conducting Audience research
Above is a drafted plan that I will use as a guide when going about my audience research. In order to collect in-depth research from all those who participate, it is essential for me to collect both qualitative and quantitative data from a variety of different people - not only our specific target audience, but also media students and those of differing age groups and genders. I will conduct my research in two sections. In the first section, I plan to gain qualitative data meaning that those who I interview and collect opinions from are required to go into detail and openly discuss their thoughts and feelings towards all three of our final products. In the second section however, I'll be collecting data in numerical form, meaning that I obtain data in the form of numbers. I plan on doing this in a variety of ways, such as through online polls and social networking.
Other media groups - their thoughts and feedback
After Christmas, we spent the lesson with a presentation of all our final products. This enabled us to gain feedback from all of the other media groups. Unlike the target audience, their opinions were technical and they were able to give us professional advice as they know more about the conventions we have studied by doing it themselves. As we were all in the same boat, it was essential that as well as giving each group suggestions for improvements and useful criticisms, we let them know what we like and make positive comments. Above are the scanned images of each of the other group's feedback sheets regarding our products. It was interesting to see that most of the groups touched on similar things, mostly when making negative comments and constructive criticisms. When looking at our trailer, the most common factor was the sound and all groups said that we could have improved this as the gun shot sounds were too repetitive. Another common thing they touched on was the main image editing on the magazine front cover. While the target audience did not mention anything about this, media students were able to point out that the cutting was too sharp and this is problematic as it doesn't blend well and it appears unfinished. Things that most groups liked about our trailer include the logo animatic effect, the montage and the ending. This gave us a lot of confidence as we were expecting more negative comments.
our poster
first group - Social networking
For both my magazine and my poster, I have decided to use a number of different social networking applications in order to collect research. I have asked a group of people who I consider to be a target audience for our horror products to express their opinions regarding our poster. Through social networking, they were able to respond by openly discussing their thoughts and this is an example of qualitative data. Below are screenshots of me in the midst of my research,
From my findings above I have received some differing opinions. While some see the colour scheme as being too dark, others believe that this darkness works for the poster as more colour would detract from the focus. After all, this is horror and black/white/red seemed like quite a conventional and common thing for the genre. Perhaps our target audience are urging us to challenge the conventions a bit more. I also found common ground in responses regarding the image - many people criticised this part of the poster as they don't think there's enough focus on the image. One person suggested that we could have gotten around this by making the image larger. Overall, the image was liked as it added to the mystery surrounding our movie. This research has been helpful and I have gathered many varied responses.
second group - target audience
In addition to the qualitative data I have already collected, I expanded this by letting two members of my audience go into depth about their opinion of our poster. By doing this, I allowed them to compare our poster with an existing poster that belongs to a real life production company. This allowed members of our target audience to pick out similarities and differences between a professional real-life poster and our own, and in this way they were able to see from a true audience's perspective. I used a camera to video them talk openly about our final product so that they could go into depth as much as they please.
|
|
our magazine FRONT COVER
first group - QUESTIONNAIRE
For this section of my research, I decided to incorporate some quantitative data collecting. To do this, I drafted ten multiple choice questions about our magazines. This meant that, unlike the research done on social networking sites, the subjects were unable to expand on their answers and numerical data would be gathered. Numerical data is useful as it puts together data into numerical form that can be used to construct graphs and charts. This means it is easier to make correlations out of the research you have gathered, and you are able to visualise the differing opinions. The questions were very straightforward and most of them required merely a yes or no response. Above is the drafted version of the questions asked, and below are the actual questionnaires after having been filled out by several individuals who we would refer to as our target audience.
second group - SOCIAL NETWORKING
Because our group had some miscommunications, we ended up constructing two magazine front covers before deciding on 'Taboo' as our final product. This came about when one member of our group accidentally flattened the photoshop file of the product before it was complete. This meant that we would have to start from scratch - which we did. We then ended up with one that had similar stylings of the first product and another that was completely different. Although we decided which one to use amongst ourselves, we were interested in how the audience's felt. We asked them which cover they prefer and to support their decision with some reasoning.
Much like the poster, I uploaded both of our front covers onto our facebook page (www.facebook.com/mindblownproductionsctk) and requested that the same group state what they like and what they don't like about each of the front covers. I then asked them to decide on which they prefer out of the two. Here are the screenshots.
The above magazine front cover proved to be the one that is less liked which we felt was unfortunate as it is the one we decided to use as our final product. The group identified several faults with this one however they did like some elements of it. There were three criticisms about the fonts chosen, and two people agreed that the image does not seem to be linked to horror in any way. Perhaps with a change of fonts and some editing on the image, it could have been improved. They did make positive comments about the film strip and dripping blood effect, so all in all there were mixed feelings about this magazine front cover.
This was the preferred magazine front cover out of the two products by all those selected to decide between them. The most common reasoning behind this would be the layout in this one. Several of the subjects agreed that the layout was better, not "squashed", and the masthead and colour scheme are also admired in the comments left. However it isn't perfect - by reducing the size of the barcode and adding a variety of different fonts we could have still improved the product.
our trailer
In order to gain audience research for our group's horror movie trailer, we used several other media platforms such as our very own twitter (@CTKmindblown) and our official Facebook page. Here we promoted our trailer and we spread the news that it had been uploaded so that we could get as many people as possible to view it. We asked them to comment on our YouTube video their thoughts and feelings regarding our biggest product and we gained some helpful feedback from those who did so.
From YouTube, we can use video manager to detect statistic about our trailer. This would count as quantitative data within research. Above and at the top right, we can see where people have searched for our trailer on YouTube. We can tell that most people have found it direct from navigating around YouTube through suggested videos or otherwise. On the right, you can see that the average time spent watching our video is 40 seconds. Considering our trailer is just under a minute long, this is not that bad. But it could mean that perhaps our trailer isn't grasping enough for the majority of people to watch all of it. Through qualitative data collected we may learn why this is.
|
first group - social networking
It was essential for us to share our trailer across an array of different social networking sites in order to attract our target audience to it. We used Kik, Facebook, What's App and iMessage to spread our trailer around as well as promoting our YouTube and Twitter. These different applications were also used when conducting our research. Here are some of our findings:
|
There are some common criticisms amidst our YouTube comments. Two of our viewers agreed that our trailer would have been a lot more affective if it was more fast-paced and the speed of our trailer harmed the impact it had on our audience. It is clear that as a horror trailer, it has failed to generate fear out of its audience. However, they have made some good comments, one being that the symbolism of the clock and the cross in our trailer has been recognised and admired. As well as that, our captions are said to be good and professional. Overall, the first problems identified with our trailer from the audience's point of view are the sound and the pace of it and we take this into account. With only 30 views so far, it is hard to tell if this feedback is representative of our target audience, however it has been useful in my research nonetheless.
Kinder words came from our social networking subjects. I sent our trailer around to individuals on Facebook Messenger, What's App and Kik Messenger and we received some appreciative and positive feedback about our trailer. Although our sound has previously been criticised, one of these individuals found the use of sound over dialogue affective. Similarly to those who commented on our YouTube video, these subjects also agree that the trailer is not as scary as a horror genre audience would have hoped and one person suggested that more "blood and gore" may have helped that aspect of our product.
who exactly are our target audience?
Before looking at our own statistics and demographics, I decided that to gain more insight I would have to look at the real world and a few examples from existing movies. To broaden my research, I found a list of the three top voted horror movies of all time on Filmcrave. (http://www.filmcrave.com/list_genre_movie.php?genre=Horror) After this, I looked up these films on IMDB and discovered the age certificates for each. I found that horror movies around the world all target a specific audience of people over the ages of 15. Some however are more intense and extreme, only allowing those above the age of 18 to watch. With this information I then looked up the data on my own horror movie through looking at my YouTube account - evidence below.
The information I found when looking into my own video's statistics interested me greatly after my previous research. I found that only those aged between 13 and 17 had viewed my trailer. This suggested that, like 'The Shining' our horror movie could not be rated any higher than a 15. However, the fact that those who are even under the age of 15 have viewed it suggest that perhaps our horror movie trailer isn't scary enough or does not fit the horror genre. It is also strange that no male viewers have been detected in the statistics. While horror would usually be perceived as a unisex genre, or one that is generally preferred my the male gender, ours has only be seen by girls. Perhaps this is a fault of YouTube's as those without accounts have not been included in statistics and therefore it is not possible to know exactly who views our trailer and from where, but it is still something we must consider.
audience's reactions AND INTERVIEWS
In order to collect qualitative data, I decided to go about my research on our trailer by not only interviewing viewers, but also recording their immediate reactions to our trailer. In this way, I was able to receive an honest and true response from them even before subjects are interviewed. Due to my previous research, I decided to approach those between the ages of 13-17 but proceeded to interview both girls and boys despite my YouTube findings. This is so that I can collect representative, valid and reliable data and perhaps find out whether boys can enjoy it or not.
|
|
For part of my audience research on my trailer, I decided that a way to make sure my responses are genuine would be to record my audience's responses via webcam as they watch it. Through this, I can tell whether the subject is scared, bored or attentive to what is happening in the teaser trailer. I found that, from the above reactions I have received, the trailer is enjoyable to those watching but fails to frighten it's audience. Also, some of those watching remain unaffected throughout the trailer which makes us question whether or not our trailer is interesting to sit through. These are important factors that will determine whether the audience decide to go and see the film once it is released. From the interviews I found that, like the social networking group, this group of people also found the sound to be a let down throughout the trailer.
results from poll
an overall reflection
The process of evaluating our products is key to the post-production stage and so when going about this I found various different ways to collect people's opinions. It was essential for me to develop professional data collecting skills that will allow me to accept both admiration as well as scrutiny from my selected target audience, so that I can have a better understanding of just how successful each of our final products have been for our consumers.
In the pre-production stage, when going about my audience research I led a similar approach however the amount of research that I collected was limited, only asking a small group of people and not allowing much room for comments and discussion - this meant that the data collected was not to the greatest standard and this could have possibly echoed onto our final products. To avoid this in the post-production stage, I ensured that I was reaching a much wider audience. I did this by separating my research subjects into two groups; one group which I labelled 'target audience', in which I selected individuals who I thought could typically be our consumers, and the other group the 'social networking group' - those who found and commented on our final products via social networking web 2.0 sites or smart phone applications.
Also, in comparison to the research collected in the pre-production stage where I merely posted mock-ups onto our Facebook page and ranked them in order of how many likes each got, this time I posted our magazine front cover and poster and requested that rather than just 'liking' their favourite, for them to comment their opinions and suggest improvements that they would have made. This allowed me to really gain an insight from my audience as they give reasoning for their answers and it was interesting to see both differing and corresponding views on each.
I found that video interviews proved to be the most useful method of collecting data from my audience, as it was in the pre-production stage also. I used video interviews both in collecting research for the poster and the trailer. When collecting research for the poster, I decided that a unique approach would be to compare ours with that of a real existing movie poster. I feel that this helped my target audience as it is not simple enough to merely ask them how professional ours is in comparison as - unlike media students - they would be unaware of any common conventions. However, this allowed them to make links between ours and the existing poster so that they can judge how professional ours looks. For the trailer however, I asked viewers to record themselves while they watched the trailer so that I could capture their true immediate reactions. These reactions proved to be brutally honest ones that suggested our trailer evoked more boredom and humour than fear or wonder of any kind. To tackle this, I ensured that I asked each of the viewers to then answer ten questions about the trailer in order to get a broad understanding of why our trailer failed to commit to the genre of horror.
Overall, I have gathered a lot of useful feedback from the two groups I studied and if asked I can now reveal what was holding us back as a group regarding our final products through the research collected. While questionnaires and interviews help, it would have been impossible to find such a wide range of opinions from my target audience if it wasn't for social networking applications such as Facebook, YouTube and What's App and text messaging facilities and I am pleased with the results I am left with. Now as a group we are able to look back at our products with confidence as we have received positive feedback and encouragement from those who participated in my research, but we also leave the course with more knowledge and a more open mind.
In the pre-production stage, when going about my audience research I led a similar approach however the amount of research that I collected was limited, only asking a small group of people and not allowing much room for comments and discussion - this meant that the data collected was not to the greatest standard and this could have possibly echoed onto our final products. To avoid this in the post-production stage, I ensured that I was reaching a much wider audience. I did this by separating my research subjects into two groups; one group which I labelled 'target audience', in which I selected individuals who I thought could typically be our consumers, and the other group the 'social networking group' - those who found and commented on our final products via social networking web 2.0 sites or smart phone applications.
Also, in comparison to the research collected in the pre-production stage where I merely posted mock-ups onto our Facebook page and ranked them in order of how many likes each got, this time I posted our magazine front cover and poster and requested that rather than just 'liking' their favourite, for them to comment their opinions and suggest improvements that they would have made. This allowed me to really gain an insight from my audience as they give reasoning for their answers and it was interesting to see both differing and corresponding views on each.
I found that video interviews proved to be the most useful method of collecting data from my audience, as it was in the pre-production stage also. I used video interviews both in collecting research for the poster and the trailer. When collecting research for the poster, I decided that a unique approach would be to compare ours with that of a real existing movie poster. I feel that this helped my target audience as it is not simple enough to merely ask them how professional ours is in comparison as - unlike media students - they would be unaware of any common conventions. However, this allowed them to make links between ours and the existing poster so that they can judge how professional ours looks. For the trailer however, I asked viewers to record themselves while they watched the trailer so that I could capture their true immediate reactions. These reactions proved to be brutally honest ones that suggested our trailer evoked more boredom and humour than fear or wonder of any kind. To tackle this, I ensured that I asked each of the viewers to then answer ten questions about the trailer in order to get a broad understanding of why our trailer failed to commit to the genre of horror.
Overall, I have gathered a lot of useful feedback from the two groups I studied and if asked I can now reveal what was holding us back as a group regarding our final products through the research collected. While questionnaires and interviews help, it would have been impossible to find such a wide range of opinions from my target audience if it wasn't for social networking applications such as Facebook, YouTube and What's App and text messaging facilities and I am pleased with the results I am left with. Now as a group we are able to look back at our products with confidence as we have received positive feedback and encouragement from those who participated in my research, but we also leave the course with more knowledge and a more open mind.