TASK 13 //
TARGET AUDIENCE AND THEIR EXPECTATIONS
I had chosen to ask this question, as it gives me an insight on who I should plan to be my protagonist within my coming of age film. This is very important to me as I want my audience to be engaged throughout the entirety of the short film and do not begin to lose interest at any point. From the pie chart seen above, I was able to understand that the majority of the respondents would prefer the protagonist within the film to be female, with a total of 10 votes. However, I found it very interesting that only 3 respondents chose the option of them not particularly picky about what the protagonist's gender is. This highlighted to me that the gender of my protagonist is absolutely key in keeping my audience engaged whilst watching my film.
Another one of my questions which I chose to ask within my questionnaire was based upon the themes of the coming of age film I aspire to make. The pie chart shows that bullying is the most popular and seen as the 'most interesting' theme which a coming of age film could be based on. I plan to implement themes of bullying in my production as a result, as this could help my film appeal to the vast majority of my target audience. Bullying has been seen as the main theme of many coming of age films, such as Soft, Bombshell and Adulthood. The theme of drugs and alcohol is also seen as an interesting topic to base a film around, which could possibly be implemented into my production.
I decided to ask about the family situation of the protagonist, as this seems to play a vital role in a huge majority of the coming of age films I have viewed. Examples of these films can be Adulthood, Kidulthood, Soft, Sahar and My Dad. The responses I received from the questionnaire were not shocking to me, as I already had the sense of what the audience would typically expect. From my results, I can confirm that the audience would see it to be fitting for the protagonist to be in a single parent family, with one parent absent in their lives. However, when analysing the data, it becomes apparent that there is almost an even split between which parent should be missing: mother or father. The votes for a father to be in the film and the absence of a mother is only one vote above the absence of the father.
Within the questionnaire, I also asked about the setting which the target audience for my film (teenagers/young adults) would typically expect a coming of age film to be set. The responses which came back to be most popular were school, home and the streets. This may be the case as most teenagers go to school and can relate to having to go to school every weekday and coming back home. This gave me an idea to implement all three of these locations into my production to demonstrate the everyday activities of an ordinary teenager who faces a problem in their life.
In this question, I asked the respondents to tell me what they thought would be most expected of the age of the protagonist of the film. I focused my questions on the character type of the protagonist, as this singular person will run the narrative of the majority of the film and will dominate camera time and sound within. The response I had received was also expected, as the pie chart shows a significant preference in teenagers and young adults to be playing the main role of a film. This is the cause as it allows the audience to relate to the film with the different scenarios faced, as well as the age being a similarity between the actor and the target audience. The scenarios faced will be similar to the problems faced of actual audience members, which will keep them engaged thoroughly.
I felt it was important for me to ask if the audience personally related to coming of age films, as it now allows me to focus on the problems which they may typically face. As the majority of the respondents had voted for Yes, this can show that the themes which were mentioned previously will be popular throughout the entire population of teenagers. It also allows me to understand that although some viewers will enjoy, others will not be phased no matter what the main character types are and what the plot is based upon, as they are not interested in the genre as a whole.
Moreover, I asked a question about the dialogue exchange which would be within the film. This is particularly important to me as the amount of dialogue would differ from typical feature films as short films tend to have a smaller amount of dialogue. I asked this question as I would like to have seen what the audience would like to see within my production and if they would have prefered an extensive amount of dialogue, opposed to the normal amount. However, the audience voted as a majority for a protagonist monologue, which I was planning to do anyway. This means I am able to keep the audience happy, as well as follow the conventions of a short film. Monologues are typically done as a method to save time and fill the audience in on what may have occurred before the opening of the film, as well as what may have happened in between certain scenes.
To further my knowledge in the character traits of my protagonist, I decided to ask my target audience about the ethnicity of my character which they would typically expect to see. I have done this as I would like to follow the conventional route of the character traits, as well as being able to entertain the audience throughout the process. A majority vote was favoured for the character's ethnicity to be white. This is seen in almost every movie I have seen within the research process of my portfolio: such as Mean Girls, Superbad, Soft, Bombshell, Alone with People and Even Cowboys Get to Cry. To my surprise, the ethnicity of Indian and Pakistani was a popular option. This may be as the audience can relate to this specific group of people.
For my final question, I also decided to ask about the ethnicity of my subsidiary character as I feel it is essential to get a sense of character for a second character if I ever choose to implement one into my production. The category of Asian (Indian, Pakistani) won the poll, with a vote of 8 out of 20. This proves to be a popular ethnicity for a subsidiary character, as the protagonist is often white and this ethnicity being different can help create a sense of diversity and representation throughout.
With character traits being a very important topic for me to find more information on, I decided to have a question which would represent how the protagonist would act and be around the other people in a coming of age short film. The options I gave to the respondents were aggressive, polite, confident, smart and disruptive. When the answers were revealed, it was expected as violence and crime can often be associated with the genre, therefore aggressiveness and disruptiveness is conventional for a protagonist in this genre to possess. However, it surprised me how many people thought a protagonist would be confident and smart. I plan to implement these traits into the character I plan to introduce in my short film, as it may help the audience stay engaged and could also help keep my production distinctive, as many aspects of my film have been kept conventional.
Along with the questionnaire which I had asked people to fill out, I had interviewed multiple people within the targeted audience of coming of age films to ask their expectations and wants from a coming of age film. The interviewees were within the target audience's age, as it would allow me to understand what I would need to do to fulfil their needs when creating my own short film.
From this task, I was able to take a lot away from the individual aspects of it. For example, with the questionnaire that was held out on a service provider called SurveyMonkey, I was able to collect the responses to various questions which I had asked about coming of age films. It allowed me to gain an understanding on what is wanted from a coming of age film from the target audience, which is teenagers. I had received a varied response from various types of people from different social groups, categorised by: age, gender, race etc. This allowed me to get a response from a range of people. On the other hand, the questionnaire allowed me to ask questions which were open and allowed the respondent to answer the questions however they pleased, without any options given to them. Therefore, I was able to find out what they genuinely liked and disliked about the genre, what they expect the characters and locations to be like and the themes which they would find interesting. This task will now allow me to apply my knowledge on the audience's wants and expectations within the market and allow my short film to fulfil their needs, enticing them to watch the short film which I will create.
TYPICAL TARGET AUDIENCE MEMBER
AGE: 18 YEAR OLD
GENDER: EITHER MALE OR FEMALE
FAMILY BACKGROUND: WHITE/BLACK
FAMILY RELATIONSHIP: DIVORCED PARENTS
RELATIONSHIP STATUS: SINGLE
INTERESTS: VIOLENCE, CRIME, ROMANCE ETC.
OCCUPATION: STILL IN SCHOOL
CLASS: LOWER/MIDDLE CLASS
On the left, I have created a profile as to what the 'typical audience member' will be for coming of age films. I have thought that the typical age of target audience member's will be 18 years old. This is because they are at the age where they are most likely to relate to the themes which are in the film, such as school related issues and violence. I believe that both males and females are typical viewers of the films, as very few films are catered to only one gender. This allows the audience of these films to be larger and have greater exposure. The background of these families is likely to be white or black, as the protagonists in these films are often of the same background. This is also the same with the family relationship, as the films often touch upon the subject of absent parents. This would lure in a minority of people who have divorced parents and make them feel targeted.The films would also be more personal to those in school, as they are able to relate to the aspect of school in the films. Also, the classes which are lower and middle are targeted by the films, as they are able to relate to the aspect of the informal wear which the characters in the film also wear. This is also because they are more likely to be interested in the themes of violence and crime.
“I do like the genre because it relates to me, as they are of similar ages, but the genre is also a bit too predictable.” - Simba
This quote stood out for me, as one of my interviewees had stated that the genre had become too predictable. This allowed me to understand that the audience was ready to experience a different approach to the genre. It also allowed me to understand that they, as a collective audience, like that they are able to relate to the film.
"[Typical locations where coming of age films would be set are] Estates, parks, alleyways - areas where normal people wouldn't want to go." - Mustafe
I found this quote interesting, as it allowed me to understand that areas, such as these ones mentioned, are seen as frightening and places where people tend to avoid themselves involving themselves in. It allowed me to understand that these areas are linked with the presence of teenagers and helped me grasp a sense of where my own film may be partially set.
"I would usually expect [the film] to be a 15 or an 18, because sometimes the footage that the film contains is usually quite graphic, so it's not suitable for younger audiences" - Tatiyana
From this, I understood that it was very expected and conventional for the films to contain these 'graphic' images which allowed them to not be suitable for younger audiences. This helped me learn how this is what an audience would usually see in films of the genre and furthered my knowledge.
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