How effectively have we met the wants of
- 1. How effectively have we met the wants of the target audience from the questionnaire results?
- 2. Child and Adult Actors.  25/30 of our target audience voted that they wanted the main characters of the production to be both child and an adult actors. In our opening sequence, the only character filmed was the father, the adult, although if we were to have made the entire film, both the father, played by Charles Pickering, and a child actor would have also starred in the film. The fact that we did not use a child actor did may not have satisfied the wants of the target audience, however, we believed as a group that reinforcing the isolation the protagonist was experiencing was so vital to the production, thus we did not have any other character featuring in the opening sequence.
- 3. The use of wide-shots  The majority of the target audience wanted the production to use wide-shots to enhance their understanding of the character. We used a wide-shot in our production and, as a group, we feel it did develop their understanding of the character, as the shot was of an extreme long shot of the character within a wide shot. The audience would therefore gain an understanding of his isolation and lack of involvement within society. Having an understanding of the protagonist also allowed the target audience to judge with out prejudice, (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs) thus satisfying more of their needs from the production,
- 4. Woman role  The target audience did not see the role of a woman as vital to our production, as they wanted the production to focus on the relationship between the father and son. Due to the fact that the protagonist was the only character featured ion the production, no other actors were used. This therefore gratified the opinion of the target audience. If we were to have made the entire film we would have had an actress playing the mother, although her role would not be in the film for a great amount of time, due to the focus on the development on the relationship between the father and son.
- 5. Writing the script  Although no dialogue was used in the opening sequence, if we have had created the entire film, we would have written the script ourselves, rather than allow the actors to self- improvise, as the target audience voted. We believed that, particularly when working with child actors, it could prove difficult to portray some of the ideologies we wanted to. By writing the script ourselves, we can emphasise the ideologies we want to in a specific way, as well as fulfilling the wants of the target audience.
- 6. Props  Ordinary, every-day props were used throughout the production, coinciding with the opinion of the target audience. Not only were ordinary props more simple to provide, but it also reinforced the fact that the narrative is based on the characters and their development, producing emotional pleasures which the target audience would have appreciated. We therefore used simple props, such as a shovel, beer cans and cards. This also reinforced the verisimilitude of the production.
- 7. Regional identities  Throughout our production, we represented a fairly stereotypical representation of an underclass man from the Midlands. In hindsight, as our target audience appreciate the challenging of stereotypes, we could have made the representation of the character less stereotypical. However, the target audience voted that they wanted the representations of regional identities used throughout the production and we did this well, through the use of the country-house, the wide-shot of the field, as well as the used of the shovel, which, stereotypically, are often used in Midlands countryside areas.
- 8. Setting/location  The target audience voted that they wanted the setting of the production to be a combination of both rural and urban areas. Unfortunately, we did not achieve this in our opening sequence, as it is shot in a rural location. if we have had made the entire film, we would have considered shooting a scene in an urbanised area, where we could highlight the insecurity of the protagonist when in contact with modern society and many people. However, it could be argued that the use of the rural setting reinforced the sense of isolation of the protagonist.
- 9. Narrative  If we have had created the entire film, we plan to have had a new-equilibrium, with the father coming out of his isolation, depression and alcoholism, and building a strong and close relationship with his son. This would have suited the wants of the target audience, as the majority of them voted that they would want a new equilibrium. On the other hand, in our opening sequence, there is a lack of a prospect of a new equilibrium, due to the slow-motion shot of the protagonist falling to his knees. However, the new-equilibrium is a challenging of the social realism genre convention, thus attracting our active and intellectual target audience.
- 10. Social issues  One of the wants of the target audience we satisfied to the greatest effect was the involvement of many current social issues incorporated into our production. Simply in the opening sequence, we display a variety of current social issues for our target audience to appreciate, such as alcoholism, depression, isolation, unemployment and fatherless children. This vast range of social issues will attract our target audience to great effect. In our opinion, this is the best example of how we met the wants of the target audience throughout our entire production. The involvement of social issues is also a convention of the social realism/drama genre.