1. PR1: Research Techniques in Film
Mainstream-
Alternative-
Niche-
Quantitative research is anything to do with numbers/numerical information. Such as using
pie charts.
Qualitative research uses primary research meaning it uses things such as interviews and
focus groups.
Demographic scale- The demographic scale is used to describe and categorize people
depending on their social grade/income.
2. Here is an example of the demographic scale;
A- The rich and wealthy people such as Barristers and Accountants
B- Middle class
C1- Lower middle class
C2- Skilled working class
C- Working class
D- Unemployed students and pensioners/old people who are retired
Mainstream- mainstream films are films which are aimed at a huge audience. The audience
is worldwide which means that everyone has knowledge of the film. Most mainstream films
have multiple parts to it such as Harry Potter, Star Wars and Indiana Jones.
Alternative- alternative films are films which are based on a small audience. They have a
certain criteria and have different storylines when compared to other films. An example of
an alternative film is suicide squad as it was aimed at mainly people who read comic books.
Niche- niche films are films that are based on a certain filmgenre. They have a very small
viewing base and are usually based on a certain person. An example of this would be the
film about Ronaldo; it is based around his life and what hurdles he’s had to overcome to get
where he is now.
Audience profiling
Gender- male/female
Age- age of audience
Socio-economic status- A-E Scale
Psychographics- likes/interests
Geodemographic- where you live
Sexual orientation- straight/gay/bi
Regional identity- where you are from?
3. The main coloursusedinthe BlairWitch posterare black andred.
The use of the colour redoccurs a lot as nearenoughthe whole
backgroundisset inthat colour. Whenwe see the colourredwe
automaticallythinkof blood,deathandleadership.Thisgivesthe
audience knowledgethatthe filmisgoingtobe scary and jumpy.
The symbols
includedinthe
picture onthe left
vary.The treesin
the image create the
image of a cross.
Thiscouldrelate to
past religionsor
evenChristianity.
The five pointed
compoundsymbol
witha centre
triangle pointing
downlookslike a
personas the sticks
couldrepresent
arms and legs.
Withinthe image
fromthe BlairWitch
poster,itshowsonly
one object/figurein
the background.
These are trees
whichare placed
togethertocreate a
cross shaped
symbol.The use of
treesgivesthe
audience aclue that
the filmisbased
withinahaunted
and cursedwoods.
There are trees
shownthroughout
the whole filmand
the symbol made
playsa huge part as
to whatthe Blair
Witch project
actuallyis.
The messageswithinthe
picture suggestthatthe film
ismainlybasedina forest
location.We knowthis
because of the treesinthe
backgroundand howthey
create the front cover.The
messagesare more visual on
the posteras there isless
writingthatimaging.The
onlytextusediswhere it
says‘BlairWitch’ andwho
createditand whenthe
date is inwhichthe film
comesout incinema.
The film‘BlairWitch’is
aimedat an intended
audience aswell asitbeing
aimedat anyone interested
inthe film.There isacertain
age whowatchthis in
cinemawhichis15+. In my
personal opinionIwouldsay
that the target audience
rangesbetweenthe ages15-
40. You wouldn’tsee elderly
people orpensionersgoing
to watch thisfilmasit may
be too scary and jumpyfor
themto watch.
The main purpose of a filmposteristograb the audience’sattentionandmake
themgo and watchit. The posterusesvariouspersuasivetechniques
throughout.The actual posterdoesn’ttell youwhatgenre the filmisbutwe
can easilyguessbythe title ‘BlairWitch’.The use of the word‘witch’suggestsa
horror filmaswitchesare usuallyevil andnotfriendly.Bigboldwritingisused
for the title tomake it standout to the audience andiswritteninblackwriting.
The connotationsof the colourblack usuallyresembledeathanddarkness
whichisexactlywhatthe filmisabout.The posteritself doesn’tgivemuch
away as there aren’tmanyquotesusedapartfromthe one at the bottomof
the page;thisreads ‘There’ssomethingevil hidinginthe woods’ which
basicallytellsthe audience thatsomethingbadisaboutto happen.The use of
commasbetweeneachwordbuildsuptensionasitallowsustopause after
each word.Thisslowsthe whole sentence downandbreaksitupintosmaller
parts.
4. Exit poll research
I carried out an exit poll to gather research for the film Blair Witch. I made this on survey
monkey and asked various questions to male and females who had watched the film. The
responses I received were very different and certain people had their own views on the film.
I put my results that I received into graphs to show the information in an easier way.
The filmitself is a horror/thriller and is currently in the cinema now. It is based on a group of
friends who venture into the Black Forrest in search of one of their friend’s sisters, who
went missing years earlier. The forest itself is believed to be inhabited by the witch.
Throughout the filmvarious incidents occur, but to find out everything then you will have to
give it a watch.
The Gutenberg diagram describes a general
pattern in which the eyes move through
when looking at evenly distributed
information. The diagram itself divides into 4
quadrants which are primary optical area,
strong fallow area, weak fallow area and the
terminal area. These can be located on the
diagram on the left.
The pattern suggests that the eyes will
sweep across and down the page in a
collection of horizontal movements. These
are called axes of orientation. Usually this is
for left to right reading languages and would
be almost flipped for right to left reading
languages.
The graph here shows one of the 6 questions I
asked. The first one was about age and what age
the viewer was. As you can see 85% of the viewers
were aged 15-18. And the other 15% were 19-30
years old.
5. The second question I asked was about gender
and what gender each viewer was. The graph
shows that more males watched the film than
female. 28% of viewers were female and 72%
were male. This may suggest that horror films
such as Blair Witch may attract a larger male
audience rather than female.
The third question I asked was ‘how did you find
out about the film’. I gave 5 different answers
such as through social media, radio adverts and
trailers and the results I received were varied.
14% of viewers found out about the film
through social media sites such as Facebook,
Twitter and Instagram. The other 86% found out
about the film from the trailer being advertised.
The fourth question I asked was about
personal enjoyment and whether the film
lived up to expectations. There were two
answers and they both had near enough the
same amount. 57% said that they enjoyed
the film and that it lived up to expectations
whereas the other 43% said that they didn’t
enjoy it.
This question from my survey asked whether
they would recommend the filmto others.
57% said that they would recommend it to
their friends and family but the other 43% said
that they wouldn’t.
6. Below is the trailer of the Blair Witch Project 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=girSv9UH_V8
My final question that I asked on my Exit Poll
about the Blair Witch film was whether they
would go and watch the film again. I gave 3
answer choices for the viewers to choose
from. These were Yes, No, and Maybe. 28% of
the viewers said yes whereas 28% also said no.
The other 44% said maybe because they didn’t
know which they would choose. I believe that
all of the questions I asked on my Survey were
fair and appropriate.
Throughout the trailer the film connects with the audience in various different ways. In the
beginning it starts with one of the characters explaining about the Blair Witch and the black
forest and what happened many years ago. This gives the viewer a slight understanding of
what is going on in the trailer. The whole of the filmis filmed in first person which gives an
effect to the viewers. It makes us feel as if we are actually there also. By the use of the first
person camera, it looks as if characters in the trailer are giving direct address to us.
The setting is quite dark throughout the whole film, as are the lightings. It is mostly low key
lighting as you can see in the image at the side. The use of the dark setting helps to remind the
audience of the horror genre. Certain camera angles are used throughout which give away
when something is going to happen. Slow camera movements may show this as may fast ones.
7. Marketing techniques available
When media producers use marketing techniques, there are many different ones that are
available. Most media producers these days only use certain ones that they feel comfortable
with, and it also depends on the target audience/who they are aiming it at. An example of
this is if they were aiming it at younger teenagers/young adults then they would advertise it
on places that are familiar. These are things which appeal to a younger audience such as
social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. On the other hand, if they were aiming it
at an older audience for example people aged 40+, then it would be advertised on less social
networking sites and more newspapers/magazines. They would also put it on posters and
billboards around cities for people going to work to see.
