The document summarizes research and experiments conducted for a short film project. It details primary and secondary research on target audiences, genres, and costs. It also describes camera experiments using different shots and angles to create tension. The research informed decisions about the target teen audience, horror/romantic genre, and a 12A age rating. Location and personnel constraints including limited filming locations and recruiting actors are also noted.

1. STAGE 2
RESEARCH +
EXPERIMENTS
Toni Ann

2. This showed that the majority of people who
took the questionnaire are male.
This information shows that most people enjoy
to watch films when it gets darker.

3. This question was created wrong because
the 20 is suppose to be 2, so everyone
would watch up to two films in one sitting.
Out of the 14 people that I asked,12 of them
would rather stay at home then go out to the
cinema.
The top genre of film, the one people are
most likely to watch is comedy or action.

4. The majority of people look
at the storyline to be the
key part of any film.
The answers for this question was very close,
but editor seemed to be the most popular
choice.
The favorite film for most people was either IT or
Dunkirk, showing that a lot of people like action
packed films.

5. Theses results show that people are
most likely to enjoy a film more if it
has some sort of villain in it.
From this I can tell that people will
only watch short films if the storyline
is gripping and informative.

6. Nick Soares. (02-23-2013). How much does it cost to shoot a short film? .
Available: http://www.filmmakerforum.org/production/1518-how-much-
does-cost-shoot-short-film.html. Last accessed 30th Nov 2017 .
Deanna Meyler. ( February 22nd, 2013). Most Popular Movie Genres.
Available: https://bozell.com/most-popular-movie-genres/. Last accessed
30th Nov 2017.
N/A. (2016). Favorite movie/TV genres . Available:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/254115/favorite-movie-genres-in-the-
us/. Last accessed 30th Nov 2017.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnOJgDW0gPI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzn_AKN67oI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKpLOfgwpsU
References

7.  Research viewing figures, sales figures, demographic and psychographic info.
Look up article, features or stories related to your potential audience
After looking at some other short films made by students, the most popular
style I found was either horror or adventure.
The average good quality short film takes up to $1000 (£742.73) to make it.
This cost covers the payment of the actors, crew, props, permits and any
food or drink that is provided. A good wage to pay sound and camera
operators is between £25-£50 per day of filming. The actors and actresses
get £50-£100 per day.

8. This bar chart shows the preferred genre of
film people would most likely want to see
based on their gender. The chart shows that
men are less likely to go see a romantic film
then women are.
This bar chart shows what genre of films
teens would prefer to go see in cinema.
Based on the results from this graph,
teenager would most likely watch a film if it
had a form of comedy in it.

9.  For this you should summarise your primary and secondary research, through this
you should then be able to produce an audience outline that you intend to target.
For this you could also produce an audience profile.
The target audience for my short film is adolescents (teens). I decided this
because my short film includes a horror and romantic aspect. I thought teens
would be the best option for a target audience because when doing my
audience research, I found that horror is a top genre amongst teens as well
as romantic films being quite popular as well, mostly with women.

10.  Because I don’t have access to any fancy filming locations, I
would have to make do with the college grounds.
 In my short film I have a part where the two main characters are
children. To achieve that I'm going have a far shot of the actors to
make them look smaller, giving the view of them being children.

11. 12/12A
Films classified 12A
and video works
classified 12 contain
material that is not
generally suitable for
children aged under
12. No one younger
than 12 may see a
12A film in a cinema,
unless approved to be
appropriate by a
parent. .
This will be a
suitable age
rating for my film,
because
although my film
does include
some horror the
people watching
it are less likely
to get scared
from it. My film
does include a
couple, but
nothing other
than holding
hands occur.
U
A U film should be
suitable for audiences
aged four years and
over, although it is
impossible to predict
what might upset any
particular child.
U films should be set
within a positive
framework and should
offer reassuring
counterbalances to any
violence, threat or
horror.
This wont be a
suitable age
rating for my film,
because my film
includes some
scenes which
might upset some
children.

12.  Research potential production techniques you might want to use
or feel would be most appropriate – these can be related to
camera, editing, story, sound, etc
 You should look at a minimum of 3 related products in your
research.
 You should collect clips/still images/how to guides/etc that might
help you. When watching scenes from films, etc you could also
ask potential target audience what they think.
 You will need to add extra slides!
 With each technique you should assess whether you can use it or
how you might employ or why you may want to disregard it
completely

13. HTTPS://YOUTU.BE/QKPLOFGWPSU
 Here we have a over the shoulder view of
the character, showing the “moonlight man”
because of this the audience will have an
idea of what will happen next before the
character herself does, creating tension. I’m
going to be using this style of shot in my
own film to create tension as well.
 Because the film was made by an
independent film maker he had little to no
access to any good film locations or lighting
equipment. To solve this issue the film
maker centred all of the main action around
the available light source that he had, that
being a light in a parking lot. I will be filming
most of my film, if not all, either inside or out
when its daylight.

14.  The film maker only had one light which he
had bought from a department store. To
make the light more effective, he put this blue
cover over it to give the actors a separation
from them and the darkness. According to
the producer it made the footage look better
and give the film an overall 80’s horror vibe.
The color blue can also symbolize fear. The
snapshot that I got shows that clearly. In my
film I might try using color to show emotions
such as red when a character gets angry.
 To keep a steady shot the film maker used a
shoulder rig. This kept the microphone, audio
recorder and camera all in place, and due to
him being the only crew on the set he had to
record video and sound at the same time. To
keep my camera steady when filming I will be
using a tripod. I also might include 1st person
running shot.

15. HTTPS://YOUTU.BE/XRBCKDVRAQK
 This short film focuses on the
emotions the characters and audience
have. This is effected by the way the
actors/actresses portray the
characters. The music chose also can
reflect emotion.
 When shooting the film the colour/
lighting was similar to the emotion the
character was feeling at the time. The
brighter the scene the happier the
character.

16.  In this short film music is very
important because when a happy part
of the film happens the music is
relevant to that, the same as if there
was a sad part.
 In the words of the creators of the
short film, “this was not shot by
professionals”. To get the shots the
crew wanted to get they had to
improvise. I can relate to this when
shooting my short film because I used
different things to help get the correct
angle. In my short film I had someone
run with the camera to get a shot to be
someone first person view of running.

17.  The short film “I miss you” was based off a Moonfruit comic by
Robyn Slack.

18. HTTPS://YOUTU.BE/IE8N5WZ-M2A  Hannah Stanfield's imagination
distracts her from running, imagining a
world made of paper. Hannah has
gotten a new coach, Jack Wilmot,
replacing Jenny Murdoch who has now
retired. Jack does not work with
Hannah's imagination, unlike Jenny
who used Hannah's imagination to
help her sprint at her fastest. We join
Hannah and Jack the day before the
races qualifying young runners for
nationals, Jack and Hannah are both
losing their patience with one another,
leaving tensions high for tomorrow's
race.
 This film focuses mostly on animation.
Which is something I did want to
include in one of my film ideas.

19.  The director also showed different ways that sound was collected
for the film, most of which was created by using other object
which is what I had to do for mine.
 The things that I will take away from this short film will be the way
in which the sound is recorded.

20. EXPERIMENTS
Camera/Editing/Audio Experiments
Be prepared to add extra slides

21.  We were given a shot list and
description which we had to
follow, in order to do this our
group had to come up with a
storyline which fit the criteria.
To do this we thought of a
horror film because to us it
made more sense with the
directions that was given.
 The opening scene is a wide
angle and gives the person
comfort because it doesn’t
look like the start of a horror
film.

22.  An over the shoulder shot gives the
audience an illusion that they are
part of the conversation.
 A mid shot of someone running can
raise panic and questions from the
audience.
 A slow motion fall was one of the
shots we have been told to do. Slow
motion in a film creates tension.

23.  Like the over the shoulder shot, a
close up make the person
watching feel like they are there,
especially when a character is
taking directly to the camera.
 At the end of the film I left the
screen black for a few seconds
before adding in a jump scare. I
did this because it will leave the
audience remembering the film.
 To film ‘Rush’ we used a cannon
camera and a tripod. As well as
using a microphone to pic up
sound

24.  In my final product, I will be using a lot of the same camera
techniques, because that’s what I mainly want to focus on.
 I also want to create tension in my film, to do this I will add
suspenseful music.
 I also want audience involvement to do this, the last scene the
character says its line to the character and shrugs.

25.  To edit my film I used premier
pro.
 I edited the colour of my film
at the start to be brighter, I did
this to give make the
audience think it’s a happy
film. When my film got more
intense the colours got
darker. I did this to represent
the horror events that were
occurring.

26.  When making my final product I want to edit the footage to cater to the
specific moment that is happening, I can do this by changing the
brightness of the footage.
 I also want to create tension with upbeat music when something
dramatic happens.

27.  As my video goes on the music
changes from being happy to
creating suspense. By doing this is
like telling the audience that
something bad is going to happen
without showing them or saying
anything.

28.  What elements of your experiments will you include in your final
product?
 I will be using different types of music throughout my short film to
represent emotion for characters when they don’t speak.
 I will be using certain camera angles to create suspense.
 At the end of my film I want the audience to be left wondering what
would happen next.

29.  List all the potential constraints that might affect or limit your production, you
should consider issues from each of these categories:
 Time/Personnel/Cost/Technical/Location/Organisational
 Location could be an issue due to having to film during college hours so I don’t
have a very large variety of filming locations.
 When recruiting actors/actresses to be in my short film I asked other students in
my class to be in my film, but none of them fit the role of the main character so I
need to ask a friend in a different class. This could be an issue due to different
class/break times.