Use of the questionnaire

The questionnaire I created was adapted around short film. The question I asked gave me an
audience prospective on the views of short films and genres. Managed to ask an equal amount of
boys and girls to make the results fair to both genders. Questionnaires gives responses that are
gathered in a standardised way, so questionnaires are more objective, certainly more so than
interviews which is unorganised and harder to retract information from with clear evidence. The
questionnaire was a majority of closed questions as the audience doesnt have time to write full
sentences, still a few written answer questions were added just to back up the reason for the
participants answer. Questionnaires do have the tendency to have low results which is why they
have to be given to a much larger group to make up for the return rates.

Q1. The first question was to find out the
gender of the participant. This is used as it
gives an overview of what percentage of each
gender answered the question. This can also
be used to prove patterns in the answers for
the different genders. I was able to keep my
participants at 50/50 which give a fair ratio for
the answers to the rest of the questionnaire.
Genders are stereotyped to like certain
aspects in films e.g. men enjoy action and
violence whilst women enjoy romance.


Q2. The second question in the questionnaire
was to find out the age of my participants this
has an effect as views on films are proven to
change with age. The majority of people I
asked were 16 to 21 and 25 to 34 the reason
for this was because this is the age group I am
going to aspire my short film towards, so by
getting their age groups view I can alter my
film to fit that ages groups needs. It was also
easier to gain questionnaire answers for a
younger group as I am currently attending
school, meaning I was able to ask peers to fill
in my questionnaire. If I could improve my
question I would like to ask an older audience
about their views giving me a wider
understanding of age and its effect on film.



Q3. This question was to find out what gender best fitted the lead role in an action/sci-fi film. The
majority picked a male lead and using further research into the specific answers I was able to find
that most female participants chose a male lead whilst the male participants were split between
male and female. I believe that a male lead was chosen due to the action genre as most people view
an action film with a male lead and most
blockbuster films follow this genre. However still
a fair amount of participants expected to see a
female lead in a sci-fi/action film. This may be
due to the recent release of strong females leads
in action films e.g. Scarlett Johansson in Lucy
and Jennifer Laurence in The Hunger Games
but even with this rise in female leads the
majority still expect a male lead in an action/sci-fi
film. This makes me want to keep pushing the
idea to having a powerful female lead in an action
film as it shakes up the stereotype and gives a
new view.


Q4. Since a short film is Short and there is never a great deal of time to focus on all aspects that
are given in a full length block buster. I asked this question to find out what people enjoy most when
watching a short film. The results were clear that people enjoyed an interesting story, due to the
amount of time given in a short it is hard to give an in-depth story but by focusing on a key concept
but by thinking outside of the box and creating a new and unique style the story can be very
interesting and have depth even if it is short.
The second most popular answer was
interesting characters. I feel as if this is a must
in films no matter the length, a good film means
you feel as if you are the character in these
situations but a boring lead can bring down the
entire short as the audience wont enjoy any
scene that involves that character no matter
how compelling the story. Amazing effects
was shown to be the least important aspect of a
short film. I am glade this was the outcome as I
agree with this answer. This question shows the
audience prefers a deep and interesting story
that is unique rather than special effects.





Q5. This question was asked to find out whether
money is needed to make a good short film. The
conclusive answer from the questionnaire is no
but there was still a few participants who argued
that a high budget was needed. I also asked why
they gave this answer. The participants who
argued no explained that short films were meant
to be on a budget and it is what you can do with
that budget thats counts. However participants
who said yes stated that some action locations
can be expensive as well as a lot of props are
need in action/ sci-fi films to make them feel
futuristic, saying its the future alone isnt enough.
I am going to be making my short film on a budget, luckily I am able to access equipments from my
place of education which is helpful as it saves the cost of renting out cameras. Some props I can
make by hand to save the price of buying them but if these cannot be made I will have to buy them.







Q6. Music is a massive aspect within a film. The
music can make or break a film so it is important
to pick the correct soundtrack or genre for the
scene. The main two genres picked by the
participates were Electronic, Rock and Dub
step this was expected as electronic music is
commonly used within Sci-Fi films as it gives a
futuristic feel. Rock was also picked due to it
appearing in a lot of blockbuster action films. Dub
step also gained a fair amount of votes this is
because dub step is very fast paced and fits
perfectly into an action fight scene of a build-up
event. In my shot film I am not going to follow the
stereotype of electronic for a sci-fi films and
surprise the audience by using a genre of music
that you would not expect to be seen within a sci-
fi movie. This will give my film some uniqueness
and give the audience something new.

Q7. In this question I asked what main characteristic should the lead have in an action film. The key
characteristics thats appeared in the answers constantly was the male lead has to be physical strong
and have muscles. This is due to the stereotype of all action heros being strong, I am going to follow
this ideas when filming my short as it is almost a must with an action film as it just sets the film but I
will not downgrade acting skills for muscles which happens consistently in big block busters. The
other characteristics that were described such as smart, brave and courageous all lead to one main
aspect which is a good leader. I am definitely
trying to make my main character in this
image as I want him/her to be the hero of
the story. The answers mainly focused on
appearance such a Handsome which
surprised me but attractiveness is used a
great deal in films as it attracts the opposite
gender to watch the film but too much of
one gender can drive an entire part of your
audience away.



Q8. In this question I tested the need for special
effects within a sci-fi short. The answer was
clear as over 80% of the participants voted yes
for the need of SFX. This was expected due to
the mass amount of SFX used in modern day sci-
fi films. I also asked why the participants gave
their answer and the majority answered with
the idea that sci-fi is a fictional and to really add
emphasis to this fiction impossible things need
to be shown and in most cases these impossible
things can only be shown through SFX making it
needed in sci-fi shorts. Some participants added
that this doesnt have to be in large quantities
but just small amounts to show that it is their
and the futuristic element remains. Only a few
argued against SFX making the point that a good
story can be all you need to make a good Sci-fi
rather than unneeded effects. In my film I am
going to be using a small amount of special
effects. But not going over the top with them.




Q9. This was a simple question asking what length
they would want a short film to be. The results
were clearly showing that short films the length of
8-11 minutes were the most popular with my
participants. This is because if a short film is to
short an interesting story may not be able to be
explained into the depth that is wanted but if the
film is way too long it can bore the audience or
make them not want to watch it due to the length
of the production. I am going to keep my film in the
8-11 minute mark.


Q10. I asked this question as during my
research I had found some incredible
interesting short films that had no dialogue
and I was thinking about adding this style to
one of my shorts. The results proved that
dialogue was not needed in a short film to
make it interesting to the audience. But still
1/3 still agreed that it is needed to make a
good short film. I am going to be using a
small amount of dialogue during my film but
I want most of the motion to be shown
through action.