Audience Questionnaire: What is a short film

What is a short film: Audience Responses 

Before I create a short film idea/script, it was important for me to see if the audience understood what a short film is in order for the short film to appeal to them. I asked twenty candidates to answer an audience questionnaire about short films in order to identify the target audience and see how many have knowledge of them. In As, the two minute introduction confused the audience  as they did not understand what the introduction was, for example some candidates thought it was a trailer and others thought it was a short film and therefore was critical of it. Based on last years audience views on the introduction to a film, it was clear that our introduction was not successful as the audience did not have a clear understanding of what an introduction was and therefore I have learned from this experience and want my potential audience to have a satisfactory understanding of a short film.

My aim was to gain the necessary feedback from those who have not been exposed to short films and to correct them after the questionnaire. 

The Questionnaire:

1. What is a short film and how is it different to a full length film?

2. What do you think the purpose of a short film is? Select one

• To raise awareness of a certain issue
• To tell a story
• To show a specific scene rather than a full length film

3. How long would you expect a short film to be? 

4. How many short films have you seen? Select one

• None
• 1
• 2 to 4
• More than 5

5. Do you think short films can be categorised into a specific genre?

Responses to question 1: The 20 candidates stated that a short film is a film which lasts considerably less than a full length film. 15 candidates said short films are different to full films with reference to how much detail they go into with characters and are simple. 5 candidates did not know the difference between a short and a full length film. 

Responses to question 2: 15 of the candidates selected to tell a story and 5 selected to raise awareness of a particular issue. 

Responses to question 3: 19 of the candidates said the duration of a short film is roughly 5 to 10 minutes. 1 candidate said 2 minutes.

Responses to question 4: 16 candidates said they had watched 2 to 4 and four said more than 5.

Responses to question 5: 15 said they can be categorised into a genre and 5 said they cant be.

Having collected the results it is helpful to see the responses as  I now know that the audience recognise what a short film is, along with the duration. This will benefit the production as future audience questionnaires will be reliable.