2. How methods have been used to research audiences for the product.
■ The methods that were used to research audiences for the product were both primary and
secondary research. For our primary research we did both a survey and a focus group. With
this we were able to find out what our audience was into and not into, where they live and
why they watched the film. With our focus group we used the same questions from our
questionnaire to ask those who were in the focus group, this way we were able to get a
better understanding from the focus group (as it allows us to get more open answers) of
what they thought of the film Django – Unchained such as why they liked it, what made the
film so special, and why they like Quentin Tarantino such much. From this we were able to
find out their age, gender, sexual orientation (heterosexual, bisexual or homosexual), find
their regional identity (where they live, as I said), psychographics allowed us to find out
about their attitudes and aspirations. We were able to find out what most people in the
area were similar to as in interests; by this we were able to find this out by advertising in an
area due to their interest and seeing how many people when to see the film. These are very
helpful for the producers and directors for their films because this gives them a better in
sight of where they should advertise their film because they know where their target
audience is and how they can appeal their film to them as they know what they’re into.
3. Conclusions of research (defining audiences in terms of given
classifications).
For another part this is the secondary research side in which we had to find out all the statistic side of everything that was
related towards the film to help us with what we wanted to know. Such as how much the film made the day it came out
and where it came out, as in which country.
With this we were able to define the audience, by finding out what they are into and from this we were able to classify
those into different groups. This was done by using the questionnaire as an easy written way as it sorts it out itself in the
results. So by this we were able to find out information about the audience in a basic understand from the questions that
we asked. But with the focus group we found that even though we already knew the answers, this was a more direct
approach with how people felt, their attitudes and reactions to things to help us.
The hypodermic needle is a theory about audiences , the theory implies that the media has a powerful effect on its audience, so it
influences how it's audience think and feel by simply following instructions and doing as they are told. The hypodermic theory
believe that their audience are passive. Quinten Tarantino directed , produced and edited Django unchained the way he wanted it
to be told, so that the audience received the film the way he intended for it, also the way he manipulated it by the script , locations
he used, the western theme, the shots that way the audience receive the film how he intended it to. The audience learnt about
slavery, plantations and history about the slave trade in the way he made the set. So actively the viewers picked to watch Django
unchained but passively the audience didn’t know what was going to happen or how the story was going to be told. So they've
passively viewed it. The hypodermic needle theory is like a big syringe that Quinten Tarantino has packed with everything he has put
in there for the audience to receive and has injected the right amount of what he wants us to see. Quinten Tarantino was very smart
when planning the film and it was very successful.
In terms of Rush Hour the audience was active because they intended to watch the film because the audience knew that it was going to
be a comedy.
The uses and gratification theory explain why people consume different types of media and what they gain from the information given.
From our survey statistic's and focus group it is shown that 41.7% our audience watched Django unchained by choice and 58.3% did not
watch the film by choice but they ended up enjoying the film. In terms of our audience who watched the film Django unchained by
choice , they watched the film for their own entertainment ,. The other 58% that did not watch the film by choice had no choice because
it was for educational purposes so they had to. Which relates to the Harrold Lasswell theory. Harrold believes that people use the media
for their own entertainment just as our audience did. Harrold Lasswell also believes that people use the media for correlation , so for
example if they have watched a particular drama soaps which liked ,they will begin to watch different drama soaps because of the
experience they gained .In this case most of our audience also watched Django Unchained because of who directed the film. The
director was Quintin Tarantino. Many of our audience are Tarantino fans and they enjoy his movies so they put their trust in him to
watch this film because they know that they would enjoy it. Another reason why our target audience watched Django Unchained was
because of the main character Jamie Foxx , who played Django.
4. As for Rush hour the audience also liked the film , they really enjoyed it and found it funny. Thed decided to watch the film
by choice because they like the actors such as Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. The audience said if Jackie Chan and Chris
Tucker were not the main stars in Rush hour they would have not watched or have enjoyed the film as much.
The reception theory is a theory that studies how audiences receive and interpret the media that they have consumed.
Stuart Hall has created this idea for media and communication studies. This theory has two parts encoding and decoding.
Our consumers are a encoding audience , because they have consumed the message that the film makers want to get to
people. By doing this the film makers have made the film about slavery knowing that most of their target audience would
be black. They have also included many historical facts into the film that the audience did not know about before
watching the film. The film was also created for educational purposes , to teach the audience more about the slave trade
and how slaves were treated. For example the hot box our audience from our focus group mentioned that they did not
know what a hot box was before watching the film. Many slaves were kept in the hot box as a form of punishment. The
film makers used emotional scenes so they can encode their message to their target audience. The audience were also
preferred , they understood the messages within the film and agreed with it. The audience gave a great reception to the
film because the film was targeted at people who like western films and people who like historical films. And because the
film was based on slavery it gave a great reception to the black community. Everyone's opinions were about the same,
because that is the reaction Quinten Tarantino was looking for and he made sure to produce a product like that. For Rush
hour the audience received the film really well , they learnt about the history of china and Kung Fu.
Effects of exposure to explicit sexual or violent content.
For our primary research, our focus group shows us that none of the explicit content that we listed such as, racial
comments, sexual scenes, blood violence and others effected those in the class who watched the film because that it
what made the film interesting. And it’s known because it was directed by Quentin Tarantino, and that is his style of
movies. With the responses for Rush hour, there was not a lot of explicit content shown through the film. This did not
affect our audience. As the movie was more comedy based and classified at a suitable age.
Effects of advertising
Through our primary research, our audience answered the questions by saying they watched the trailer which made
them interested to watch it. The feedback we received also revealed the use of through online and posters which
influenced them to watch the film. Another reason why the advertising affected our focus group to watch the movie was
also because of the use, of the popular actors such as Jamie Fox, being a known actor, attracted them to also be
interested to watch. Rush hour had an effective advertisement due to the use of online trailers, and billboards. As well as
the exposure of two famous actors involved which our feedback showed drawn them to watch the movie.
Censorship debates
As Django contained a lot of explicit content and violent scenes, it has been classified by the government with an age
range. As our focus group learned that the use of exposure t the scenes can cause a negative effective. Django being
rated an 18 film was debated due to the negative effects it could have on a younger viewer. With Rush hour, the
censorship debate classified it as a 15 film. Our audience preferred Rush hour more due to it having less explicit content
viewed. And being more family friendly if younger viewers were able to watch.
5. Responses
Overall the response we received from Django showed that 100% enjoyed watching Django, as 50% of our group liked action films. This
indicates a positive response towards the film. Our feedback also shows that Quentin Tarantino films are also enjoyable for the audience, as the
use western and action was emerged to create the movie. The responses we received from rush hour were also positive as, the actors in the
film engaged our focus group to be interested to watch it. Another reason for this was also because the genre action comedy was a popular
response we received.
Negotiated
In django due to the story behind it, showcasing the story of slavery, the audience negotiated by also saying the negative impact towards the
film was the use f violence and the plot twist involved. Bringing a western genre in the film as well which makes the film entertaining to watch,
rather than educational. With rush hour being a comedy there were no negotiation through our response , as although it was a crime action,
the use of funny and mild adult humour involved made it suitable for the type of movie.
Preferred
Most people in the focus group preferred other genres compared to this one even though they liked the film. They also preferred a few other
films Tarantino has done like Hateful Eight. Another film that we asked questions about was Rush Hour, with this there wasn’t anything that
they preferred it to because they love Rush Hour this is because of those who starred in the film.
Oppositional
The audience didn’t really care that there was any racial comments, blood, violence and many more that was in the film, even thought it was
about slavery. It didn’t affect them because of the statics that we gathered shows that they will watch the film regardless because they enjoy
the blood and violence in his films. From what we gathered from the audience about Rush Hour they didn’t really take any notice of the
violence, blood or racial comments in the film because that’s what made the film. Reasons being is that even though there are comments about
Jackie Chan’s character being Chinese, they were made to make people laugh but what made it more funnier to people was the way that Chris
Tucker’s character has said them and reacted to them.
Participatory
Participatory is when the audience can join in and be a part of the product. From our focus group, remembering from when we watched the
film in class and from how survey shows that the audience were involved in the film they sided with Django and explained how they felt when
they sympathised with him and what he went through to in general and to get his wife back. Compared to Rush Hour, the audience sided with
Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker’s characters as they are the protagonists who are police and they are trying to find someone’s daughter who got
kidnapped. With these two in the film, the audience bonds with them more because the actors bring something the characters which make the
audience like them more.
Cultural competence
Cultural competence is the way we communicate with people through modern technology and how we are able to access and understand
people of their cultures. It’s also a set of behaviours and attitudes, actions ect, from people. From what we gathered in both the focus group
and the survey we realised that the film even though slavery was generations ago it still gets to people today, by making them angry or
emotional. Rush Hour is a very good example of cultural competence because it allows you to get involved so much. We gathered that the
audience got more involved with Rush Hour than Django – unchained because they were able to laugh more and get more excited as it was a
comedy film and they know the characters/actors well compared to Django because they get more upset while watching it, just seeing what
their race went through.
6. Fan culture
From our survey we can see that there are a few Tarantino fans in the class, as they’ve seen other films
by him such as the kill bill volumes, the hateful eight, Inglourious Basterds and many more. This shows us
that there are some fans in the class because of how he makes his films come to life and how much gore
is actually is in his film. From our other results about Rush Hour we gathered that the whole class is a fan
of this film, this is because of the actors in the film such as Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, and they make
the film as Jackie Chan is an amazing actor and martial artists and Chris Tucker is a comedian that makes
everyone laugh.
7. Correlation between quantitative and qualitative information.
■ The correlation between quantitative and qualitative information. Qualitative
research is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an understanding of
reasons, opinions and motivations. With the qualitative research that we got we
were able to find out the conceptual side of things, getting an understand of the
audiences behaviour. From the methodological side, this would be the all the
data that we got by those who participated in the survey and the focus group.
From this the sample size is rather small which is typical, and those who
responded were selected to fulfil a given quota. Compared to this was the
quantitative research side. Quantitative research is used to quantify the
problem the problem by way of generating numbers, this data can be
transformed into useable statistics. By our survey we were able to quantify
attitudes, opinions, behaviours and other defined variables – and generalise the
results from a larger sample population. This allowed us to know how many
people were the same age, how many lived in the same area, if they have
similar interests as in genres of film and many other things that we asked.
8. How successful her/his method was compared with others.
■ All in all, from our qualitative research we were able to convert that
into quantitative research where we got our facts and figures to help
us for our audience research. This was very helpful for us because it
allowed us to figure out our audience research in terms of who our
audience is and the best thing for them in terms of where to advertise
the film and how to attract their attention.
