RESEARCH: Target Audience Research 2

Below is a video documenting some more TAR (target audience research) me and my partner have undertaken. The target audience for the movie our opening scene is for is people aged about 15-20, also as our genre is 'romantic', it will mainly be girls that our opening scene will be aimed at. For this reason, we undertook this piece of research on 3 girls, all aged within the bracket of 15-20 years old.

For this research, we wanted to record footage of what people thought of our original storyboard. To do this, we showed and explained our storyboard to each person then recorded their immediate response. In which they would give feedback, be negative or positive.

What have I learnt in this piece of TAR?

After completing this second bit of TAR I have discovered several things which will be taken into account while my partner and I construct our final storyboard:

Person 1

• When the main character is reminiscing about time him and his girlfriend have shared, this shouldn't go on for too long as this will distract from the point of the actual opening scene.
• Usually, the main emotion of a movie is at the end, not the beginning, so we should try to not make the opening scene too sad.
• Seems like a positive storyboard, not much needs to improve but obviously make necessary changes as we go along.

Person 2

• Thinks it seems like a good opening to a movie.
• Could include some pathetic fallacy, which is like things like weather reflecting the mood.

Person 3

• Likes the storyboard, thought it would create an interesting movie opening. She said that it would have the audience hooked and feeling like they know the main character, and feel sympathy for him.
• We need to think about weather the birds' eye view bit will be achievable. 
• Likes how it is set out and that the titles aren't until the end, as this leaves the audience open to they're own thoughts.

RESEARCH AND PLANNING: Preliminary Conclusions

What have the deconstructions told you about the openings of movies?

The most important thing to note from my deconstructions is how the opening of a movie seems to work as a theme setter. It sets an idea of a theme and everything in that opening scene seems to link back to that theme. For example, in my second deconstruction of ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ the theme and atmosphere is of magic and mystery, and everything in the opening helps to build this. The 4 tools of ; mise-en-scene, sound, editing and camera types were all used in every opening I saw to create this certain theme.

In terms of mise-en-scene everything on set seems to be deliberately setting the scene, so this is everything in the background of a shot as well as the foreground. A very common occurrence in film openings is music playing over it. I think this is because music is a great way to create a feeling, and interest the viewer as hearing is an important sense to utilise. Editing is used in openings to control the pace of it which is crucial for creating a theme. In my first deconstruction the pace of the opening was very fast and was not a real time event for most of it. The editing was put together so it jump cut between 2 different situations back and forth, which is a good way to make something feel fast. On the other hand, in my second deconstruction as the theme was magic and mystery, they wanted to create a slow and gloomy opening. This is why the editing was just normal and nothing special was used in slide transitions, and it just flowed at normal pace. Camera types were most important in my third deconstruction as it was a stadium event, so the cameras really created the atmosphere by showing a spherical view on it; this showed the viewer it was a momentous occasion.

Although the main goal of an opening scene is usually to set the theme, another important part can be to give some indication of what the movie will be about. In my first deconstruction of ‘Step Brothers’ the opening made it clear what the rest of the movie might have been about. This was good because it made me want to watch it as it wasn’t going to be too complicated and it was easy to understand. On the other hand, in my second deconstruction not much of the plot was given away. This was also fine though, as the theme was mystery so it was meant to mysterious. This is also made me want to watch on to see what might happen.

What has your target audience research told you about likes, dislikes and viewing habits?

Undertaking a questionnaire for my target audience research has been very helpful in showing me the preferences of an average viewer. I asked what I plan to be my target audience to undertake the research, in order to gain the most valuable information. A crucial thing my target audience research has shown me is that people love watching films, and most do it on a regular basis. This is good because everyone will have a developed opinion to help me with making my opening scene of a movie.

There were mixed responses as regards to people favourite genres, but the most popular decision was comedy. Also, people like romance in a film and sometimes like romcoms which combine romance and comedies. This response has shown me a lot about the viewing habits of the age group I asked, as they like to be made to laugh while feeling emotion at the same time. In terms of what genre this age group didn’t like, the majority went for horror. This could show my target audience dislike something scary and too serious, and are looking for something more relaxed. As regards to people’s viewing habits, most people don’t really mind where they watch a movie. Most people responded saying they watched movies at home, but many people picked answers where they were out and about. Therefore, I can see that people sometimes view films for a social event as much as for enjoyment. In my target audience research people revealed that mostly they watch films with someone that is close to them, but then don’t mind watching it alone as well. So this just backs up that people will watch movies for their own enjoyment or for a social event with somebody else.

Something else I found while undertaking my target audience research is that people definitely prefer a soundtrack over the opening over a movie – not one person apposed to this. This backs up the fact that my target audience likes to be moved to feel something, and this is often what music can do. In response to what my target audience liked in an opening scene of a movie, they loved something big to happen to immerse them straight away. Most people wanted a big event or lots of action to have them hooked in the opening scene. However, I shouldn’t misinterpret this that people want lots of stuff like fighting and explosions in the opening, as this contradicts what genre they like. Something big can still happen in the opening of for instance a comedy/romance, just more subtle.

How have you used the above research to make planning decisions regarding your movie?

The research I have previously spoken about will definitely have a big effect on how I approach the making of my opening scene of a movie. During undertaking research of deconstructing other opening scenes from films, this will effect decision I make regarding my movie. It has outlined how I need to make a clear theme and story if it is appropriate for that theme. One thing I want to do as a result of this research is immerse the viewer in the film right away, like the other films I watched did. So I can do this by showing the feeling of the theme and providing a clear picture as to what the story shall be about. When making my opening scene of a movie, I definitely need to think about how everything I do will affect the viewer. I can use different techniques to give the viewer a certain feeling and try to connote the theme best I can.

My target audience research will have a large effect on planning decisions regarding my movie. One clear effect will be on the genre of the opening scene. Before this research I was not sure on what to do, but I now I think I shall either do a comedy or a romance. I am likely to do a romance as I feel this will be easier to do than a comedy, and it’s easy to connote stereotypes in romance. Also, as a result of my target audience research, I have decided to definitely include a song playing over the opening. Hopefully this will help to make my target audience identify with the opening and what to see the rest of them film if it had one. One final way my target audience research will affect planning decisions regarding my film is that I will try to make it suitable for viewing alone with people. I can make this happen by making it easy going yet interesting at the same time. In conclusion, I feel that all research I have done so far has been a vital part in making my opening scene of a film.

PLANNING: Director's Pitch and Storyboard

This is the storyboard for our main task, of creating an opening 2 minutes for a movie. We have made the storyboard quite brief as we are aware many changes could occur when we come to making the clip. However, here is the storyboard which we currently intend to stick to:

Just to summarize the storyboard, I shall now briefly explain our vision for this opening scene. We want to start with a long shot of a boy walking down an alleyway, trekking towards his girlfriend’s house to surprise her on Valentines Day. He will have a rose in his hand the whole time as his gift to her. After we have shown him walking for a bit we will show him going into his pocket and getting out his iPod, which reveals the date 14^th Feb. Then he shall pick a song to play, which will play throughout the scene as this is his and his girlfriend’s song. When he arrives at the house, he shall enter without knocking, in order to surprise his girlfriend. As he walks up the stairs we will show the audience via a birds eye shot, that the female is having relation with another man. Finally, he will walk in and discover he is being cheated on, drop his rose, and walk out and cry as the titles come on. We are also thinking of making that last bit in slow motion to add to drama. We think this can lead onto a film about the girl trying to win the man back.

We decided to make an opening scene for a film of romantic genre, because we feel that we can convey this genre the best using certain methods. For this main task we are going to use other actors because it will be easier to control the outcome to be what we want to happen. For the location of our opening two minutes, we will use either mine or Zach’s house, as we won’t need to gain permission to access s these locations. Also we need to use an alleyway in a village for when he is walking down it looking at his iPod. We won't need many resources except for a camera and a stand; I also don't think we will need an external microphone because whenever someone speaks it will be inside so the background sounds won't have much effect. Although, if we find that the sound is quite loud we will use an external microphone. For our shots we won't need the wheels because we don't need to do a tracking shot anywhere. We think we are going to use three actors in our movie, this will be two boys and one girl, but one of the boys only has a small part as the two main characters are lovers. We need to obtain permission for a song by Boyce Avenue and we have sent off an email for it, it is an acoustic version of Katy Perry’s song 'Teenage Dream' this is the email we sent to their record label. This is the email we will send off:

‘Dear Sir or Madam

For our ‘A’ Level Media Studies coursework we have to make the opening two minutes of a movie with a song over it.  For our project we would like to use Teenage Dream by Boyce Avenue and are seeking your permission.

The resulting two minute film opening will not be used for commercial gain, will be hosted on a private coursework blog and also rendered on to DVD for the attention of our teacher and the coursework moderator.  Should we not hear from you to the contrary within 14 days of the date of this email we will assume that you are happy for us to use this music under a fair use arrangement.

Should you require any further information please contact our teacher, Mr Scargill on scargill@guilsborough.northants.sch.uk

Yours faithfully

Alex Saker & Zach Goodchild’

RESEARCH: Target Audience Research

Before creating my directors pitch of what I intend to do for my final opening scene, I thought it would be a good idea to gather some research on what my target audience would want in it. Here is a copy of the questionnaire I used to research my target audience:

Who undertook this questionnaire?

I needed to make sure my target audience took this questionnaire. At this point I intend to aim my final movie at people around my age of 17, and either gender. These are the details of who filled it out:

• 10 people (7 male, 3 female)
• 9 of these people were aged 16-17, 1 of them was around 30 (I asked one person a bit older just in case I decided to aim the film at a higher age group). 

Questionnaire Results

The answers to this first question were in response to whether they watch films, and importantly everyone who responded did watch films. This shows that films are very popular in the current world, so all opinions of people filling in the questionnaire would be from experience. If no one had seen a film, they would not have seen an opening to a movie, so wouldn't be able to help me much with my final product.

As displayed in the graph above, you can see that not only do people watch films; a lot watch films daily or most at least weekly. The least anyone watched films were monthly, and this was an anomaly which shows the dominance films have on the world today. 40% of my questionnaire responses would be from people that watch films daily, so their opinions will be valued.

For this question, I asked people what their favourite genre was, this will be very important in me deciding which genre to make my opening to minutes of a film to. The majority of people responded saying that they liked comedies, so this would be a genre to seriously consider. Next in line for popularity weremantic films, tied with romcom's. This represents that people like it when romance is tied in with some comedy, so people like to watch something which might make them feel emotional and provide laughter at the same time. Given that 70% of questionnaire responses were from boys, you might expect adventure, horror and action to have been more popular. Therefore, in my final product I think I shall either make it a comedy or romantic.

This question is the opposite to the previous question, discovering what people would see as their least favourite genre. The table shows that it would be a bad idea for me to do a horror as this was many people's least favourite genre. You can see that these results can contradict the previous question, as many people dislike romance. I think this is due to the fact many people who answered 'adventure' in the previous question might be the sort to most dislike romance.

In the table above, you can see that most of the time people watch movies in the convert of a home. People do enjoy going to the cinema, but it is more common for people to watch a movie in a home environment. Therefore, it would make sense for me to make my opening 2 minutes a film to suit being watched at home or at someone else's home.

The results above show that people will watch a film whether they are in company or alone. This again goes to show proof that films are huge and people will watch them in many circumstances. The most popular way to watch a film is with friends, this is probably as it can be fun to discuss a film with your friends, and can be a social activity. The least popular response was 'with your partner', which is probably just due to the fact most the people in the age group wouldn't have a boyfriend or girlfriend.

In this final graph, we can see that a soundtrack should definitely play over the top of the opening scene I create. 100% of people like it when an opening to a movie has a soundrack, so it is very popular. When my friend and I come to making our final product, I think we will have a song playing over it as this is seems to be what people like.

Question responses to which a table wasn't appropriate for:

Question 8 asked what people's favourite opening scene of a movie were. The answers people gave backed up their responses to previous questions, because the genres of the films they picked were the same genres which they liked. Most the films had an opening with sentiment or on the other hand fast moving action.

Question 9 queried into how I could make my own opening scene effective. These were the answers people wrote: 'Teaser, lots of action, dramatic events, background knowledge, music, explosions, women, suggest what the film is about to entice the viewer straight away, scary, explosions, get viewer involved and immersed.' All of these will be taken into account when my partner and I make our final product.

Here is a video, recording evidence that I actually undertook the questionnaire:

RESEARCH: Deconstruction 3

Opening Scene Deconstruction of 'Goal 2: Living the Dream'

Directer: Jaume Collet-Serra
Year: 2007
Certification: 12A
Genre: Sporting drama

In my final deconstruction of an opening scene from a film, I shall deconstruct ‘Goal 2: Living the Dream’. Each film I have spoken about so far has implied a feeling about the genre and atmosphere of the film and this one is no different. The genre is a sporting genre, and dramas about sport can often be taken lightly so I feel the opening tries to rectify this by a serious atmosphere. Between the mise-en-scene, camera types, editing and sound this opening 2 minutes clearly shows the viewer that the movie is based on sport but is a serious drama.

The movie begins with a mix of diegetic and non-diegetic sound. The non-diegetic sound being the music which plays throughout the opening and the diegetic is the sound of a crowd cheering. At this point editing is used to fade in a picture of the top of a very large sporting stadium. This lets the viewer now that this setting is a very large occasion with plenty of passion as you can hear by the sound, although the occasion is not yet clear. Now the camera zooms and spins down onto the pitch, and it is clear that it is a football match.  Also, if you are watching the movie you are probably a fan of football, so you would be made aware this is Barcelona vs Real Madrid. This is a massive Spanish derby with plenty of importance and passion, so anyone with outside knowledge of football will be feeling this is a serious occasion. Here some sound kicks in of the player kicking the football and the commentary. Both of these things you would hear in a football match, so the viewer knows this scene is meant to be like you are watching a football match.

In this first clip you see that Barcelona take the lead in the football match, and their plays burst into elation. This is connoted with a long shot of the players cheering and the fans in the background. The diegetic sound of the roar from the fans in the background also implies the elation. On the other hand, the camera then cuts to Real Madrid players who look very deflated. There is a mid shot of David Beckham, who is seen as a role model figure, looking disappointed. I feel such a massive figure is used so all viewers can relate to his feeling of deflation. You then hear and see a Real Madrid player trying to rally his players with positivity. However, the music contradicts this positivity because it is very glum and serious. I feel this is done on purpose to give a sense of misguided hope, which makes the viewer feel empathy and happiness is not meant to be the overall vibe from the scene.

After Real Madrid concedes, the editing cuts together a series of football highlights of them missing countless chances. The camera angles show that this is meant to be more football highlights than a live match, because a live match can not display such precise angles. Gradually as Real Madrid miss more and more chances to score, you can feel the despair building up on the pitch and the in the stadium. This is implied through sound of an agitated crowd and with Real Madrid with heads in hands. Following these missed chances Barcelona go onto score 2 more to make the score 3-0. The viewer now knows the only tale of this opening scene is misery for Real Madrid. The camera shows a close up of their new signing player, and the commentator comments on how he isn’t doing well, and they need someone else. This is the only implication of the story line as you get the feeling the story might be Real Madrid needing a new player and seeking one.

Overall, I feel this opening clearly displays genre and mood. It goes straight into a football match so this is clear for the viewer to see what kind of movie it shall be. The focus seems to be on misery of Real Madrid rather than elation for Barcelona, so this is a way making the viewer feel downbeat rather than happy. Also, the music which plays throughout isn’t necessarily what you’d expect and tries to offer something to someone watching the film that doesn’t like sport.

RESEARCH: Deconstruction 2

Film Deconstruction of ‘Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone’

Director: Chris Columbus

Year: 2001

Certification: PG

Genre: Adventure

In this second opening scene deconstruction, I have chosen to use the opening two minutes of the film ‘Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone’. It is a very mystical opening which immediately sets the scene of the movie. It staples some main characters down but it is not obvious of what is happening too quickly. This probably helps to create the mystical and magical theme it is going for. Therefore, I would say the overall goal of this opening is to be a theme setter. The theme is set by many ways which I shall now explain.

The scene begins with a close up focusing on the street sign entitles ‘Pivet Drive’ with an owl sitting on it. An owl is an unusual animal to be so out in the open, which shows the movie could be one of unusual happenings. At the same time as this some non-diegetic sound of the Harry Potter theme tune comes on. In the background it is dark and misty as it is night time. The music which plays sounds gloomy, yet magical at the same time, which really sets the tone for the movie. This combines with the darkness in the background to immediately set the theme of mystery and magic. Following this, the camera slowly pans right, which is a good technique for a film like this because helps build on the tense atmosphere. Once the camera has panned right the first thing in focus is a lamp post, which helps to build the strange atmosphere even more. At this point you see a man emerge in the background and his presentation immediately suggests he is a wizard. You see a long white beard, a long gown, and a long hat on his head. All of this is a stereotypical picture of a wizard, so it is clear he is one. Another way the film conveys him as a wizard is when he comes on, the theme music stops, and some different spooky music comes on.

Following haven seen the wizard walking, the camera pans right and down, to reveal a cat just sitting there. Nothing happens with the cat at this point but you can see the cat looks very alert for an animal. It being placed where it is at that time of night is another strange thing. The camera then shows a close up of an item the wizard is holding up, it is not even clear what this is so that makes everything even stranger. You soon see that the device draws out lights from the street lamps, and the editing cleverly shows dashes of light from the lights to the strange device. All this is done with a long shot of the wizard in the background as he turns all the lights out. The lights makes diegetic sound as it rushes across to the device, which helps the editing look better. Then you hear a cat meow so you now know the cat is coming back into play. The dialogue then has the wizard call the cat by a very human name which is strange. Then the editing shows the cats shadow growing and the cat turning into a human. A transformation like this is clearly magic so that sets the theme of the film nicely.

Once the cat has turned into a human, the camera does a tracking shot walking with the people in discussion. A line of the dialogue is “Are the rumours true professor?” This is very thought provocative speech as the audience will want to know what the rumours are, so even this is mystical. In the background as they walk is the mise-en-scene of the street ‘Pivet Drive’. These houses all look pretty normal so this is the only thing which contradicts the oddness of the scene. Once the pair has finished their conversation, you hear the sound of something coming, which both characters look towards. First you only see a light so the mystery of what this is continues. Eventually you see a robed and shaggy man flying in, who also looks like a wizard. This flying motor bike again clearly suggests that this film is based around magic.

So that is the opening two minutes of ‘Harry Potter and The Philosophers Stone’, and it creates a very clear picture of the theme of the film, but not particularly of the plot. Everything that happens in the opening scene is very strange and entices the viewer into wandering what is happening. To summarize, I feel this opening is good because even the fact the plot isn’t clear is purposely mysterious. Therefore, after this the viewer is left wanting to continue watching the rest of the movie.

RESEARCH: Deconstruction 1

Film Deconstruction of ‘Step Brothers’ 

Director:Adam McKay

Year: 2008

Certification: 15

Genre: Comedy

For this film deconstruction I shall deconstruct the first two minutes of the movie ‘Step Brothers’, starting from the end of the opening credits. The whole opening scene is jump cutting between two different families, which both share the similarity of having 40 year old sons still living at home. Finally it reveals that the single Father and Mother of each family get married, this means the opening of the movie is not real-time because they meet and marry within minutes. I shall now take you through how the film manages to display the similarities between the families, and shows the event of the marriage developing.

The first thing the audience experience is diegetic sound just at the end of the credits of a person preparing food, which soon cuts into a visual experience of a close up of a man making nacho’s. After this there is more diegetic sound as you hear the man pressing the microwave oven, and see a close up of this. All these things combine to show the user that this middle aged man is just like a teenager, cooking breakfast in a microwave. At this point there is non-diegetic sound of the song which plays throughout the whole opening scene. This music is upbeat which hints that the film will be a comedy, and also is quite young to help with the image of the middle aged men acting younger than they are. As well as this, the music is fast paced which suits the way time moves really quickly in the opening scene as two people meet and marry in the space of seconds.

Following the music beginning, the audience sees the other family for the first time, with a vertical pan of a man picking out and smelling dirty pyjamas to put on. This immediately indicated that this man is similar to that of the other family, as the first man was dressed in pyjamas like a child as well. Now it quickly cuts back the other family and shows a close up of what the man has prepared for breakfast, which is; chocolate cereal, nachos and a blue fizzy drink. Everything so far has just gone towards contributing how these two men don’t act their age. Next you see a parent for this first time, in this case the original man’s Mother. It is obvious they live together, and the man is still very reliant on the mother. This is from the dialogue of the Mum saying when she’ll be home. The Mum is dressed smart which shows she works and earns the money for both of them. This clip ends with the man lusting over a female on TV, just like a teenager would do. The camera shots in this bit are just all mid-range.

At this point the editing switches to the family which we have not seen much of yet, and shows a long shot of the man playing air guitar just like a teenager. Then his Father walks in, dressed in a formal suit, so you can already see the similarities between him and the other Mother. In a way it’s like two parallel families. Just like the other family, the Dad gives instructions before he leaves so you can see that the man is still like a teenager and treated like one. The mise-en-scene of both houses was very smart, and you’d think both parents are quite rich and it is clearly their house – not the sons.

In the next part of the opening scene it begins with a close up of a posh chandelier, before panning left to what is clearly the Dad giving a speech at a business conference. Then it quickly identifies that the Mum is sitting in the audience, so the audience gets an idea that the two parallel families are about to collide. The editing here does some shot/reverse shot between the Dad speaking and the Mum listening, showing that they are looking at each other. The man is then put off his speech by the woman, and the audience can see they are attracted to each other. The scene then quickly cuts to the couple romancing, and the dialogue shows them realising how similar their families are. Next thing you hear sound of a toast, which is the sound of a speech beginning at a wedding. It quickly becomes apparent that the two parental figures have got married, and there is a slight low angle of the man speaking.

The whole opening scene is combining to show a number of things: Firstly, the similarities between the two families, and secondly to show the parents getting married. The editing is fast paced jumping between two families and then two a marriage. The music is also fast paced, both of these help to show that the time is not real-time and the story is sped up. The mise-en-scene shows that the two families are the same - in particular the two middle aged children. In conclusion, I feel this is a good opening scene as the story is very clear and its fast paced to keep the viewer engaged.