3MW - JJ's Photography

Here is my completed 3MW documentary

The nature and purposes of research in the creative media industries

Primary research/ Self – generated research

Primary research is new research that has been carried out in order to answer issues or questions. The different ways this can be carried out are with; questionnaires, surveys, group or individual interviews. This form of research is maybe one of the hardest as it’s hard to get the questions answered by the public; however it is the most up to date method. This is then able to make the project a lot more accurate to the target audience it is being aimed at and that it is going to have the correct content for the target audience.

In my project for my primary research I had created an online survey, which I then sent out via email to a few different recipients.

With the information that I had gathered back I was then able to correctly find out what other people would expect to find in a well-made photography documentary and whether my predicted target audience was what I was hoping for. I much prefer primary research over secondary research as this is able to give me more accurate answers, so I can get the little details correct and specific.

Secondary research

Secondary research is old research that has information that has been previously researched by other people. This has then been made available to the public towards their other research projects. Although this form of research is most likely the easiest, it may also be the most inaccurate; this would be because it isn’t always kept up to date.

In my project for my secondary research I search only at previously made photography documentaries. This helped as I was able to see what made a successful and unsuccessful documentary.

Embed video 1; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrpZndUZ81A

Embed video 2; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEy25SFjg7M

While watching these I was able to understand how to keep the viewers’ attention to the screen. This would be done with catchy or moving music, images or video footage that is kept moving and busy. I used the World Wide Web to help search for different results for the photography topic as well as using film archives.

Quantitative research

Quantitative research is the type of information has been based on a measurable process, within quantities. This is able to be done by looking at; programme ratings, readership circulation figures, hits on a website, box office figures and also sales of CDs and DVDs. For my quantitative research I had looked at some of the hits on the website these types of documentaries.

I was able to see the difference, if it was a reasonably well known photographer more people would stop to watch. However if the short documentary was made by someone who is more less known then the views would still be rather low.

I had also looked on the IMDb website, at the most popular genre documentaries. And as you can see that on this list in third place is a documentary about a photographer named Sebastiao. This documentary ‘The Salt of the Earth’ has a rating of 8.4 out of a possible 10 after being released in 2014. The box office opening weekend made the documentary $44,900 (USA). After I found this out I knew what I wanted to do the documentary on. Photography, all about myself and my passion for the art.

Qualitative research

Qualitative research is when the information that is being recorded is towards the descriptive side of things, and is then made slightly more difficult to measure. These can all be done with the use of; film reviews, fanzine websites, attitudes to media productions, responses to different news coverage, responses to advertising campaigns and various discussions that are on that one topic.

Looking at the same documentary on the IMDb website, for ‘The Salt of the Earth’ all of the reviews and many more there were all positive at how stunning and moving it was. And the reviews where from people who are all around the world, showing how well a good documentary can do once published.

Data gathering agencies

An example of this would be Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB); this is a company that will measure the audience viewing figures, and is now owned by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, BSkyB and the IPA. When I was looking on their website at the viewing figures ratings, the documentaries are already doing reasonably well with the position of third place.

After I had searched up the different types of media research agencies I had then found that there are many of them, and they are all different in their own way. They all take on new and different forms of research to help other non-profit and profit organisations.

Another example here would be the Radio Audience Research Ltd (RAJAR); this is the type of organisation is able to measure the radio audiences that are within the UK. They are also owned by both the BBC and the Radio Centre.

Audience and market research

For my audience and market research I had looked at the demographics, this is where my documentary would be able to appeal to the ages of people anywhere from 25 and upwards. I felt that this age range was a good choice to strive for as this age tends to appreciate photography more than what the younger generation of people do. It would also then appeal to both the males and females that could be working in any working profession.

The research that is done in the media industry is similar to what I have done, however it will be even more in depth. In the media they will have to toughly go through the target audience in order to find out what the correct content will be. This type of research can be really important as this will either make or break the production of the programme or film.  

Production research

My production research consisted of my pre-production paper work. This had consisted with the content, placement in media, finance, costs, technological resources, personnel and locations.

For my locations I had to make sure that I had the correct times and dates, to ensure that I was going to get the locations owner to allow me to film during these times. Because I was able to do this all correctly I was able to get all of the paper work for this done fast and efficiently so I was able to get on with the project.

I had then created a synopsis to cover briefly cover what the project documentary was going to be about, so that the audience are fully aware of what to expect.

The research that is done for this within the media industries for this is just the same as mine. Without the relevant information that is needed for this research the production would not be able to go ahead. The planning that is needed for any production, whether it is in the media or not, is highly critical. The media industries will make sure that they have gone over all of the paper work that is needed to make sure that the production is as smooth as possible.


Bibliography

1. http://www.imdb.com/genre/documentary
2. http://btecmediaen1.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/D.%20Assignment%203%3A%20Factual%20Programming
3. www.surveymonkey.com
4. https://www.youtube.com/?hl=en-GB&gl=GB
5. http://www.barb.co.uk/resources/barb-facts/faq
6. https://www.youtube.com/

Pre Production

Location Establishing Shots

3MW Proposal

The Three Minute Wonder Proposal

3MW

Three Minute Wonder

A three minute wonder is a short television slot that is able to broadcast people 3 minute film. This could be a documentary or even a short movie. Additionally it had started with the television channel, Channel 4 where they had three minute television programmes in the middle of the channels weekday primetime schedule.

The aim of a three minute wonder is to be able to get a strong and detailed message across to the audience within the three minutes. For Channel 4 their aim is to be given the opportunity to make a film for broadcast when they previously haven’t made it, and are then given the chance to make four films that are then destined for television.The topic I would expect to see of a three minute wonder is maybe going to be an animation, as these are a simple easy way to get a message across fast, efficiently and successful.

These three there are my favourite three minute wonders. This is because they are successful shorts, in the way of getting the message across easily. These are short interviews with several street artists, asking them different questions, into why they do it. From watching these I have learnt the various different ways that street  art is able to be done, and how many people believe that is still actually art, not just annoying graffiti. The engagement that I have gotten for these texts are that they are very likeable people, who are just like anyone else and really don’t mean to cause any trouble.  I found that there are just as many people in the older generation than the younger generation who are street artists.

Looking on the BARB website the Discovery channel reaches over 673 viewers per day.

This channel mostly works around making sure that all of the documentaries are being shown around the peak time, making most of the documentaries suitable for nearly any viewers, within reason to understanding the content. 

The Five Formats

A documentary is a film, television or radio documentary that uses pictures or interview with people in real events providing the audience with factual reports. There are five different forms of documentaries and these are; expository, observational, interactive, reflexive and performance documentary’s.

Expository documentaries is when a voice over is directly addressing the audience about what is happening with accompanying images, the voice over is informative and not opinion based. An example of this would be the documentary called ‘Wild China'. This was the first programme in the series which concentrates on South China, where the climate and terrain is ideal for rice cultivation. This type of documentary strikes the viewer to being true because of the true reactions they are able to gather from the way the people and the animals are acting around the camera. They have included a wide variety of location shots, allowing for the viewer to take in the surroundings of the location (establishing shots). However the camera placements to be able to get some of these shots may convince the viewer different in the way that the documentary maybe isn't all real. However all of the shots have been taken in real time, but have been speed up in order to keep to a suitable length for the programme.

Observational documentaries are when the documentary maker is just following a person around in order to observe the events that happen in their everyday life. The camera will normally be hand held and will have longer takes, with no interviews and usually no voice over. An example of this could be ‘16 and pregnant’ from the MTV channel. In these documentaries the camera man will be following the subject around and seeing the events of their everyday lives. This is an example of observational documentaries and has been shown by the way that there are no interviews with the girls, but they do talk through what they are doing, and how this effects the babies and then how it makes them feel, and also there are also longer takes used. Normally these types of documentaries have no narration or view of the documenter on screen, this can be both real towards the audience as well as fiction. However this does include a sound track, and this helps to keep the viewer engaged with what is happening in the teens life, maybe making it a little more dramatic than what teens are making it. 

                             

 Interactive documentaries are when the film maker’s presence is evident, maybe as they are participating. There is in interaction between the interviewees, the presenter and the audience. This may also not include any voice over or talking in the documentary an example of this would be the documentary named ‘Flight over Lithuania’. In this documentary there mostly just the one camera angle, which are high angles that show the audience everything that the documenter is seeing form the helicopter. In this one there is no talking within the documentary as well as a narrator or voice over. The music that is used along with the moving images provided, it is able to manipulate the audience into how they should really be feeling, which could be calm and maybe even inspired. This is all evident in the clear, steady and rather empty shots that have been used in order to create this.  

Reflexive documentaries are when the filmmaker is nearly always present on camera, as they like to be able to participate. These types of documentaries are usually made up of interviews making the audience participate within arguments and to become manipulated through the text of editing. An example of this would be the documentaries from Louis. His one named “When Louis met Jimmy” in 2000, this one is about when Louis had met with Jimmy Savile and in this series he had accompanied a British celebrity around on their day to day business. He would interview him with questions about his life and experiences. I felt that this interview was very realistic in the way that Louis was within the programme as well as being the voice over. This is evident in the way that there where straight up reactions for the questions being asked, but not only that there was also a shortage on questions for when Louis was put on the spot. This documentary, just like others have fast forwarded the dull parts. The way that will convince the audience that this isn’t like all of the others are with way that it is all mostly filmed with just the one camera, as this is evident with the camera and camera man are able to be seen in the mirrors.

Performance documentary is when the documentary is representing the world indirectly with the use of re-enactments, and then engaging camera positions and soundtracks to help to submerge the audience into the diegesis. An example of this would be a story called the ‘The Virgin Killer’ of when a British-born Elliot Rodger had killed six students in Santa Barbra before turning a gun on himself on the 23^rd of May in 2014. It was a documentary that was aired on Channel 4. Here we see various different interviews with a few different people. These would be the witnesses and other professionals that join to each case. In order for this documentary to convince the audience that it is all real is with the names or each person they are interviewing, the use of newspapers and articles to bring forward the past and also the use of re-enactments from various different people’s views. The way that this type of documentary convinces the audience that it is all real is with the one camera that is being used while interviewing the people and then using more than the one for the re-enactments. However the documentary doesn’t all seem real to the audience and this is evident with the use of music over all of the serious parts of the documentary, perhaps therefore making it lose a little of its reality.  

The positives about having different formats for documentaries are that they are able to appeal to the specific target audience. Nine out of ten times they are always interesting to watch because of the different formats that are able to be used for each documentary. Because of this I feel that I am able to believe that all of the types of documentaries are honest, accurate and truthful with the information that they are sharing with the audience.

However the negatives of the formats are that they are not always easy to distinguish which format it is. Although this isn’t always important, most viewers only like certain types of documentaries and will not watch others if the format doesn’t catch their eye. Well maybe I don’t one hundred per cent believe that the observational documentaries are accurate. This is because the people within them are more likely to over exaggerate on the details they are giving.

However I find performance documentaries to be one of the best formats of documentary going. This is because I find it much more interesting, and with the way that they are able to recreate events just as people told them as always keeps me intrigued, because of this I always find them accurate and honest.

Behind TV News

The presenters are usually around the age of 30 to 50 and mostly try to have one female and one male presenter that are normally presenting together.  

A presenter is the person who introduces and then appears in a television or radio programme, one example being the news.  A television presenter will be typically specialised in one area, whether it would be; the weather, sports, politics or any others who will then broadcast the latest news in to the audience about these topics.

The role of the presenters is to present any news that the directors and others have chosen that will suit that day. They are briefed and are then given sheets of paper of topic they are to bring up.  When on live television they are counted in until they are on the air, and throughout the time of them being on the air they are constantly being talked to about when to say good bye or how long they should keep talking to the viewers for. They are also then directed on which camera to be looking at for each different story they are telling the viewers at home.

The way the presenters have linked each of the stories is by introducing then with the camera on them to then cut to an opening sequence (i.e. the opening sequence of the weather). Once that has been shown they then show the closing sequence and are now back in the studio with the presenters ready to do the same thing when going on to the next new topic.

The presenters are advised on what they should usually wear on a morning showing, evening showing, or a winter showing. The reason they have to be advised on what to wear is because of the different backgrounds that the studio uses for the different times of the day or even season. The tone of dressing for the morning showings for the presenters, are advised to wear lighter and slightly informal dress, however on the evening and winter showing they are then advised to wear more darker and formal wear. 

The term ordering is meant to make a TV or radio news bulletin or a series text based report. However the term that is given to the list of stories that will be appears on the broadcast is a running order.  The lead story will be shown first and the way that it is selected is that each story is ranked in the interest of the audience but not only that, it is usually the most lengthy report as it is carrying the most information. The other stories appear in a news roundup where the other stories are grouped together as they are similar to one another. The ability to think and act quickly for the news is important because, the news is always changing and some stories become more important than what the original one where.  The term ‘slow news day’ is meant when the time of the media news organisations broadcast smaller and not so interesting news stories due to the lack of more bigger and substantial stories. Usually the final news story is introduced ‘and finally’ with either a lighter hearted story or the weather. The term ‘news values’ are the general guidelines that are used by the media outlets, such as newspapers or broadcast media. This is done to determine how much important the story is. And Galtung and Ruge were the ones to have written the news values. The Jeremy Clarkson case from March 2015 fits well with these values. The values that they have identified fall down into three categories;

• Impact – This is where the bigger the impact a story will have on people, the better chance it will have hitting the news stand.
• Audience identification – Most people nowadays are interested in people, these types of news that are centred on a particular person, and then presented from a human interest angle and highly likely to be making the front page, especially when they are involving with a well-known famous person.
• Pragmatics of media coverage - Stories that match the media's expectations will end out receiving more coverage than those which counter them

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31828184

This story was about a small family that brought a one bedroom house worth fifty seven thousand pounds, while the father Pierre was working. About a year later he is out of the job and is now no longer able to work and provide for his family. The result of this now means that the Chowles family now owe over six thousand pounds. With the family having another baby on the way they hope that the council could help. The father then had a meeting with a member from the council where they had found out that the only place that they would be able to stay was at a bed and breakfast that was over 16miles away from the town. The people that were involved were the three family members, the council lady and the narrator of the documentary. The family in this story where represented as normal working class people that are now finding it hard to live the way they wanted to. I feel that the news story makes the audience feel sorry for this family as most of the family shots are with all three family members together, showing how close they are, also while Christina was talking; it looked as if she was finding it hard not to cry. This story does have a narration, however without it the audience would not have known the facts and figures that where behind the story, therefore making it harder to understand without all of this information. 

Selection and omission is when an editor is able to express a bias choosing to use or even not to use a new item. This can be shown in the story about Madeleine McCann internet toll that was then found dead after she had been exposed for sending hate messages to the parents of the missing child. Stories are able to have details ignored, and other parts included, and this is to give the readers and even the viewers a different opinion about the stories being used.

Placement/ order of news stories are in which the stories as seen by the audience. All of it is placed in the order of the longest to the shortest of stories and the more appealing to the audience to the least appealing. An example of this would be how the editors of the BBC news at ten are able to choose the important stories, without boring their viewers with too much information.

Headlines are the headings that are used at the top of articles, magazines, newspapers or television news. An example of this would be from nearly all of newspapers, with the big massive captions on the front page, which are there in order to capture the reader’s attention and want to know more.

Shot selection and camera angles are just as important as choosing the correct words to say and then the correct order and punctuation that they should be said in. An example of this would again be the Madeline McCann toll case, when it is shown with the sky news broad casting the incorrect video clips to make their news story, and with the results of this there where consequences.

Names and captions in news reports normally appear at the bottom of the screen, and these will include the speakers name and profession. The reason for these is to help the viewer understand who the people are, what they do, and why they are important to the story. An example of this would be the names of the reporters who do the weather. 

Use of language is the way that the news stories have been presented in different ways towards different classes of people, to the amount that they will actually understand. An example of this would be the shorts story about how ‘The world according to China’ is.