What we found out from our audience research
For our audience research, we asked five people of our approximate target audience to fill out questionnaires about particular decisions we were unsure of within our group. The first thing we asked was if we should use split-screen on any shots. All five of the people we asked said that we should use split-screens on some of the shots. The next thing we asked was if we should use happy music, sad music, or a radio breakfast show. Four out of five people said that we should use the radio show, the other saying we should use happy music. We also asked if London was a good setting for our film. Four out of five people responded that, yes, it was. Finally, we asked if the characters should meet in the opening sequence. Four out of five people said that they should not.
How we tailored our product based on what the audience wanted
First of all, we used a split-screen on one of our shots in the beginning of the sequence. It is of Sara and Josh sitting on different trains. We knew we wanted to use at least one and the audience research confirmed this was a good idea. However, we only used one because overuse of split-screens can make the audience feel disorientated and confused as to what is happening.
The split-screen of Sara and Josh on trains.
We also followed our audience research by keeping the setting in London. We liked the setting of London and our audience research confirmed that it was a good idea. The characters also do not meet at all during the opening sequence. We went with the idea of them almost meeting; they would be at the same places at different times or on a train but different ones.
We did not entirely follow our audience feedback when we chose the soundtrack of our opening sequence. As opposed to the majority vote for the radio show, we chose to use happy, upbeat music. This is because we felt that the radio show was not conventional enough and the music would show that it was a more conventional, traditional romance film. This is the effect we set out for, and we all liked the outcome.
How we have made the genre of the film clear to the audience
We have used a variety of conventions to make the romance genre of our film as clear to the audience as possible. Firstly, we used the happy, romantic music. The non-diegetic soundtrack is a clear indicator of the genre. It sets a happy, hopeful mood, with hope/determination being a theme common in romance films. Secondly, we used very elegant, feminine font for the titles. Elegant fonts are quite common in the romance genre.
An example showing the font used for the titles.
We've also shown the couple. Even if the audience aren't yet aware of who the main characters actually are, they will often be shown in the opening sequence in order to set the premise and allow the audience to identify more about the characters.
A convention of romance films is the use of lots of close-ups. This is for a variety of reasons. They allow the audience to see how the characters are feeling. This is very important for romance films because they are centered around characters, their emotions, and their relationships with each other. It also allows the audience to identify with the characters more easily. In the Uses and Gratifications theory, one of the reasons audiences consume media texts is for identification. Audiences will watch romance films so that they can identify with the characters.
A close-up of Josh on the train.
Another romance convention that allows audiences to identify with characters is setting the film in a large city or town. This means that a large amount of people will be able to identify more easily with the situation, such as people that live in the city (in our case, London) or live in another city. We made the setting of London clear by including landmarks such as Big Ben and the London Eye and various semiotics of the city such as the famous red buses.
How our opening sequence engages the audience and makes them want to keep watching
Roland Barthes' narrative theory suggests that directors include enigma codes in texts as "narrative hooks" to engage the audience. We have used a variety of enigma codes in our opening sequence to achieve just that. Examples of these include:
- Who are these people?
- What relevance do they have to each other?
- Where are they going?
- Are they going to the same place?
- Are they going to meet?
By using enigmas like this, we engage the audience and make them want to continue watching the film in order to answer these questions.
Uses and Gratifications offered and Young and Rubicam's types of people attracted
The Uses and Gratifications theory suggests that audiences enjoy products that offer them opportunities to fulfil specific needs. These are diversion (AKA escape), social interaction, education, and identification. As aforementioned, our film offers identification to the audience. The use of close-ups and the setting of London mean that the audience can identify more easily with the characters and their emotions, and the situation. It also offers diversion. Some of the audience may be going through difficulties in their life and find respite in the happiness and the development of the relationship between the characters in our film. Another use and gratification it offers the audience is social interaction. They may want to talk to their friends about the film, see it with each other, or talk about the characters and their relationship .It offers a way for the audience to connect and learn about each other.
The marketing and communications company Young and Rubicam have created a theory that suggests all audiences fall into one or more of seven categories. The categories that our film appeals to are the mainstream and the struggler. Mainstreamers will be attracted to our film because it is a highly conventional romance. It offers them security because they know the rough formula and generally what to expect. Strugglers will be attracted to our film because they seek escape. They may want to live vicariously through our characters or to get caught up in the film's story as opposed to their life.
What our target audience think of our opening sequence and how we know
Once we had finished the visual editing of the opening sequence, we asked our classmates from other groups to watch it with the two choices of music we were deciding between at the time (the happy, conventional music or the radio music). All of them liked our opening sequence, said that it was conventional and engaging, and that the happy music that is now in our final cut was the more appropriate music.
By Michael Vodden
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