Focus Group

A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked their perceptions, opinions and attitudes about a product. 

I am conducting a focus group to get their opinions and attitudes towards these two films and see what they like and don't like about the films, and then I can introduce their techniques used within my short film. 

Research Market

I have researched into the market for my Social Realism short film and found that the BFI has stated that social realism is better than any other genre purely because it is pushing the boundaries in the effort to put the experiences of real Britons on the screen, and shaping the ideas of what British cinema can be.

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1037898/

By reading this article it has shown me that Social Realism is a gift to the big screen as it is showing what life really is and I feel that there is a potential market for my film as I am showing what life is like for some people living in Britain. 

My film is on alcoholism and domestic violence. I have chosen these themes and issues as I feel there there has not been many films which create awareness for these issues and I would like to promote these forms of abuse and help people who are in these situations. 

Analysis of questionnaire

I made a questionnaire about the idea of my short film and I gave it out to 14 people to fill out and to find out whether they agree with my idea or not. 

I asked a question on what Social Realist themes and issues they would be like to watch and the results were:

Drug Abuse	4
Alcoholism	1
Domestic Abuse	4
Teenage Pregnancy	1
Relationships	1
Emotional Disorder	3

Drug abuse - 28.6%

Alcoholism - 7.1%

Domestic abuse - 28.6%

Teenage pregnancy - 7.1%

Relationships - 7.1%

Emotional disorder - 21.4%

The two that link in with my idea for my short film is domestic abuse and alcoholism. The main ones the people who filled out my questionnaire chose was domestic abuse and drug abuse. This is important for my research because drug abuse and domestic abuse are high figures for what people want to see made as a film to make others more aware and I would potentially change my overall idea but because of the time constraints I cannot follow through with that. I feel from what people cannot see is that alcoholism can be a factor to why someone is being domestically abuse and that is why I have chosen those two themes and issues. 

I asked another question, "my themes and issues are domestic abuse and alcohol abuse, how likely are you to watch my film?

Results

1 - 0%

2 - 21.4 %

3 - 14.3%

4 - 50%

5 - 14.3%

Overall from the results this shows that I have a market for my film because 50% of the people who filled out the questionnaire said they would most likely watch my media product which is very important to me as I want to make the public more aware of these issues that can occur to anyone.


Finally I asked my audience that is their any themes/issues that they consider to be under-explored in film, and some of the responses they gave back gave me more ideas for future films; such as: elderly abuse, terminal illness and gender discrimination. These issues are under-explored within the filmic world, therefore would be good projects to do in the future but someone did put down and say domestic abuse is under-explored and I agree with that because there is not enough awareness out there for domestic abuse and not many people wouldn't know what to do if they are in that situation.


Overall this questionnaire and the feedback I have received has forwarded my idea and has shown me that there is an audience that would watch my film. 

Results from questionnaire

Are you male or female?	How old are you?	On average how many hours a week do you spend watching films?	What form of media do you use the most for watching films?	What Social Realist themes and issues would you be more likely to watch?	Have you seen any of the following social realist films?	My themes and issues are domestic abuse and alcohol abuse, how likely are you to watch my film?	Are there any themes/issues that you consider to be under-explored in film?	What are the conventions of social realism?
Female	26	2-3	Online streaming	Teenage Pregnancy	Trainspotting, The Full Monty, This is England, Kidulthood, Adulthood	4	Terminal illness (e.g. people and their families dealing with cancer)	Gritty/Dark Estates (poverty) Tracksuits Everyday issues
Male	17	2-3	DVD/Blu-Ray	Alcoholism	This is England	4	Moving house, new school, trying to find new friends	Anything that can happen in real life, it feels like it can happen to anyone, very little non-diegetic sound.
Male	17	2-3	Television	Drug Abuse	Trainspotting	5	N/A	I don't know
Male	17	2-3	Online streaming	Drug Abuse	Kidulthood	4	N/A	I don't know
Male	18	2-3	Cinemas	Drug Abuse	Trainspotting, This is England	4	No	I don't know
Male	17	2-3	Online streaming	Emotional Disorder	Trainspotting	2	NO	I don't know
Female	18	4-5	Online streaming	Domestic Abuse	The Full Monty	5	No	Untrained actors
Male	17	0-1	Cinemas	Drug Abuse	The Full Monty, This is England, Kidulthood, Adulthood	3	No	I don't know
Male	17	0-1	DVD/Blu-Ray	Emotional Disorder	This is England	2	Gender discrimination	I don't know
Male	17	2-3	Television	Emotional Disorder	Half Nelson	2	No	I don't know
Female	18	2-3	Cinemas	Relationships	Fish Tank	3	nope	I don't know
Female	17	4-5	Online streaming	Domestic Abuse	Kidulthood	4	No	Untrained Actors
Male	17	0-1	Online streaming	Domestic Abuse	Kidulthood, Adulthood	4	Domestic abuse	Realistic and dark
Male	17	4-5	Online streaming	Domestic Abuse	The Full Monty, Kidulthood, Adulthood	4	Elderly abuse	Gritty locations

Audience Questionnaire

Examples of social realism

Murdered by My Boyfriend is a full drama documentary about a life of a young girl and how she was abused and murdered by her boyfriend. This drama explores the lead up to which the boyfriend murders his girlfriend and explores the manipulation that the boyfriend has on the girlfriend.

This is a very good example on domestic abuse and explores the codes and conventions of the genre of social realism as the part of the genre untrained actors are used within the drama.

Short Film Justification

For my short film I have chosen the genre of social realism. The outline of my idea is that it is about a couple in a relationship but the male character develops a drinking problem and turns violent when having a drink.

These are the codes and conventions I am going to include in my short film to make it a social realism film.

Social realism films are low budget films and try to capture the gritty and try to capture a slice of life and view life as it really is. They use social issues and use non trained actors.

These conventions can relate to my short film as I have a low to nothing budget and my theme/issue is a very real issue that can happen to anyone. I am going to use non-trained actors for my production and I feel my film will definitely attack social issues.

Low key lighting is used within social realism films and long takes. I will interpret these into my film because I will use the low key lighting to make the scene feel gloom and dark and this will create an impact on the film because the issues being explored are dark and gloomy issues so it will fit nicely within the film. The long takes will be used also to create tension and make the audience feel uncomfortable which I want them to feel like that because alcoholism and domestic abuse are very serious topics which shouldn't be taken lightly.

The characters used will be part of the lower economic classes and will use the themes and issues used within social realism films.