Audience questionnaire analysis

1. AS media audience
questionnaire

2. Introduction
For this movie, my target
audience will be teenagers,
most likely between the
age of 12 to 18. I have
conducted a questionnaire
with 23 people from this
age group to help
understand what it takes to
create a successful coming
of age movie worth
grabbing the audience’s
attention.

3. According to my research, it has shown that more importance is put upon the
background music than any other factor. This may be due to the idea of a
memorable theme song being common for many famous films and its ability to
tell a story different from what’s showing on the screen. In the other hand, the
value placed on the characters were considerably low, showing that it is more
important to deliver the atmosphere of the movie that introducing the characters
first.

4. My film will be taking place in a school environment. To grasp an idea on what issues
might be considered relatable to the audience, I have asked people about their
experiences of school life. Relationships with friends had the highest percentage with
27.8%, closely followed up with 25% for future planning. This shows that many
teenagers value friendship highly compared to other problem. This also shows that
teenagers are under a lot of stress in regards to their future, being in such a crucial life
stage.

5. Out of all the stereotypical coming of age film protagonist traits, the option ‘clueless
about their own future’ had the highest amount of votes(52%). This links with my
previous question about the difficulties of school life, indicating that many students
want to relate to the protagonist. The least selected option was ‘the new kid’, a trait
that has been evident in so many recent coming of age films. Many had responded
that the new kid stereotype was a bit too common and that they didn’t want to
watch another movie with the same plot again.

6. The highest amount of responses were for comedy(48%). This is
also evident in the filming industry since many modern coming of
age films are a combination of horror and coming of age. Teen film
and drama had an equal amount of responses pf 36%, both also
commonly linked with coming of age films due to its typically
targeted age group.

7. For this question, more than half of my responses replied they were expecting a
moderately deep(56%) story for coming of age movies. People who preferred
more of a darker storyline were about (36%), when where were little to no
responses for light hearted coming of age movies. This indicates that teenagers
like to watch movies with more touchy subjects that would later on leave more
heavy of a emotional impact.

8. What are the first thing that come to
your mind when it comes to coming-of-
age films?: Responses
⁃ Realizing self-identities, sexual identities, depression, angst
and confusion caused by teenage hormones, things that distort as
one becomes an adult, things everyone will go through once in
their life. Such as pulling an all nighter for an exam, continuous
competition, the excitement of the first day of school and the
adrenaline rush of the first official exams, small memories of
shared pieces of chocolate between friends, which will not be
found by the end of the year with the disappearance of excitement,
happiness and anxiety. Being so used to exams, comparisons and
competition, such things not bringing the same sensations as it did
three years ago, toned down senses, being so tired after the final
exams, the sweetest naps that followed after, the treats shared
during special occasions and so on.
⁃ High schoolers overcoming obstacles in life, later to face
their twenty year old self and how much they have changed.
⁃ A protagonist solving their external conflicts as well as
solving their inner conflicts, giving a relief and a sense of maturity.
⁃ Solidifying one’s sense of who they are
⁃ Adventures
⁃ The main character grows mentally as she experiences
various incidents.
⁃ Anne of green gables
⁃ Nostalgia
⁃ A protagonist going through obstacles
⁃ A young male protagonist
⁃ Sports films
⁃ Changing perspectives
⁃ Cliché friendship problems
⁃ The changing perspective and attitude seen in both the
start and finish of the movie.
⁃ The protagonist who steadily walks towards his/her dream,
of the protagonist who is unable to life him/herself from social
pressure, later to be drained out with a tragic ending.
⁃ The changing attitude of the protagonist
⁃ Montages and vague endings
⁃ Harry Potter
⁃ The maturing mind

9. What are the first thing that come to
your mind when it comes to coming-of-
age films?: Analysis
According to my responses, coming of age films are
described to be movies depicting the journey of the
maturing mind. Some even specifically mentioned school
environments and how they are shown in movies. Topics
about developing an identity also seems to be quite popular.
Coming of age movies are known for having stories of the
transition of boyhood to adulthood. Even though this is not
always the case, with more recent films deciding to focus
more on the maturity aspect rather than putting the
emphasis on age, coming of age films still seem to have a
very strong fixed image of teenagers reaching adulthood.

10. Do you have a favorite coming of age film? If there is,
then why? (dead poets society, mean girls, the
outsiders, perks of being a wallflower etc.):
Responses
⁃ Sunny!
⁃ Sunny, it was very new to me
⁃ Not really
⁃ Nope
⁃ Nothing
⁃ Boyhood had a lot of elements that resounded with me because it had a lot of relics I could relate to / also remember enjoying.
⁃ Dead poets society, I think we all secretly want a classroom as such.
⁃ Harry Potter has captured the maturity of the childhood mind very well.
⁃ Perks of being a wallflower. It felt like being free. Maybe something like the suicide shop(something that can’t be released in come
cultures, an interesting illustration style and topic), la la land(the bright color palette and music), Harry Potter(cute actors and an interesting
storyline, never boring), Still life(very subtle with a memorable ending. The movie seems to be made for the ending. It’s still a personal
opinion)
⁃ (I don’t know)
⁃ Moonrise kingdom, the crisp editing with the amazing cinematography.
⁃ Anything that might bring nostalgia in the future

11. Do you have a favorite coming of age film? If there
is, then why? (dead poets society, mean girls, the
outsiders, perks of being a wallflower etc.): Analysis
Since my questions were directed at modern day
teenagers, the movies mentioned in the responses were
all fairly recent. It was interesting to see that students
from Korea answered ‘Sunny/써니’ to be their favorite
movie while students from other countries answered
differently with more English based movies. The
surprising thing is, some of the films mentioned here are
not even classified as coming of age films. Still, these
additional movies will help develop the structure of my
movie, providing a wider perspective on what my target
audience is more open to.

12. Do you have any themes or ideas you
wish to see to see in a coming of age
fiction film? If there are, then why?:
Responses
⁃ A movie where is tells a story that not much changes in the end. No drastic, unrealistic changes made. Realistic social issues.
⁃ A student with depression finding their way to a unrealized passion/ career. This will help me out a lot.
⁃ A person fighting for social rights and against stigmatism, feels like they are weak and hopeless, later to find hope and comfort by
meeting similar beings.
⁃ Family issues would be nice. Such as a child not used to affection from family and friends or they think not receiving such is the norm.
⁃ Realizing that maybe you won’t turn out to be amazing or notable or outstanding and learning to accept it. Finding your own sphere in
life.
⁃ A full-fledged adult figure that would likely guide the protagonist and the audience. This could be a teacher, a counselor, or even the
protagonist him/herself. I would like to see teachers who encourage students to find their own ways of solving problems instead of pushing
their ideas onto others.
⁃ I would like to hear stories about society’s minorities such as disabled people, LGBT people and other types of minorities.
⁃ A socially awkward shy character meeting another person(the helper?), later to develop a sense of self and courage. Something like
‘Kill your darlings’ or ‘our times’.
⁃ Something about a rebellious child living the lowest quality of life struggling with their own sexuality and society’s demands and
judgements. This would be nice story to give teens a way to deal with life. I’m not saying that the moral of the story should just be about
being the ultimate idol. Something more of: you can be rebellious, you can be badly behaved, but you can still become a better person
without getting too much out of place.
⁃ An event that can be experienced in real life. A film based on reality is good for empathy and immersive.

13. Do you have any themes or ideas you
wish to see to see in a coming of age
fiction film? If there are, then why?:
Analysis
My research shows that teenagers are more willing to
watch movies with relatable settings. Many have
mentioned a protagonist none different from the
average student. Traits such as unstable, socially
awkward, rebellious were mentioned as well as plot
devices such as a guardian or a mother figure. The
most popular plot structure were plots about an average
student learning how to view the world and realizing
their dreams and purposes of life.

14. Are there any themes or plot devices that you consider
to be too cliche and should be excluded from a new
coming of age film?: Responses
⁃ Romance
⁃ Romance
⁃ A kid being bullied, a complete optimist, a future too bright to be realistic.
⁃ A massive change just because of one person. Especially romance. I would like to see the gentle relationship between a
student and a teacher with love and respect.
⁃ Everything’s okay.
⁃ New kid. Outcast becomes queen bee (seriously, heathers did it first) revolving around a specific event.
⁃ The evil being punished by the good.
⁃ I would enjoy cliché movies if they were made the right way. However, anything including patriarchal terms would be a
great turn off.
⁃ The new kid being the protagonist, underwhelming narration, romances that are just given to them, school=jail and similar
concepts, unable to get used to school=problematic, Mary sue.
⁃ A happy ending achieved because less in shown, the bullied kid achieving a happy lifestyle in the short span of one year.

15. Are there any themes or plot devices that you consider
to be too cliche and should be excluded from a new
coming of age film?: Analysis
Many movie clichés were mentioned for this question’s
responses. Many have responded that they didn’t want
to see unnecessary romance in a film. The new kid
becoming popular also seemed to be a plot to avoid at
all costs. Overall it seemed like people were not willing
to watch any movies that had a unrealistically positive
ending with all problems solved in a short amount of
time.