Research Methods

There are 3 types of research methods, Qualitative, Quantitative and Triangulation.

Qualitative research will be a good method to use if you want to know the opinions of the participants in detail so that you get a more in depth result.

For my research i have decided to use the triangulation method, using both structured and unstructured methods.

In my group we decided to create a semi- structured questionnaire asking 20 participants about film genres and teaser trailers. This is to help us know what to include in our coursework and how we can attract an audience with our teaser trailer.

1. What is your sex? YES NO (asking this question will give us an idea what sex our target audience may be)
2. How old are you?... (we will know what age groups will like which genres, so that we know what age our trailer will appeal to)
3. What is/are your favourite genre/s? ... (we will know what genres they prefer, and what will be the most popular overall. we will consider this when choosing the genre of our trailer)
4. Why do these genres interest you the most? ... (knowing what it is about the genre the participants enjoy, we will have an idea of the types of elements to include in our trailer)
5. What is/are your favourite film/s? (we will be able to look at the films that they enjoy and the trailers to them and i might be able to get an idea of what was it that attracted the audience)
6. What criteria do you consider when choosing a film? CAST DIRECTOR GENRE NARRATIVE CRITICS RECOMMENDATIONS FRIENDS RECOMMENDATIONS OTHER...
7. What promotional methods attract you to a film and why?... (so i will know how to create my trailer, posters in a way that will attract an audience)
8. Do you find trailers helpful in your decision when choosing what film to watch? YES NO
9. If yes, what is it about them that attracts and persuades you to watch the film? ... (again this will help in the production of my trailer as i will know what to include in order to attract an audience)
10. What is your preferred method of watching a film?...
11. Do you enjoy going to the cinema? YES NO
12. If yes, why? ...
13. If yes, approximately how often do you go? ONCE A WEEK ONCE EVERY 2 WEEKS ONCE A MONTH TWICE A MONTH OTHER...
14. Who do you tend to watch films with?...

By using triangulation we are able to gain numerical data, which is easily measured, as well as finding out the opinions of the participants to create more detailed research.

The questions have been structured in a particular order to make it easy for us to collect the data and so we are able to compare results between participants. By creating this questionnaire we can find out who are target audience will be and will be able to use this in the production of our trailer.

RESULTS

My results show that: (all the participants were between the ages of 15 and 18 as this will be my target audience)

- 6 out of the 10 females that took part said that they like the genre of horror as well as others such as romantic comedy.

- All the males that took part said that horror was one of their favourite genres as well as thriller action and adventure.

- everyone of the participants said that they finds trailers helpful in their decision when choosing a film, as it gives them an insight into the narrative of the film and the genre. They all said that they watched them both on the television and at the cinema.

- Only 2 females said that other promotional methods attract them to a film, and this was in a magazine, such as an interview or film review.

TARGET AUDIENCE

From looking at my results i have chosen to make a horror movie trailer as that was the most popular overall, i think that it will be the most affective with my target audience which will be 15-21 years male and female. I think that my group will be able to target our audience well, as we all fit into the age group and will know what will attract the audience and what wont. All members of my group enjoy watching horror films so i think that we will gain a good understanding of what the audience will want. All the the horror movie trailers that i have looked at have been age 15 or above, which is the reason why we have chosen our target audience.