Ben’s Blog

For my research into target audience I created a questionnaire (my blank Q above ^^) and gave copies out to be filled out and here are the results of 10 out of the 30 answered questionnaires:

 KEY:

Q1: Age
Q2: Gender

Q3: What is your favourite genre of film?
Q4: What is your favourite film of this year?
Q5: What film have you most recently seen advertised?

Q6: What stood out in the advertisement you most recently saw?

Q7: Do you go the cinema?
Q8: And if yes, how often do you go?

Q9: What most makes you want to go and see a film?

Q10: How do you watch films?

Q11: Do you choose (search for) to watch film trailers?

Q12: Do you read film reviews before you watch the film?

 

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QUESTIONNAIRE 1:

Q1: 16

Q2: Male

Q3: Action

Q4: Harry Potter (And The Half Blood Prince)

Q5:  Inglorious (Basterds)

Q6: Entertainment

Q7: Yes

Q8: Every month

Q9: Trailers

Q10: DVD, Blu-Ray, Cinema, Game  Consoles

Q11: No

Q12: Yes

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QUESTIONNAIRE 2:

Q1: 16

Q2: Female

Q3: Horror

Q4: He’s Just Not That Into You

Q5: Final Destination 3D

Q6: (Didn’t answer)

Q7: Yes

Q8: Every week

Q9: Trailers

Q10: DVD

Q11: Yes

Q12: No

————————————————————————————————————————————————
QUESTIONNAIRE 3:

Q1: 16

Q2: Female

Q3: Other: Chick Flick

Q4: Fast And Furious 4

Q5: Fame

Q6: The Dancing

Q7: Yes

Q8: Every year

Q9: Other: How good the advert looks

Q10: DVD, Cinema, VHS, Game Consoles, iPod’s

Q11: No

Q12: No

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QUESTIONNAIRE 4:

Q1: 16
Q2: Male

Q3: Comedy

Q4: Dog House

Q5: Zombieland

Q6: Comedy And Gore

Q7: Yes

Q8: Every month

Q9: Sequel

Q10: DVD, Cinema, Game Consoles, iPod’s

Q11: Yes

Q12: Yes

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QUESTIONNAIRE 5:

Q1: 16
Q2: Male
Q3: Comedy

Q4: Paul Blart Mall Cop

Q5: Zombieland

Q6: Zombies

Q7: Yes

Q8: Every month

Q9: Trailers

Q10: DVD

Q11: Yes

Q12: No

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QUESTIONNAIRE 6:

Q1: 16
Q2: Female
Q3: Other: Rom-Com

Q4: 500 Days OF Summer

Q5: Halloween 2 / Zombieland

Q6: The Zombies

Q7: Yes

Q8: Every month

Q9: Trailers

Q10: Cinema

Q11: No

Q12: No

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QUESTIONNAIRE 7:

Q1: 17
Q2: Male
Q3: Comedy

Q4: Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs

Q5: Up

Q6: (Didn’t answer)

Q7: Yes

Q8: Every month

Q9: Story of the film

Q10: DVD

Q11: Yes

Q12: Yes

———————————————————————————————————————————————–

QUESTIONNAIRE 8:

Q1: 16

Q2: Male

Q3: Comedy + Other: Animation

Q4: Ice Age 3

Q5: Up

Q6: (Didn’t Answer)

Q7: Yes

Q8: Every month

Q9: Trailers

Q10: Cinema

Q11: Yes

Q12: No

————————————————————————————————————————————————

QUESTIONNAIRE 9:

Q1: 16

Q2: Male

Q3: Comedy

Q4: Ice Age 3

Q5: Toy Story 3

Q6: (Didn’t Answer)

Q7: Yes

Q8: Every month

Q9: Trailers

Q10: Cinema

Q11: Yes

Q12: No

————————————————————————————————————————————————
QUESTIONNAIRE 10:

Q1: 17

Q2: Female

Q3: Horror

Q4: Drag Me To Hell

Q5: 500 Days Of Summer

Q6: (Didn’t Answer)

Q7: Yes

Q8: Every week

Q9: Trailers

Q10: Cinema

Q11: Yes

Q12: No

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Q6 cannot really be applied as I made a mistake on my questionnaire and forgot to include the options, so most people didn’t answer. I will however make up for this by making a 2 question questionnaire and give it to people to fill out so I can get this info. The 2 questions will be the same as 1 featured on the main questionnaire- What film have you most recently seen advertised? And What stood out in the adverisement you most recently saw? I will put options on the 2nd question this time and then I will use this information as well as the information from the main questionnaire for my research (so 2Q Questionnaire coming soon!)

 

Here is a scanned example of a questionnaire I got filled out (double sided):

My conclusions before pre-production is that I have good knowledge of film trailers, posters & magazines conventions. I have also considered what music I might use but will not know how good it sounds until my trailer is filmed. I created a questionnaire and got them filled out (will post soon) to get information on the target audience which is useful, annotated posters and music magazine covers to get more knowledge, know conventions, etc… and I wrote about/researched the BBFC as they will fictionally rate my film and I also reviewed/noted the conventions of 2 films (one horror and one not my genre) so I think I am well set up to start pre-production next week (after analysing my questionnaire results which will do tomorrow and posting my film idea in more detail than my original post).

Conventions of teaser trailers:

ICE AGE 3: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS [CONVENTIONS]: (comedy)

The trailer starts with Film studio logos, 20th Century Fox & Blue Sky Studios, there are then quick shots of parts in the film, with longer shots then being shown and dialogue from the film being used, there is a voiceover (starts off by saying “this year”), then a blue screen and the title of the film while voice over is saying it, then release ‘coming soon’ and website. There is also dramatic instrumental music played in it.

 

^^ All conventions are used in this trailer, background sound, dialogue from the film, clips from the film (including dialogue), film studios at the start, information on the film (eg: release date), voiceover (although not always used), etc…

 

[ICE AGE 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs: Review]

I think the trailer is effective as the dramatic music works with the footage, because the clips from the film are funny (comedy is meant to be funny so good if features in trailer), and it looks and sounds professional/good (eg: the voiceover), giving a good impression of the film.

 

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY (CONVENTIONS): (horror)

The trailer starts with Film studio logo, Icon, then an untraditonal feature as the footage and text do not seem to be with the film, then there is a logo for IM Global, and then the film is shown on screen but with an audience being shown, however there is traditional horror sounding music. We see the audience many times. There are quotes about the film, which is unconventional, then ‘experience it for yourself’ and the title, “Paranomal Activity”
^^ This is overall not conventional as films do not feature the supposed audience watching the film in the trailer, and do not contain footage not featured (seeming not to as I have not seen the film) and quotes about the film, not conventional. But in the trailer there are  film logos, title and horror sounding music, attempts to scare, which are conventional. ^^

 20th Century Fox & Blue Sky Studios, there are then quick shots of parts in the film, with longer shots then being shown and dialogue from the film being used, there is a voiceover (starts off by saying “this year”), then a blue screen and the title of the film while voice over is saying it, then release ‘coming soon’ and website. There is also dramatic instrumental music played in it.

 

^^ All conventions are used in this trailer, background sound, dialogue from the film, clips from the film (including dialogue), film studios at the start, information on the film (eg: release date), voiceover (although not always used), etc…

 

 [PARANORMAL ACTIVITY- review]

I think the trailer could be effective and not effective depending on who is watching. In my opinion, it is not effective because this film is designed to scare, and if they had to do something else instead of showing the film to scare, it suggests that the film is low quality/not scary so in my opinion it is not effective. Also the film is unconventional doing this audience added format and quotes form the film and I think the quotes help but everyone has different opinions and they could have been paid to see anything, etc…so not much. So in my opinion it is not a good trailer in terms of promoting the film but effective in being different and maybe causing a lot of people to talk about it.

                                                       

 

 

3+ “Spyro: A Hero’s Tail”

7+ “Crash Nitro Kart”

12+ “Sonic Mega Collection”

16+ “Smackdown Vs Raw 2008″

18+ “Grand Theft Auto IV”

ABOUT THE BBFC:

The BBFC (British Board Of Film Classification) are a UK company that regulates what films can be seen by certain people by giving them certificates, which are enforced by law (eg: under 18’s will not be allowed to see an ‘18′ certificate film at a cinema, or buy on DVD, Blu-Ray, etc…). All countries have their own ways of regulating films, some involve censoring (cutting down footage) or certification (eg: 15) and some use both methods. There is concern that films may impact individuals and society in a negative way, which is why the BBFC, MPAA, and other film regulators give films certificates. These concerns are mostly related to Sex, Violence, Swearing, Drug Use, Cruelty (in the making of the film) and Politics. The BBFC have to either rate, cut, or ban films submitted to them (all films in the UK must be submitted otherwise they cannot be shown/sold). For audiences, the BBFC can be very useful, especially to parents as they may not want their children to be exposed to strong violence for example. They also have negative effect however for the filmmakers as if they recieve a high rating, it will stop a lot of possible audience members helping their film to success (a real example is that the  film “Bruno”, which was given an 18 certificate, and they were missing a lot of their audience, 15, 16 and 17 year olds, so an edited version called “Bruno: Snipped” was released with a 15 certificate from the BBFC). And this does not happen very often, so often younger people will want to see high rated films and will not be able to via legal methods (anyone could download a film illegally from the internet but going to the cinema, buying on DVD, etc…would not be able to happen) which is a negative to those people.

 

As my fictional film will be released in the UK (although am only doing teaser trailer, poster and magazine cover), this means it would be rated by the BBFC and because my film would be rated, I may include this on my poster, and my trailer would need to be rated so my knowledge of the BBFC is needed so that I can rate my film/trailer appropriately and so I can get the 15 certificate I want for my film.

 

 

Conventions Of Horror Films:

Conventions of Horror films are things that are usually featured. For the genre of horror, these are very common features:

- Blood / - Gore / - Killers/Murderers / - Victims / - Screaming/Fear / - Weapons (knives, guns, etc…) / Dark lighting/dark places/night / - Dead and damaged bodies / - Things to scare audiences / - Hostages / - Good vs. Evil

“Freaks” is an American horror film from 1932. The film was directed and produced by Tod Browning and the film features mostly ‘physically deformed’ people, known in the time as “freaks” which people would especially go to see in circuses. The ‘physically deformed’ people are real (no costumes, special effects, makeup, etc…) and here is some information on some of the “deformed” cast members for the film “Freaks”:

 

 Harry Earles (as Hans) & Daisy Earles (Frieda) were 2 dwarfs, who with their other 2 sisters were 4 dwarf siblings known as “The Doll Family”

 

Johnny Eck (as Half Boy) was born with the appearance that he is missing the lower half of his torso (which is why he was sometimes known as Half-Boy)

 

Roscoe Ates (as Roscue) had a “severe” stutter

 

Angelo Rossitto (as Angeleno) was a dwarf

 

Prince Randian (as The Human Torso) was born without limbs and therefore moved with his ‘belly’

 

Frances O’Connor (as Armless Girl) was a girl born without arms.

 

Peter Robinson (as Human Skeleton) became very thin, weighing only 58 pounds and is billed himself as “The Living Skeleton”

 

Daisy and Violet Hilton (as Siamese Twins) were conjoined twins.

 

Josephine  Joseph (as Self) ’claimed’ to be a real hermaphrodite (half man & half woman)

 

Schlitzie (as Self) was born with ‘an unusually small brain and skull, a small stature, myopia and mental retardation’

 

There is also a bearded woman and microcephalics (often referred to as “pinheads”)

 

 

 

The film contained real experience of the director Tod Browning, in the film the ‘physical freaks’ are the good people (”trusting and honourable people”) and the ‘normal looking people’ are the bad people (in the film the normal characters plan to murder 1 of them to get his inheritance). I agree with what has been written as I also thought that in this film, the physically deformed people were the good people, while the ‘normal looking’ people were the bad ones.

 
Other facts about the film are that the film was banned in the United Kingdom for 30 years, due to audiences at the time being shocked/scared of the deformed cast. A lot of the film (approx 30 minutes) was cut, although it still caused controversy (so much that it got banned) and the cut footage is now ’lost’. The film was cut due to the reactions of some audiences members with one woman claiming to have suffered a miscarraige because of it and threatening to sue MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) [Distribution]. As well as approx 30 mins of footage being removed, including a scene showing Hercules being castrated, new footage was added.

The BBFC (British Board Of Film Classification) rate Video Games as well as films. The main difference between them is that every film has to be rated by the BBFC whereas not every game needs to be. (below are 2 examples of video games, 1 rated by the BBFC (Grand Theft Auto IV) and 1 not (Sonic Mega Collection)- the “Sonic Mega Collection” is instead rated by PEGI

Game publishers must give their game to be rated by the BBFC  if the game features:

Gross acts of violence towards humans or animals

Horrific behaviour or incidents

Human sexual activity

Criminal behaviour

 
(^^ The information above is from the BBFC ^^ Wikipedia’s page on British Board of Film Classification says that games must be submitted if they ‘depict human sexual activity, human genital organs or gross acts of violence’)

 

The list does not include ’strong language’ but strong language featuring in a game without the things above is very unlikely and PEGI would give it a high rating (eg: 16+) anyway.

 

The BBFC as well as awarding certificates (eg: 18) also award…?

 

The first video game to be given a 15 certificate from the BBFC was ‘an illustrated text adventure called Dracula’, based on the Bram Stoker novel’ (1986) and the first video game to be given an 18 certificate was ‘another illustrated text adventure called Jack The Ripper’ (1987) which dealt with the real life murders in Victorian London.

 

The first game to be refused a certificate by the BBFC was a 1997 game called Carmageddon, but it was later released with an 18 certificate after it had been modified. The game was refused classification in its original version because it was seen to encourage anti-social behaviour

 

Video games are also classified in other parts of the world by many different companies. The UK’s BBFC certificates to video games are the same as films (U, PG, 12, 15 & 18) although U, PG & 12 are rarely used, with 18 seeming the most used. Here is an example of a different countries video game rating certificates:  AUSTRALIA have the ratings G (General), PG (Parental Guidance Recommended), M (Recommended For Mature Audiences) and MA15+ (Mature Accompanied)- their MA15+ games cannot be bought by people under 15 unless they are accompanied by an approving parent or adult guardian. Games in Australia cannot be given the adult ratings R18+ (Restricted) and X18+(Restricted), instead they do not get rated (meaning they cannot be sold as they are banned).

^^ The dark colours/background used and high usage of the colour red are conventions of horror ^^