Open AccessDetermination of Legality and Trends in the Selection of Audio Visual and Literary Forms
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Keeping up with the contemporary trends in audiovisual and literary media, this study will focus on the factors influencing the cognitive process of a person in selecting a film or a book as an example of an epitome in either of these forms of media. The most central aspect that this paper will address will be how genre affects a person's decision to watch a certain film or read a particular book, together with how other determinants become relevant in the process. The analysis and research in this study seek to represent, as precisely as possible, the reflection of the real world through measurable indicators and statistics. Starting with a theoretical background, the script analyses the development of the film and the book from their very beginning until today. Afterward, it deals with the analysis of the datasets extracted from the Kaggle website, along with a comparison to the results obtained from the recent study using Conjoint analysis. The most important findings of this study are encapsulated in the derived statements, including the observation that 68% of respondents prefer viewing a film to reading a book. Furthermore, it is noted that the Drama genre is the most favored among films, whereas Horror ranks as the least popular genre for both films and literature. In terms of literature, the genres that are most frequently read include Fiction—based on a selection of 150 best-selling books—and Crime, as highlighted in a specific case study. Additionally, Drama emerges as a highly regarded genre in the context of literature as well. This research, therefore, contributes to already existing research on related topics with respect to more research, deeper examination, and subsequent conclusions about derived insights and interpretations concerning disparate patterns in people's minds when choosing a film or a book.1. Introduction
Given the constant changes, especially in the technological field, but also in the more traditional areas of life, it is safe to say that the rules that control both the market and society are constantly rewritten to accommodate these changes and maintain balance. Trends, which are a manifestation of the behavior of society, consumer activity, or even the actions of smaller groups of people with shared interests, are also bound by the same rules.
The film medium represents one of the most common audiovisual modalities available to modern people in a time of technical development. Kindem outlined the duality of the film by quoting, “Films are both art and commerce, creative expressions of national/cultural interests and preoccupations and are part of the global entertainment market” (Kindem, 2000). In an earlier time, before the invention of film, one can observe the same with written media, specifically books. These were the primary modes for sharing knowledge, as well as other fields like history, politics, and business, and some had stories and tragic fates between their covers, with pictures too. Whether they fall under audiovisual or literary ones, one thing is definite that both types are highly popular and have a significant number of followers among the people. They should not just be a source of pleasure; they also have to satisfy different needs of their consumers. In addition, they remain relevant despite the advent and innovations in new technologies and formats.
In any talk of the film, it becomes necessary to mention the family of Lumiere, especially the brothers Auguste and Louis, and their father Antoine. On December 28, 1895, the Limier family organized the first public film show at Café Grand in Paris. Their first film was directed under the title of La sortie des ouvriers de l'usine Lumiere (The Workers Leave the Lumiere Factory). This short film successfully captured workers leaving the Lumiere factory; its 50-second black-and-white length was so realistic that it had created quite a sensation. It is widely accepted that upon viewing Limière's film The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station, the image of an oncoming train incited panic among spectators, prompting them to flee in terror. In 1896, the Lumieres opened the Cinematographe theaters in London, England; Brussels, Belgium; and New York. They showed over 40 films they made of ordinary French life, such as a child peering into a bowl of goldfish, a baby being fed, a blacksmith at work, soldiers marching. The recordings made by the French Photographic Society were the first motion picture, and the Lyon Fire Department had the distinction of being on the world's first documentary film. People were spellbound, mesmerized at the sight of actual happenings being enacted on the film screen. The Lumière brothers produced over 1,400 short films between 1895 and 1905; many have survived to this day (National Geographic, 2024).
Unlike the Film, the History of the Book is more than 7000 years old. The first books appeared in the East. The oldest Chinese books were made of bamboo boards, while later they were made of silk in the form of a scroll. The ancient Egyptians initially wrote on ancient and stone tablets, and later, also on papyrus scrolls. The longest extant papyrus is 19.5 meters long and contains 116 columns. In ancient times, the Greeks and Romans mainly used wax or wooden tablets to perform trade calculations, make short notes, or do school work. While writing on one tablet, they attached another to it thus forming notebooks. Later with the use of parchment it developed into a wax tablet form (Britannica: The Editors of Encyclopaedia, 2023).
As civilizations developed, objects developed with them, they became better, progressed, and more practical. The Holy Scripture from the 6th century was the oldest leather binding; while at the beginning of the 16th century, books began to resemble those we use today in the 21st century. One of the largest transformations in the historical trajectory of written communication was brought about by Johannes Gutenberg, whose invention of the printing press around 1430 AD helped in an unprecedented proliferation of knowledge.
During the Middle Ages, Mainz grew into a large city in the Holy Roman Empire. The seat of political authority rested with the ecclesiastical community, its central figure being the archbishop. Primarily, the monks took up the essential work of manuscript reproduction. It would take a monk an entire day to copy just one page of a pre-existing manuscript; on the other hand, Gutenberg's printing press hurried the process by 200 fold. The first Bible was printed in 1455. He printed the first run of somewhere between 150-180 books. Nowadays only 48 books survive and exist around the globe. One of the pages from the Gutenberg Bible is still being printed at the Gutenberg Museum as a reproduction in precisely the original type and style of 42 lines. This page bears the beginning of the Gospel according to Saint John which begins with the words: “In the beginning was the Word…” (BBC News na Srpskom, 2023).
Entertainment is big business. Whether it is a favorite television show, a chart-topping artist, a best-selling book, or the hometown sports team, we love to entertain. In 2007, total entertainment spending in the United States was about $930 billion including advertising. In 2009, Americans were expected to spend an average of 3,601 hours consuming traditional media (Stein & Evans, 2009). Digital technologies have greatly influenced the creativity and innovation of creating new narrative forms, and in this regard, forms of participation and experiential technologies. More importantly, new developments in virtual reality and augmented reality significantly expanded the space for creating content and engaging users in the experience (Dhiman, 2023). However, this paper will keep its focus on more traditional means of entertainment, specifically films and literature.
In modern society, few people can imagine their daily life without one or another type of audiovisual or literary content. Of course, each of them has its representative that is acknowledged by society as such. Cinema and literature play this role. In the future, it is expected that the term film will be synonymous with audiovisual content while literature will be symbolized by books. It reduces the complex forms, not for the purpose of dismissing other forms of content because of their perceived secondary importance, but rather in an effort to make the analysis easier and to foster easier comparisons over variations and preferences among the different forms.
The choice of this topic was based mainly on an investigation into the general preference structure, which people apply when choosing between a film and a book as two basic sources of entertainment and relaxation with a secondary instructive value, which may be a separate field of study.
A search of the professional literature did not show any similar research of this complexity and comprehensiveness. However, some of the research papers are closely related to the topic of this paper, such as:
1) Jung's research related to the popularity of rating search, in which he concluded that film review and rating services and series (dramas) are among the most popular search requests on the Internet (Jung et al., 2004).
2) Yellowbrick, in his work, deals with methods of film analysis, noting that they are key to breaking down a film into its various components, studying them, and understanding how they work together to create a cohesive work of art (Yellowbrick, 2023).
3) Young studies film genre theory and provides a brief assessment of genre theory in the twenty-first century. It also attempts to chart a reasonable course for the future of genre studies in the various disciplines of media studies. It aims to show how the descriptive imperatives of genre criticism can be reconciled with the tasks of current film genre theory (Young, 2008).
4) These and similar research not only attracted the attention of foreign researchers interested in the topic of the film, ratings, and everything that is hidden and the opinion of the audience. One of our local authors, Mr. Jovanović, published a paper in which he wrote that today's viewers are more demanding, faster, and more and more interested in multimedia content, and capable of correctly perceiving the rapid change of different genres. Also, he said that new genres are often a combination of basic genres, known from before (Jovanović, 2010).
5) Authors have published several articles on roles (Weng et al., 2007a, Weng et al., 2007b).
The main advantage and contribution of this work is reflected in the fact that, combining several different databases, methodologies and approaches to research, it tried to explain the main factors that influence the choice of a film or book, as well as using descriptive statistics to show the structure of genre preferences over the available sample of data.
The research that will be presented in the paper will deal with the analysis of individual preferences when choosing primarily films and books in relation to available genres. Therefore, in addition to other analyses, the emphasis and basis of this paper will be related to user preferences.
The goal of the research is connected to the definition of the existence of laws and their norms over the examined part of the population, which would result in further drawing of conclusions valid for the whole society as a unit. Those laws and tendencies will be explored while choosing audiovisual and literary forms, mainly related to genre, but also regarding other factors that affect the selection.
The work itself will be divided into four main parts. In the first part, in addition to the Introduction, there will be a short theoretical overview of the Methodology used in this research. In the second part of the work, the analysis of already available databases downloaded from the Kaggle site will be performed. Databases that will be analyzed are Top 250 films, Top 1000 films, and 150 best-selling books. The third part will explain the conducted case study using the Conjoint platform. The aim and reason of this research is to determine differences or confirm the results of previous analyses. At the end and in the fourth part, a review of all the results will be given and the main conclusions will be presented with a proposal to continue the research.
2. Methodology
This research has two main parts: analysis of data from existing databases and implementation of new research.
The analysis of the existing databases will enable us to draw the first conclusions and establish initial hypotheses that will later be tested on the data obtained in the case study.
The main motive behind conducting a new analysis, using Conjoint, is to establish regularities from data obtained “first-hand”, now, not using databases containing historical data. The moment in time is very important, especially in the field of films that develop rapidly under the influence of technological progress, therefore, based on the assumption that differences arise (exist) over time, after analyzing the data from the conducted experiment, an overview of all data will be given and the final result will be drawn conclusions. Therefore, the goal of carrying out the case study is to analyze the data obtained at this, current, moment with historical data (from databases) and compare the results, in order to determine the changes and conclude the laws that apply.
The databases that will be used for analysis and drawing conclusions are:
1) Top 250 best ranked films according to IMDb ratings (Kaggle, 2022).
2) Top 1000 best ranked films according to IMDb ratings (Kaggle, 2020).
3) 150 best-selling books (Kaggle, 2023).
Conjoint.ly platform was used to conduct the research. It is an online platform that allows for very detailed analysis in product and price research (discrete choice methods/conjoint analysis, Van Westendorp, Gabor-Granger, monadic concept testing) (Conjointly, 2024).
The content of the case study can be divided into:
1) General questions,
2) Questions related to films,
3) Questions related to books,
4) 8 choice questions – 8 combinations of three films, each of which contains three attributes – genre, main role and duration of the film.
The value of a state of affairs in the world is usually defined as the degree to which it is viewed as desirable or undesirable. Economists more often use the word utility as opposed to value to emphasize the subjective nature of the concept of value itself (Bentham, 1978). In classical utility theory, values are not measured, but rather inferred from preferences (Farquhar, 1984). While preferences are equated with choice, or if we are talking about the economy with the willingness to pay (Rabin, 1998).
According to this interpretation, preferences for option A over options B and C mean that, for example, the producer chose A over B or C, or that he was willing to pay more for A than for B or C (Farquhar, 1984). We call this interpretation expressed preferences. Psychologists, however, usually use preference as a term to denote a latent tendency to view whether something is desirable or undesirable (Zajonc, 1980). In this interpretation, preferences are equivalent to attitudes and are usually measured on a scale.
The original Likert scale, often used in preference surveys, is a set of statements offered for a real or hypothetical situation under study. Participants are asked to indicate their level of agreement (from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”) with a given statement(s), on a metric scale. Here, all the statements are interconnected, and the scale usually contains 5 or 7 points (Joshi et al., 2015).
The Likert scale was used as a model for collecting answers for: questions related to films and questions related to books, that is, for the second and third group of questions. The mentioned scale consists of 6 values, and that number was deliberately taken in order to avoid the possibility of giving a neutral answer (an answer in the middle).
Conjoint analysis is a survey-based statistical technique used in market research. Conjoint analysis is a generic term coined by Green & Srinivasan (1978) to refer to a number of paradigms in psychology, economics, and marketing that deal with the quantitative description of consumer preferences or value trade-offs (Louviere, 1994).
Conjoint analysis is used when determining preferences in relation to different attributes. Conjoint analysis based on choice was used in this research, i.e. Discrete Choice Analysis, which calculates preferences for each respondent individually.
Choice-based conjoint analysis, or Discrete Choice Analysis, is one of the most popular research techniques that reveals how users make choices and what most influences their decision. Based on the results of discrete choice analysis, it can be concluded how each attribute and attribute level influence a person's decision to make a choice (Kuzmanović & Vukić, 2021). Discrete Choice Analysis is an analytical method for measuring the importance of certain attributes and their levels of a given object (e.g., a product or a service) on the subjects of the research (respondents), grounded in random utility theory. The main contribution of DCA is that it puts attributes and their levels in conflict position so that it can be precisely measured which attribute and which level is more preferred by the respondents of the research (Kuzmanović et al., 2019). Hence, in a DCA experiment, respondents are presented with different alternatives of the object of research, which all bear the same attributes – be it qualitative or quantitative, but at different levels. In each of those cases in which such alternatives are shown to the respondents, the respondents, by rational choice, must prefer one alternative over the others in a way that the chosen alternative increases the total value for them. The main output of DCA after all respondents choose their preferred alternatives in a given number of simulations will be utility scores measuring to which extent each attribute and each level of those attributes impact choices for each respondent. This way, it will offer opportunities not only to analyze results in an aggregated way but also to make more in-depth analyses, clustering, and running different simulations in order to find the best scenario (Nikolić, 2023).
DCA is founded on the principles of random utility theory, which describes the probability that a respondent will choose a particular alternative, expressed as a function of observed variables relevant to both the alternative and the respondent. Under the general model, it is assumed that $I$ respondents choose from the set of $J$ mutually exclusive alternatives, where each respondent receives some utility from each of the alternatives. Each responder is assumed to act rationally by picking the alternative from the offered choice task that maximizes their utility meaning that an individual $i(i=1, \ldots, I)$, would choose alternative $j(j=1, \ldots, J)$ if and only if the utility of that alternative $U_{i j}$ is greater than or equal to the utility of all other alternatives, with utility given by (Kuzmanović et al., 2019):
where, $\varepsilon_{i j}$ is a stochastic component and $V_{i j}$ is a deterministic component, that answers to the goal of a choice model to identify the attributes that affect the utility individuals and estimate their importance values. $V_{i j}$ is specified by a functional form, that is usually a linear additive model (Kuzmanović et al., 2019):
where, $K$ is the number of attributes; $L k$ is the number of levels of attribute $k, \beta_{i j k}$ is respondent $i$ 's utility with respect to level $l$ of attribute $k$ (so called part-worth utility) and $x_{j k l}$ is binary variable that equals 1 if alternative $j$ has attribute $k$ at level $l$, otherwise it equals 0 . Accordingly, the probability that the alternative $j$ will be chosen by an individual $i$ from a set of four mutually exclusive alternatives is given by (Kuzmanović & Vukić, 2021):
The Markov Chain Monte Carlo Hierarchical Bayes (MCMCHB) method was used to estimate the model's parameters (part-worths). In this way, part-worth utilities are estimated for each individual rather than for the market as an aggregate, which enables checking the relative importance of attributes across different groups of people. The relative importance scores are calculated by measuring the utility range of each attribute separately and then dividing this value by the sum of the utility ranges for all attributes (Kuzmanović & Vukić, 2021).
Conjoint analysis is also discussed by many scientific works that applied this method or wrote about it, such as researcher Louviere (1994). In their work, Carroll & Green (1995) present Conjoint as: “Joint analysis (conjoint analysis) and related techniques of experimental choice analysis represent the most widely applied methodologies for measuring and analyzing consumer preferences.” While about Conjoint analysis, Rao (2014) writes: “Combined analysis (conjoint analysis) is probably the most significant development of marketing research in the last few decades. It can be described as a set of techniques ideally suited to the study of customer decision-making processes and the determination of trade-offs.”
As already mentioned, the research will be carried out using the Conjoint.ly platform, which is one of the most popular Conjoint analysis tools, after which it got its name.
The first step in DCA, or rather the most important, is to determine the key attributes that can influence the respondents' choices. In this study, the research subject was the factors that influence the choice of a film (duration, main role, and genre of the film). Each of the listed factors or attributes had its levels:
Duration: 3 hours
Duration: 2.5 hours
Duration: 2 hours
Duration: 1.5 hours
Main role: Unknown
Main role: Famous
Main role: Film star
Film genre: Thriller
Film genre: Romantic
Film genre: Comedy
Film genre: Horror
Film genre: Fantasy
Film genre: Drama
Film genre: Documentary
Film genre: Action
A randomized block design was used to create different sets of choice tasks, consisting of the alternatives combined from different levels mentioned above. In total, 8 different blocks of 3 tasks with 3 alternatives were created. The following options gave examples of possible subscription plans for a digital market research platform with a proprietary survey development tool and a participant panel. This design would ensure that the user could easily create a survey, conduct it with the chosen target demographic, and then receive a full report.
After each decision task, participants were allowed to opt out of options based on how likely they were to use a certain type of alternative. With each decision and each opt-out, the algorithm would then present a more difficult decision task, thus creating conflict among the attributes identified were the most preferred by the participant in the previous set, to correctly determine what the most important feature and level for the given respondent was.
3. Analysis of Available Data
In the following, databases taken from the Kaggle site will be presented, explained and analyzed. Kaggle is the world's largest data science community with powerful tools and resources that can help you achieve your data goals (Kaggle, 2024).
The databases that will be used for analysis and drawing conclusions are:
1. Top 250 best ranked films according to IMDb ratings.
2. Top 1000 best ranked films according to IMDb ratings.
3. 150 best-selling books.
The first base is related to films, it is a list of the 250 best-rated or most viewed films according to the list of IMDb. The aim of the analysis is to determine the most watched genres – the genres that viewers choose most often and have positive reviews of the films that belong to them. It can be concluded that the most popular genre is Drama, to which 79 films belong, that is, Drama has a share of 32% in the structure of all observed films. They are followed by Comedy, Crime and Action, while the least represented genres are Music – with only one film, Horror and Sport.
If we compare the obtained results with the original database that contains the data of all three genres, in summary, we get the following data shown in Figure 1:
Based on the above data and Figure 2, it can be concluded that the most popular genre is also Drama, which appears 170 times as a film genre with a total value of 662. They are followed by Comedy, Crime and Action, while the genres Music, Horror and Sport are the least represented.
The conclusion is that Drama is the most popular genre.
This database also contains information about the duration of the film. The following is a presentation and analysis of the structure of films in relation to duration categories. Originally, the films contained the exact duration in minutes (min), for the purposes of analysis, the duration was divided into five categories – time frames:
1) Films that last less than 90 minutes,
2) Films lasting between 90 and 120 minutes,
3) Films lasting between 120 and 150 minutes,
4) Films lasting between 150 and 180 minutes,
5) Films that last more than 180 minutes.
The structure is as follows:
Based on the data from Figure 3, it can be concluded that the most popular films are those that last between 90 and 150 minutes, of which more films, 99 of them, belong to the third category with a duration of 120 to 150 minutes.
Also, in this database, there is no film with a lower average rating than 8. The rating structure is as follows (Table 1).
The fewest films have a rating greater than 9, while the most have an average rating of 8.1.
Rating | Count of Rating |
9.3 | 1 |
9.2 | 1 |
9 | 5 |
8.9 | 1 |
8.8 | 7 |
8.7 | 4 |
8.6 | 13 |
8.5 | 22 |
8.4 | 30 |
8.3 | 38 |
8.2 | 55 |
8.1 | 68 |
8 | 5 |
Grand Total | 250 |
Another database related to films is a list of the top 1000 rated or most viewed films according to the IMDb list.
The original database contained up to three different genres for each film, for the sake of analysis, once again, that number will be reduced to one. Figure 4 shows the structure of films by genre.
Based on the above data, it can be concluded that the most popular genre is Drama, to which 306 films belong, that is, a share of 31% in the structure of all observed films. They are followed by Comedy, Crime, and Adventure, while the least represented genres are Sport and Western.
The second base is even four times larger than the first, due to a more detailed analysis and comparison, this base of 1000 films will be adjusted to the same size as the first. Therefore, the Top 250 films will be selected from the second database.
Based on the data in the Table 2, it can be concluded that the most popular genre is also Drama with 94 films, that is, as much as 38%. They are followed by Comedy, Crime and Adventure, while the genres History, Horror, Music and Sport are the least represented. The results obtained in this way can be compared with the first database in order to obtain the most relevant analysis of the change in the representation of genres between these two databases, the following Table 3 shows information on the representation and percentages of the most and least silenced genres in both databases.
Genre | The Best 250 | The Worst 250 | ||
Count | % | Count | % | |
Action | 15 | 6% | 20 | 8% |
Adventure | 17 | 7% | 13 | 5% |
Animation | 5 | 2% | 10 | 4% |
Biography | 12 | 5% | 11 | 4% |
Comedy | 22 | 9% | 33 | 13% |
Crime | 18 | 7% | 15 | 6% |
Drama | 94 | 38% | 64 | 26% |
Family | 5 | 2% | 10 | 4% |
Fantasy | 5 | 2% | 3 | 1% |
History | 2 | 1% | 5 | 2% |
Horror | 2 | 1% | 5 | 2% |
Music | 2 | 1% | 5 | 2% |
Mystery | 13 | 5% | 11 | 4% |
Romance | 7 | 3% | 14 | 6% |
Sci-Fi | 9 | 4% | 4 | 2% |
Sport | 2 | 1% | 3 | 1% |
Thriller | 8 | 3% | 20 | 8% |
War | 8 | 3% | 2 | 1% |
Western | 4 | 2% | 2 | 1% |
Genre | The Top 250 | The Top 250/1000 | ||
Count | % | Count | % | |
Action | 17 | 7% | 15 | 6% |
Adventure | 15 | 6% | 17 | 7% |
Comedy | 21 | 8% | 22 | 9% |
Crime | 21 | 8% | 18 | 7% |
Drama | 79 | 32% | 94 | 38% |
History | 3 | 1% | 2 | 1% |
Horror | 2 | 1% | 2 | 1% |
Music | 1 | 0% | 2 | 1% |
Sport | 2 | 1% | 2 | 1% |
The conclusion is that there were no significant changes in the structure between the databases, that is, the years when the lists were taken from the IMDb website. Action participation changed by one percent, which is not a significant change, adventure, comedy and music have the same level of change as well. Drama was the best (most represented) in both cases, and if there was a significant change of 6%. The genres of history, horror and sports remained at the same level and there was no change. Since the time period that separates these two databases is two years, and since no significant changes were observed in the ranks of the genres, it can be concluded that the audience's opinion about them was formed and “settled”.
Are there any differences in the structure of the representation of genres in relation to the height of the average grade? The answer to this question can be obtained by analyzing the best 250 (first – with the highest average rating) and the worst 250 (last – with the worst average rating) films in this database. All data, for easier comparison, are presented in Table 2.
As can be seen in Table 2, for the part of the database with the best average ratings, the most represented genres are Drama with 94 films (38%), Comedy with 22 films (9%), and Crime with 18 films (7%), while the least represented genres are History, Horror, Music and Sport with two films each and only 1% participation in the list. The structure of the part of the database with the worst average rating is as follows: the most represented genres are Drama with 64 films (26%), Comedy with 33 films (13%), Action and Thriller with 20 films, i.e. 8% participation, while the least represented genres are Crime with 18 films (7%), while the least represented genres are Fantasy and Sport with 3 films each, War and Western (Western) with only one film each, all these genres have only 1% share in the list.
The bottom line is that there is a difference. And if Drama is the most represented genre in both cases, looking at the data in Table 2, it can be seen that the only common genres are Comedy (on both lists in second place by representation) and Sports, which is an overlap of 3/7. Among the most represented genres, the difference is in Crime in the first list and Action in the second. More noticeable and significant changes occur in the least represented genres, where they have only one genre in common (Sport). The first list includes: History, Horror, Music; and at other: Fantasy, War, and Western.
Also, it can be concluded that the height of the average rating depends on the genre to some extent, from which it further follows that some film – genres, are better accepted and valued by the audience.
This database also contains information about the duration of the film. The following is a presentation and analysis of the structure of films concerning duration categories. As was the case with the previous database, here too the duration of the film will be divided into the same five categories.
The structure is as follows:
Based on the data from Figure 5, it can be concluded that the most popular films are those that last between 90 and 150 minutes, of which more films, 445 of them, belong to the third category with a duration of 120 to 150 minutes.
In the end, the representation of the average ratings of the films was extracted (Table 4). Ratings range from 9.3 for the top-ranked film to 7.6 for the bottom-ranked film.
Based on the data from Table 4, the 250th film in this database would have a rating of 8.3; compared to the first whose last film had a rating of 8.1.
Mark | Count of IMDb Marks |
9.3 | 1 |
9.2 | 1 |
9.0 | 3 |
8.9 | 3 |
8.8 | 5 |
8.7 | 5 |
8.6 | 15 |
8.5 | 20 |
8.4 | 31 |
8.3 | 44 |
8.2 | 67 |
8.1 | 127 |
8.0 | 141 |
7.9 | 106 |
7.8 | 151 |
7.7 | 157 |
7.6 | 123 |
Grand Total | 1000 |
This database contained more than 150 books, but for the purposes of analysis, exactly 150 were extracted, the sales value was used as a criterion.
Based on the data shown in Table 5, it can be concluded that the most popular genre is Children's Literature with the 21st book, however, as this is the only category for children's literature in addition to many of them for adults, it cannot be considered the most popular genre of books in the end. In second place is Fiction with 17 books, followed by Fantasy with 17 and Historical with 13 books. The Novel is particularly interesting as a special genre of books that cannot be classified into any of the established genres because their subject matter does not fit into the framework of the works that belong to them. The least popular genre is Horror.
Genre | Count |
Adventure | 3 |
Autobiography | 6 |
Biography | 3 |
Children's Literature | 21 |
Classic | 5 |
Drama | 2 |
Fantasy | 16 |
Fiction | 17 |
Guide | 2 |
Historical | 13 |
Horror | 1 |
Mystery | 4 |
Non-fiction | 3 |
Novel | 7 |
Poem | 1 |
Popular Science | 2 |
Psychology | 1 |
Romance | 12 |
Science Fiction | 5 |
Self-help | 9 |
Social Science | 3 |
Thriller | 5 |
Young Adult Novel | 9 |
Sum | 150 |
4. Case Study, Research Results and Analysis
A total of 703 people opened the survey, while 275 filled it out, which means 39.12% of people, filled out the survey to the end with satisfactory answer quality – whose answers were accepted and processed in further analysis. 2.3% of respondents or 16 people filled out the survey to the end, but their answers were not recognized by the platform as being of sufficient quality and were therefore excluded from the analysis. 58.6% of respondents or 412 people opened the survey and left it before answering all the questions it contains.
As per the case study's findings, 27.6% of respondents identified as male, while 72.0% identified as female, and 0.4% did not want to reveal their gender. There is a majority of female respondents. Additionally, the data reveals that the largest number of respondents is between the ages of 16 and 30 years (Figure 6). In fact, 51.6% of respondents are between 21 and 25 years old.
Based on Figure 7, it can be concluded that 32% of respondents would rather read a book than watch a film – 68% of other respondents would rather watch a film than read a book.
The results of the Study show that 16.4% of respondents watch films every day, 32.0% of respondents watch a few times a week, while the largest number of respondents, 45.1% of them, watch films a few times a month, and only 6.6% of respondents do not watch films at all, never.
Based on Table 6, it can be concluded that the factors: The country where the film was shot (49.8% of respondents gave a rating of 1 or 2 on the scale of significance/importance) and Director (45.5%) are not significant for the quality of the film. The next factor is Production (36.2% – not important, 31.9% – important) on which respondents had a divided opinion, for some it was an important factor for the quality of the film, for some it was not. They had a similar opinion regarding Language, whose final values on the scale are almost identical with a minimal deviation of only 0.4%. The duration of the film also has a similar number of responses in the columns with a rating of 1 and 4, with a deviation of 0.4%, however, if the total participation of positive (ratings 4, 5 and 6) and negative (1, 2, 3) were to be extracted, it would be came to the conclusion that this factor is important. The second-ranked factor is Main Roles (famous actors or not) to which the largest number of respondents gave ratings of 4 and 5. Finally, the most important factor according to respondents' answers is Genre, with as many as 44.4% of answers with a rating of 6 and 29.2% with a rating of 5.
Options | Very Important 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | Not Important 1 |
Country where the film was shot | 7.4% | 12.5% | 17.5% | 12.8% | 19.1% | 30.7% |
Main Roles (Famous Actors or Not) | 14.0% | 26.1% | 28.0% | 10.9% | 8.9% | 12.1% |
The language of the film | 20.2% | 19.8% | 16.3% | 11.7% | 11.3% | 20.6% |
Director | 11.3% | 17.5% | 13.6% | 12.1% | 17.5% | 28.0% |
Production | 13.6% | 18.3% | 17.5% | 14.4% | 13.2% | 23.0% |
Duration of the film | 9.7% | 18.3% | 24.1% | 12.8% | 10.5% | 24.5% |
Genre | 44.4% | 29.2% | 13.6% | 4.7% | 2.7% | 5.4% |
Average | 17.2% | 20.2% | 18.7% | 11.3% | 11.9% | 20.6% |
The most common positive grade is grade 5 with a share of 20.2% in the structure of all grades, and the most common negative grade is grade 1, with a share of 20.6%.
Based on Table 7, it can be concluded that the worst rated genre is Horror, it can be said that only 26.1% of respondents like it. A slightly better rated genre is Documentary. They are followed by History and Animation. The best-rated genre is Thriller, as many as 46.7% of respondents said they like it very much. Criminalistics is in second place, followed by Drama and Comedy in third and fourth place. Genres: Action, Fantasy, Family and Romance also have predominantly high scores on this scale.
Options | Love – 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | Don’t Love – 1 |
Action | 28.8% | 24.9% | 23.0% | 10.1% | 9.3% | 3.9% |
Animation | 21.4% | 10.5% | 23.0% | 17.1% | 16.0% | 12.1% |
Documentary | 13.6% | 21.4% | 19.8% | 23.3% | 13.6% | 8.2% |
Drama | 39.3% | 25.3% | 19.1% | 10.9% | 3.9% | 1.6% |
Fantastic | 28.4% | 19.1% | 16.3% | 10.9% | 10.1% | 15.2% |
Horror | 15.2% | 10.9% | 11.3% | 9.3% | 12.1% | 41.2% |
History | 12.1% | 19.5% | 25.7% | 14.0% | 16.0% | 12.8% |
Comedy | 38.5% | 24.9% | 19.8% | 8.2% | 7.8% | 0.8% |
Criminalistics | 44.7% | 26.5% | 14.4% | 9.3% | 3.9% | 1.2% |
Family | 27.6% | 17.5% | 28.8% | 16.3% | 6.6% | 3.1% |
Romantic | 35.8% | 17.1% | 19.8% | 11.7% | 8.2% | 7.4% |
Thriller | 46.7% | 28.4% | 14.0% | 6.2% | 2.3% | 2.3% |
Average | 29.3% | 20.5% | 19.6% | 12.3% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
Based on Figure 8, which shows a complete structure of answers, it can be concluded that Drama is the most common genre when it comes to favorite films. Thriller is second, and Fantasy is third. The least represented genres are Family and Horror.
Based on Figure 9, which shows a complete structure of answers to the question: Which production company/s do you prefer?, it can be concluded that the largest number of respondents (66.2%) choose 20th Century Studios as their favorite production company. Then follow the production companies: Paramount Pictures Studios, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures (with a slightly higher share of 46% for each) and finally, Marvel Studios and MGM Studios are the production houses that respondents least prefer.
Figure 10 shows the structure of answers according to the number of selected options when answering this question.
The results of the Study show that 15.6% of respondents read daily, 15.6% of respondents read a few times a week, while the largest number of respondents, 33.8%, read books a few times a month. Finally, 29.1% of respondents answered that they almost never read books, and only 5.8% never. The question arises whether this is good, more than a third of the respondents (which should also apply to the population) do not read books, whether they are entertaining or educational in nature. Such results can be attributed to the emergence of new technologies and the digital entertainment character, but also to the fact that the majority of the young population participated in the research, people under the age of 25, who find books “boring” compared to the Internet and digital content.
Based on Table 8, it can be concluded that the factors: Number of pages (35.1% of respondents rated 1 on the scale of importance/importance; 19.6% of respondents rated 2) and Appearance of the cover (28.5% and 19.0%) are not important for choosing a book. The following factors: Quality of printing and Famous writer were most often rated with 5, 4 and 3 with a slightly higher preference for Quality of printing, as a factor that is important for the quality of the book. According to the respondents, Genre is the most important factor affecting the quality and selection of the book (60.3% of respondents said it was very important (score 6) and 26.3% said it was important (score 5)).
The most common positive grade is grade 6 with a share of 19.7% in the structure of all grades, and the most common negative grade is grade 1, with a share of 20.8%.
Options | Very Important 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | Not Important 1 |
Number of pages | 7.8% | 10.6% | 15.1% | 11.7% | 19.6% | 35.2% |
Cover layout | 4.5% | 17.3% | 14.5% | 16.2% | 19.0% | 28.5% |
Print quality | 11.2% | 22.3% | 20.7% | 15.6% | 14.5% | 15.6% |
Writer (whether famous or not) | 14.5% | 16.8% | 21.2% | 16.8% | 10.1% | 20.7% |
Genre | 60.3% | 26.3% | 5.6% | 3.4% | 0.6% | 3.9% |
Average | 19.7% | 18.7% | 15.4% | 12.7% | 12.7% | 20.8% |
The results of the survey show that 77.7% of respondents, on the other side of the coin, name the Novel as their most wanted written form over the mentioned literary genres. However, only 1.1% of the respondents claimed to have the Poem as the most preferred Literary Form. Other literary forms preference result in; Story: 9.5%, Drama: 7.8%, Comics/ manga: 3.9% according to respondents' data.
Based on Table 9, it can be concluded that the worst-rated genre is Horror, as in the case of films, and it can be said that 10.6% of respondents like to read it. The best-rated genre is Criminalistics, as many as 41.3% of respondents said they like it very much. Classic is in second place (35.8% of respondents gave this genre a 6), followed by Drama and Romance in third and fourth place. Genres: Thrillers, Popular Psychology, and Fantasy also have high ratings and do not lag behind the aforementioned genres. Other genres: Autobiography, Encyclopedias and handbooks, Philosophy, History, and Comedy received the most marks in the range of 2 to 4, which does not place them on the list of favorites, but they are far from lacking their readers.
Options | Love – 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | Don’t love – 1 |
Autobiography | 10.6% | 9.5% | 26.8% | 21.2% | 20.7% | 11.2% |
Drama | 35.2% | 27.4% | 16.2% | 11.7% | 5.6% | 3.9% |
Encyclopedias and manuals | 10.1% | 16.8% | 17.9% | 22.9% | 18.4% | 14.0% |
Fantasy | 29.1% | 16.8% | 14.5% | 11.7% | 12.3% | 15.6% |
Philosophy | 17.9% | 16.8% | 16.8% | 16.8% | 12.3% | 19.6% |
Horror | 10.6% | 7.3% | 9.5% | 10.6% | 14.5% | 47.5% |
History | 15.1% | 16.8% | 21.8% | 16.2% | 16.2% | 14.0% |
A classic | 35.8% | 22.9% | 21.2% | 11.7% | 5.0% | 3.4% |
Comedy | 27.4% | 13.4% | 24.6% | 10.1% | 14.5% | 10.1% |
Criminalistics | 41.3% | 22.9% | 14.0% | 7.3% | 6.7% | 7.8% |
Love (romance) | 34.1% | 15.6% | 17.9% | 7.3% | 10.6% | 14.5% |
Popular psychology | 31.8% | 16.8% | 15.1% | 14.5% | 11.2% | 10.6% |
Thrillers | 33.5% | 29.1% | 14.5% | 7.8% | 8.4% | 6.7% |
Average | 25.6% | 17.8% | 17.7% | 13.1% | 12.0% | 13.8% |
To answer the question about which genre one's favorite book falls into, Figure 11 provides the global split of the genres for all responses. It turns out that Fantasy is in the first place, being selected 17.9% of the time. This is followed by Drama and Popular Psychology, which take second and third positions respectively. At the other end of the spectrum are horror and comedy, the two poorest represented genres.
In the end, it can be concluded that Drama is one of the respondents' favorite genres (as in the first analysis – Analysis of available databases), while Horror was in last place both in the case of films and in the case of books.
The last part of the analysis of the conducted research refers to the Conjoint itself, the joint analysis of all the factors that were used to analyze and compare genres and other factors in the case of films.
How much does it matter?
Based on Figure 12, it can be concluded that for the largest number of respondents (78.1%) when choosing a film, the Genre is the most important, while Duration and Main role are much less important, slightly more than 10%.
Figure 13 shows the average preferences by level. Respondents prefer shorter films to longer ones, where in this case and in the evaluation system they are negative. When it comes to the main role, according to the results, the best rank has the most positive and most desirable value: Film star, considering that factor can be scaled. When it comes to Genre, the results show a situation that was already seen in the previous part of the survey. Drama is in first place, while Horror stands out for the highest negative value concerning all average preferences by level.
Finally, Figure 14 shows the preferences for different levels. Levels that customers strongly prefer receive higher ratings, while levels that have a poor “performance” – impression, (in comparison) are assigned lower ratings.
5. Final Analysis and Future Research Directions
By means of Conjoint analysis, much more data was collected and analyzed than what was the starting point of this research – the available database with historical data.
The parameters, attributes, and genres used are not the same in the databases and the case study, due to the complexity of the research and the collection of responses, some genres have been excluded. Nevertheless, some kind of comparative analysis is possible. For this purpose, the data from the Study as well as those from the databases must be adjusted and reduced to the same values.
The first step is Value Normalization. However, the first dilemma that the analyst potentially encounters is which data from the survey should be compared to the data from the database. There are two options, (1) either the structure of answers from the matrix of which genre the respondents prefer, or (2) the values of the answers to the question: “Which genre does your favorite film belong to?” will be used for values by genre. Table 10 shows the normalized data of both cases.
Genre | (1) I Really Like It – Love | (2) What Genre is Your Favorite Film? |
Action | 8% | 11% |
Animation | 6% | 5% |
Documentary | 4% | 2% |
Drama | 11% | 21% |
Fantastic | 8% | 16% |
Horror | 4% | 2% |
History | 3% | 2% |
Comedy | 11% | 9% |
Criminalistics | 13% | 6% |
Family | 8% | 1% |
Romantic | 10% | 11% |
Thriller | 13% | 16% |
In total | 100% | 100% |
The conclusion is that the difference exists. As in the first case only data with a rating of 6 – I really like (Love) it was used, and the other ratings were not taken into account due to the complexity of the statistical calculation, the data from the second case will be used for further analysis – the answer to the question: “Which genre is your favorite film?”. Also, there are two other very important reasons for choosing this method of data evaluation.
Namely, historical data (Top 250 and Top 1000) are more valuable films according to the average rating assigned to the film by the viewers (users) of this content. It will be assumed that they watched the rated film. While giving grades in Studio, in the first case, respondents did not have an exact film related to genres – the grades were generalized. The assumption is that this is why the apparent oscillation in percentages of representation between these two data lists is observed. That is, the assumption is that the respondent will answer a specific question more easily, accurately, and reliably than a general one. In this sense, when he was given a task related to the preference of genres, in order to answer the requirements he had to think about which film he knew belonged to the mentioned genre. He might first think of a film he likes less than someone else. Many often experience first negative and then positive emotions on a topic or question. This affects his grades and thus affects the results of the research. But when the respondent is asked the question: “What genre does your favorite film belong to?”, he is limited to that favorite film. Therefore, it can be concluded that the second base is more reliable if the precision factor is taken into consideration when giving an opinion.
In the first case, the respondent evaluates only Genre as a factor that affects the quality of the film, his opinion about it, and the rating. But taking into account the data from the Experiment (Figure 12), it can be concluded that Genre is not the only important factor, Role with 10.2% and Duration with 11.7% also influence.
It cannot be claimed that the data in the first case of choice is comprehensive when it does not take into account this factor which is included in the case of the favorite film.
When we extract the common genres from the research for all available databases (including the case study), we re-normalize the data and get graphically represented results (Figure 15):
Based on Figure 15, it can be concluded that there are differences between the bases. Historical databases are more similar due to the same type of data – IMDb list of films. The biggest difference is observed with the Drama genre, which is in the first place in terms of popularity judging by the IMDb lists with a striking advantage, however, even if it is also the first in the list of respondents, its popularity is significantly lower – 23% compared to 44% and 53%. There is also one positive difference in favor of the respondents, the popularity of Fantasy, which, compared to the lists here, takes the second place in terms of popularity and has a share of 17% in the overall structure of genres. The accidental situation is also observed in Romantic and Thriller films.
These differences can be explained by the structure of the sample, as in the case study mostly young people participated, the data lacks more opinions of older people who prefer, perhaps, some other genres and who would change the current distribution with their participation.
For example, if, when analyzing the obtained results, we include the condition that the respondent must be between 21 and 25 years old, we get a segment of 63 people and the following data:
As can be concluded on the basis of Figure 16, there are differences in relation to the original structure of the responses of all respondents (Figure 8). The first-ranked genre in this case is Romance, while the second place is Thriller. The genres Horror, History, and Family content do not participate in this structure at all, which means that not a single respondent from the observed segment answered this question with any of them.
Also, the reason for the deviation can be found in the diversity, or mentality, of the people who participated in one of these researches/bases. Namely, the case study (research) that was conducted in Serbia in August 2024 reflects the opinions and preferences of mostly young people from that territory at that time. From which it follows, that on the basis of these data, it is not possible to draw a reliable conclusion for society in general, as well as for young people in general, without taking into account the country, the speaking area, the culture, and the habits of the people.
A similar analysis can be done for books. In addition to the data from the case study, data from the database of 150 best-selling books and the answer to the question: “What genre does your favorite book belong to?” will be used. On Figure 17, the normalized data for these two bases are shown graphically.
As with films, there are differences. The biggest difference occurs in the case of genres: Drama and Popular Psychology (or psychology in the database of 150 best-selling books), which, based on the data from the case study, are much more popular. In the case of the History genre, the opposite situation can be observed, that it is much more popular according to the data from the database compared to the case study.
The final conclusion is that there are differences, but also that the results are similar in many cases. The main problem of the research is that not all user groups were properly represented in the research, so the obtained results are difficult to compare with the original historical data.
As with films, there are differences. The biggest difference occurs in the case of genres: Drama and Popular Psychology (or psychology in the database of 150 best-selling books), which, based on the data from the case study, are much more popular. In the case of the History genre, the opposite situation can be observed, that it is much more popular according to the data from the database compared to the case study.
The final conclusion is that there are differences, but also that the results are similar in many cases. The main problem of the research is that not all user groups were properly represented in the research, so the obtained results are difficult to compare with the original historical data.
6. Conclusion
The main goal of this research was to discover film genres, as representatives of audiovisual media, compared to literary genres represented by books. In addition to genre classification, the study includes other factors such as actors, directors, production companies, ratings, and length of the film among others in the case of cinema; similarly in the case of literature, the study considers aspects such as the author, number of pages, and print quality. However, this paper did not explore each of the influences on films or books in the same depth as was undertaken with genres. As such, the below recommendations are made for future research activity.
Ideas for Future Study:
1) Discussion of genre tendencies in relationship to the audience/Corinthian demographic groups.
2) The current study did not allow for an in-depth analysis of genres by age groups (see Question 2 of the survey used in the Study).
3) Correlation analysis between selected genres of film or book.
4) Conjoint analysis on the factors that affect the choice of books.
5) This study presents the analysis of previously discussed films.
6) A detailed study of various literary genres along with the most common genres related to them.
7) Analysis of various audiovisual genres and tastes associated with these.
8) Using Solver in the MS Excel program, compile the optimal assortment of books for bookstores with limited space according to genre in relation to user preferences.
9) After some time has passed (one to three years), conduct the research again and compare the findings.
If infinity dwells in human nature, it can be said to be the inborn ability to ask questions. There is progress because there are questions; on the other hand, because there is progress, humanity is not subjected to extinction. Even when defeated and in despair, the human being is likely to come up with the pertinent questions and find corresponding answers, thus enabling humanity to again re-rise into enlightenment. Even though this research has been completed and conclusions have been drawn from it, new questions will probably arise.
While all research has its limitations, there is always the place for expansion and improvement. The limitations of this study, as illustrated by the presentation of future research directions, may include:
1) The fact that the research was conducted only on the territory of Serbia – it would be interesting to analyze the results of another country or more and see if there are significant deviations,
2) The time moment of the research, this paper has already shown the influence of time on the structure of the participants' thoughts,
3) There is a difference between the list of genres contained in the initial historical database and the genres contained in the research,
4) The respondents are predominantly members of the younger population, which can significantly affect the structure of preferences,
5) The research takes into account at least three factors that influence film selection.
Audiovisual and literary forms changed their form over time. It cannot be said that books have retained their form of stone tablets or papyrus until today, just as it cannot be said that films remain black and white, soundless and last only a few minutes. Change is inevitable in everything, man changes and with him everything he created. The present research aims to give a detailed analysis of the modern factors that influence choices in film and literature, as well as the possible applicability of these factors to other forms of audiovisual or literary media. However, this remains unclear, as it requires further research.
The main conclusions of this work:
1) Films are more popular than books – 68% of people (respondents) would rather watch a film than read a book.
2) The most popular genre of films is Drama.
3) The least popular film genre is Horror.
4) The most-read books are in the genres of Fiction (150 best-selling books) and Crime (case study), while Drama is also highly ranked here.
5) The least-read books are Horror.
One of the very important suggestions and an area of research with high practical applicability potential concerns the study of genre representations in relation to films and the age group of respondents. The conclusions reached in the previous section show that some genres reveal a strong divergence from conformity. Thus, the comparative analysis of genre structures between databases and the case study gives grounds for the hypothesis that such divergences may occur due to an unbalanced or poorly calibrated representation of age groups in the respondent composition of the case study itself.
This study adheres to strict ethical guidelines, ensuring the rights and privacy of participants. Informed consent was obtained from all participants, and personal information was protected throughout the study. The methodology and procedures of this research have been approved by the appropriate ethics committee. Participants were informed of their rights, including the right to withdraw from the study at any time. All collected data is used solely for the purpose of this research and is stored and processed in a secure and confidential manner.
The data used to support the research findings are available from the corresponding author upon request.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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