Research and planning

Research and planning 

What real media and audiences did you look at? 

Audience- We looked at different types of audience’s throughout our production, as we were researching opening scenes at the start of the year it was essential to have a decent understanding on different types of audiences, we looked at action, horror and romance opening two minutes in order to gain a wide basis of audience members.  

Real media- the opening scenes we looked at helped us to get a better understanding of the chosen genre, we chose horror in the end as we saw it as the most easily done, action films are very technical when it comes to editing and have quick, fast shots and romance films would’ve just made it awkward as the stereotypes of love involved just make it weird, therefore a horror opening scene made the most sense, we wouldn’t need a fight scene and most of the shots would have to be prolonged as that is more of a convention of a horror film. 

What primary research was undertaken?  

There was a lot of primary research when it comes to my research last year, most of the work we did, involved a personal analysis of our own script, production company, distributing company, editing and shot analysis. Questionnaires were also an essential part of our research and planning, they provided useful information when it came to making our opening two minute scene especially when it came to what stereotypes would be well received.  

What secondary research was undertaken?  

Secondary research was mainly just the opening scenes we analysed at the start of the year, we also used some charts and graphs to get an idea of the type of audiences we would be seeing.  

What is the effectiveness of these kinds of research? 

This kind of research is effective when it comes to research and planning as it allows us to see a distinct difference, the less secondary research the better unless there is a specific example which was helpful in finding out information about specific target audiences. The primary research factor was very effective when it came to helping us describe our production, it was essential that we used every little bit of analysis to get a good grade come the end of the year, for this very reason primary research was effective because it allowed us to gain an deeper understanding of the underlying factors which make up the analysis side of media. 

What quantitative and qualitative analysis methods were employed?  

Qualitative and quantitative data was used in little amounts for our production; the main thing was the questionnaire which had the results from 10 different participants, this helped us to gain an overall consensus on what we should aim for. 

How did the results from these inform the production? 

The results of the questionnaire helped inform our production because it set the tone for what we would aim for when it came to our opening two minutes, it was essential in helping us shape the very making of our opening two minutes as we wanted to get an idea of what people wanted to see. 

How effectively was storyboards/shot lists/script followed? 

The storyboard we drew up at the start was a very detailed version of our overall product, the idea of the Ouija board was forever present throughout and so we could aim easily for one idea and let it develops naturally as we would let it build into a more complex idea. The shot list was done after the production was done; this was because it was far easier to highlight the type of shots we used after we had completed it so that it was an accurate representation in terms of shots. 

How have you developed these skills at A2? 

The use of primary and secondary research continued on into A2 but there was a lot more primary research, this was because it is more essential to analyse the primary research we had, the questionnaires were still present in the research and planning stage and this time we did two because we wanted it to be both an action and a thriller trailer so we needed to get an idea of the conventions and stereotypes of the chosen genre.