This is a vox pop, of our target audience - teenagers(16-24) answering a series of questions about British Social Realism, in order to get feedback to help us improve our opening sequence ideas.
Data Presentation
Q1)
" British Social Realism are films that tend to highlight the negative everyday scenarios of working class Brits and they celebrate the failure of these people in the most explicit way possible. "
1a) Have you seen any films of this genre?
When asked this question it was evident that my target audience of 16-24 year olds did not know the genre, British social realism. When defined they could only name popular social realist films like Kidulthood and sket.
1b) What do you like about these films?
The response for this question was very good. The audience liked how it should our present society and felt it was very believeable. Also, they thought it was very harsh and hard hitting and opened their eyes to the world they live in.
1c) How do they appeal to you?
My target audience felt it was very truthful and it that they could relate to it, since the cast was their age and they could understand them on a personal level because they thought it was a true representation. In addition, they responded by saying it was thrilling to watch, as you could get lost in the film and its situations, however some felt it could be to grim at times.
Q2)
2a) Which theme are you most interested in and why?
When shown a list of themes that British social realist films tend to highlight, it was evident my target audience enjoyed watching themes such as violence, petty crime, racism, domestic/drug abuse, discrimination, childhood, success/failure and aspiration. They added that they enjoyed watching these themes as they happen in the real world and that as a society we tend to over look it but being able to watch it in a film gives it another perspective, while not being involved first hand.
2b) Do any of these themes personally relate you?
My target audience recognised the following themes - violence, racism, religion, poverty, childhood, discrimination, rebellion and success/failure. They even made a link by giving examples like how all these themes happen in the real world e.g. One audience member stated you clearly see poverty, as you have homeless people on the streets.
Q3)
3a) Would you go and see this films, if so why?
3b) What interested you about it?
A lot of the audience have actually seen this film - Kidulthood. The popular response was that the cast was their age, therefore it made it easy to relate through many things, such as the way they talk and that they go to school. One girl did not conform to the rest of my audiences answers and stated she would not go and see this film as she did not want to see the violence etc. Lastly, they also stated they would go see it as the characters seemed very intriguing and one of the characters was holding a bat and they wanted to know what he was going to do with that in the film.
Q4)
4a) These our ideas for a British Social Realism films, we are going to produce:
- A boy has a disability of dyslexia. Living in poverty with no support or love, can he achieve his dreams of being an author?
- A girl moves from Jamaica to a white majority area. She's a talented runner that dreams to compete in big competitions but is held back by racism.
- A girl gets pregnant and wants to run away from her abusive boyfriend, in order to protect her baby.
4b) Which one do you prefer and why?
The audiences responses were spilt between the first and last idea. The ones that picked the first one stated that they thought it was very different and not many films touch on disability, therefore they wanted to see how it would pan out. The one that picked the last one stated that the narrative seemed very exciting, different as they have never known of someone that has gotten pregnant and run away, therefore they would want to see that as the situation seemed very interesting. Lastly, they few that picked the second idea, said they liked it as it established aspiration and racism happen in the real world therefore they would want to see it. In addition, some stated that they didn't like the last idea, as it was too cliche and the the second idea maybe hard of the British audience to relate to as she is Jamaican.
Q5) How would you improve the idea you chose?
For the first narrative, they stated to add action sequence, to make the disabled character look more capable. For the second idea, they stated that i should make sure to make the cast all white, to really establish the race difference between the main character and the society she lives in. For the last idea, my target audience stated not to make it cliche, add a twist, make it interesting by maybe having her lose her baby due to being beat up too much by her boyfriend. Also another added, to show perspective of other people and how they view teen pregnancies, as well as maybe showing the good side to teen pregnancy rather then the cliche of showing the bad side.
Meet My Audience
Qualatative Data Analysis
The most popular idea chosen by the target audience of 16-24 years old, was the narrative about the girl named Leah that is pregnant and wants to escape the abusive clasps of her abusive boyfriend Kevin, as she fears he will cause further harm and so she wants to run away and rebuild a better life for the unborn baby. When asked how you improve the idea, me and my partner received many suggestions such as; not making it cliché, show other peoples perspective, show the positives of teen pregnancy instead of all the negatives and add a twist like Leah gets beat up so bad, she looses her baby. All these opinions were very useful however we could not use all of them, for instance, showing the perspectives others will not be used as our narrative was specifically written to be restricted because we wanted our audience to focus on only Leah and her situation, so they feel the emotions she is feeling. When coming to showing the positives of teen pregnancy, that will be a hard criteria to fulfil, as British social realism films are not typically happy and positive, they show the true representation of the world we live in, so therefore we have to show how society frowns upon teen pregnancy. However this is a counter balanced as me and my partner have negotiated another way of approaching that idea, by challenging the stereotypes of a teen cannot look after a baby and has no drive to sacrifice for it, but in out film Leah is an ambitious girl that strives to escape for the protection of her baby and bring it up in a stable home - this we thought was positive. Another suggestion we cannot use is having her lose her baby and getting beat up so bad she suffers a coma because its too graphic and also its too much of a negative ending and after the film finishes, we don't want to be leaving the audience overly depressed, so we decided that she will escape, have the baby but it will be premature and you will never find out if its healthy or not. On a positive note we thought the comment on not making it too cliché was very important.
The most popular themes seemed to be racism, success/failure, aspiration/escape, discrimination and violence. Now having an idea of what narrative to use, some of the themes suggested cannot be used as it does not flow or fit in with the our narrative. However themes such as violence we will use as their will be a fight between Kevin and Joe. Moreover, the ides of success/failure will be used as she fails a lot of time to run away but in the end succeeds. Lastly, the idea of aspiartion/escape is definetly a key theme as she is pushing to escape this poverty stricken and abusive lifestyle, as well as aspiring to provide the best for her unborn child and be in a stable posting..jpg)
My target audience seemed to name popular social realist films such as; Kidulthood and 4321. When asked what appeals to them about these films, the most popular response was that it was just so believable and easy to relate as they cast was similar ages to them. Knowing this we want to create a narrative that the audience can relate to on a personal level, as they are more likely to understand people their age rather then an older cast.
As a british audience they enjoyed how its an eye opener to the real world and does not steer away from the truths of our society, therefore me and partner need to make sure we stick to this as it appeals to our target audience and also is Film 4's ethos. Moreover, they enjoyed how it seems local, meaning they understand the narrative better since its culturally relative to them. So, when it comes to our sequence we will be careful to not pick glamorous spots in order to keep realistic, as well as shooting locally with what we have naturally around us (so no fancy props).
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