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1. Radio Interview
Evaluation Three:​ ‘What have you learned from your audience feedback?’
Time Speaker Audio
0:00:00 - Presenter 1
(Beth Izatt)
What an interesting and educational show. Distribution
Discussion was presented by Becca Stevens and
produced by Radio TBS
What is the importance of an audience and how do you
use audience research to make a successful short film.
Aimee Lee finds out in the programme shortly. Then at 6
it’s Grace Johanson.
Presenter 2
(Grace
Johanson)
At 6 o’clock how did director Beth Izatt use, develop and
challenge the conventions of a short film when producing
her new short Pelican Crossing. Also on the programme
an interview with award nominated director Amber
O’Dell. Join me at 6 and find out more.
Presenter 1 Thanks Grace. Now here Aimee Lee with Short Talk.
Presenter 3
(Aimee Lee)
Hello in today’s programme director Megan Windmill is
on the show. Megan released her social realism
introduction Addiction last year which got a warm
reaction from her audience, but has she listened to her
audience well enough this time when creating her new
short film Bus Stop to get the same appraisal. Then here
in the studio our film historians Harry Webb and Emma
Jones will be analysing Marilyn Milgrom's short film
theory.
First British director Megan Windmill is on the show to
talk about her new short film Bus Stop. Bus Stop has
themes of neglect and abandonment with the protagonist
a young girl played by Erin Windmill, being left alone at a
bus stop by her older sister portrayed by Emily
Townsend. The young girl is left with the dilemma of
whether to stay or follow her sister which leads to tense
scenes as the story unfolds.
Megan looking back how did you first initiate who the
audience for your short film were?
Megan Well the first part of my research was purely to find out
who the audience of a short film would be, from this I
asked questions evolving them and their background.
Presenter 3
(Aimee Lee)
What did you find out from this research?

2. Megan Well I found out that the audience of my short film would
be in the age category of 16 - 18, and are well educated.
I found that 38% of the people who answered my survey
studied media and are film literate.
Presenter 3
(Aimee Lee)
How did you find out what tastes this audience has?
Megan I found that the people who answered by survey had a
variation on what genre of short they prefered. 65% said
they prefered comedic shorts, then the next prefered was
animation, then action, these are shorts people would
have watched for entertainment purposes in their spare
time. After these came drama joint with social realism,
this shows that they do enjoy these genres as a way of
gaining information, I also found that those who watched
social realism shorts more were those who also studies
media. This confirmed for me that the audience of my
social realism short film would be film literate and well
educated. I also found that 80% of the respondents
watched short films on the platform YouTube, however I
didn’t feel that this result was truly representation of what
platforms my audience would use. Because of this I went
on to do a follow up questionnaire.
Presenter 3
(Aimee Lee)
Ah I see and what made you so sure you would get
different results this time, and did you?
Megan Well for this research 83% of the respondents were film
literate which is who I was certain my true audience was.
I did find what I consider more accurate results as 100%
of them use the site Vimeo, and 50% using MUBI, this
ranged from annually to daily. Another site I found 100%
of respondents using was Short Of The Week, with the
majority of them using it weekly.
Presenter 3
(Aimee Lee)
You stated that this was the audience for your short film,
but how do you know this is the same audience you will
have for your review and poster?
Megan I also went on to do research into this, I found that the
respondents were all white, and bar one were at sixth
form/college, and all of them has an education in media.
This shows that this audience is also film literate and well
educated similarly to the audience of the short film.
Majority of them read Sight & Sound magazine, which
influenced my decision to use this magazine for my
secondary research into the structure and architecture of
a film magazine. I found that the respondents had a
higher level of commitment to viewing posters than
reviews. I felt that this was due to the higher access to

3. posters there is than reviews, this is because people
have indirect contact with posters, whereas you have to
actively go out and buy a magazine.
Presenter 3
(Aimee Lee)
Did you use any type of research in order to help you
with the decision making of the planning of your film.
Megan Yes I did qualitative research to help with the synopsis
writing process. I found that the respondents thought the
were high enough in my early synopsis draft as they felt
that the girl being on her own raises the stakes as she is
put in a position of danger, however one respondent said
that the stakes could be heightened further.
Presenter 3
(Aimee Lee)
How did you use this information to develop your later
synopsis drafts?
Megan I used this to raise the stakes slightly higher by adding
the character of Jay so then the older girl is also put in a
dangerous situation and this means the stakes are high
for both characters rather than just one. This also solved
the problem I found that the respondents were unsure
who the main protagonist was, so by adding in the
character of Jay this brings the focus of the story back on
her more as her dilemma and predicament increase.
Presenter 3
(Aimee Lee)
Did you find in the research that in the synopsis the older
girl’s dilemma and predicament was unclear to the
audience?
Megan Yes I did I found that they felt it needed to be more
defined as it isn’t clear as to what is going on within her
angry typing. They thought that if it was clearer it would
make her internal conflict more defined as well. I listened
to this feedback and in my short the text messages are
seen clearly on screen and then the person she is texting
also has a physical role as well.
Presenter 3
(Aimee Lee)
Did you have any other problems when it came to the
script writing process?
Megan I did there was one phrase which I was sure about so I
decided to go to my peers and take some mini
researching by asking them what they would suggest to
use as the phrase for the character Jay when they are
upset.
Presenter 3
(Aimee Lee)
What did they suggest, which one did you use?
Megan One said ‘Kate I just want you to trust me, I don’t
understand why you always want to get away from me.’

4. Another said ‘It’s not the same.’ and the final one said
‘Grow up.’ In the end I decided to use the last one and
used ‘Grow up’ this is because it adds to the themes and
issues of the short and would be suitable in provoking
Kate to get upset and leave as she realises her priorities
are not right.
Presenter 3
(Aimee Lee)
After writing the script did you have any dilemmas when
trying to cast?
Megan I had a problem when casting the character of Jay who
originally was a male character named Matt. Matt was
going to be the boyfriend of Kate, a male in his twenties,
this would have created the debate in whether he is too
old for Kate or not, which would have caused
controversy. The problem I had was that I couldn’t find
anyone to play this role.
Presenter 3
(Aimee Lee)
How did you overcome this problem?
Megan I wanted to keep similar themes for this character but just
develop them to suit the people I can get to start in my
short. I did this by changing the character from a male to
a female named Jay. However I was unsure if this would
have the desired effect so I carried out research to see
what my audience would think.
Presenter 3
(Aimee Lee)
What did you find from this research?
Megan I found that having a female character for the role will be
still as effective if not more effective in my short. It will
add more wider context, themes and issues, as well as
develops the areas of representation.
Presenter 3
(Aimee Lee)
When it came to the actual filmmaking process did you
intake any research to help you?
Megan Yes I did audience research on my first rough cut I found
that respondents felt my short was engaging and wanted
to know what happens to the characters from the offset.
The respondents felt the relationship dynamic was a key
factor of the short. This time the respondents felt the
protagonist was clearly the older girl and she had the
greatest dilemma and character development. They felt
that the body language and mise en scene was effective
in showing the characters emotions and sets the mood
and tone of the film, making the themes and issues clear.
Presenter 3
(Aimee Lee)
Wow that is very interesting. Did you get similar feedback
in your research on your poster and review?

5. Megan Yes I did for my poster did multiple research tasks. I
found in my first that the image of the girls at the bus
stop is most effective. So then I went on and took a lot of
photos at different places on the set and did research on
that. I found that the photos of Kate with Jay were less
effective as they give away too much of the story, and
the photos of the hug at the end of the film look unnatural
and awkward. They respondents felt that the most
effective photos were those of the two girls at the bus
stop as it shows the themes and issues clearly and
shows the separation between the two sisters.
Presenter 3
(Aimee Lee)
Ah I see and what did you find from your review
research?
Megan I found that the respondents thought the layout was
professional and fitted conventions. They felt that the
review shone a positive light on the film and that it made
it appealing to the audience. They respondents found
that the review was good but needed more examples.
They felt the balance of the negative and positive points
was effective and showed the review to not be bias.
Presenter 3
(Aimee Lee)
That is very good feedback, it has been very interesting
talking to you about audience research and the
importance it. Thank you for joining me today and I hope
to be hearing from you again soon.
Megan Aw yes thank you it has been a honour to be on the
show.