2. Questionnaires and audience research
-
Questionnaires have a limited usefulness unless the questions are well
designed, linked to the focus areas below or a RELEVANT AUDIENCE
THEORY and give you MEANINGFUL data.
For example, handing out 25 questionnaires with a question asking, ‘What’s
your favourite genre of film/music?’ and then claiming that your film/music
video has an audience isn’t really meaningful research.
If you have completed surveys/questionnaires already DON’T WORRY but
don’t make wild claims about your data. You can phrase it such as this…
‘We completed a small scale survey which was limited in its scope and number
of responses but found that…’
Showing an invited audience who you have identified as your target
audience a selection of music videos similar to the one you plan and filming
their responses to some carefully designed questions is more valuable.
3. Audience Research
• Audience research is more productive if it
addresses the following:
·
What do real audiences consume?
· Who are the specific audiences for particular
products?
· How do media industries target those
audiences?
4. Suggestions: Researching audience
When researching a film opening (AS) or music
video (A2) follow the entire trail of the product:
- Look at the magazine adverts (if ads were taken
out in specialist music/film mags only and not in
the mainstream media – what does that tell us
about the audience?), billboard posters, TV ads,
album covers, money generated, box office sales.
TRY AND PICK ONE WHICH YOU IDENTIFY AS
TARGETING THE SAME MARKET AS YOU.
5. Audience Research for your film/music
video
Later audience research should be considered in a series of stages, each involving formative
qualitative feedback. So, for example:
·
Pitching the product to the rest of the group and taking feedback, noting the
responses from this and deciding how to act as a result.
· Showing early drafts of the work (such as an animatic of the storyboard or a mock
up front cover) and asking some carefully framed questions about them to get a
sense of the audience’s understanding of the product rather than just a measure of
whether the audience liked it.
· Taking peer feedback at later stages and then again on the finished product; asking
things like “can you tell me what happened in that sequence, what the relationship
between the characters is and what do you think will happen in the rest of the
film?” to look for audience readings of the work. ‘
‘These approaches can be presented in a variety of ways- video extracts with
framing commentary from the makers; audio, written. All would help move
away from the pie chart of responses model which tends to be fairly
unproductive. ‘
6. ·
Pitching the product to the rest of the group and taking feedback, noting the
responses from this and deciding how to act as a result.
• Organise some time with two other groups
where you can present your ideas as either a
group presentation or an animatic of your
storyboards.
• Ask them for feedback (give them carefully
targeted questions) and then make any
relevant changes to your idea.
7. Taking peer feedback at later stages and then again on the finished product; asking things like
“can you tell me what happened in that sequence, what the relationship between the
characters is and what do you think will happen in the rest of the film?” to look for audience
readings of the work. ‘
- Later on after filming and editing, stop and export
a ‘rough cut’ and show it to a focus group of
other groups/friends etc.
- If you are ahead of time give them two
alternative versions to choose from
- Give them carefully guided questions about what
works, needs to improve and what they prefer!
THIS WILL ALSO BE EXTREMELY USEFUL FOR YOUR
EVALUATION
8. Music Video
Can they use existing music such as Bruno Mars?
Yes, the music video is the only task where pre-existing music can be used for the
complete product. However, there should be an indication that permission has
been sought to use the track. If using a well-known artist, care must be taken not
to get too influenced by the existing image of the artist nor to simply reproduce
an existing video (e.g. same shots, same narrative, etc.). The latter works well as
an exercise but not for the assessed task.
A2 group work - can ancillary tasks be completed as a group or do they have to be
done individually? Can be done as a group but all students in the group need
to contribute to their construction and the teacher must comment on
contribution level on record form. An alternative which works well with some
tasks is for individuals within the group to create their own competing versions,
which gives everyone in the group more to consider at the evaluation stage in
terms of comparison of possible approaches and allows teachers to allocate
individual marks without any difficulties.
9. Music Video
• A2 ancillary task - can candidates literally mimic the
complete style of say the Empire magazine review
page down to the font/layout etc or do they need to
develop their own style?
• Obviously this would need to be replicated not copied
or pasted. Yes, lots of centres take this approach.
Obviously if that is what they are doing and put the
Empire name on it, they would be expected to show
they really do understand the conventions of Empire
itself and the institutional context, so they may have
more flexibility, for example in the short film brief, if
they create a wholly new publication.
