Unit 8 - Secondary & Primary Research (FMP)

For my final major I had decided to do some Secondary and Primary research to help me develop on my ideas and also to get help, more knowledge and inspiration off my target audience based on what they would like to see in my short film, wether it being technical side or the concept side, whilst also gaining information more about film genres and the type of shots they use.

Secondary Research

For my Secondary Research I decided to look at two different short films/ series that are related to the genre of mine which is a comedy/drama and a film that involves dogs.

One of the series I decided to look at was High Maintenance, I decided to look at this series, merely because their is a character in their series that is a dog walker and who is someone that is obsessed with dogs, something that I want my character to be related with and similar to, personality wise.

The main show is not about dogs, but I felt that the clips that did contain the woman, talking to the animal and feeding it, would however be very helpful and supportive in the stage where I would have to develop the main characteristics of my character. These sort of clips would strengthen me in the development stage.

Below is the clips where it showed one of the characters Beth, being offered a job and asked to look after Gatsby the dog.

Details about the clip :

(deconstruction)

As you can see from the start of the clip we can see that Beth is quite a different and unusual character, as she explains that when she got the back to the city she felt that her purpose was to look after dogs, she even says slightly that she think she is a dog which is even more weird for someone to even say. We see her engaging and interacting with the dog in a friendly and hyper way, talking to the dog, as if it would even respond back to her, when she says she has the best treats ever. We see that Beth is truly fascinated and sees her and the dog getting along really well.

In this clips I really like the way this character has been formed and developed through not only by how they interact and present themselves, but also through the shots the videographer used before exposing the appearance of Beth. At the start of the clip we only see Beth's hands and hear her dialog and once she says she believes that she is a dog the shot than changes to show a dog overhearing their conversation, I like how that shot was structured to show and present what she thinks she is which is a dog, showing links between what she was saying.

Even when the dog owner is talking to Beth we still don't see the full picture of what she looks like and what features she has, making the scene more entertaining to watch, as the audience would be un-aware of who this person is who thinks she is a dog.

Yet again in the next scene we are again left with Beth's voice and a visual of just her body, which is covered in a colorful clothes and a fanny pack, giving the audience a subtle hint that she is quite peculiar, due to her random and cluttered fashion sense. I liked these variety of shots used to hide her appearance, such as making the shots blurry and cropped to add suspense and a blur so we don't yet see what she looks like.

As she bends down to say to Gatsby the dog that she can come here, we see another shot of her glasses flinging down her neck, which is an old fashioned pair, symbolizing that yet again she isn't someone that is standard or typical. We only get to see her when we get a POV (point of view) shot from the dog who is appeared to be looking at Beth, which turns into a un-focus picture to a clear shot where we can see Beth clearly and what her overall appearance looks like, as she is interacting with the dog.

I overall really like how this scene was structured and had took a lot of valuable information from it, this clip has inspired me to, perhaps not be so forward with showing the appearance of my main character too quickly and to use a variety of shots also, as using the same shots throughout could be boring and not interesting. The shots that were used in this scene such as, a cropped medium shot and a close up to the hands, whilst the dialog was on the top, inspired me a lot to introduce my character through a variety of shots rather than having a basic medium shot exposing everything they look like, showing no suspense to my audience.

When looking at more film examples that were alike to what I wanted my short film to be, I had difficulties doing so as, I found no films that really covered the obsession of dogs or the life of someone who was specifically obsessed with dogs, all I found was movies that contains dogs being superhero's or dogs being animated and having human like abilities such as being able to talk.

I however, did found a Spanish movie called La mujer de los perros (which translates to the dog lady) their were no links allowing me to watch the movie but I did stumble across the trailer.

La mujer de los perros - Translation : The Dog Lady

I decided to add this film as apart of my secondary research because I felt that it linked well to what I wanted my short film to be about, someone who is obsessed with dogs, around dogs and somebody who is anti social, which is what this movie had features of.

Plot :

The story is about a woman called Verónica Llinás who is known to live in a self built ramshackle hut with a huge pack of dogs. In her free and spare time she uses her time to go rummaging and hunting for food that she can consume and she is also very anti social, so she tends to avoid human contact. Throughout this short film we see the daily life of this woman and how her lifestyle is different from the norm. Nobody knows why and how she became a dog lady and who she really is.

Due to it being hard to find any viewable full movie clips of this movie I decided to just annotate the trailer instead, as this was the only movie example I could find that was the closest to the concept of mine, someone who is anti social and is always associated with dogs. I felt that I could use this apart of research to help me develop my character more.

Trailer Deconstruction :

As you can see in the clip the trailer is pretty basic and simple, presenting to its audience a wide and high angle shot, showing first a nice and green scenery of a field (a place where dogs can roam freely and also to show that this is the surroundings the main character lives in, making herself detached from society) We then see a lot of dogs walking, with some following the lead of the main character who appears to be holding some sort of thick material, perhaps a bed sheet.

From the start of the trailer we already see the type of environment she lives and the type of thing she is dependent on the most which is her dogs, as some of them follow her in the direction she is going.

What we also see throughout the trailer is her struggling with carrying this material and going in a certain direction with her pack of dogs, with the ending being the name of the film which is La mujer de los perros.

What I will take from this Secondary Research -

I really liked the shots that were used in this trailer it made the audience see from a very high and clear perspective, we could see her struggle clearly, as she tries her best to carry that huge thick material across the field, whilst also being with her dogs.

For my final major project I would really want a nice and green scenery like this, showcasing a place full of nature, a place that dogs are around. Watching this trailer inspired me alike to the high maintenance clip to explore different shots and angles as, it makes the scene interesting and presented very well to the audience.

From this secondary research it has taught me and also gave me inspiration of how I could structure my film and what features I could add to my character such as, old fashioned glasses from high maintenance, or someone who looks earthy from La mujer de los perros.

Primary Research

For my Primary research I conducted a online survey using the website ''Survey monkey'' the questions used were based on finding out what people wanted to see in the technical side of my short film such as, what editing styles they wanted to be present in my final edit and also based on what design features they thought would look appealing and attractive in my film poster that I will have to create.

I also formed a focus group, which consisted of people of the ages of my target audience which was sixteen to eighteen year olds. In the focus group I interviewed four girls and four boys, just so I could get an wide and different response from each individual person that I could further on add their feedback & opinions to my final major project and also, so I could get a mixture of answers from both males and females.

From the survey I got a lot of feedback with 10 people responding and completing it, which overall made me happy, as the more feedback I receive the more I can alter and contribute all that was stated into my final edit, making not only me satisfied but also my target audience.

Here is the feedback I got in an analyzed format, which stored all this data into bar chats and percentages, so I can get a real in-sight of what percentage of people wanted overall to be seen in my work.

From the start of the survey I saw that all the people that participated were mostly people of my target audience which I was grateful for, as if it wasn't it would not be very helpful to the development of my work, I personally am not trying to appeal my work to 20 year olds and getting feedback from people from that age group, simply won't be beneficial or necessary.

Males were the gender that answered my survey a lot which I did not mind, in-fact their was only 20% more males than females that completed my survey, I felt personally that this did not affect my research or development, as this number was made up for when I did my focus group.

For this question I really was aiming to find out what particular font people wanted to be dominated all over my film poster. To be honest I was very un-aware of all the different fonts out there and personally struggled trying to list all the types of fonts, so I went on the website da-font.com and looked at all the different types of unique fonts and what they were ''specifically labelled as''(wether it being decorative, horror, or romance - where they would be hearts in the text) and that honestly inspired me and helped me form all the options that were placed on this part of the questionnaire.

From the response I guess that it has been decided that the font that will be used in my film poster will be font that is comic like, very bold, creative and a font that stands out. Which I think is a font that will correlate really well with the genre of my film, which is a comedy/drama but mostly a comedic film.

Colors are very crucial in a film poster, as they help to add to the concept and genre of the film, such as when you see film posters that are about romance they tend to use colors such a red, which is a color that symbolizes a lot of things including passion and love. The color red is also a color that is stereotypically used a lot, on things that are associated with love, such as valentines day.

Colors also help to make film posters stand out, be very bold and attractive, leading people to be intrigued by the image and want to see the film in cinemas or on DVD.

I wanted to find out what colors my target audience felt would be the best on my film cover, so I came up with a list of colors and placed them on to my survey and from the feedback I realized that loads of people wanted the color pink and sliver, with one person saying other and r saying a metallic sliver would be a nice color.

So the choice has been decided I will be using the colors sliver and pink!

From this data I will take a lot from this and be able to contribute the colors that were most favored by my target audience.

One of the things that I also really wanted to know is, where my target audience would wants my film to be presented and advertised. For this question I chose a variety of locations which also I felt related to the surroundings, my target audience would mostly be around, especially since in the social demographics table, them being a grade e, I had to try my very best to advertise my short film according to the stereotypical places and shows they may be interested in.

Most people stated how they believe my film poster should be showcased at a bus stop, which I do not have any disagreements, overall I am just happy to get this valuable feedback from people who I am trying to make short film for.

Before I was not really aware of what a tagline was and how significant it is in a film poster, now I know how important it is, as it gives people little information regarding of what your short film will contain and be about, without them having to watch it. - which helps in attracting an audience, as they get to see a short description about what your short film contains.

I chose a variety of tag lines that I had created, one was based on the popular song ''who let the dogs out'' where I just copied the phrase of a song and the rest just came from thinking and coming up with ideas, regarding what my short film will be about which is someone who is obsessed with dogs in a loving way, which then changes into hatred.

40% of people picked ''who let the dogs out'' making that be the tag line for the final edit of my film poster.

In some film posters the font is more over-exaggerated than the photo and more noticed, I wanted to see if that was a feature my target audience wanted to see in my film poster and I guess from the results people wanted the image to stand out more than the font, which I personally prefer as, I felt that it would look weird if the font was more dominant because its not about the font its about the concept and the image that people should see visually.

I believe that the opening of a film is a very important, as it is the first thing that you ever see, therefore I wanted to ask this question to see what I can do, as an editor apart of my short film to make the opening of my film eye-catching, memorable and noticeable in a good way to my target audience.

A lot of people said fast paced and quick, so they feel like everything should be straight to the point and quick at first, introducing the scene so people can understand the concept. I don't have a problem doing, so ill do anything to make my work aesthetically pleasing and enjoyable for my target audience.

I was very un-certain wether I should have voiceover's of my main character in the film and really wanted to get some feedback based on wether I should do so or not. I personally never thought in my opinion that people would want to hear voice-over's in my short film, but however I am so glad that I did ask, as I found out that the majority of people that took my survey wanted to hear voiceover's, thus changing my mind and helping me choose my decision.

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FOCUS GROUP

(A picture of the four girls I had interviewed)

Below is a video recording I had made of the focus group, from the video you can see all the questions I asked and the feedback I got from each individual person. For the focus group I really wanted to gather information on what my target audience would want to see character wise, just so I can develop and gain ideas that could be added to the character development of my main character. I asked them all questions to see what features they wanted my main character to have wether it be the appearance they have or wether they wanted their obsession with dogs to be exposed to the world.

The questions I asked were :

My main character is crazy about dogs, would you want this to show in the character or be hidden?

Because the person is crazy should their appearance match their personality?

The focus group provided me with a lot of information and in-sight of what people specifically my target audience wanted to see in my main character. It allowed me to narrow down all their opinions and help to form a more developed idea of what my main character should look like and wether their obsession should be known or not.

The feedback and information I got from this question ↓

(summarized)

My main character is crazy about dogs would you want this show in the character or be hidden?

Most people said that it would better if this obsession would be hidden, as it would make the plot more interesting and it being hidden would give the audience an enigma code, making them more eager to watch it, as they would be blind to what is actually occurring, resulting in suspense being made. Making the obsession hidden would add mystery to the plot and my target audience said doing so, would make people enjoy it, as they can discover this mystery rather than already knowing it and not being surprised or intrigued by what happens next.

This information will be taken on and will be most definitely used to help structure the development of my character.

From this feedback I will now know not to make the obsession that my main character has be known by others.

Next question - the feedback I got

(summarized)

Because the person is crazy should their appearance match their personality?

From this question I got a lot of the same responses, where people said don't.

The many reasons why people said not to do so, was because it would make the whole concept predictable, resulting in no amusement for those who plan on watching my short film. They said to not make it too obvious and predictable, avoid being stereotypical and make them look neat rather than crazy. They said that making their appearance match their personality would not be as realistic, whereas if I do the opposite it would allow me more to develop more on my character throughout the short film.

Most of the girls said in my focus group and some of the guys said as well, that I should make their appearance not match their personality, as doing so would leave room for some suspense to take place where people are left intrigued. Tatum said you could come up with an idea where the character sees themselves as normal and that its only the audience who later finds out that this person is not normal. - An opinion which I really liked, as it helped me to start to form an idea that I could perhaps consider.

The person should not look crazy because that what people expect, make it un-predictable.

From this feedback I will take a lot of it on board, I believe that this information is so crucial to add into my character development. Adding all these amazing contributions to my work will help advance my work, helping it to be captivating and engaging for my target audience to watch.

All this research I have done has been very beneficial and is a valuable part of research that will help me in the stages of creating my characters and finding out what people what to see in my film poster and also in the editing sides of my short film.

Doing this vast amount of research in order to find out what a specific audience wants to see in a short film in mine will definitely ensure that I have an entertaining film and a proud film that people of my target audience would be happy and pleased watching.

The next step after this....

Is to document where my short film will be set in (the location) and begin to form and develop my character to the needs and opinions of how my target audience wanted them to look like.

I would also need to ensure that I do some more Secondary Research and Research on film posters just so I can gain more knowledge and inspiration of what I want my own film poster to look like.