Research Plan:
How can I use on-screen text to enhance my narrative structure?
When creating my short film, I intend to use overlayed on-screen text during the editing process. After completing some secondary research, I am able to understand why on-screen text is used in Film and the effects it can have on the viewer. One of the main reasons for using on-screen text is to outline key points of the structure. By using text, this ensures that the viewer can visually see what you are trying to convey, instead of having to guess through methods such as mise en scene. On-screen text allows for these key points to clearly stand out for the viewer. Also, I believe that the use of on-screen text in my film will be effective due to the lack of dialogue. However, I only intend to use the one-word title as text so that the viewer is only concentrated on this for a matter of seconds, before returning to the action happening on screen. To ensure that the text was on screen for the right amount of time, I needed to research the average reading speed of text on a screen. When researching this, I was surprised to find that the average reading speed of a person varies between ages. Therefore, it is important for me to consider my Target Audience. I have found that, on average, most 9–10-year-olds are able to read 123-180 words per minute, whereas, on average, most 18–23-year-olds are able to read 300-350 words per minute. I need to know the age range of my audience to know the duration to use on my on-screen text. I will research this further when looking in more depth at my Target Audience. Furthermore, I need to consider the font, colour, and size of the text that I use on screen so that it follows a similar theme to the rest of my narrative. My narrative follows a technological theme, however, there are also shots of handwriting in various scenes. In my opening shot of the box of tapes on the shelf is the scene in which I will use my on-screen text. In order to follow the theme of handwriting throughout, for example, on the tape boxes, I have decided that I would like to use a handwritten font for my Title. This will create the illusion that the title is written on the box, and, therefore, when the title fades, it will lead the viewers eyes to the box, which was in the background (placed behind text whilst text was main focus) but is now in the foreground. In terms of colour, I would like to use a bold black, placed against the white box, so that the text stands out to the viewer’s eye. This will also match to the illusion that the text has been handwritten using a black marker pen. For the size of my text, I will need to adjust this during the editing process so that it looks realistic and is neither too big nor small for the viewer to see.
Target Audience
In order to determine my target audience, I needed to carry out some primary and secondary research. The primary research will be based on my idea specifically, whereas I will use secondary research to gather information on the comedy genre in general. To gather a true depiction of my own Target Audience, I decided to create a questionnaire with my three ideas and ask for opinions on each. Based on the feedback that I received which I reviewed in my Questionnaire Analysis, I was able to gain a deeper understanding of who my target audience are and the relevance of their gender, age, and interests. Personally, I do not feel that gender matters when it comes to creating my film. I think that the main components of my target audience are their ages and their interests. When carrying out my questionnaire, the group of people that gave feedback where in a similar age group, ranging from 16-23. This was very helpful for me because it gave me a clear indication of the ages of the people who will be watching my short film. Based on this knowledge, I will now be able to create a film that will be shot for this audience range. Alternatively, if the questionnaire was completed by those aged 5-10 years, the way in which my film is shot would be very different. When conducting some further research, using Secondary Research, it was apparent that the narrative of a story can also affect the desired audience for your film. For example, some comedy films that use sarcasm and dark comedy, are more likely to have an older age range target audience, whereas films that portray spoof and parody comedies are more likely to have a younger age range target audience. After researching different forms of comedy used in films, I came to the conclusion that my film would follow a slapstick theme. Slapstick is a useful comedy tool because it does not really have a common age range – usually, people of all age ranges find slapstick funny. However, it is more common for younger people to enjoy slapstick comedy, which will fit well into my own target audience. When shooting my film, I will keep my target audience in mind and continue to ask myself and question whether this film fits into the age range and interests of the audience.
How to successfully convey comedy in my short film
In order to successfully portray comedy in my short film, I firstly needed to understand the different types of comedy and which ones I would use. I did this by using secondary research when exploring how comedy is used effectively. I was able to understand that different forms of comedy are used for different target audiences in some situations, as stated above. Comedy is something that is created for the viewers enjoyment and amusement. It is common in Slapstick Comedy (the form of comedy that I will convey), that the character is faced with a series of challenges to overcome. The narrative of my film helped me to determine the comedy type that would best fit my story. When the man is searching in different locations for his video tape, I could use comedic music and perhaps experiment in speeding up my footage during the editing process to enhance the Slapstick element. The fast motion of comedy films can be used to play on the panic and franticness of the characters emotions. Through my research, I discovered that a key element to creating comedy is Timing. A moment in my film where I would like to play with the comedic timing is when the man frantically opens the fridge, then closes the fridge (implying that what he is looking for wasn’t in there) and then use a brief pause with the camera still placed inside the fridge, before the man reopens the fridge to take out an item that is not supposed to be in there – perhaps a shoe or a loaf of bread. This short moment of comedy helps to enhance the narrative by giving the viewer some more information about the character. If the viewer isn’t already aware that the character is unorganised, this moment would reinforce this idea. I will use timing in this scene when using a brief pause to build on the moment of comedy for the viewer. Throughout the busy and fast paced film, this pause will seem abrupt and will allow the viewer to expect a funny moment to occur imminently. It is also important to use the viewers expectations to my advantage when shooting my film. Throughout the entirety of the film, the viewer will increasingly be expecting the man to find the video tape, and when he finally does, they would be satisfied with the comedy shown throughout. However, during the final moments where the man discovers his mistake, the audiences’ expectations are shocked with a twist, providing one final moment of comedy.
By completing this research for my short film using both primary and secondary research methods, I have gained a deeper understanding of how to use on-screen text, how to structure and design my short film to appeal to my target audience, and the key elements that are important to use when creating comedy films.
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