Research

Primary research:Questionnaire results

Questionnaire I constructed a questionnaire then gave it to 20 people to

fill in. I included the synopsis of the film at the top of the questionnaire so that people had a better understanding of what the film will be about. I tried to give it to a random selection of people around sixth form as that age group is my target, although to try and get a broader view I gave it to some older people also. I decided on 20 as I thought this would be an easy number to convert into percentages which would in turn make the results easier to process. I asked 10 closed “yes or no” questions and 6 open “explain why...” questions so I could get some idea of what a possible audience was thinking.

Synopsis:A seemingly ordinary young woman falls

victim to an obsessive and vicious admirer, things take a sinister turn for the worse….until their roles are reversed.

Age

Age was an important factor to my research as from the beginning I decided that I would aim my film at the 16-24 age group, I did have people who took the questionnaire state their gender but I decided that this didn’t matter as it was a pretty even split.

16-19

20-30

30+

Would like to watch

Out of all the people I asked about watching my film – only one person said they would not like to watch the film but this did not worry me as the one person who said that they would not like to see the film was in the 30+ age group so this just furthered my initial thoughts that my target age group should be 16-24

100% of people I asked also said that they would recommend this film to a friend.

Yes

No

Preferred genre

By asking which genre people preferred it was clearly horror/thriller which goes along with my ideas that the age group of 16-24 year olds prefer horror or thriller films.

I also chose a selection of films which goes along with the genres and once again the horror/thriller film was the most popular

Changes made to the film

Out of the people that I asked only one person I asked said that they would make any changes to the synopsis. They said:

“I think it could be a bit too creepy because people get stalked all the time”

In response to this I would say that I understand that it is a very serious problem but I am not trying to make light of the situation and I would handle it in the most sensitive way possible, I don’t condone stalking, it is purely fictional.

Silent film

I plan for my film to be silent but I understand that many people see silent films as things of the past and as “old and boring” this does not put me off but I appreciate that other people may be put off by this.

As you can see less people have seen silent films which makes me think that the people that haven't seen silent films still have strong stereotypical views of them. Which lead me to hold a focus group.

Have seen a silent film

Yes

No

Would still go and see my film if it was silent

Yes

No

Focus group

Focus group results

In the focus group I explained in more depth the idea of my film and more importantly why I wanted the film to be silent, by doing this I removed any misconceptions towards silent films. At the end of the meeting I asked again “would you go and watch this film if it was silent?” and the results were a lot more positive, although this time I only asked 10 people only one person said no which I think is a positive improvement and confirmed to me that my film should be silent.

Yes

No

I think I would definitely like to see this now that I know its not like one of those old silent films!

I get that its not like an old silent film but I still don't like the idea of a silent film, I just don't think it would interest me.

Yeah it sounds good now I understand!

Secondary research:Mathieu Kassovitz

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.php?id=1895&show=screenshotshttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113247/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ijjl6t30Kc

Techniques used in “La Haine”

There are a lot of techniques used in La Haine that I would like to experiment with in my short film. In particular his use of opening and closing the film and the use of graffiti.

Open/close shots

In the film La Haine Kassovitz uses the same sort of shot to open and to close the film. This gives a feel of the film rounding to an end or coming to the end of a cycle because things are now back as they are.

I would like to use this in my film by having the first shot be somebody opening her eyes and then the last shot of her closing them as in my film the main girl witnesses and lives through something awful which I think could be emphasised by the use of her eyes.

Graffiti

Kassovitz uses background graffiti, signs or posters to get across to the audience an extra message, in La Haine when there is some important text that the audience needs to know about, the subtitles will come up so the viewer knows that it is important.

I would like to use this as I plan for my film to have no sound so when at the end I want to get an important message across I will have it in a bright colour on a wall somewhere but so it is clearly in shot, although I will obviously have no need for subtitles but I think the bright colour will make it strong enough.

3 Minute Wonderhttp://4talent.channel4.com/http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/0-9/3mw/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_Minute_Wonder

3 Minute Wonder

3 minute wonders are short films shown during prime time on channel four often after the news before a large audience pulling show. It is seen as a great opportunity for up and coming directors.

3 Minute wonder is mostly responsible for making documentaries more acceptable in today’s society.

I think that 3 Minute wonder is very popular because although they are documentaries they go against the conventions that people normally expect of documentaries.

I wouldn’t say that 3 minute wonder has directly influenced me but I think the influence it has had on the world of short films such as making it acceptable for them not to always make perfect sense or not to have a definitive beginning, middle and end has definitely influenced me.

Other short filmshttp://www.pixar.com/shorts/index.htmlhttp://www.smartcine.com/images/pixar_short_films_vol_1_still.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris,_je_t'aimehttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401711/

Disney have also cashed in on the short film franchise via Pixar Shorts. I haven't personally taken any influence or ideas from this range of short films though I do think they have had a large impact on the younger audience and therefore the age group that I am targeting. Because they are shown with the most popular Disney Pixar films they are very well known and as can be seen, not many people I asked would class them as a short film which I found surprising but one the other hand did confirm my thoughts of short films being misconceived.

Paris je t’aime is a feature length film consisting of 18 short films. I took a lot of influence from this as some of the films don't have a particular story as such and leave the audience thinking which I believe a short film should be able to do and what I hope my short film would do. Because the films are all in French, from British audiences point of view they are the same as them being silent as non of the dialogue makes sense.

This has influenced me because I like the idea of having no dialogue or having dialogue that people don’t necessarily understand which helped lead me to the idea of having my film with no dialogue.

Paris, Je T’aime

New York, I love you

“New York, I love you” is the sequel to “Paris, je t’aime” it is a series of short films but this time about finding love in New York, this is the first time that really well known celebrities have been in a high publicity short film which I think will cause more interest in short films.

All the films seem to come in to a ready set situation as there is not enough time to set the scene – after seeing this I decided that I wouldn’t spend time setting a scene or introducing the characters as it would clearly eat too much into the five minutes I have to make the film.

Silent Filmshttp://imagecache5.art.com/p/LRG/20/2051/3GO4D00Z/charlie-chaplin.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hush_(Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer)http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0533443/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-m2Y5_zj6M

Perceptions of silent films

When many people think of silent films they think of overacting, Charlie Chaplin and eager piano music but I think that is a thing of the past now, I think those old kind of silent films were very influential in there own right but there are a lot more varieties of silent films, and in some cases techniques such as no dialogue is used in television.

Silence in modern media

In an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer there is no dialogue used.

“Joss Whedon claimed he wrote this episode as a challenge to himself. Critics had hailed him for his deft use of banter and witty wordplay, so he decided to see if he was a good enough writer to craft an episode which was largely lacking any dialogue at all.”

It was very well received having the highest ratings of series four, earning them an Emmy nomination and a place in the top 25 scariest moments in TV.

Naming my film

Initial ideasWhen it came to naming my film I knew that I wanted to have something that

went along with the initial storyline of my film which as can be seen from the synopsis, is all about a change in position and momentum which lead me to these names:

Role reverse Voyeur Turnaround Revolve Reversal

I firstly thought from a audience point of view and ruled out “Role Reverse” and “Turnaround” because I don't think that those names would inspire me to want to watch a film. After that I typed each of the words into Google, from typing in Voyeur I discovered that this was definitely not the audience I would want to go into. When searching “Revolve” I discovered that there is a clothing brand of this name which I thought could lead to copyright problems. Finally after searching “Reversal” I found no clashes so I decided to go for this as my title

Research conclusion

From carrying out my primary research I have decided to go ahead with my initial idea. When people didn’t seem to respond well to the silent film idea it did worry me but then after the focus group I resolved the issues so felt I would be safe to go ahead with.

The things I have researched for my secondary research have all influenced both the layout of the film and the techniques I would like to use.