research

1. Research
Your Name

2. BBC One 2017 Documentary
‘Vandals and Visionaries’ is a short documentary
about graffiti, mainly focused on the Bristol
graffiti scene it takes the viewer through how
graffiti began to how it has positively effected
Bristol. This is a really good documentary as it has
a wide range of graffiti artistes and writers that
were there while it was starting have a positive
change. This gives the viewer a really in depth
look into how it was like for them and a
completely different perspective something I
would like to use in my own work.
This documentary was made by the ‘BBC’ this follows
”Miquita Oliver” as she looks at the Bristol . It also has lots
of interviews with the people that were doing the graffiti
and the police trying to stop the graffiti. These were two
completely different views and it sort of goes through a
timeline of events from when graffiti was really hated to
now were some graffiti artistes work is being protected by
the public. She focuses mainly on the big graffiti writers
that came from Bristol the most known being “Banksy”
who’s work is very well know in the UK and probably one
of the most well know in the world.
What’s it about?
Who was in it?
All the filming done in this documentary were all done on out dated software and low
quality cameras as it was filmed quite a while ago. For mine I will use all up to date
software and high quality cameras to give the graffiti a much nicer and appealing
look. For the shots a lot of them were done in a studio as most of it is interview style
however out side that there are a few basic shots of the graffiti and the area. In mine
I will focus more on the area and graffiti than talking to writers as it is hard to find
local writers that would be willing to do that. The lighting in the shots is just day light
as all the shots outside of the studio are on public or private property just in the
street. Something bad this documentary did was its color scheme was rather dull in
mine I will have a lot of colors to match the colorful graffiti I will photograph. They did
however make it appealing to the audience as it had such a different perspective
something I will use in my own work. That is also the reason why I choose to annotate
this product.
Evaluation.

3. Sheffield Graffiti Kingdom.
This is another really good documentary similar to the “BBC” staring a lot
of current writers however all based in Sheffield. This video is just made
to glorifying the scene in Sheffield and how it has evolved over the years
with all the big writers and taggers. I really enjoyed watching this
documentary as it gave a really in dephth look through the eyes of past
and present writers something I would like to use in mine however I think
it will be hard to find writers in my area or the city I will target that will be
willing to speak on it.
Whats it about?
Evaluation.
In this documentary all the people staring had there identity's hidden through having their
faces blurred or just not being in shot this give a sense of mystery and shows the viewers
how secretive these people are. However this is probably not a technique I will be using in
my work. The shot types in this documentary was very wide and there was a range of
different shots used. There was close ups and long shots off all the different pieces of
graffiti giving the viewer a good look at each piece. It is also very well structured giving the
audience an easy to follow story something mine will need . Non of the shots in this were
filmed in a studio all shots were outside or just in peoples homes. This meant that all the lighting was daylight giving it a really natural tone. In
this documentary the camera used to film was a much newer camera than the one used in the “BBC” documentary this helped a lot and made
This documentary look up to date and more stylish than the ‘BBC’ one. This also
helped promote the art as it gave it a nicer look and made it more appealing to the
audience. I choose to look at this documentary as it was mainly focused on a
specific graffiti scene in one city, this is something I may use in my own work. The
only negatives I have about this documentary is the audio quality isn't that good
and it doesn't really follow any specific color scenes however this focuses more on
each separate piece which actually may have helped the audience appeal with nice
looking art instead of blurry not good looking art. Overall I really liked this
documentary and it has showed me a lot of different techniques and things that
work well that I may use in my own work to make it look and flow better.

4. Behind The Wall
This is a good short documentary based in London
showing of the graffiti scene. It mainly follows a
shop owner that opened a graffiti shop and how
that has affected the community. In this
documentary there are only a couple of people
being interviewed as it is a much shorter
documentary. I didn't really like how this
documentary was very based on legal walls and
this shop instead of the actual scene and graffiti
pieces. It did keep me watching however covered
a lot about the shop owners personal views and
people that paint legal walls not really what graffiti
is about and most the shots being takenin one
place didn’t show the veriety of all the pieces
something that is most interesting about graffiti.
This documentary includes a small cast
only including the interviewer and a
couple 2-3 people that they interview
mainly following the shop owner
though. This shop owner made the
most notorious shop in the whole of
London all graffiti writer know about
his shop and he helps protect and help
out the writers. The documentary doesn't’t really look at many graffiti spots
though and isn't really that creative with their shot types or locations. Most the
locations and all of the same place a legal graffiti wall I think near to where the
shop is located and the rest of the shots are just of the shop owner or in the shop.
Another interview with a younger writer confused me as a viewer a bit as he was
sat in a dark room but you could still see the writers face so they weren't in a dark
room to disclose his identity so I think at was a bit silly when he could have done
the interview in a lit room or even in front of a graffiti piece he has done. Some
other things that could have been improved was a lot of the shots were done at
night so the lighting was just horrible om them. They also used different cameras
and some were less high quality than others so I don’t see why they didn't just use
the same camera in each shot. Other than them this documentary did have a good
audience appeal being short allowed it to keep the watcher intrigued throughout.
Brief summary
Evaluation.

5. The Mobsters Vol.2 (Full Movie)
This is probably one of the best graffiti documentary's/ movies out at the moment and it
was filmed in 2017 4 years ago and follows a group of train bombers on there adventures.
It is all filmed on a camera strapped to one of the crews head and allows the viewer to see
their every move when painting trains. It is like a montage video of all the trains they hit.
This is obviously putting them at great risk of getting into trouble with the police however
if they are careful enough they can get away with no consequences.
Over view.
This video uses a wide range of techniques
to have this as its final product the film
starts with a disclaimer not promoting the
act of vandalism and says “Video footage
was supplied anonymously” this is so the
video wont be taken down and the person
that made the channel cant be prosecuted
for actions taken in the video. I will need to use this in my video for the same reason else
the video will get taken down by YouTube. Other than that the shot types in this film were
very broad compared to the other documentary's. it had all sorts of angles like head cams,
close ups long shots videos of the area around the stations how they got there pretty much
all the angles they could get. This give the viewer a in depth look at how they work and go
through to get their final art onto the trains. It also shows the amount of risks these artistes
put themselves under to get one more piece and they keep pushing for more. There are
even shots from CCTV cameras showing them painting. In my opinion this documentary is a
very good documentary as it literally puts the viewer into the eyes of these artists and
allows the viewer to see the hard work and timing that goes into every piece showing that
these guys aren't criminals but very very smart artistes just finding a way to express them
selves. it also the amount of risk that goes into photographing that and getting out safe.

6. Research Analysis
• What common features do the researched
products have? They all include a lot of interviews
with current or past writers to show how it was
for them.
• What aspects of the research will you include
within your own production work? In a lot of
them there was a wide range of different shots
on the graffiti pieces this is something I would like
to implement into my work.

7. Audience Research

8. Secondary Audience
research
• Observation: If you regularly use social media you have
more than likely came across a graffiti account before
these are account made by writers or photographer that
show of the work they or other writers have done.
• What this says about my audience: This show’s that these artists aren’t just promoting
themselves by there tag but also using social media to bring In a much wider audience.
This makes my target audience quite browed as if you look through these accounts they
are getting 100’s and 1000’s of like and followers even people that aren't well know
about graffiti scene have probably came across and looked at some of these accounts.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: My project will appeal to this audience
as I have looked through accounts and looked at the type of art that is getting more
views and like. I choose to do this as that is what the audience most wants to see and
will bring in the most amount of people. This is good as it will get my video out there
quicker and be seen by a much wider audience then if it was just art people didn't
want to see.

9. Secondary Audience research
Observation: ‘Style Wars’ is a documentary made in new york that talks the viewer
through the development and hype of graffiti over the years since the very start of
it getting big.
What this says about my audience: this being one of the biggest documentary on
graffiti has a lot to say about how to put a good documentary together. It also shows
how to make a documentary more appealing to the target audience I want to push
towards. It also shows that the graffiti audience is very brawed and a lot of people are
intreaged by videos such as this one. However this documentary also tries to be more
personal with the viewer recuting ex artists to interview this allowes you to see the
people behind the are which in most other video you don’t see.
How will your product appeal to this audience: I think it will be quite hard to appeal to
this audience as the only writers I know are current writer and they will want to be
under hidden identitys. This is also good tho as they can give a more indepht look at the
current scene instead of the past scene something I don’t want to really focuse on too
much.

10. Secondary Audience research
Observation: A study was done in London the capital city of the UK where the graffiti
scene is massive and the results stated that ’77% of Londoners listed graffiti to be a
quality of life concern.’ this means that over half of the people that took this survey
don’t agree with graffiti.
What this says about my audience: This means that in a lot of big citys graffiti is
looked down upon this will mean that I will have less viewers in big citys however
this also means I could target the people hating as well and try change their minds.
How will your product appeal to this audience: It will be hard to hook in the haters
and even harder to change their minds however if I use a lot of different opinions
this might help also the interview should help as they will be listening to an actual
writer saying why he does it. This will allow them to understand graffiti instead of
just hating on it.

11. Primary Audience research
Observation: I made a questionnaire for my audience this highlighted some
significant stuff I should go over in my documentary and them as the potential
viewers helps get a good idea from their perspective. One of the questioned I asked
was do they think graffiti should be illegal or legal
What this says about my audience: to this question 65% of the people that answered
said it should be legal a only 35% said it should stay illegal. However this may have
been influenced by the age range of the people doing the questionnaire as 80% of
the people that answered were below the age of 18. although this may have
influenced the results this also means that this should be targeted to the younger
audience as they are the people that want to watch it while I could also include stuff
for other older watchers to bring new viewers in.
How will your product appeal to this audience: I feel that this shows that the illegal
activity is what brings in the younger audience this means for my project I can focus
more on illegal graffiti then the legal ones that are more prevalent in Leeds. But
there is still a massive illegal graffiti scene in Leeds so this shouldn't be too difficult.

12. Primary Audience research
Observation: Graffiti is everywhere it doesn't’t matter if you are in a big city or a small
town I can guarantee there will be local writers tagging and doing pieces everywhere
nowadays it is very unlikely to find a town without at least on dedicated writer.
What this says about my audience: This shows that everyone knows what graffiti is
but they are probably wondering why? And who? This is good as it shows a lot of
people want answers and this documentary will answer some of them with the
exclusive interview I will get with a writer that is actually in the current graffiti
scenes to answer the questions this audience is wondering.
How will your product appeal to this audience: it will appeal to this audience as
they will have a lot of questions for these artists and this documentary will try to
answer most of the biggest questions these people will have. I could even make a
survey asking people what sort of questions they would like me to ask him so they
get all the answers they want.

13. Primary Audience research
Observation: while thinking of what I should do for this project I asked my friends and
family about doing it graffiti and my mates that are around the same sort of age as me
were more for it then some of the adults and older people I talked to about it
What this says about my audience: this says I should target the younger generation
however some other things that came up when asking adults about it. There was a
common theme of them saying they enjoy looking at the bigger pieces with
characters that tags or throw ups that just make the streets look dodgy and
unclean
How will your product appeal to this audience: using this observation I could work
on including bigger pieces and more colourful pieces in my work instead of just tags
and throw-ups as this will make it more appealing to a wider audience.

14. Background research on graffiti.
Graffiti was first started in 1960 Philadelphia where two boys started writing
their names around the town to get the attention of others and the media.
Most people think that graffiti originated from new York however this is
because this was the first city to have a massive graffiti scenes in this they
used numbers in their tags and pieces to show what street they were from I
don’t know exactly why they did this as it just makes it more risky to get
caught but it was the 60s there wasn’t many cameras to do anything. It was
then brought over to the UK in 1980 and the UK scene started mainly in
London and spread quickly to Bristol and other major city's in the UK. When it
was first introduced to the UK the only paint the writers could get their hands
on was car paint which must have been hard to use but even harder for the
people to get it off. Soon after in 1990 the famous UK writer Banksy started
out and his work is still being make and up for show right now im not too sure
if he has done a piece in Leeds as he operates normally in London and Bristol
but if there is one I will definitely include it in my video as he is one of the
most iconic street artists in the world as his work was more political in mainly
stencil form not normally what u would see in the 90s.

15. Subject Research- styles
and techniques
Graffiti has been around for a while now started in 1960 because some kids just
wanted attention it then spread world wide and got competitive however
something a lot of people don’t realize is there is loads of different types and
reasons why people do and make graffiti. The main types of graffiti consist of:
• Tags. These are the most common type mainly done illegally the writer will
just write their name.
• Pieces this is when a writer covers a large space of wall with their name
normally having outlines, fills, and background color this are most commend in
areas with low security e.g alleyways.
• Stencils these are pre cut out figures of writing that can quick and easily
sprayed onto walls this is very uncommon however Banksy probably the
biggest writer ever uses this as it is quick and easy
• There are many more but they are the main 3 the others are stuff like throw
ups where a writer will put their initials in normally bubble writing. Also
stickers are used as they are the quickest ways
All other styles are just different types of pieces a writer could do as pieces have
there whole own section there are block styles, wild styles and really anything a
writer can come up with a lot of pieces also include characters this is isn't to be
mistaken as murals as that is a completely different style of art.

16. Subject Research-
behind a piece
I've just gone through most of the types of graffiti however now I will explain
the different reasons why people do graffiti:
• Politically- most notorious writer that was very political with their work is
Banksy they also ways had a story or a meaning for his pieces and most of
them were very against police and the system. All writers don’t like police
but Banksy took a step up and would insult police in his work.
• A sort of protest- some writers use graffiti in a similar way to Banksy but
instead of getting political they will do pieces to highlight big issues going
on in the world so people look at them and then go research and spread
the message.
• The last main reason is jus being criminals addicted to adrenaline most
these writers are bait and will jus do what they want when they want
broad day or night it doesn't’t matter these people will do pieces and tags
on trains and buildings with loads of people around just as a statement to
competitors and the police and other like owners of the buildings and
stuff.

17. Practical Research

18. Practical Research
• Editing
Before I start my production I will need to familiarise myself with adobe
premier and Photoshop. This could play a major roll in the out look of my final
video as if I cant remember or don’t know how to do a certain thing it could
massively effect my overall project. There are a lot of ways I could do this
from getting some short clips and putting them into a short video or just
watch videos on different techniques I could use in my work. I will also need
to experiment with Photoshop as I will probably use this at some point
throughout the project and also look over editing to audio and music as this
will play a key roll in the final look of my project.

19. Practical Research
• Camera
The practical research I will do with my camera is I will start by choosing which
camera I want to use between phone camera, gopro max or cannon 1300d. In my
initial plan ppt I went through the advantages and disadvantages and choose to film
on the cannon 1300d. Now I know what camera I will need to have a look at angles
and shot types I could do this by the day I have a rekey in Leeds to take a wide rang of
shots to see what works well and what doesn't this will also make me more
conmftable on this camera as I have little prior knowledge. I can also research on
YouTube and other platforms to see what settings any shot types work well for other
people this is helpful as there is a massive range online with a lot of different opinions
on what works well and what doesn't I can use this to my advantage and use what I
find in my work.

20. Practical Research
• location
As practical research for locations I will use tools like google maps to get a good sort of
idea to where will be good to shoot. However a problem I will face with this is that a
lot of the street views on google maps are out dated and wont have the current pieces
graffiti writers have done more recently. Therefore will only be using google maps to
get some sort of idea when it get closer I will have to do a rekey up to Leeds and scout
out some possible locations this will be the best way as I will actually be there in
person and can see some of the locations I will shoot at. I will be taking several
different trips to Leeds over the time of production to ensure I get all the footage I
need and to make sure I don’t miss any important or good looking pieces.

21. Bibliography

22. Bibliography
1. Your, Name. (2018) Target Audience Research Survey (conducted on
DATE)
2. Interviewees, Name. (2018) Target Audience Interviews (conducted on
DATE)
3. https://www.graffiti.org/index/best.html
4. https://www.spraydaily.com/bombin-1987-documentary-about-british-
graffiti-and-hip-hop/