The focus group was asked a series of questions about documentaries to help determine the target audience and style for a new music documentary. Most participants were interested in "Made of Stone", a documentary about the reunion of the band The Stone Roses, and felt it would appeal to teenagers and young adults. When asked about documentary types, most responses supported reflexive or interactive styles. Participants also felt that teenagers' interests are not well catered to by current documentaries. The BBC was identified as the most suitable network to broadcast the documentary. Overall, the group believed teenagers would be a suitable target market given the lack of documentaries aimed at their age group.

1. FOCUS GROUP
ANALYSIS Aydan Kelly and Eleanor

2. We began our group questionnaire/ focus group by asking ‘What topic of
documentary appeals to you most, and why?’ and gave the examples of
‘made of stone’, a music documentary following the reunion of the pivotal
manchester band –the stone roses. David Attenborough’s planet earth, and
the channel four documentary, ‘the undateables’ which follows disabled
people under the impression that they would be hopeless in any situation
that could be considered romantic, then sets them up on blind dates, in
some sense ironically, particularly when the ‘datees’ are in fact blind. The
purpose of the examples was not to make them choose one of three, but
rather to give the group more ideas to base their answers on. Generally the
group seemed most interested by far with Made of stone, and we agreed
that it does seem like the best suited for the age range we wish to target,
which is primarily teenagers, and young adults. It would also probably be the
most effective at reaching the audience on a higher level, as interest in in
reality documentaries is usually something that is only really there while
watching it, but especially with teenagers, music is a large part of many
people’s lives.

3. We then asked the group, based on their answers to the previous question,
which documentary type they felt was best suited. So, which documentary
would be best suited to a documentary in the vein of made of stone. The
majority of responses were towards reflexive documentaries, also with a few
answers towards interactive. If possible, a mix of the two would be perfectly
suited in my opinion, as we would be able to have the realism shown
through the reflexive techniques, so the audience knows exactly what they’re
getting, and can take into account all factors that could sway the actions of
the ‘characters’. Yet we could have interviews explaining the situation in more
depth, and having an outside reaction to what the documentary is about. For
example, with Made of stone, fans of the band are asked about the reunion.
In our documentary, something similar could be done.

4. Next, we asked whether, as teenagers, the group felt as though their interests
were catered too enough by the documentary industry. The response was
that teenagers rarely seem to be the devoted target audience, and although
there are documentaries that they can enjoy as teenagers, there are rarely
documentaries that are solely aimed at them. One participant however, did
mention that when a documentary can give insight into something
interesting, it is appealing. Again, made of stone was mentioned for an
example of this, the participants agreed that they were attracted to gaining
some insight into the lives of the stone roses.

5. Penultimately, we asked which institution the group were most likely to
watch a documentary from and why, offering the examples of the BBC,
Channel 4, MTV, and ITV. The responses varied slightly, but the majority were
in favour of the BBC. One participant mentioned sky arts, and was
corroborated by others and ourselves, and through further research, both
channels seem suitable, as would an independent film maker, but BBC4 is
contracted to make 100 hours of new arts and music programmes per
annum, and therefore is likely the most suitable of the three.

6. Finally, we asked whether they believed teenagers to be a suitable target
market for documentaries, and the response was, that as there is a gap in the
market, -made clear by previous questions- it would definitely be worth
aiming it, at least mostly at teenagers. Also, being teenagers, we would have
the advantage of knowing what would be appealing.