PRIMARY RESEARCH
Primary research is an essential part of the process in order to discover the wants and needs of your potential target audience. I have created an online, qualitative survey on 'survey monkey' and a total of 68 people have answered from different genders and ages. Further down, I have also created a secondary questionnaire that is focused on individuals addicted to gambling, in order to discover a more suitable target audience. Nevertheless, this survey will help outline a preferred format, style, and purpose of the short film regarding the addiction of gambling.
The survey featured a mixture of males and females that range from the ages of 18 to mid-50s. The majority of people enjoy both fictional films as well as non-fictional. This information has allowed me to combine the two elements and create a docufiction/ docudrama.
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I should ensure that film should last between 5-10 minutes, and its main focus should be to create awareness on the negative effects of gambling. The most popular platforms that were identified were YouTube and Facebook. Additionally, the target audience will most likely watch a short film on an electronic device such as a laptop, tablet or phone.
The majority of people are interested in watching this short film with a 4-star rating out of 5. The final question was devised in order to discover any element that they feel should be included in a short film regarding the addiction of gambling. The responses were mixed, although similar in requests and themes.
"A truthful representation of the addiction, maybe someone who has experienced gambling in their past and are recovering from the addiction."
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This resembles the format of a documentary, showcasing a past addict or gambler and how they have coped with their addiction. Using this peer feedback, I have been able to contact potential clients that are willing to help out within the interview process. Brian Chappell, Antonio Parente, and Alex Macey are all clients who are willing to help and have also struggled with some form of gambling addiction during their past.
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"1)The effect on individual and extended family. 2) The profits that the gambling industry make and their contribution to addicts. 3) An investigation into advertising/ sponsorship."
This comment also relates to the approach of a documentary, however, explored from a different angle as well as focusing on people within the industry of gambling.
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The second piece of secondary research I conducted was a qualitative questionnaire that was solely focused on targeting people who addicted to gamble or those who actively gamble. This was employed to identify a more suitable target audience. With the questionnaire created, I was able to hand it out to people and customers of my local betting shop. Additionally, I also handed it out to people within my current workplace and fellow university students who have been known to gamble, as well as relatives and friends alike. A few of the results are shown below.
These are only a few of the results that have been conducted throughout this piece of primary research, however, these questionnaires have specifically been selected as they are the most alarming in terms of each answer. The majority of respondents who have taken part in this questionnaire are male, aged from 18-35. However, it is interesting to note that the majority of respondents who have been affected by a gambling addiction or are actively gambling are the male gender from the ages of 23-35. This shows that the addiction of gambling gradually increases with age, however it can develop from a young age as well. These results are accurate, and can effectively determine a target audience for my short film.
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I also conducted further research where I contacted a year 3 animation student, Benjamin Bauckham. Ben has had a past experience of working in a betting shop and therefore has witnessed the addiction of gambling first hand. I believed the process of talking to Ben would extremely help my project and identify the problem with the addiction as well as a suitable target audience.
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Ben believed that the groups who were most affected by the addiction were men that were aged between 18-35. With Ben's knowledge, as well as the additional primary and secondary research I will be targeting my audience at the ages of 18-35, applying a focus towards the male gender.
Ben also believed that the betting shops didn't help themselves with acting responsible whilst measuring people's addiction of gambling. He believed that their advertisements regarding the opportunity to win instant money only stimulated the addiction. With this information, I will also apply a focus to betting shops and companies and the idea of them not acting responsible whilst feeding peoples addiction. Myself and Ben continued to work on the project, where we collated our ideas together and identified a suitable target audience of 18-35.
