decided the film could be rated as a PG, which was a fair comment, but I will stick to a 12A guide, because of the films overall content.
One seventeen year old male suggested an alternative title – ‘THEIF, Friend or Foe. Although this does appeal, I personally believe the title would give too much away and it is evident from within the short film that Michael is not Jessica’s enemy.
Analysis Conclusion
Although I found this a worthwhile exercise, I really needed more direction in a media text way to improve my product. In the future, especially for any post production research, I will endeavour to split this research to involve both target audience and media participants. That way I can have the benefit of an audience’s point of view and some media participant’s expertise.
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