Audience Expectations and Audience Survey

 

 

As our greatest and harshest critics of our film opening and with the ever increasing expanse of technological mediums becoming ever increasingly accessible and available, everybody and anybody has the power to turn their hand to that of a film critic. This has both advantages and disadvantages in our technologically advanced world.  This has both positive and negative implications for us as a film crew, as messages and receptive reactions can spread quickly in the modern technologically advanced age. Therefore, to make sure a positive message is spread and to effectively fulfil the target demographics’ expectations were our film to be released publicly in a cinema we have decided to carry out an audience survey to assess what the audience would generally be looking for to inspire them to travel to a cinema to view our film as well as justifying the expenditure so commonly associated with attending the cinema. Audience satisfaction is paramount and a necessity to keep the viewer engaged, and to remind them also of the fact that there trip to the cinema was in fact not a waste of precious valuable time or money. As a small independent film crew turning a profit or breaking even on box office ticket sales would be a key part of the film process upon the film’s release in a public house such as a cinema. Positive audience reception and feedback of the film would be a crucial part to the film’s release therefore in any profit making exercise. As expected in turn the film would need to be of good quality.

Below is the link to our audience survey created by Zach to initially gauge our demographics initial views and opinions as well as expectations of what they would hope to see in a film of the Social Realism/ Thriller Genre and what for them would justify a trip to the cinema were our film to be put out on public release.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QS329BG

  

The expectations of our audience who would come to see our film would be for our film to be an enjoyable and pleasurable viewing experience. However, in contrast to this statement as our film is predominantly of the social realism genre they will also be expecting a harsh, urban, gritty feel to the film to represent the lower and working classes sometimes encountered through normal everyday situations. I would hope that our film opening will effectively represent the harsh urban realities commonly faced by people living in financial hardship or difficulties brought about by the economic stranglehold of which they are not a party of blame, moreover, an innocent party caught up in the farce.

As a general expectation our audience will be expecting our film to stick to the Codes and Conventions of the Social Realism Genre as seen through a master-class from the two directors of Shane Meadows and Danny Boyle the helmsmen of This is England and Trainspotting  respectively.  This will give the audience a great deal of satisfaction in seeing the Codes and Conventions of the genre being implemented into our film opening.

Below are the Codes and Conventions that we will be aiming to conform and stick to in the production of our film opening:

Location Shooting (not studio or constructed sets.) Throughout our own film opening we will aim to shoot in realistic, natural and outdoor locations because it will give a far more aesthetically pleasing feel to the location and therefore the storyline as the events will seem far more believable given the naturalistic setting as well as a more realistic feel to the piece in general.

· Non- Professional Actors or new comers to the acting ‘scene.’ As both actors that we have procured for our film opening are of a similar age to that contained within the group, both actors are not professionals and are therefore amateurs. Not only does this allow the film opening to stick rigidly with the Codes and Conventions of the Social Realism film opening it allows the actors to explore freely what their capabilities are and really have their ability shine through the camera lens, allowing their performances to appear far more authentic and natural.   

 

· Semi- improvised scripts. This is a fantastic opportunity for actors appearing in Social Realism films as it allows them to explore in great depth and creativity their performance and explore more to their characterisation by being allowed the freedom to semi- improvise portions of the film which can have an extremely positive effect upon the outcome of a scene that is being filmed. As it is common practice in the acting profession and the media world at large for that matter to be directed by the script, freedom within the world of film is a rare yet tantalisingly exciting opportunity for directors, actors and audience members. This is what we will be encouraging our actors to portray in their performances for our film opening, encouraging them to take initiative and if they feel so inclined to do so edit the script in whichever way they feel may necessitate a more realistic portrayal of their character. 

 

· Both humour and seriousness, which provides an obvious contrast. Humour and seriousness provides obvious, opposing contrasts to one another as they remain on opposite ends of the spectrum with regards to human emotion. It is often extremely interesting to explore both sides to individuals within a story as this provides countless new opportunities for character development to take place as well as the possibility of allowing the free-flow of the story in an exciting new direction. During our film opening we will be aiming to provide contrast between humour and seriousness, with the humour’s intention in the piece aimed at alleviating some of the dark and foreboding subject matter covered in the piece and used to act as comic relief for the audience.

 

· The erosion of regional identities, breaking down of social stereotypes. Interestingly this is one particular convention which both films consistently fail to follow as regional identities are represented, and largely stereotypically at that. However, I feel that, if anything, this all but adds to the overall effectiveness of the films and further aids to strengthen the messages that through the world of film they wish to promote.

 

· Wider Social issues explored by emotional and dramatic individual stories. This provides a deeper layer of contextual meaning and understanding to any film and links to personal characters in an individualised way as they try to confront and overcome personal demons and innocuous hindrances that lead to them being free of burdens that anchor them to a degrading, pitiful level.  This is something which, if our film were to be extended to full feature length we would explore Toby’s personal struggle upon overcoming his personal mental trauma as he decides whether it was a good or bad decision to kill Creegan, one which later in the film he would continue to question as the outcome of his decision still haunts him.

· Triumph over adversity. This an area that is a very central one within our film opening, as although the story is set within a dark, oppressive and menacing world of the drugs ‘scene’ and culture, there is still a sense of an antagonist and protagonist character within our film opening. Creegan is seen as the protagonist as his role is that of the drug dealer, making sizeable gains in profit due to his immoral gains in people’s dependency on the drug which he supplies. However, in contrast to Creegan’s control Toby acts an anchor that aims to thwart Creegan’s operation, the only logical way of doing this is through removing Creegan in the only conceptual way Toby can think of, that of murder.

Hopefully, by fulfilling audience expectations through sticking to the codes and conventions commonly presented in films of the social realism genre we can add our film to the ever expanding list of successful social realism films that are continually being produced.