2. My research
• My secondary Audience research has been fairly helpful. In analysing the numerous reviews
for my two chosen example shows (shameless and Dead set) I have learnt what appeals to
the audience of these two programmes. This benefits me as from these reviews I can assess
what appears to be the most popular element of these programmes within the audiences, so
as such I can include these elements in our show, in order to appeal to the target audience.
• For my primary audience research I conducted a semiotic analysis of an episode of the show
‘Beaver falls’ and I also conducted a similar analysis of the website of the show. Both of these
where helpful in the sense that the show in question has a very similar target audience that
our show will have to appeal to (young people aged 18-35). As such. From both of these
analyses I conducted I was able to derive the primary ways that the show appealed to this
particular target audience within the show and the website. I additionally carried out a
survey, which I promoted through Facebook and twitter. using this survey I can analyse what
aspects of TV shows are most popular with the target audience, meaning that we will be able
to produce a programme that is as appealing as possible to the target audience.
3. My research (cont’d)
• For my secondary production research I researched various different production companies
who produce or have produced content for channel 4 or any of its subsidiaries. From this I
derived information about the production of programmes and discovered useful knowledge
or tactics in the making of programmes, that has proven successful with producers that have
made successful and acclaimed content. This is useful as this can be applied when making our
show as it may help us in the production.
• My primary production research was to phone a production company and ask them a set of
questions. The company that I called was Clerkenwell Films, producers of 'Misfits.' From this
call I gained useful knowledge which I will take into account when producing our show. Some
of this information includes; things to consider when choosing a set for a programme,
different ways to appeal to the audience, and successful elements of characterisation .
4. Zac’s Research
• In Zacs Secondary audience research, Zac read “The Media Student Book” by Gill Branston and Roy
Stafford and posted selected parts of the book as an image on his blog. Some of the sections that he
posted include; Media representation of audiences, Media influence, and Academic representation of
audiences. In researching this information, we can use information from the book, so we are able to
create are show in an appealing way to audiences, that we may not have thought or ourselves.
Additionally, in researching this in a book, which has evidently been written by someone with
extensive knowledge of media, if any of their opinions on media are the same as our own, our
knowledge and opinions is verified by this book. Overall, the content of this book may help to enrich
our product.
• Zacs primary audience research consisted of him asking questions to a variety of different young
people, who fitted into various subcultures. The format itself was conducted in a style similar to that
of ‘uktribes.com.’ The research conducted found out the favourite shows (if any) on E4 of the various
different subcultures. This information is useful, as it allows us to see which subcultures appears to
view E4 shows the most, which will enable us to cover issues, and create characters that they may find
appealing and relatable, which may overall boost the success of our programme. Zac also carried out a
focus group with Nathan. The information Zac gathered was useful as it is information that is from our
own potential audience, as such we can take feedback on the likes/dislikes of the audience and apply
them within our own content.
5. Zac’s research (cont’d)
• For Zacs secondary production research was to read books about the production of television
shows, and the organisation of production companies themselves. The book in question is
‘The Media students book’ by Gill Branston and Roy Stafford. The section that Zac drew focus
on was ‘Production organisation.’ This looked at how a professional production company may
function, and the different roles within it. This is useful to us as it allows us to apply the
working of a professional production company to our own content
http://mediazacbowen.blogspot.co.uk/
6. Nathan’s research
• In Nathans secondary audience research he collected statistics of viewer reviews from the
site ‘imdb.’ From these statistics, it can be observed that of the chosen shows (Dead set,
Misfits and Skins) which have a similar genre of what our show (drama), the predominant
amount of viewers (or at least those who review the shows) are males aged 18-29. This
information is very useful as it shows us the largest section of our possible audience, as such
we can take this into account when producing our show, as whilst we will still cater our show
a much wider demographic than this, we may take this large proportion of viewers into
account and add elements that may appeal specifically to them.
• Nathans secondary production research consisted of him reading and watching tutorials on
the camera that we will be using for the production of our show (Nikon D3100). This will be
useful to us as it will speed up our production process as we will not have to spend as long
familiarising ourselves with the equipment available, and will subsequently lead to a more
efficient and less time consuming production process.
7. Nathan’s research (cont’d)
• Nathans primary production research was to analyse a TV shows (misfits) website, and to
identify conventions of the webpage used. This will help us when producing our own website
as it will give us the knowledge of what parts of a website make it successful an what are not,
so we may ultimately produce the best website possible, that will also appeal to our target
audience also. This website was proved of additional sue as it is a website for an E4 show,
which means that these conventions are even more useful to us as E4 is our broadcaster.
• Nathan also carried out the focus group with Zac for primary audience research.
http://sullymedia.blogspot.co.uk/
