Evaluation Question 3 – Script Draft 3

Interviewer: That was Daniel with part 2 of How to Create a Documentary, exploring what goes on behind the scenes. If you’re just tuning in this is Screen Sunday on BBC Radio 4. Later on in the programme we will be talking to producer Andrew Willard to discover why he has gone back to his roots to find the story for his new film Commonside, and director Mark Dean will be joining us to talk about his controversial casting decision that sent shock waves through the UK’s independent film sector – more on that later. Right now, I’m [Interviewer] and I’m here interviewing young director Jordan Crichlow about how important it is to listen to your audience when creating a film, and how their input can be used to shape the creative process.

Jordan Crichlow emerged last year with his directing debut in “Truant”, a film dipped in social realism about a treacherous absentee. This year he’s taken a different route in creating his first short film. “Solitude” is unexpected and compelling, as it centres on a lonesome young man with his camera, and the ultimatum he is faced with when approaching a young female. With his directional debut achieving something of a cult following on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, Jordan knows how important the audience is. But how far do they influence elements beyond the main film such as promotion and marketing? And how do you go about finding the right audience? Jordan shares his experiences with audience feedback with us now.

Hello Mr. Crichlow

Jordan: Hello, thank you for having me.

Interviewer: So, Jordan, let’s start from the beginning. How did you first establish who your audience would be?

Jordan: Well, we began by employing a mix of both quantitative and qualitative types of research in a basic paper-based questionnaire…

Interviewer: Sorry, could you explain for those at home what the terms quantitative and qualitative mean?

Jordan: Of course. Quantitative refers to research that deals with measurable information, using closed questions to generate numerical and statistical data, which are often shown to us in the form of tables, charts or diagrams. On the other hand, qualitative refers to research focused more on an individual’s or

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group’s thoughts and feelings, using open questions to allow the individual to go into more detail about their opinions, attitudes and preferences.

Interviewer: Okay, thanks, as you were saying…

Jordan: Yes. We employed a mixture of these two types of research to gain information on whom our audience would be. We began with simple questions about age and gender, to establish a basic demographic, which eventually led to asking their address to establish a geo-demographic. Then the questions became more specifically centred around short films, as that was the product we were creating, to learn more about the psychographics. So such questions as where you consume short films, and seeing what shorts they had already consumed. Lastly, we ended the questionnaire by trying to gain a basic knowledge of how they think short films could be developed, as this would help us tailor our film more specifically towards our audience. Overall, we found that most of our audience believed a short film’s run time should be between 5 and 10 minutes. Also, we found that they mostly watch short films yearly, in comparison to watching feature-length films monthly; this demonstrates the stereotypical popularity feature-length films have over short films.

Interviewer: Okay, you mentioned three key terms there; demographic, geodemographic and psychographics. Could you please explain those for the people at home?

Jordan: Well, demographics are the measurable characteristics of the audience, for example, gender and age, which I mentioned earlier. Geo-demographics, on the other hand, is information based upon regional identity, and understanding the issues there, and how to reach them. And lastly, psychographics are the individuals attitudes and opinions, hence the more specific questions around short film.

Interviewer: So what did you learn from my audience research?

Jordan: Well, after every piece of audience research, we set about analysing our results. From this first piece of research, we learned that our audience

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were young adults, with a slightly greater distribution of males compared with females, all around Surrey. From the results of their current educational status, we reasoned that our audience had, at the least, a basic knowledge of film, and issues of today, meaning they were likely not strangers to the format. Therefore, we figured we had the challenge of creating a film with elements of thriller and drama, whilst still being as original as possible, whilst still being accessible. Our audience also taught us that issues in the film would engage them more if they were better relevant to today, and more easily relatable. We could do this by trying to convey a wider representation of classes, so our audience could easily understand, and relate to them.

Interviewer: I see. From there, what did you go on to do?

Jordan: From there, we then went and made a synopsis of the film. With this synopsis, we asked a select group of our target demographic to read it, and offer feedback. From this we established that there were definite things we needed to develop.

Interviewer: What sort of things were these?

Jordan: Well, one said “his dilemma is not clear enough, what is happening in the frame?” He was here referring to the unclear dilemma of the main character, so we had to expand on what would make his dilemma clearer, and how we would undertake this process. We were advised to, and I quote, “show moments of non-isolation”, for the main character, and work with visual ways of introducing the audience to his situation. Undertaking these tasks allowed me to enhance the storyline for this specific character, allowing me to provide the actor himself with an enhanced background of the character he was playing.

Interviewer: Would you say your audience feedback had an impact?

Jordan: Absolutely, a very significant one.

Interviewer: What happened next?

Jordan: After the synopsis came the script. Once we’d written what we thought was a decent script, we got in our target demographic again and conducted 1-on-1 interviews. Now, this format reaps benefits; 1-on-1 interviews focus more around qualitative research, which is ideal because it allows the audience to

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expand upon their feedback and provide us with more detailed analysis. It also helped develop our communication skills, which is never a bad thing. What we learned from our interviews helped shape the film into what it is today. Our audience conveyed to us how our script “sounded too theatrical”, which is not a necessary quality needed for my short film. We were advised to create a more meaningful climax, as the climax has an ultimate effect on the audience’s interpretations of the film. I believe this process in particular was crucial, as it allowed me to expand upon what kind of final message the audience should receive; the ultimatum of both character’s actions. One member advised me on some dialogue to include; he said “Your female character should say “What do you think of the view?” and your male character should reply with “It’s beautiful, which is a sub-meaning, as he means the woman is beautiful, not necessarily the environment.

Interviewer: Speaking of dialogue, that’s something that always seems to be typically controversial within the filming business. What typified how much dialogue you used within your short film?

Jordan: I’m glad you asked me that. Our audience conveyed to us the need to develop dialogue, by either adding more lines, or refining the ones we already had. However, they also showed a like for visual action. Therefore, we decided to follow Marilyn Milgrom’s advice and minimise dialogue, as this will inevitably help establish the world and the character, and allow the visual action to advance the story. Minimal dialogue will also ensure that a short is more cinematic, and less televisual in feel.

Interviewer: I see. There’s something else that has a major impact on the storyline and that is setting… did your audience advise you on what the location of your film should be?

Jordan: Well originally I was going to base my film by the lake based on the outskirts of Grove Park. Due to several issues however, we decided to film it within the basis of Grove Park, by a stream. This was because the lake is based by the main road, meaning there was the high risk of outside interference from vehicles and pedestrians that could potentially disrupt myself, my characters or any aspect of my film altogether. The stream provided a much more naturalistic environment, and I know for a fact we all felt extremely comfortable around this setting. Without a doubt, my audience feedback for the script was extremely important.

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Interviewer: So, what happened next?

Jordan: Well, after we’d established our audience and received feedback on two of arguably the most important aspects of pre-production, we moved on to our ancillary tasks, namely the magazine review and poster.

Let’s take the magazine review first; after conducting the first draft of my magazine review, I found there were many flaws in this draft, which were pointed out by our target demographic. For example, one person’s response was, “Close conventions need to be altered. You have separated each section with horizontal lines. Instead of this, section them off with the conventional dotted lines. There are no lines separating each unit of essential info…add them”. I decided to follow on from this feedback, and used Online Desktop Publishing Software to create conventional dotted lines, therefore using traditional Sight and Sound layout conventions. Another flaw noted was the notable absence of a snapshot of my film within the review. One respondent said “The absence of a snapshot of your film challenges the industry conventions. Despite this notable challenge, the best idea is to add a snapshot, as it helps convey the message of your film to your audience through simplistic imagery”. From this, I concluded that adding a snapshot would certainly help develop certain conventions, such as integrating with the text, making it more eye-catching and appealing to the audience.

After the review, came the poster. As a basis, the image and text are the key elements located on my poster. My audience noticed that the image of the stream and wildlife was particularly, and I quote, “tenuous and vague, as it did not fully connect with the story”. The absence of characters within the frame was highlighted as another weakness, and I was advised to recreate the image with the girl in shot, providing us with something more visually intriguing. As my film is mainly focused on my male character filming the young woman through his camera, I was advised to, and again, I quote, “mimic play/pause buttons that are likeable to a normal camera; you could potentially undertake this task using advanced ICT software, such as Photoshop, or even basic software, such as PowerPoint.

Interviewer: Well thank you for that, Jordan. So that concludes my segment. I’ve been (Interviewer’s Name), talking to Jordan Crichlow about how important listening to your target demographic is. Next up is Andrew Willard talking about his new film, “Commonside”.

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