This document summarizes the results of research and experiments conducted for a short film project. Primary research in the form of a survey found that the target audience was mostly ages 16-18 and had a balanced gender ratio. This informed content decisions around including scary elements but not overly disturbing material. Secondary research on similar films like "Lights Out" provided examples of effective lighting, costume, and action techniques. Camera experiments tested shot types and camera movements to capture certain moods or portray drunkenness. Overall, the research and experiments helped define an appropriate 12 rating and audience profile while exploring production techniques for the short film.

1. STAGE 2
RESEARCH +
EXPERIMENTS
Daniel Thompson

2.  You MUST conduct a questionnaire/survey/interview or a combination of all three.
Summarise this and add in any other primary research you feel is appropriate

3. From this question, I have managed to find out that the majority of the people I
have sent my survey to are within the age range of 16 to 18. This tells me that I
can add details and messages into my film that I would not be able to with a
younger audience. For example, any blood or scary moments can be kept in
and jump scares could become more common.

4. From this question, I managed to gather that the audience to my product is
equal. This means that I will not have to try to filter out any gender specific
scenes. I will be able to feature both male and female appealing scenes in
my product such as violence and heavier scenes for males and more
romanticized and emotional scenes for females.

5. My audience was asked
about their favourite genres
and it turned out that the
most popular genre by far
was comedy. Other
individuals preferred horror
and thriller too. Using this
information, I was able to
change the points in my film
that were more horror based
such as jumpscares. Instead
I have kept a couple of
intense moments but
ultimately stuck to comedic
moments.

6. From this question, I was
able to gather that my
audience is into more
thought inducing short
films as opposed to films
in which everything is
shown straight in front of
the audience. Using this
information, I can make
my product seem more
serious and intense but
leave clues and hints of
comedy at random
points of the film and
finally hit the audience
with a totally silly ending.

7. My audience seems to
prefer symbolism in their
short films as opposed to
not having them. This
tells me that I need to
add little references
scattered through my
product and that I will
need to add video effects
and transitions that will fit
the mood of the short
film I am making. This
can also tie in with my
previous question in
which I asked the
audience if they would
prefer to have a thought
inducing story or straight
forward story as I can
foreshadow the ending
using symbolism.

8.  Research viewing figures, sales figures, demographic and psychographic info.
Look up article, features or stories related to your potential audience
Lights Out (2013): 13.5 million views on YouTube, Horror fan audience.

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.
After plenty of both primary and secondary research into short films, existing films and
even my own questionnaire answers, I now know what type of audience I am hoping to
achieve the approval of. My product will mostly appeal to male audiences. In my
questionnaire, I managed to find out that my audience amounts to an equal divide of male
and female but due to myself being a male, I thought it would be easier to come up with
ideas and features that would interest men and boys alike. My audience's age will vary
vastly but none will be over 15/16 years old and will most likely end around the 45 year
mark.. This allows me to keep in any potentially scary or tense scenes that may disturb
any younger audiences (this does not necessarily mean that I will be creating a horror
based product). The sexuality of my audience will not matter as I am not including any
sexual references or scenes in my product. My product will be most relatable to younger,
working class audiences in the D to C2 NRS grade marking as they are most likely to find
this kind of humour funny. Upper class people and upper middle class people may not like
silly humour such as what I have planned. Lastly, my audience may use my product for
entertainment purposes as it is there to make them laugh and smile.

10.  Given your idea generation and your audience research, what sort of content
would you define as the appropriate. Consider issues of taste, certification [BBFC
might be a good starting point for this], etc. Look at what you’d like to include and
what you are allowed to include.
After taking a look at my idea generation and audience research, I figured that my
audience rating could potentially be a 12. I originally could have made a 15 rated
film but after planning and research I realize that I would not be adding any scenes
of violence or drug abuse, etc. At the very most, my film will include threats to the
character and the lowest rating allowing to use threats is a 12.

11.  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

12. Lighting, Costume,
Action: In the short film
'Lights Out', lighting is used
to distinguish good from bad
and mostly safety from
danger. The main character
is seen wearing bright
clothes and looks almost
innocent going about her
night. In opposition we have
the shaded figure down the
hallway. The figure in the
hallway is shaded to hide its
identity from the audience
and main character.
Because the figure is dark
and resides in a very dark
area, we automatically can
make out that it is not a
good thing. Later
on in the film, the woman
flicks her light on and off
repeatedly to reveal that the
light makes the monster
disappear. This further
proves to us that the light is
a good thing in this woman's
situation.
The woman ends up
running to bed and hiding
under the covers from the
monster.
This is relatable to the
audience as it is a
stereotypical thing for a
child to do while scared or
under threat. This helps
create a tense and
unusually familiar bond with
the audience and the film.
Lighting comes back into
play as she is forced to
reach out of the covers and
plug her bedside lamp back
in properly due to
something unplugging it.

13. After she plugs the lamp
back in, all of the lights
stop flickering and all
sounds previously there
cease to exist – this
creates a spooky and
tense atmosphere in
which confusion and fear
of the unknown reign.
This silence eventually
calms the audience
down and lures them into
a false sense of security
to be exploited sooner
on.

14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbmNq-LBLjI
In the film Hot fuzz there is a chase scene that looks very similar to the style of scene I would like to
shoot for my film. It is comprised of short, shaky shots of the main character running with a purpose
through the town. The shots are almost seamlessly put together and are in such an order that,
although it is fast paced, it is easy to piece together each shot and find out who is doing what at any
given time. Sound is also a big role in this scene as the speed and intensity of the chase is
emphasized by the heavy footsteps and swishing of the characters' clothing as they sprint past the
camera. The music used is extremely fitting for the scene too, creating an intense and hostile vibe
to it. From this source, I feel that I have been able to gather much information about different
aspects of a film such as the importance of the genre and tempo, pitch, etc in the scene's music
and the fast paced chronological based shots that help piece the narrative together without long
shots.

15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgJE9YB3NrA
This short film was very helpful to me in the aspect of camera work. There are many
effects used by the camera, plenty of different angles and movements which kept the
short film interesting. Camera focus was used a couple of times to give the film more
depth and to help emphasize the distance between the two characters racing across the
screen. The shots were recorded in a series of shaky and steady cam with the latter
being more dominant of the two and helps the audience see what exactly is going on
and where about the characters are or are going. I feel that this particular piece of work
will help me with my production because of the sheer variety of angles and effects used.
Using this, I am able to see what angles and movements go well and where. Also I can
see what shots are good for a running/chase sequence to use in my own.

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

17.  To begin the filming process, I gathered a
camera and tripod and found a suitable
location to use. I was a bit limited to
where I could record due to only being
allowed on the college grounds. I used
many shots such as medium shots and
close shots to capture clearly both the
location and the character's movements.
I made sure to get more than one shot of
each scene to allow me more design
choices in the future when editing the
film. Because the film was a light
hearted, silly one, I kept the exposure
high and captured more of the sky than I
usually would to brighten up the shots.
The camera is also slightly off in most of
the scenes and sometimes is even shaky.
This is to get the fact that the character in
the shot is under the influence of alcohol
and is stumbling around.

18.  In my final product, I will use symbolism in my camera work to get
points across to the audience. For example in my experiment, I
used screen instability to symbolize drunkenness. This technique
will also be useful for chase sequences or scenes in which the
character is hurrying somewhere. I will also try to use effects like
changing the exposure in my shots to meet the mood of the film.
This will help me emphasize any particular atmospheres for the
scenes and can go hand in hand with my other techniques
available.

19.  In this production experiment, I used many effects to give it a more
professional and engaging experience. First off, I noticed that the audio
was going to end up chopped and abrupt which would easily have
ruined the atmosphere and vibe I was trying to give off in that scene. To
counter this, I added a pre recorded sound file of the area I was
recording in and turned the sound on the video files down. This would
also mean that I would also need to add in the rest of the sounds at this
point too. I used the same technique for the rest of the sound effects too,
affecting their tempos and pitches to help them fit into the correct
moments easier and more accurately. Some of the clips I had recorded
needed editing too. I also found that adding parts of the film originally
planned to be added towards the end, earlier on instead helped me cut
back on spending too much time recording. This helped me by giving
me more time to work with Premiere Pro.

20.  What elements of your experiments will you include in your final
product?
My final product will most definitely feature every technique that
was used in my production experiment. Most specifically, I will be
using the editing tools given in Premiere Pro to adjust the tempo
and pitch of the clips to appeal more to the atmosphere. Similarly, I
will also be using the cutting tool and plenty of sound effects both
gathered on my own and downloaded from online sources which
will be stated clearly.
I feel that using these techniques helped out rather well in my
experiment but it took quite a bit of effort and I have struggled with
using Premiere Pro in the past so I am interested to see how the
final product will end up.

21.  In my production experiment, audio was arguably the most important
aspect. I was able to show emotion, add tension, humour, etc to a
scene just by adding music or sound effects. The first piece of audio I
used was the music. Because this was not the main project, I did not
need to worry about using too many sound effects and music tracks
gathered online (though it was still recommended to use my own). I
got my music from an online source and added it to the most suitable
places in my project. Effects such as fading and cutting were used for
effect and to dramatize the scene more and give the actions more
emphasis. The sound effects in this product were also edited in
various ways such as tempo and pitch adjustment and cutting and
copying. For example, if I copied a sound file and slightly changed the
tempo or the pitch, it would most likely sound like a marginally
different clip. The sound effects were all gathered by me and my
classmates recording on our own. We were sent out of our classroom
to record and gather everything we needed.

22.  In my final product, I will definitely be recording my own sound
effects for the most part and I will use the commonly used pitch
and tempo adjustment tools given in Premiere Pro. I feel that they
help me to use a specific sound clip for more than one purpose
rather than spending extra time going out to record something. It
therefore gives me more time in the editing stage.
 I did not do this in my experiment but in my final product I will
most likely use the correct items to gather sounds for my product.
In my experiment, I used whatever I could around college due to
limitations of locations but in the final project I can gain access to
wherever I potentially need and therefore I will be open to a whole
new library of sounds.

23.  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
The biggest setback to making the product was that we didn't have much time. This
is because the idea of it was to ease us into the rotation quickly and to quickly see
how well we can use equipment and work with the software given. We were given
less time than for any other product we had made thus far and this had a clear effect
on production in my opinion. Another setback to the production of the short film was
the location of where we filmed. Because we are unable to leave the college
grounds due to potentially harming ourselves and the equipment, we were forced to
find a somewhat useful location to record at. Due to this being our first piece of work
with cameras and filming/acting since our Irn Bru adverts, we were a bit rusty on our
shooting and acting skills which set the project back a bit too. Overall, I personally
think that the lack of time to create what we had truly imagined and maybe even to
expand on it was the biggest problem as the other aspects could have easily been
rectified whereas you cannot just get more time out of nowhere (especially for an
introduction to the rotation as opposed to an actual project).