Audience research

'There is nothing like sitting with your popcorn. You've got the shaking of the speakers and the black when the lights go down and you know the film is just about to start'.

78% of UK population are cinema goers wanting new experiences and ideas, allowing them to be able to feel emotions that they don't always feel. The medium of cinema is able to engage a different audience to that of other mediums that struggle to reach audiences such as 16s-24s.

For over 100 years, cinema has celebrated and showcased the best writing, acting and storytelling talent there is. When pinpointing the unique cinema experience, cinema-goers often refer to numerous factors, such as the quality of the ads, the size of the screen, the surround sound and other 3D technology.

51% of cinema goers are women, showing a strong interest in mediums of film from women. My short film is about a female relationship between a mother and her daughter, which will hopefully be relatable to the majority of a female audience. Secondly, 25% of cinema admissions are in London, which is where my film is set, where I will include shots of iconic features of London, which would appeal to this audience.




I conducted a survey of people my age (16 and 17) in order to collect information on what kinds of films and short films appeal to my target audience.

More people don't tend to watch short films than do, which was disappointing, yet unsurprising,
The majority of people who watch short films watch them on youtube. However, a few people did say that they watch them on short of the week or on Facebook.

However, nobody watched short films weekly, with only a few watching them monthly and the majority rarely watching them.

The majority of the answers to this question included reasons such as the lack of publicity and recommendation around them, in combination with a lack of time.
 Only a few people had a favourite short film, whereas the majority did not. This could again be due to the lack of publicity and availability of short films.

People's favourite short films included perfecto, the operator, and hotel chevalier.


I was pleased to discover that the vast majority of people did think that short films should be more easily accessible, potentially suggesting that people would be interested in watching them if they were more publicised.


It was not surprising to see that the most popular genres were comedy, rom-com, thriller and drama. This was pleasing as my short film is a drama, with elements of dark comedy.


There was a wide variety of favourite short films displayed. Reoccurring favourites were 'Shawshank Redemption', 'Good Will Hunting', and 'the Talented Mr. Ripley'. I was pleased to see these films appear in the favourites because they all feature sad moments, but all achieve a clear, yet distorted equilibrium at the end of the film, which I believe my film also does.


The answers to this were all similar, suggesting gripping, unexpected plots that maintain audience excitement. I will keep this in mind when writing and editing my script.



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