The document discusses research Oscar Gibb conducted on existing audio products to inform their own audio documentary project. They analyzed comedic interview show "Contractual Obligation" to understand how to keep listeners engaged without pauses. They also examined a formal Brexit documentary to learn how to appeal to older audiences. Louis Theroux and Ross Kemp documentaries were researched to understand interview styles and using sound effects to build tension. Gibb plans to incorporate constant background sound, full interviews, and building tension with sound in their own production to appeal to younger audiences. Audience research on the BBC Sounds platform will also help tailor the project.

1. Research
Oscar Gibb

2. Existing Product-James Veitch’s
contractual obligation
The audio show is a very comedic story as it is not a documentary and has more of a quick pace as
there is never a part of the product which is quiet as it helps the listeners not lose focus as they are
constantly hearing quick successions of different interviews and the sound used to show a change in
area or time. I decided to research into this type of audio project as it will help me to understand
how to create the sounds of time passing or a change in location instead of a pause then a new
scene etc. I need to discover another way to signify that there has been a change in time/area as
this audio show helps keeps the listeners interested by using the (whoosh) sound to be fairly loud
and used throughout the product so it can give a juvenile effect that is represented with comedy
due to him being a comedian. It definitely has an audience which is aimed for younger teens all the
way to young adults as his curiosity is his humor as he appeals towards a very juvenile thinking
audience who enjoy “slapstick” comedy. The background sounds used throughout the piece ties in
with the topic of the story which is the gaming industry as it has very retro gaming music in the
background which will obviously infer his age and how he grew up with games (arcades) as the
music also adds to a quite up beat comedy sketch. The sound is recorded very well and seems to be
similar every time which could infer that the interviews all took place in the radio 4 room.

3. Existing Product-The Brexit Prime
Minister
I decided to do research into a more formal documentary as I wanted to understand what a regular
audio documentary would be like as I want to understand what the difference in style of audio and
how it affects the audience as it is obvious that this documentary is a slow and not excitable as the
previous one as it is made to be informative and to be received by a much older age range as it is found
as boring and doesn’t interest the youth as much, this could be due to the fact its very quiet and not
exciting which will lose the attention of a younger audience although it has the ability to keep certain
people interested like the older generation and maybe certain youths who are deeply invested in
politics.
The reason I decided to research into a completely different style of audio product is that I wanted to
understand how to make a documentary and see what not to do so I found the polar opposite to a
documentary on “odd” people which will include humor which was a documentary on the Prime
Minister and Brexit as my target audience is very much aimed at a younger audience due to its content
being quite serious but the storyline can be seen as comical. Researching into this documentary has
informed me on how I can make my documentary more interesting and how I can keep my audience
interested as this documentary is made in a successful way as it involves sound clips from the house of
commons and also interviews as this all helps make up a well created documentary as this can help me
create a well made documentary.

4. Existing Product-Louis Theroux
I decided to research into Louis Theroux as he interviews very different and some time dangerous
people and I wanted to research into his documentaries as they're made to be intense and interesting
due to the people he interviews as he interviews dangerous and ”odd” individuals as this helps the
documentaries appeal to a wide range of people as the different people may appeal to a younger
audience as they might find it interesting, comical etc. but it also appeals to an older audience as the
interviews and language used is very formal as such and is a calm documentary and is rare to be as
intense as a Ross Kemp documentary as his documentaries are very intense and music is used to raise
adrenaline and create tension for viewers which appeals to a teenager audience to young adults etc.
The documentaries are very well made as they include the questions as these are kept in to help
guide the audience to not just side with the presenter but to hear the full response of the guest and
understand each persons points. The interviews a re well produced which is also a reason why I
decided to research them as it has a different lay out to the previous documentary although this
documentary is also a lot like Ross Kemps many documentaries as they meanings of the docs are to
allow the audience to understand the motives of some dangerous and “odd” individuals although
Louis Theroux asks the more obvious questions he does so in a much more clam way than someone
like Ross Kemp

5. Existing Product-Ross Kemp
I decided to research into Ross Kemps documentaries as these documentaries are very similar to
Louis Theroux's and also very different as well as Ross Kemps use the idea of sound/music to help
create tension in the more intense moments od the interviews or travelling as most of the points in
these documentaries are very intense and the intense music helps with that as this also adds to the
points od these styles of documentaries appealing to a younger audience than a Louis Theroux as
Ross Kemps appeal to a more teenager to young adult audience due to the intense interviews with
very violent individuals as these moments are what younger audiences find exciting and will be
more invested and watch more than a less intense documentary on the Brexit Prime Minister and
that this doesn't appeal to a younger audience. The idea of him using a background noise to build
tension is an idea I would like to introduce into my documentary and so I have been looking into
when the noise may start and when it ends as they “most of the time” end just before the outcome
of the intense situation is scene/heard. These documentary styles are interesting as it helps to
identify hat makes these intense docs so interesting and appealing to a younger audience as most
stereotypically teens are not that into 1:40 hour documentaries but these style of documentaries
transgress these stereotypical boundaries as the intense moments mixed with the violent people
interviewed is almost seen as close to a drama that life can get to.

6. What common features do the
researched products have?
All the audio projects like in to the idea of what I want to make as the comical show helped me
understand how I maybe able to conduct my documentary which is in one studio and the same
quality of audio throughout and also there is no part of the documentary which is silent as there is a
constant noise throughout which helps me understand how I could appeal to a younger audience if I
wanted/needed. Then the Brexit Prime Minister documentary was researched for a completely
different as it helped me identify how to appeal to an older audience as it was the polar opposite to
the first audio product as I researched this to understand the differences in documentaries and how
I would make a formal documentary like the Brexit one compared to a fun and interesting audio
product like the first one I researched. The 3rd and fourth documentaries I researched were very
similar in their topics and interviews as they were both made fro a similar reason which is to
entertain the audience and inform them on criminals and dangerous individuals around the world
which gives an insight into life all around to the audience. The difference between Ross Kemps
documentaries and louis Theroux's is the layout and templates fort heir documentaries as Ross
Kemp uses intense music to build up tension for the audience where as Louis Theroux's
documentaries only involve the full interviews instead. The links between all these products is that
they involve parts that are similar to my project as the first one is used to help me identify how I will
produce my sound and how I will record as I would enjoy the sound to be the same quality
throughout my project and the 2nd product helped me understand how to appeal to my audience
and how I could appeal to a much older audience. The 3rd and 4th product helped me understand
the questions I could ask and how I could involve the entire interviews or just parts and how I can
build tension in the documentary.

7. What aspects of the research
will you include within your
production work?
I will include parts of the 1st , 3rd and fourth as I will not include parts of the second product I
researched as it would not be appropriate for this style of documentary as it appeals to a much older
and specific audience as mine can range between a wider range as it is not aimed at specific people
because of the nature of the documentary as a meaning which could appeal to all ages but since mine
is an audio project and not much of the youth listen to it as audio podcast/documentaries are mainly
listened to 35 and older according to BBC sounds. From the 1st product I researched I will like to include
the idea of there being constant sound throughout the project as it helps keep the audiences
concentration on the audio and can help my project appeals to a younger audience. From the 3rd
documentary I may include he idea of involving the full interview which helps the audience follow the
questions and sees the development in the answers as the question tend to start off easy then as they
progressively try to push the guest being interviewed it builds tension for the audience. I will take parts
of the 4th product that was researched as it uses sound in the background to build tension like a horror
film as the sound gets progressively louder it help the audience understand what situation the
interviewer although I will not be interviewing dangerous individuals but I may fabricate a situation
where a guest gets progressively angrier as the interview goes on.

8. Audience Research

9. Secondary Audience research
My product will appeal to this audience due to BBC sounds audience mainly being a group of teenagers up to
35 year olds which is a big gap of ages which I need to appeal to so it is more likely that my product will appeal
to either the teens or to young adults but the off chance that I cannot appeal to them audiences I now know
how to slightly change the layout and style of my audio project to appeal to the older audiences.

10. Secondary Audience research
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this audience:

11. Secondary Audience research
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this audience:

12. Primary Audience research
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this audience:

13. Primary Audience research
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this audience:

14. Primary Audience research
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this audience:

15. Primary Audience research
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this audience:

16. Primary Audience research
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this audience:

17. Subject Research

18. Subject Research

19. Subject Research

20. Practical Research

21. Practical Research

22. Practical Research

23. Practical Research

24. Practical Research

25. Bibliography

26. Bibliography
1. James Veitch. (2019). Contractual Obligation - A Gamer. Available:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0003km8. Last accessed 2nd April
2019.
2. BBC. (2019). BBC Sounds audience needs. Available:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/403C7htQdBtQ9nQZXs2MJ
fY/bbc-sounds-audience-needs. Last accessed 5th April 2019.
3. Ross Kemp. (2019). Ross Kemps Extreme Worlds. Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ5MxTxbTUw&t=404s. Last
accessed 5th April 2019.