Conducting Audience Research...
“Excellent” research into a potential
target audience is actually quite simple - it means demonstrating that you have
considered 5 things:
1.
Who you audience might be
(demographics)
2.
What types of media they currently
engage with (films, TV shows, music etc)
3.
Why they like those films/media
(audience pleasures)
4.
What they think of your opening
sequence idea.
5.
How your findings for the above 4 questions will influence your own production... how you will cater to your
audience’s needs/desires?
How to do it... Option 1: Questionnaire.
Design a questionnaire with around 5-10
questions which investigates some of the following:
·
Age/gender of audience
·
How they see themselves as a
film audience member (Movie buff? Casual audience? Goes to cinema but other
people choose what to see?... try not to simply ask how often they go the
cinema which doesn’t really tell you much about them)
·
Favourite genres/favourite
films – why?
·
Favourite directors?
·
Favourite/memorable film
sequence – why?
·
Favourite actors? – why?
·
Other media (favourite TV
shows/music/games)
·
Write your opening sequence
idea down in a couple of lines – then ask for some feedback.... this last one
will be the most telling.
How to do it... Option 2: "Talking Heads"
Do exactly as above, only instead of keeping it paper-based, pose the questions to individuals or pairs of people on camera then edit their answers together question by question... upload to Youtube, embed to your blog and post a summary of your findings.
Final note... NO PIE CHARTS!
This is what I think of pie charts...
