2. Picking a target audience One of the first things that needed to be established at the beginning of my pre production period was who my short film was going to be aimed at, or, my Target Audience. I knew this was extremely important when making a film, due to research that I undertook last year into UK Film production companies. Working Title realised that British romantic comedies were big money makers and so they kept providing them for the large target audience, for example: Notting Hill, Four Weddings, Love Actually, Bridget Jones (1&2), Wimbledon etc.
3. I decided to pick a target audience close to my own age group because I felt that I could make a more effective film if I could better understand the audience whom I was making it for. I also decided that my film would be aimed at people interested in social realism and short films, as well as current affairs and national issues. Although my protagonist is a white, middle class girl, I do not think that my film is limited to this niche group as what happens to her is something that could potentially happen to other types of people as well.
4. An audience research group was held in the early stages of pre production to allow me to develop my story further by gaining the opinions and advice of my target audience. The focus group consisted of 8 A-Level students aged between 16 and 18. The session was filmed for reference and can be found on the audience research page of my blog.
7. Before I began shooting my film, I decided that to address the issue that arose in the focus group regarding the unrealistic flirting. I met with a group of drama students in order to study this moment in more detail. I decided that when it was directed and acted in a very naturalistic way, with no dramatic emotions, then it could end up being touching and romantic without being unrealistic and cheesy. Workshopping scenes from the film before the shoot began was very helpful to the whole process as well as the final film because I was prepared and was very aware of how certain scenes needed to be directed before I began.
