This survey analyzed the demographics of potential audiences for a fantasy film. It found that most respondents were 16-23 years old, male, and enjoyed films like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. This provides insight into targeting a younger, male-skewing audience with an adventure-focused fantasy story incorporating elements like action that appeal to those who enjoyed previous successful films in the genre. The survey helped gauge audience preferences to inform creative decisions for the upcoming film.
2. Quantitative Research
From this survey, we can see that the typical fantasy reader is an English speaking (Native) employed
male or female who is most likely to be 30-50 years old in a relationship and has been educated at a
university or postgraduate university.
There are differences that need to be considered, however, as cinema tends to attract to younger
audiences as their primary demographic, which differentiates book audiences from cinemas audiences
as fantasy films have a younger demographic and market for those ages because they'll get a greater
audience interest. This means I will research other surveys and data to get a clearer picture on the
different demographics for fantasy films to make my own conclusions by analysis.
I will be conducting these analyses to further my knowledge on the audience that I want to attract for
my own fantasy film product because then I can make the best decisions for my film to then appeal to
my demographic more tactically by targeting certain things that specific ages, genders would be more
draw to.
Looking at different statistics and research we can see a more reliable overview of the kind of
demographic that my film will have to pander to in terms of age because this different research
followed the amount ages who went to see fantasy film, which displays that the younger audiences
(15-24 years old) were most preferable to the genre.
Since I have looked at both a full survey anaysis on a large aray of audience information on fantasy
books and statistics for fantasy film fans, I now know what kind of demographic I should try look to aim
to target.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2158244018780946
https://www2.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/do
wnloads/bfi-audiences-2015-11.pdf
3. Qualitative & Quantitative Research
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436992/reviews
?sort=totalVotes&dir=desc&ratingFilter=10
Dr Who is a Sci-Fi and fantasy TV show based in the UK. The series features the main character of the show, The Doctor, who
travels through time to save the universe, which is why he's labelled a 'Time Lord'. Similarly to the Doctor Who series, I will be
producing my own film that will include an element of travelling through time because my character will, like The Doctor, save
the day by saving his friend who was murdered. In Doctor who, The Doctor uses a blue 1960's police box called the Tardis to
time travel, but in my film I will have a greenhouse as a time travelling machine for my character because I found that it was an
original choice and the surrounding environment is very forest which adds to the fantasy nature aesthetic that isn't as
emphasised in this series because this show can lean towards Sci-Fi more than fantasy at times through the series. Eitherway
Dr Who has had a large impact on the concept of my product, indirectly inspiring the idea of a time travelling machine which
turned out for me to be my green house.
Though in recent times Dr Who has had low ratings on average due to various changes such as writers and a change of the
person playing the role of The Doctor, which most fans felt south about because they felt it didn't have the level of wit and
interest as the previous doctors. In general, the show has had a large amount of positive feedback amassing a total average
rating of 8.6/10 (201,974 Rating Participates) and an average Tomatometer score of 92% which are positive scores considering
these critical websites of films and series. We can see this in the review written by Marannsjunk in 2006, whereby he gives a
brief overview of his emotionally subjective perspective on the new episodes and his thoughts before whist and after watching
the episodes which made for him to create a passionately positive review of the series at the time. When looking at other
reviews at that time I found a mix of opinionated and objective responses which were predominately highly rated as at that
time David Tennant's charisma, his assistant's, the production and especially the writing was second to non which was the
reason why there was an explosion of praise coming from fans and non-fans of the show through review sites.
Something that I found helpful when researching the IMDB rating of Dr who was that I could inspect the specifics of the age
demographics in the pool of a chart which helped me further realise that if my primary audience can give Dr Who an average
rating of 8.6 which is a Sci-Fi/Fantasy show, then it gives me greater understanding that my audience, considering the age, will
give my film a chance as they can connect with other shows in a similar realm.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/doctor_who
4. Existing Product Research
Doctor Who Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vIsQ25Krq8
This is an example of a coherent and emotionally well put together trailer that I would aspire to create. Off the bat, we can see a bearded,
ruffed-up and worrisome looking doctor that turns smoothly around from his seating position to glare beyond the camera, which is positioned
centre close-up to The Doctor, as he is chained up to a seat with a blurred man walking in the background on a balcony holding an assault rifle.
This is a perfect opening shot as we get a quick clip of The Doctor in a contextualized manner which makes the audience feel filled up with
wonder, as we see him looking into the distance in the emotional disarray that he is doing and as we know that The Doctor is a genius time lord
who is known to solve problems beyond the normal concepts of time. Thus, seeing him in such a psychically and mentally taxing environment, so
it would seem from what is shown, creates great instant interest when watching this opening and makes the audience want to continue
watching the trailer as there's already so much mystery.
The next two clips that are shown are of a futuristic world with a spaceship and of a time that seems to be in the past as there's a horse and
carriage as well as an old streetlight. These clips tell the viewer that this season will include both past and future without overtly giving the
audience too much information, therefore increasing hype.
The trailer then rapidly fades from black to a sequence of three monsters and villains that is only shown for three seconds as this showcase is
one of the faster section of the trailer thus making the trailer more horrifying as the enemies shown is only bleak but up front at the same time.
There's also a similar connect here to the open environments shown as the trailer depicts an old doll and a space man which makes that
connection add to the flow of this video. From this I will try to think about formulating connections in my own film trailer to create the feel of
understanding and meaning through clips. Once again, the monsters and villains are shown but this time with their movement which adds to the
fright as it went from displaying their look briefly to showing them in action. These more action filled climaxes within the trailer with the
enemies are accompanied with new character's reactions to them. This was well built up as the audience goes from seeing snippets of these
monsters with not much going on to them in action with the people, with their reactions to what they would go on to commit to that person.
After displaying all the new aspects to the season, the ending is my best part of this trailer as it nails the cliff hanger perfectly as it transitions
from the accomplice running in a desert to a contrasting dark blue scenery whereby it appears she pulls out a gun and we don't clearly see what
happens but it cut to her shouting at the distracted Doctor, in a panic, then he turns to look at her and then they both display a scared and
concerned facial expression as the background seems to be still symbolising a complicated aftermath of action along with the emotions being
shown by the both of them. After the final cuts it displays text that says, "Coming soon", which textually staples what has been shown and the
viewer is then given that it will be released soon.
5. Existing Product Research
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Official Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5X-hFf6Bwo
For the final film of the triology, the producers came together to make a compact 3-and-a-half-minute trailer for advertisement of the 4-
hour, 11-minute film. To kick things off, the start of the trailer brings us a long shot of a main subject in the film, which seems to be a
vague energy source in the distance. Then there's a transition to the next clip, which displays the reaction of prominent characters in the film
whereby one of them says to Gandalf, 'The eye of the enemy is moving'. These two shots makes for an exciting opener for this trailer because
we have a longshot of a surreal view, which switches to a close-up of the two characters gazing into the distance. Viewers when seeing this
opener, feel instant emotionally and visually connected to what is occurring within the trailer because the audience is simultaneously
reacting to the 'eye of the enemy' along with the characters.
After the opening shots, the trailer changes pace and begins to have a rapid display sequenced clips. This helped ramp up the intensity of the
trailer off the get go, to connect the action and vastness to the film from this teaser. These quick cuts of clips appear throughout the trailer in
waves, to give time for slower portions within the trailer so the experience isn't over blown with speed because they producers of this trailer
knew that when teasing a long film, that variety and clarity in presentation would be necessary for this kind of progressive action fantasy film.
When anaysing this product, I felt inspired by the velocity of speed that this trailer has as it make the experience of this fantasy and action
film more entertaining because it synergies with is happening in the sequences.
The longer cuts included in the trailer tend to be cinematic and dialogue orientated. This makes the trailer more thought provoking hence it
gives more information in contrast to the faster cuts which are too short to get a lot out of because of the lack of time the sequences have
for processing. The Lord of the Rings trailer uses cuts to black, like when it showcases a clip of Frodo getting chased by a giant tarantula and
in other instances, which adds to the progressiveness of the cinematic journey for the dramatic scenes within this trailer. Another technique
used to manipulate the perception of the trailer is slow motion, which is used effecitivly on different clips and sequences throught. These
clips are tranquil which is positive for this kind of trailer as it allows for points of clarity at different points throught the trailer because most
of the content is highly situlating even when it's not violent, so having clips with less speed is helpful for making calmer scenes and
formulating complimenting clashes between the variety in cuts.
After the trailer presents an aray of different fast paced battle scenes, it ends on a vague cliffhanger as Frodos friend is shouting, which
makes for a very exciting closer hence it makes you want to watch more of what has been seen of the snippets. Beyond the cliffhanger, the
title, 'Lord of the Rings' appears along with a date displaying the film will be released on December 17th 2003. For my own film trailer I will
aim to use titles at the begganing or end and a date, to wrap the experience up, like a package for my product.
6. Existing Product Research
Toy Story Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNk1Wi8SvNc
The opening to this trailer presents the iconic, 'Walt Disney Pictures' animated intro and 'PIXAR' so that the animation studios are displayed. The
narrator beggins the trailer by stating, 'For anyone who's ever wondered what toys do, when people aren't around' whilst short cuts of still toys are in
the room. This quickly transtions as the children run out of the room and it then displays all of the toys coming to life and sneekily travelling out of their
hidden areas. This is a well-done opener for the trailer as it translates to the audience the secrective realm that the toys need to working inthrough the
contrast of which the scenes display the toys in, away from and alongside the humans. The narrator soon after continues by saying, 'Disney pictures
invite you into a world where toys come to life' which wraps up the introduction of the trailer.
The teaser to the story then beggins in the trailer as the toys must play dead, which is shown in quick cuts, to avoid Andy because he has come into the
room to put his new Buzz Lightyear product on his bed, which results in him pushing Woody, a main charater, off the bed. The trailer then presents both
Woody and Buzz Lightyear as the main characters, using vivid camera shots and zooms alongside their character profile explanation.
There is a build-up of tension between these characters, which leads to Buzz falling out of Any's room, into the real world because Woody accidentally
hits a light that swoops round to eventually hit Mr. Lightyear. This a sense of interest as now these characters must make a mission to save Buzz
Lightyear whilst simultaneously get passed various obstacles including people who they must avoid. There are many fast shots at all angles that show
many exhilarating activates, which get riskier at the trailers play carries on as it ends on Woody and Buzz traveling on a remote-control car with a rocket
booster on the back, which gives the audience a taste of how their disliking for one another progressively turns into partnership and potential
friendship.
I admire the feeling of a journey through the visuals and the small grasp of potential character growth and general progressions through this trailer
because I think the connectivity with the narration and the music worked well. I am intrigued by the idea of narration and will be producing my own
cinematic music for my trailer.
7. Survey Research & Analysis
Starting off my survey I began with asking for my audience's age. The
results came out to be 16โ23-year-olds as the leading age range for my
demographic at 72.73% of the 11 aprticipants who answered this survey
question with 3 people in each of the age ranges above 23 years old
making up 27% of my audience.
From this this data I now know I should appeal to a younger
demographic to get the most interest out of my product from my
audience. Though in general cinema tends to attract younger audiences,
I will continue to plan to make my film trail well structure but
simutainiously not too progressive and mature so that my younger
audience can get the most joy out of my product.
8. Survey Research & Analysis
This questionaire of my survey asks what age my audience age is, which
totaled at 70% answering male (7 men), 30% of my audience answering
female (3 women) and 0% other.
Realising my audiene's gender makes allows me to understand that since the
fantasy genre doesn't often scue predominetly to one gender or another, and
that males do in this case hold 70% of my primary audience, that I will
impliment certain moods are clash genres to fantasy that men tend to appeal
towards like crime and action because it will syngergies to disbalance in the
genders, making my male dominated audience more-able to connect with my
film as they will enjoy the added elements of my fantasy film that men prefer
more over women on average, such as crime and violonce aspect of my film.
Considering my film will stay within the realm of fantasy, the 30% of women
that are included within my audience have a lot to desire, still as my
conducted research shows that even with shows like Lord of the rings almost
hald of women enjoyed that show, though there was colossal depictions of
war and violence which guys tend to prefer over women. This means that
fantasy can be flexible with audience appeal even with a genre clash, which is
good for my product because the 30 of females have the fantasy experience
of my trailer to be entertained by.
9. Survey Research & Analysis
I asked my audience what their favourite fantasy film was in this survey question to see what
the outcome would be. What came was 10 out of the 12 people who saw this question
answered and there was a mix of different answers. There were some similar ones as well such
as Harry Potter, which was an answer for 3 of the 10 responses and Lord of The Rings, that
came up twice in this questioning. Meaning that half of my audeinces input for what their
favourite fantasy film was came up once from this question.
Getting my audince involved in answering this question was an important part of the research
proess for gathering information because it gave me the opportunity to see what my audience
response would be for their favorite fantasy film. The reason being, is that it demonstates
wether my audince has a favorite film in the genre and it tells me what fantasy film they enjoy
the most. From this I now know that most of my audience enjoys fantasy that links and is
inclusive of the adventure genre as well. I know this feekback shows Harry Potter and Lord of
the rings are the most favourited out of the pool of answers. Also having this knowledge tells
me that if they like those films I could orintate action within my film as those films have action
and intensity within them.
I'm not surprised that 2 people decided to skip this one since fantasy ins't in everyone's
entertainment list, which is why I am glad ten out of the twelve people responded and gave me
knowledge about their favorite film. Although those two people didn't respond, I think it was a
good oppoutinity for them to think about what their favorite fantasy film because they may
have gone on to research and even watch a film to see what they think. Likewise, it's useful to
know that they might not have a favourite film because then my film might be a fresh
perspective and watch for them, like an introduction.
10. Survey Research & Analysis
This questionnaire shows that 100% of the 9 people in my audience who
responded likes watching trailers for new films. 3 of the 12 audience members
skipped this question, which may have been because I should've added an extra
third for an anwer, such as, "Sometimes", because not everyone likes watching
them every time one is released. This is as not every film trailer is enjoyible for a
wider audience and/or is not on their taste pallet.
From this, I now know that my audience will certainly enjoy the experience of
watching my film trailer as everyone who answered the question said they like
watching new trailers. This means that my audience likes investing time into new
premiers of films and new snippets for up-and-coming films which shows interest
within my demographic, towards the type medium of my product.
11. Survey Research & Analysis
When asking my audience what their favourite film genre was the responses came
out being 27.5% for the primary genres answers which were action, fantasy, sci-fi and
9.09% for drama, horror films.
The geners most popular from these statistics here are balances mostly on action,
fantasy and sci-fi, which is positive for the case of my product as sci-fi, and fantasy can
be intertwining generes and fans of both genres often watch to both types of film.
Also knowing action scored highly is a positive hence I have planned to implement
action into my film, so that means my audience has will have more to be desired out
of my trailer and I may emphasis that in my planning, after realising what my
audiences taste in films are.
12. Survey Research & Analysis
100% of my audience watches film trailers on YouTube as their primary platform and 2
people skipped this question out of the 12 people who entered the survey. However,
they would've likely choosen YouTube as well, from the look of the popular choice and
the fact that YouTube is the main website for film trailers online.
Learn what platform my audience uses from my survey is supportive for me to
understand where they go online, for film trailer content and thus I can meet their
needs so that my product will reach their website of choice. This has influnce my
product because although I had decided to upload my products content onto various
areas of the web, I fermly understand now that all my audience is on YouTube and that
it would be unhelpful for me to exclusively upload on a seprate plateform that my
audience doesn't use and so I will certainly be planting my film trailer on YouTube.
13. Production and Post-Production
The equipment I will be using for my production will be a GoPro, a stablizer and a tripod so that I can record a variety of different footage in 4k
60fps at a high quality for visually manipulation for a 1080p 30fps render in the postproduction so that I can reframe any raw clips, if
necessary and render them in a new size without the worry of down grading the resolution after exportion.
Techniques that I have for my production are using different camera angels depending on the tone of what is occouring within a set shot so that
there is a corrilation between emotional influence and synergistic response to the section of story. For example, I will be most likely to primarily
use a lot of low angled for the crime/action aspect of my film to convay a sense of dominece and unease from the voilence about to be and being
commited to create a visual emphasis on what is happening. I will be be mindful of this when recording because I know from researching my
previous experience when experimenting and producing in previous projects that when it works it can make the mood of the film flow more
coherantly and that when you get it wrong it tents to create a scene that feels not quite right.
For my postproduction I have decided to make colour corrections to be leaning on the contrasted and lowered brightness side for some of the
film trailer as doing so for parts of my film trailer that have action in them would go well with the action aethetic I would feel weird if it was too
bright because it will include crime and isn't an action comedy, it would be suitible and fitting for me to alter the colouration for those scenes.
However, contrasting clips of isolation, piece, and the entering of a magical time machine will be a contrast of the dark and will be bright to signify
the processes of thoses elements of the stroyline within my trailer because it would be a complimentry switch up from the colour correction of
the other clips in the trailer. I've had clarity of this since watching fantasy films like Harry potter and action films, such as The Termintor have
opened my eyes to the colours and camera angles and how they are used in condjuction to different squences of clips within a story. Which is
why, from developing those production techniques I will pursue my production and postproduction by making those decision, in order to for fill a
well-rounded film.
From researching trailers like the Dr Who trailer, in my existing product research, I have come to find that the short length cuts are best when
used in the majority of a trailer because it creates a greater feeling of the it being a snippit, or a small taster, of what is to come of a film, and that
way it is also easier to create a trailer to flow quickly, within a time contraint of a few minuetes, as you can trim clips down in the software
premier pro so that it lessens the lengths of a seieres of clips. This way it feels less long winded and more intense and vivid as there's instant
visualised situations occurring at different speeds through the play through of the trailer.