Research Dossier

Valentine script

 

Role of the writer

Script Proposal

The nature and purposes of research in the creative media industries

 

Primary research-

Primary research is information/research you have conducted by yourself. An example of this could be making your own form and getting people to sign it.FoemPlus.com says that “Secondary research is a common approach to a systematic investigation in which the researcher depends solely on existing data in the course of the research process. This research design involves organizing, collating and analysing these data samples for valid research conclusions.”

https://www.formpl.us/blog/secondary-research#:~:text=Secondary%20research%20is%20a%20common,samples%20for%20valid%20research%20conclusions. Accessed 5/07/22

3-

4-Interviews is one of the examples that people in the professional industry do to collect their primary research. This could be professional people or the general public. In addition to this, you can also gain information and research by making questionnaires. These can be from existing customers or someone anonymous to give reviews and their opinions.

secondary research -

Secondary research is different from Primary research as they use the research solely based existing data of that topic. It means they don’t have to go out and interview and make questionnaires to gain the data. Question pro says “Secondary research or desk research is a research method that involves using already existing data. Existing data is summarized and collated to increase the overall effectiveness of research.” https://www.questionpro.com/blog/secondary-research/ accessed 5/07/22 

Secondary research I have conducted was when I was recreating the Ben and Jerry’s advert. I did this by watching previous adverts that Ben and Jerry’s have created to get a feel for what they produce to make it similar, but to change the target audience.

Secondary research would usually be used in the professional industry by checking ratings of tv shows to see how successful it is. This could be like seeing what population of the gender it is aimed towards. In addition to this, they may use this in pre-production as they may use the research to help it aim to certain members of the audience.

Pros and cons-

Primary research can be more helpful as if you are conducting that research yourself you can be specific as you want to be. It also means certain questions are easier to find out if you put them in surveys. Primary could be better than secondary as secondary is based off other people’s research. However, secondary research could be more purposeful as they may have had time to have a lot of in depth research that you can easily access and it also saves time.

Quantitative research -

Quantitative research is when you collect data by processing and analysing numerical data. It is helpful research as it may be used to find out averages and find patterns.

Scribbr states that “Quantitative research is widely used in the natural and social sciences: biology, chemistry, psychology, economics, sociology, marketing, etc.” https://www.scribbr.co.uk/research-methods/introduction-to-quantitative-research/  accessed 05/07/22  

Quantitative research I have conducted was when I was doing primary research. This was by asking in my questionnaire what the audiences age was. By asking this I saw different peoples ages and what the majority/ average age of who was answering. It helps because we know age and how things like social media can have an impact on how we think.

Like secondary research, in the professional industry they would use quantitative research by finding out the average of how many people view something and if they watch it constantly. It means they can use this data to see if the things they are producing are being successful.

Pros and cons-

The pros about quantitative research is that you are getting accurate data from things like knowing your main audience. This is important because of how certain things you advertise or produce is more likely to be aimed at that age range. However, I personally feel like quantitative research is not in depth as you are only analysing numerical data. This means sometimes the research may not be as accurate as you’re not interviewing and looking at case studies ect.

Qualitative research-

Qualitative research is data collected by: observations, interviews, questionnaires, case studies and much more. This makes it a more naturalistic approach to the subject matter to the research .

Simply Psychology states-Qualitative research is the process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting non-numerical data, such as language. Qualitative research can be used to understand how an individual subjectively perceives and gives meaning to their social reality. https://www.simplypsychology.org/qualitative-quantitative.html Accessed on 26/08/22

Qualitative research I have conducted myself is creating a questionnaire to see what audiences think of the rebranded advert. It means asking questions such as “what age range do you think this advert was aimed at?” By creating a questionnaire, I was able to collect my data and know what audience members think of my work.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe3eOtNGTg7lsEPkPiwYbQ8ujQpJg0i6vcMrQswxbnjUpT2FQ/viewform (Questionnaire from the rebrand advert)

In the creative industry, qualitative research is used a lot. Wether that be for documentaries, or tv shows, or  even the news. Producing factual information for the audience to watch you would have to use qualitative research to make sure it is accurate. It’s why the news uses a bit of qualitative research in their work as they are observing and interviewing.

Pros and cons-

The pros of qualitative research is that you have many ways to collect the research you want. This also means knowing where it all comes from to make sure it’d accurate as possible. Having research like interviewing people is getting personal experience to back up evidence of what you want to produce. However, because qualitative research is analysing non-numerical data you can’t find out averages and patterns throughout your research.

Market and audience research-

Market research is where you gather information about peoples needs and preferences. This is like box sales seeing which films are successful and what sold quickly. This is mainly for the companies to see what people want and need from tv shows as super hero movies mainly do better than drama so that companies are more likely to produce a superhero movie.  'Market research consists of systematically gathering data about people or companies – a market – and then analyzing it to better understand what that group of people needs.' https://www.shopify.com/blog/what-is-market-research#:~:text=Market%20research%20consists%20of%20systematically,that%20group%20of%20people%20needs. 

Audience research is based on the demographics the company can see when people are watching their film or tv show. This helps them understand for whatever they next produce you are more likely aiming towards that audience. So this is like aiming it towards that audience ages or their style of taste could that be horror or drama. 'Audience research is designed to establish the size, composition, and characteristics of a group of individuals who are, or could be, potential customers. It's important to note that this research is about the people and individuals who make up your target audience.' https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/resources/lessons/introduction-to-digital-marketing_audience-research_furn#:~:text=Audience%20research%20is%20designed%20to,make%20up%20your%20target%20audience. 

Audience research that I produced throughout my filmmaking was questionnaires. Making a survey for the audience helped me understand what worked well and what certain audience members enjoy. I also got an understanding of what ages they were that watched my film and this helped me see what demographics are the main ones. 

Production research-

Mini task

 

Mini task-

Introduction-

A documentary is a film that produces information for the audience’s enjoyment. Examples could be like: Blue Planet, Louis and The Nazis and Three Identical Strangers. Documentary’s produces facts as well as focusing on public opinions which makes the audience feel involved.

Paragraph 1-

An expository documentary focuses on disembodied and autorotative voiceovers. This means it is directly addressing the viewers who are watching. With an expository documentary, the images will be produced for the audience to see, along with facts and arguments which will have an edited voiceover that is broken down for people to understand. An example of this could be that they put on captions as they break down the facts. With the series of images, it should have a lot of descriptive information which will help and guide the audience to have an opinion. Expository documentary focuses on one point only and produces a direct representation. An example of expository documentary is Blue Planet as the presenter (Sir David Attenborough) is showing the audience the real side to nature. The key features that get explored in expository documentary are: Omniscient voice-over, a right answer (doesn’t leave much subjectivity), and evidentiary editing (usually can see this on news broadcasts).

Paragraph 2-

An observational documentary is different from most documentary’s as we don’t see the film crew, we simply see the things they want the audience to focus on. The documentary style is unobtrusive which means it’s not attracting attention away from the focus. Throughout the documentary, you will not see any judgement and will have neutral opinions on the topic that is being made. This is because it will give the audience the ability to decide on what they think. An example of observational documentary is ‘Grey Gardens’ which was produced in 1975 as it follows two socialites who suffer with a massive problem, money. They explore their everyday life without any crew being involved. Key features in an observational documentary you should see are realism (helps form a better opinion), and handheld shots and little to no voice over.

Paragraph 3-

An interactive documentary is completely opposite to observational as the filmmaker is very present. It contains a lot of interaction between interviewees and presenter which might include arguments. Having arguments throughout the documentary means that there is a high likely hood that there will be different opinions that are being presented on the screen. This may mean that the audience might be persuaded on agreeing on one opinion or even coming up with a new one. However, it may come across as misinterpreted through their arguments as there is a lot of manipulation of the text which is more evident through editing. An example of an interactive documentary is Animals of the Loose and the presenter is Bear Grylls. The presenter is very involved throughout the documentary.

 

Paragraph 4-

A reflexive documentary is where the documentary attempts to expose the certain conventions that are included in documentary to the audience. They could do this by exposing the construction of documentary texts and may even be experimented with. Throughout a reflexive documentary you will have a series of everyday life shots but will be used as bricks or may even be experimented with just like the text throughout the documentary. A good example of reflexive documentary is Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends (1998) as it focuses traveling to different places and experiencing weird events. The key features of a reflexive documentary are it focuses on the relationship between the filmmaker and the audience, it pushes the audience to reflect and reanalyse their truth and exposing the documentary-making process.

 

Paragraph 5-

A performative documentary approaches documentary style differently as it presents the world indirectly and they do it by emphasises the presentation instead of the content. In addition to this, when it comes to interviewing, they may use things like re-enactments, soundtracks and more dramatic camera shots. This is because it aims to the audience the story in an expressive manner by creating visuals which may help the audience. An example of a performative documentary is ‘Tongues United’ a documentary in 1989 which focuses on the experiences of gay African American men. Key features in a performative documentary include more personal when it comes to filmmaking, the filmmaker may use their own experiences, and they rely on a subjective lens.

Conclusion-

Personally, I feel like performative documentary is my favourite because of the style and how it is visualised, it makes it more engaging for me to process the information that is given to me. Expository documentary is the format that presents information in an objective and unbiased way. I feel like the producers must have a contract with the viewer to be honest in what they show because a documentary is exploring the world in a different way and not glamourising things we see like the viewers usually would when using social media. Throughout documentary’s we see raw emotions being shown and sometimes seeing clips you wouldn’t expect. It is why I think that producers should and have that contract with it not even being physically there for us to see.

 

Initial ideas for Documentary