Questionnaire Results and Analysis

In order to better understand our target audience we decided to create a questionnaire which we could hand around to other pupils at our school. After doing this we decided that only handing our questionnaire to other pupils at school would narrow the age range of our respondents and after addressing this problem we decided to also hand out our questionnaire to a large amount of the teachers at our school and also to our friends and family who were of different ages to the pupils who are at  our school. Pictured above is an example of the questionnaire which we handed out. We avoided asking questions which would require a written response, instead our questions were asked in a way in which they required a binary response thus providing us with quantitative data as opposed to qualitative data. Quantitative data was our preferred form of data due to the fact that it is very easy to quantify and rationalize into graphs and charts which provide an easier and more accessible way of presenting and viewing results. The charts which we collected from our data can be seen pictured below. 

As is shown in the chart at the top, the response to the question "Do you enjoy watching art house films?" was quite positive. We asked this question because we would consider our film an art-house film and we wanted to find out what the general consensus was as to whether most people liked this genre of film or not. We were expecting that the majority of our respondents would answer "No" to this question as we thought that "art-house" was a very little known genre but we were very pleased to find out that 65% of the people we asked actually enjoyed watching "art-house" films which we think could mean that our film would have a good chance of being successful with audiences.

The next question which we asked was "Have you watched Pan's Labyrinth?". We thought that this would be a good question to ask as this could also be considered an "art-house" film and although we already found that the majority of people enjoy watching films of this genre, we wanted to get people's opinions on specific films to further understand more about our target audience. Once again we were not expecting to get a very positive result from this question because "Pan's Labyrinth" is not only an "art-house" film but it is also a foreign language which we thought would mean that it would have much more of a niche audience. Despite this, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that 55% of our respondents had watched "Pan's Labyrinth".

The next question we asked on our questionnaire was "Have you watched Memento?". "Memento" is a 2000 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Christopher Nolan. The reason why we decided to ask a question about "Memento" is because not only is it an independent film, but it also uses a non-linear story line as an integral part of its narrative structure. Non-linear story lines can often be a very interesting way of telling a story, however due to being hard to follow and difficult to understand for some viewers as more attention is required, they can also unfortunately be unpopular among audiences. As our film has a non-linear narrative structure, we decided that it would be a good idea to see how many people has watched "Memento" which is one of the most famous films with a non-linear narrative structure. Unfortunately only 25% of our respondents had watched "Memento".

"The Grand Budapest Hotel" is a 2014 comedy film written and directed by Wes Anderson. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for the film's visual style, Anderson's screenplay and direction, and Fiennes' lead performance. We decided to ask a question regarding whether or not our respondent had watched this film because we were inspired by the by the cinematography, mise-en-scene and particularly in the use of specific colour palettes and we adopted many of Anderson's techniques during the production of our film and we therefore wanted to see what people thought of "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and whether people had watched it or not. We got a fairly balanced response to this question with 45% of people saying that they had watched the film.  

"The Lobster" is a 2015 film directed by Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos in his English language feature film debut. We chose to ask a question about this film because it's a recent independent film. As our film is also an independent film, we thought that doing this might give us some insight onto what people thought of this specific genre. Unfortunately, we were disappointed to find out that only 15% of our respondents had seen this film.

The final question which we asked was "What age range are you in?". We asked this question in order to find out whether or not we had asked a wide range of different ages so that we could be sure that our data was reliable. Unfortunately as the vast majority of our respondents were between the ages of 15 and 25. Due to this we have concluded that our data is not 100% reliable as we have not had responses from an equal proportion of each age range.

Review Research

In order to do research on reviews I have decided to analyse three different reviews which are all centered around the same film. My theory is that in doing this I will be able to distinctly see the specific ways in which different critics structure their reviews. The film that I have chosen for this analysis is "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)".

"Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" is a 2014 American satirical black comedy-drama film directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu. "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" received critical acclaim for its performances, direction, screenplay, and cinematography. The film received a rating of 91% from Rotten Tomatoes based on 276 reviews, and an average rating of 8.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A thrilling leap forward for director Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman is an ambitious technical showcase powered by a layered story and outstanding performances from Michael Keaton and Edward Norton." Metacritic gave the film a score of 88 out of 100, based on 49 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". I have chosen this film mainly due to the fact that it is highly critically acclaimed as I thought that this would mean that I would be able to find a wide range of reviews from different critics.

The first site which I found with a review of "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" was www.rogerebert.com. This was the website of the legendary film critic Roger Ebert. Roger Ebert was an American film critic and historian, journalist, screenwriter and author. He was a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. As of 2010, his reviews were syndicated to more than 200 newspapers in the United States and abroad. Ebert also published more than 20 books and dozens of collected reviews. I chose this review due to the fact that it comes from such a reliable and well-known source.

The review starts with a paragraph which is separate from the rest of the review. This is common in all three of the reviews which I have selected however, this review starts description of the opening scene of the film which is a very uncommon way of writing and structuring a review. Most reviews open with a paragraph summarizing an overview of the film which is present in the other two reviews which I have selected. I think that opening a review in this way has both advantages and disadvantages. I think that an advantage of structuring a review in this way is that avid readers of reviews may find that it is a nice contrast from the usual formulaic structure of reviews. Despite this, I think that the big disadvantage of starting a review in this way is that for the average moviegoer who is only looking to find a quick overview of the film will be unable to do so as they will have to read more of the review to find out what the film is about and  because of this I think that it may discourage them from reading the rest of the review.

After the opening paragraph more description of the film continues however this time it is about a different scene which is in the middle of the film. It is not until the third paragraph that the description stops and instead the reviewer starts to talk about the film in a summaray in order to show the readers what it is like overall. The critic then continues to speak about the directors previous works which can be useful as it informs any potential readers more about what the film might be like.

In the top paragraph in the screenshot pictured above the critic talks about one of the most distinctive aspects of the film which style in which is shot and edited to make it appear as if it has all been shot in  one take. The critic then continues to talk about the style of the cinematographer and comments on his previous Oscar win for "Gravity".

The following paragraph discusses the score, which was written by Antonio Sanchez which consits mostly of heavy drums which can be heard throughout the whole duration of the film. The critic also mentions Michael Keaton's previous work on Tim Burton's "Batman" which relates to the story as in many ways Keaton was the perfect choice to play the protagonist as his own lifestyle has many similarities to the character which he plays in the film. 

In the paragraph in the screenshot pictured above the critic discusses Keaton's performance as the protagonist and of Norton's performance as his co-star. The critic highlights the facts that both of the actors' off-screen personas are shown on screen through the characters which they are playing. In contrast however, the critic says that Zach Galifianakis gave a very good performance which strongly subverts his usual typecast character and his off screen persona. 

 

The last paragraph concludes by telling its readers that "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" is one of the best films that have been made this year and the critic praises the makers of the film for all of thier hard work.

The next review which I have chosen to analyse is "Empire" magazine. "Empire" is a British film magazine which is published monthly. It is the biggest selling film magfazine in the United Kingdom and is also published in the United States, Australia, Turkey, Russia, Italy and Portugal.

As "Empire" is one of the most famous and most widely read film magazines, I thought thatit would be one of the best place to find a review which I could analyse.

The review for "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" starts in the way that most film reviews do, with a summaray which gives a quick overview of what happend in the film instead of giving a description of a specific scene as was shown in the review from "www.rogerebert.com". This means that readers who are looking to quickly find out whether they think they will like the film or not can use this and will not need to read the rest of the review if they choose not to. This summaray is closely followed by a 5 star review which immediatley tells the readers of the magazine that the critics deem this film to be of a very high standard as only the best films are able to get a 5 star rating with many films falling just short and settling for a 4 star rating instead.

 

The review then continues to talk more specifically about the different aspects which make "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorrance)" a good film such as its complex narrative, strong visual style, compelling and natural performance and an inspired visonary direction.

 

Targets MGS 21/04/2016

1. Refelcetion on creation of product.
2. Research on review.
3. Audience research.
4. Poster research should be more clear.

Analysis of "Blue Valentine"



"Blue Valentine" is a 2010 romantic drama film written and directed by Derek Cianfrance, starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. Derek Cianfrance's film is a sombre, painful portrait of a toxic marriage, often touching and sometimes moving, though occasionally contrived and self-conscious in its effects. The story, told in a fragmented, flashback-heavy style which is Cianfrance's debut feature is fundamentally a very simple story. It is essentially the tragic tale of a marriage falling apart. Ryan Gosling stars as Dean, a soft-hearted man in his early twenties who falls in love with a pre-med student named Cindy (Michelle Williams), so much so that he takes the role as a father to a child whom Cindy had with another man. 

The main reason why I think that our film links so well to "Blue Valentine" is due to the narrative structure. In our film we have used scenes from both the past and the present which have been intercut in order to juxtapose our protagonists' relationship in both the past and the presence. "Blue Valentine" adopts a similar style in which Cianfrance gives us scenes of the couple's breakdown intercut with scenes of their courtship, six years earlier. The extra twist is a complete absence of title cards or dates to indicate which timeframe we're watching. The Dean of the present-day is a house painter, balding, and drinking, though we sense still a boyish playfulness when he's around their daughter. Cindy, a hospital nurse, is more brusque and impatient, a little martyrish, though it's a subtlety of the film that our sympathies keep shifting between husband and wife as the fissures in their relationship broaden.

Target Audience Research

Our questionaires we made to find out more about our target audience contained the following questions:

 

Questionaire 1.)

 

1.) How old are you?

2.) What do you expect to see in a romance film?

3.) How would you watch a romance film?

4.) What romance films have you seen?

5.) Do you like them? If so what did you like about them?

 

Questionaire 2.)

 

1.) How old are you?

2.) What do you expect to see in a romance film?

3.) How would you watch a romance film?

4.) What romance films have you seen?

5.) Did you like them? If so what did you like about them?

 

The following pictures are of a selection of the questionaires which we gave out:

 

 


















We gave all of our respondants two questionaires. The first containing questions linked to the indepednent film genre and the second linking to the romance film genre as these were the two genres which we though could be most easily related to our film. We asked questions asking what was expected from a film of each specific genre and we asked them if they had watched many films of that genre and whether or not they liked them. The general consensus was that our respondants expected to see relationsships, love and affection from romance films and challenging narratives and the emphasis on social and political issues in independent films. Almost every one of our respondants said that they enjoyed indepenant films however about half of them said that they did not enjoy romance films.

Finished Storyboard

Analysis of "Gone With the Wind" poster.

"Gone with the Wind"  is a 1939 American epic-historical romance film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel of the same name. It was directed by Victor Fleming and stars Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh. "Gone With the Wind” presents a sentimental view of the Civil War, in which the “Old South” takes the place of Camelot and the war was fought not so much to defeat the Confederacy and free the slaves as to give Miss Scarlett O'Hara her comeuppance. But we've known that for years; the tainted nostalgia comes with the territory. Yet as “Gone with the Wind” approaches its 60th anniversary, it is still a towering landmark of film, quite simply because it tells a good story, and tells it wonderfully well.

As our film takes place during several time periods we thought that it could be a good idea to make different posters reflecting the different time periods within our films in a similar way to how the poster for "Gone with the wind" reflects the period in which it was set.