RESEARCH

How can research influence and shape my idea/production?

Research is ver y important when it comes to production, it can help you figure out the costs of production, to gather informa tion which will help
during production, or it can help you expand your project during idea development.

Through research you can find similar projects that have the same themes as your own idea, this can help you to develop and add on to your own
project. For example, in our short film there is a cult killing numerous people however we couldn’t produce a motive for our cult. So as a
team we looked through different movies related to cults and murders. We came across a film called 'Seven' this film is based around the seven
deadly sins. As a team we really liked the idea of the sins and decided to connect our cult to the seven deadly sins. We made it so every individual
in the cult represented each sin as does the murders they commit.

It can also help you to determine what demographic your idea will attract; this means your project will become more popular as i t will be
targeted at a specific audience after conducting either primary or secondary research.

Another way it can inf luence production is by how you want your short film to look like. By this I mean what type of colourin g, setting,
writing or theme do you want to present in your project. For example, through research you can look at other short films or just google some
images that relate to your idea and make a moodbaord so that you can vision your project. This helps me during idea development as it can give
me new themes/ideas to develop and add on to.

This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to research, there are so many ways it can guide you through idea developme nt. Let's look at
other aspects of it.
Content, market & production research -

Content – a method to study mass media as texts, including interview transcripts, film narrative/forms, T V programs and content of
newspapers/magazines.
For our content research we looked at similar projects that involved cults and murders, we all watched a film called ' Midsommar' this
film is about a lady on holiday who gets trapped with a cult. This really helped us to evaluate the cults actions and their personalities,
it also gave us the idea of a sacrifice. If you have watched Midsommar you will understand the impact that the sacrifices have on the
audience. We want our project to have an impact and really connect with our watchers so we thought a sacrifice would really f it into
our idea.
Market - data and reports that come from sur veying various members of the public on their attitudes towards differing media,
consumer and social factors.
As our film is a thriller we decided to research which genre/themes are the most popular in thriller films. It stated that "The cover-up of
important information is a common element. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists, unreliable narrators, and cliffha ngers are used
extensively. A thriller is often a villain-driven plot, whereby they present obstacles that the protagonist or hero must overcome." This is great as our
idea is based around betrayal which will include plot twists, it speaks about cliffhangers as well and we plan on having a ve r y dramatic
cliffhanger.
Production - to gather information on the content of production related issues.
For or production research we looked at locations around Weston -Super-Mare that would be perfect for filming specific scenes. We
thought the best place for our cult scenes would be Kewstoke woods as it is eerie and quiet, it's also perfect as I live close by so we will
have refreshments during filming. Another place that we thought would suit or short film was Worle as it is a quiet area whic h makes
filming much easier, it also has some great places like the church/graveyard which would be perfect for a scene with our main character
and the villain. Looking at different locations really helped with idea development as you can vision how you want a specific scene to
go as you know the surroundings and the setting.
Primary & secondary research -

Primar y - original, first-hand; the author of the source generated the research data they are using.

For our primar y research we made a sur vey asking questions like – Do you like thriller films? , Are you interested in a film
with cults/rituals? And so on. After this sur vey we got a lot of positive feedback from our peers saying that they would
enjoy the concept of our film. This really helped with our idea development and production as we knew we will have an
audience.

Secondar y - This is when an author of the source you are using gathers existing data, usually produced by someone else,
and they then report, analyse or interpret that other person's data.

For our secondar y research we watched some thriller film trailers and looked at the ratings of the movie, we found out that
51% of the population love thrillers. This gave us confidence in our idea which we expanded on after watching the trailers.

We also looked at some of the directors who thrillers and what they created, I looked at the director Guy Ritchie who
created sherlock Holmes the series. I loved the way he created plot twists and cliffhangers; I also loved the idea of a myster y
mixed with a cult. So, I talked to Emily and we discussed mixing the two concepts together. This research really helped our
team with idea development as we were missing a motive in our idea.
 Quantitive & Qualatitive research -

 Quantitive - collection of media ‘mentions’ and the provision of statistics on these mentions.

For our Quantitive data we looked at data of specific ages who enjoy thriller films, it stated that 82% of 18 -29 year
olds enjoy thriller. Knowing this information we decided to have our target audience at 18+ which we thought was
suitable. This research really helped with our pre-production and idea development. As now we know what our target
audience is so we can make our short film suit them. It also helped us to become ver y organised with our paper work as
now we can start thinking about props and locations suitable to our target audience.

 Qualatitive - based on exploring and understanding the meanings, experiences, and perspectives of media
producers and consumers, such as inter views, focus groups, observations, content analysis, or discourse analysis.

For this I went on YouTube and watched some short clips of people explaining how much a plot twist can affect a
thriller/content analysis on thrillers. One video I came across was "the making of the Gentlemen" I noticed people
talking about Guy Ritchies editing, they were saying that when a scene becomes tense the editing makes the scene go
chaotic. As I obser ved the video, I noticed it and thought that it really did make the scene suspenseful and jitter y which
I really liked and wanted to add that effect to my own short film.
 Conclusion – What are the benefits of research?

 In my opinion, I think that research is essential during idea development and throughout production The most important part of research you
conduct is during pre-production, this is because it guides you through planning and helps you/your team members to become more organised and
coordintaded. It also helps with information like, where you're going to film, when you can film, who can act in your project and so on.

 Research can also help you to develop on your own idea. For example, it can help you to determine the plot of your short film or even change the
whole plot of your idea. In our case we got inspired by the movie 'seven' to add the seven deadly sins into our own idea and it made it more
exciting/meaning. Research can also benefit you by knowing your target audience, this one is ver y important as it can help you to understand what
type of content you can present to your watchers. It increases production while also giving you a positive outcome when problems start to show
during production.

 In conclusion, research is very beneficial during production and idea development. Without it we wouldn’t be able to expand on our initial idea and
create it into a short film. It helps you to become organised and resourceful during production, which could help during any stage of production.
Overall, without research you wouldn’t have a project to create.
Bibliography -
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUS-K05Z4lU

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLuhWLNqpiA

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpKbZ_3zlb0

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb-lGS5RV5A\

 https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005363/

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K_V4CADk4w

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOJsld2_oeI