Page Summary
This page shows my research for my film project.
Research Proposal
What research methods do I intended to do?
To begin with, I plan on using one primary and one secondary qualitative and quantitative research methods. This will total up to four research methods.
I will use the following primary research methods Focus group (Qualitative).
I will use the following secondary research methods Internet Research (Qualitative).
Why have chosen these methods for my short film project?
Primary Explanation
These two methods will help me understand what my audience is interested in and their feedback will help develop my idea, as well as change it if necessary.
Secondary Explanation
These two methods will help me understand more about my chosen film genre and discover appropriate products that influence my own product. In addition, I will be able to understand what media my target audience consume and how my own product will appeal to them.
What do I intended to find out?
I have set myself two targets that will help me with my research.
- Find out how to appeal to my target audience.
- Make sure man secondary research further develops my idea.
How will this help develop my final idea?
It will help me find out how comedy appeals to my target audience. My secondary research will help me develop my idea and be influenced by other comedy products.
Primary Research
Focus Group
Links to Focus Group
Results of Focus Group
For my focus group, one of the questions I asked was to see if they liked the clip or not. This would help me understand what type of comedy my audience likes and how they react to it. Below, I have listed the results for my questions.
Question 1 – What did you think of clip 1
Like – 11
Dislike – 3
Question 2 – What did you think of clip 2
Like – 4
Dislike – 7
Question 3 – What did you think of clip 3
Like – 3
Dislike – 5
Question 4 – What did you think of clip 4
Like – 7
Dislike – 3
Question 5 – Out of all the clips which one was your favourite?
Clip 1 – 5
Clip 2 – 0
Clip 3 – 3
Clip 4 – 3
Reactions from my Focus group
Clip 1 – One person to really enjoyed this clip. Some people were laughing and smiling as they watched this clip.
Clip 2 – Not many people laughed at this clip at first. However, halfway through this clip a lot of people laughed at some of the jokes about women and feminism.
Clip 3 – This clip didn’t appeal to a majority of my focus group. However one of the jokes in this clip made a person laugh.
Clip 4 – This clip appealed to a lot of my focus group and gained the most interest. An important thing I noticed in this clip one of the people turned around and smiled when Donald Trump made an appearance in this clip.
Summary
My results show clip 1 and 4 were the most popular and appealed to a lot of my focus group. However clip 2 and 3 were the least popular and appealed to a majority of people. This shows that the style of filmmaking in clip 1 and 4 will appeal to my target audience and would be appropriate to use in my final product.
Secondary Research
Internet Research
Yes Minister – Clip (Why Britain Joined the European Union) Analysis
Link to video that I watched – Yes Minister Clip
An influence for my product is a clip from a British TV show called ‘Yes Minister’.
Summary of clip
‘Humphrey Appleby’ talks about how the foreign office in the uk is anti Europe (meaning it doesn’t want to get involved fully in the EU). He then goes onto explain why Britain joined the EU and how it has created problems in the EU. Humphrey explains what the benefits of leaving the EU will have for Britain and how it will cause even more problems for the EU.
How will this influence help my product?
This influence will help me because it contains a lot of humour about Britain’s situation with the EU and is relevant with what’s happening today with Brexit.
To make sure my target audience understands this I must think of some jokes on Brexit and how it was affected the country since the vote.
Black Adder – ‘How England use to vote’ clip Analysis
Link to clip – How England use to vote
Summary of clip
‘Blackadder’ the main character of the show talks about the general election and how he is glad it is over with. ‘Mrs Miggins’ asks why she didn’t hear about the election. ‘Blackadder’ explains that women are not allowed to vote. He then goes onto explain about who is able to vote in the general election and who isn’t allowed to vote.
‘Mrs Miggins’ then asks him who the nation have voted to become prime minister. He says the nation have voted the wiggs (an old political party) to come into power. ‘Blackadder’ then goes to say he doesn’t care about who is in power and says how much he hates the conservatives and Pitts. He then goes onto to insult the leaders of the political parties.
How will this influence help my product?
This influence will help me because the humour in this clip describes what the attitudes are like towards British politics and elections.
To make sure my audience understands this influence in my product. I must think of some jokes on attitudes towards British politics today and elections (21st century).
Borat’s Guide to British Politics
Link to clip – Borat’s guide to British Politics
Summary of clip
Sacha Baron Cohen portrays a Kazakstan journalist called Borat. In this clip he does a guide to British politics for his audience. His main objective is to compare capitalism and communism when he interviews people who work in British politics.
He interviews people who work in areas of politics such as business or law. He then asks questions that are inappropriate and makes the people he is interviewing seem uncomfortable.
How will this influence help my product?
This influence will help my product because it contains jokes about capitalism and communism. This clip has a unique comedic point of view on the two major political systems.
To make sure my audience understands my influence I must think of capitalism/communism topics at the moment that I can create as jokes that my audience will understand.
The Dictator Opening Scene
Link to clip – The Dictator Opening Scene
Summary of clip
Sacha Baron Cohen plays a dictator called ‘General Aladeen’ who is a dictator who rules a fictional country called the ‘Republic of Wadiya’. The film’s opening scene establishes what the Republic of Wadiya is and what their role is in politics at the moment.
In addition, it also establishes the origins of the protagonist to. The opening scene for film is presented as a news report and tells the audience how much General Aladeen has impacted his home country through dictatorship and how infamous he has become around the world through the representation of the news.
How will this clip influence my product?
This clip will influence my product because it shows how the news controls political towards people.
To make sure my audience understands this influence I could create a similar opening scene of the news but instead uses political topics I have chosen of my short film.
Summary of Research Results
My chosen idea and why I have chosen it
I have chosen to do a short political comedy. I have chosen this idea because last year I was working on a comedy project for my film productions study on film genres. Both of my lecturers were impressed with what I created and said it was one of the strongest pieces of work I created for my study on film genres. This gave me the confidence to pursue comedy as my chosen genre for my short film and make my comedy project into a proper short film.
My chosen methods and how they made my research effective
For my primary research, I choose a focus group as my research method. It was effective because I was able to learn how comedy appeals to my target audience. For example, the first clip I showed my audience received a lot of positive reactions and was the most popular clip in terms of votes. In contrast, clip 3 revived the least interest from my focus group and was the least popular.
For my secondary research, I choose internet research as my research method. This research method was effective because I researched a lot of influences that I can be inspired by to put into my final product. For example, I watched the opening clip of the film ‘The Dictator’ and throughout very carefully of how this clip would influence my short film and how it would appeal to my audience.
Summarising my main research findings
An important part of my research was to find out how comedy appeals to my target audience and how my secondary research will further develop my idea.
For my target audience, I found out that the first clip (The opening scene to the dictator) I presented to my focus group was the most popular in terms of votes. This shows my focus group enjoyed Sacha Baron Cohen’s style of comedy and it appeals to them.
For my secondary research, I researched some influences that I can be inspired by to put into my final product. An example of this, is when I watched the opening scene to the dictator and wrote down how the opening would fit into my short film.
To summarise, my results show that different styles of comedy appeals to different audiences. The influences I have chosen and that I enjoyed the most will help develop and change the pre production/prodcution of my short film.
Has my research developed or changed my idea?
Yes I do believe my research has developed and changed my idea.
For development, my choosen influences that I am inspired by will be in my short film and my chosen comedy style will be targeted towards a specific target audience.
For the changing of my idea, I have thought very carefully of who I want to aim my product at and see which infulences will be the best to put into my final product.
Sammy Productions 