The document details a research survey conducted to understand audience perceptions of Sunderland and the Northeast, with mixed responses highlighting both negative and positive views. It explores the themes of duality in the short film, aiming to portray the contrast between outdated perceptions and current developments in the area, particularly through character dialogues. The author also considers various technical aspects of filmmaking and desired character development, intending to create a narrative that resonates emotionally with viewers while remaining relatable to the local audience.

1. Audience Data
Analysis
As a part of my research, I made this survey to get a better understanding of my
audience's feelings on Sunderland, the Northeast in general . My expectations for the
answers are to have a negative outlook on Sunderland and the Northeast as from
experience the general consensus is that the Northeast is a bad place to live. Of course,
these are just my assumptions so before I settle on what the tone of the Short Film will
be, I want to make sure that I pick the correct one so the project is a better
representation of the Northeast and what my audience wants to see. I also ask questions
about short films are what their preferences would be if they were to watch one.
Hopefully, by getting these answers I can cater a project that better suits them and is a
better project overall.

2. Q1: What IS your opinion OF sUNDERLAND?
For the first question, I wanted to focus on Sunderland specifically as the
client, Sunderland Culture, are based in the city and I'm
considering using Sunderland as my setting for the short film. I expected
an outpour of negative opinions on the city, but the answers came back
quite mixed with some answers describing the city as "disgusting" and
"scary" while others give more positive statements like "it's an up-and-
coming city with a bright future". Due to this duality in given answers, it
could be worth delving into in the film itself, What I mean by this is
potentially having these contrasting opinions clash with each other
through characters conversations and outlooks. So far, I've struggled
with plots that audiences that could be relatable to young people from the
Northeast. So the traditional negative self-fulfilling prophecy people have
of Sunderland against the new positive and self-improving outlook that
has reared its head, due to recent developments in the city, could be a
good plot point of how the city is changing and how that’s effecting its
inhabitants.

3. Q2:What is your opinion on the northeast as a whole?
Question 2 goes from Sunderland to the Northeast as a region. I
expected the answers to again be negative, but I was really surprised as
most of the answers were positive. This is an interesting development as
it could give me more to use for the positive outlook that one of the
characters will have. The most interesting answer, in my opinion, was the
third answer being “Going under major revamping but won’t be done for a
few years”. It gives two sides of the same argument this gives me
something that the characters could clash on during dialogue with each
other. Potentially, if they were to talk about the new buildings and
businesses in Sunderland, they could be in the city centre together
having a conversation about it as there would be visual opportunities to
show both sides of the discussion. Like for example showing more
presentable parts of the city and then more run-down parts. This would
lean into the duality aspect of the short film as the characters
personalities reflect on the world around them.

4. Q3:If you lived somewhere else what would attract you to
come to the North East and what would keep you away?
The next question tries to find out what is attractive about the
Northeast and what is unattractive about it. The reason I wanted to
know this is so I could gain more knowledge of negatives and
positives. The main positive that has came out of the answers to this
question has been Football and Sunderland A.F.C, This is a debatable
topic as the club in recent years has experienced turbulent highs and
lows. The Stadium Of Light, which is the stadium that Sunderland play
in, could be worth using the outside of as a filming location due to its
significance in the area. Logistically, if I wanted to film inside the
stadium, I would have to email the football club asking for permission
which I’m sure will be hard to obtain. I also don’t think there could be
explanation in the short story as why they would be in an empty
stadium. With there being a lot of locations to film in so there may be a
few scenes where they are traveling from place to place either on a
bus or in a car. A bus could be easier as there is more room on a bus
to film and I don’t know how to drive. I do have friends who do drive so
I would be able to so I could be able to ask them if ,during the script
writing process, I need access to film in a car.

5. Q4:What is the main thing Sunderland could improve on?
This question was mainly to see if they opportunity what would they
change about Sunderland. This was to again get a feel for what is good
and bad about the city. This could’ve been either the social problems of
Sunderland or the physical aspect of the city. A lot of the responses to
this question continued with how bad the city centre is. This isn't a bad
thing however as it just further stresses how integral it should be to the
short film. One answer that struck me as quite interesting was about knife
crime. Across Britain it is becoming more and more of a problem as from
March 2022 to March 2023 there were 50,500 offences with sharp
objects in England and Wales. Also, as recently as November 2023
arrests were made in Sunderland as two men were found with 'zombie
knives' on the streets of Pennywell. Knife crime is becoming a crime
epidemic. With this being a genuine concern in the local area it could be
worth a reference in the script for the characters to talk about in their
arguments.
Sources:
Knife crime statistics England and Wales - House of
Commons Library (parliament.uk)
Sunderland arrests after 'zombie' knives found on men -
BBC News

6. Q5:what is the most famous thing/location in the northeast?
Question 5, was mainly aiming to see what filming locations would make
the most impact and be relatable for the audience. With the film taking
place in Sunderland a lot of the answers won't be able to be used so
finding equivalents will be necessary. With St James' Park the obvious
replacement would be the Stadium Of Light and for the Angel Of The
North we could use Penshaw Monument. These substitutes would be
easier to get to as well as keeping with the unique selling point of the
short film being exclusively filmed and set in Sunderland. Finding ways to
fit these places into the script and into the storyline will have to be trialed
in the writing stage of pre-production as a few drafts of different storylines
would be beneficial to find out which one would be the best fit. The way I
could determine this is through different focus groups

7. Q6:which in your opinion is the best city in the northeast?
Here you can see from the data here that Sunderland is considered the
third worst of the main Northeastern cities with bitter rivals Newcastle
first and Wearside neighbours second and Middlesbrough being the
only ones below them. This I believe is an accurate representation of
the general consensus nationally when it comes to the Northeast cities.
It also shows that the the opinion of the residents of Sunderland is that
they are a third rate city which definitely something the main character
could mention in his rant.

8. Q7:what problem do you think effects people in the
northeast the most?
All the answers for this question had to do with poverty or financial
problems. The way I could reflect this problem in my work could be
the way the characters dress and different aspects of their lives.
What I mean by this is that the characters could mention their lack of
education or more implicit things such as using the bus to travel as
they can't afford a car.

9. Q8:in short films what do you think is the most important
thing?
There is a good range of things to consider with this
question. Mostly what the responses consist of is good
camera work and a good story. I have experience with
engaging audiences through good scripts because of my
previous projects making a Documentary, but the
documentary did not experiment with different camera
angles or cinematography techniques. So what I think
should be the most important part of this Short Film is the
cinematography and visual elements as it will help me grow
my skills and make for a more interesting watch overall.

10. Q9:what films/stories have resonated with you the most?
This question was mainly to find out what direction the short
film to take in terms of messaging and ending and what story
would fit best with the audience. This question didn’t prove
very fruitful however, so I have decided to make it a tragedy
as I originally wanted to as those are they are the stories that
are my favourites. I want the make the ending where the
main character goes through character development, but he
gets what he wanted from the start but it's no longer what he
wants. I believe that we have all had an experience where we
get what we want but it's not what it's been hyped up to be.
So I wanted to portray that in this film as it would leave the
watchers with an emotional impact.

11. Q10:What Characters do you feel like you relate to and
why?
This question was mainly to help me with the type of
characters that would be in the film so I could appeal to
my audience more. This question wasn't as successful as
I had hoped but one answer that stood out to me was
Tyler Durden from Fight Club. Tyler Durden is the main
character of Fight Club and deals with a personally
struggle with consumerism and his own masculinity as
well as creating a separate personality to cope. With the
already existing duality theme in the short film
experimenting with the two both characters being the
same person could be a route to go down. But the thing
with this is that I feel that trying to replicate the twist of
Fight Club might not go down that well as I feel that it is a
little bit overplayed and cliché. Nevertheless, I will try to
experiment with the idea in the pre-production stage.

12. Q11:What things do you think should be included in a film
about the Northeast?
These answers were expected as probably what
Sunderland is most famous for is the football team. In
the story I want to tell however it may feel a bit out of
place if this was an explicit part of the short-film as it is
mainly about the people and their perceptions of the
city. I could make references perhaps in dialogue or in
terms of what the characters dress like. That way it
makes it more believable as often in Sunderland you
see people in the city centre a lot wearing
merchandise from the Club store. On top of this, the
use of different local landmarks would set the tone for
the documentary and make it more relatable for the
audience. Having these important parts of the
Northeast within the film I think should be a key part of
the film as all the people in the Northeast are familiar
with them and it could make a positive impact on the
film.