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1. Audience Research
Fred Clayton

2. Secondary Audience Research
• Observation:
Most documentaries aimed at my set age group (16-28) would also appeal to those who are of a Reformer or
Explorer personality type. As both of my sources are about fairly esoteric topics (appealing to the Explorers) and
contain some political sentiments. (appealing to the Reformers)
• What this says about my audience:
They look for simple but impactful messages that challenge their perspectives. Both would likely be open to
learning new worldviews and the cultures that hold them. They also appreciate concise writing as media aimed at
this age group has to be short and interesting to hold their attention away from other content.
• How will your product appeal to this audience:
Write a script that focuses on getting its point across though storytelling and writing with personality rather than
dry statistics and bland facts. Despite this the script won’t be showy or tacky, it won’t drag on for 10 minutes or
use loads of fancy shots or special effects, it’ll make its point and end before it overstays its welcome. It would
make sense to include a social or political point about the wider world given the Reformers gravitation to them.
Overall the video should include a simple style of static shots and slow pans. (Appealing to the Reformer’s
preference of simplicity over visual complexity.) The video should have a catchy title and esoteric subject matter.
(Appealing to the Explorer’s innate want for something new or alternate ideas and products.)
Sources:
https://youtu.be/nLCAvIr9rWo
https://youtu.be/U1Uj6RPbUXQ

3. Secondary Audience Research
• Observation:
Documentary audiences tend to look for storytelling, entertainment value and relatability above an information
dump. The source I’m using took the results of a survey passed out to (mostly middle class) attendees of a
arthouse cinema showing the documentary: Etre et Avoir. The researcher involved with the paper found that most
respondents found the aforementioned qualities valuable in documentaries.
• What this says about my audience:
They want a “true story” not necessarily a documentation of reality as it is. They react to concepts and ideas more
that facts or statistics.
• How will your product appeal to this audience:
Make a documentary that focuses on storytelling based around reality. Tying the events to a central theme that
has relevance outside of the specific topic at hand, this should hopefully keep people invested particularly if the
theme or topic holds emotional weight with them. I plan on tying my piece about floods into a larger theme or
disasters including the current COVID-19 pandemic. This should hopefully connect with more people. given that
the audience I’m going for will likely be middle class in terms of education level and taste, I won’t have to sugar
coat reality or spend much effort on being purely entertaining. The middle class often responds to themes of
realism and authenticity so including nature and minimal editing would engage with that particular audience well.
Source:
https://www.participations.org/volume%202/issue%201/2_01_austin.htm

4. Secondary Audience Research
• Observation:
Internet audiences favour novel and intriguing titles for factual video content.
• What this says about my audience:
They seek informational content more for the experience of learning something unexpected rather than
information that is more applicable to everyday life. They come for the experience of learning. They are also
watching content based on instinct.
• How will your product appeal to this audience:
Grab their attention not only with a catchy title but also a gripping introduction to the video, maybe a potent
thesis statement to get to the meat of the video quickly or perhaps a interesting anecdote that inspires curiosity
that can hold the audiences attention long enough to get invested in the topic. Titles of popular factual videos will
often use questions for their titles to increase curiosity and engagement.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEikGKDVsCc
https://youtu.be/6KDBpn8fW78

5. Primary Research Notice.
While I believe that the survey I ran to create the following slides
contains legitimate insights into the tastes and views of the public, it
has to be acknowledged that all of these responses are those of people
either working at or attending a college. I don’t plan on including this
into my analysis much, partially because I feel that it will bog down the
points I’m making and how I express my findings, partially because this
is the audience that will ultimately see it and the one that I’m aiming
to appeal to.

6. Primary Audience Research
• Observation:
The majority of correspondents were under 25
years old and get most of their factual video
content from social media sites (including YouTube).
• What this says about my audience:
They value simplicity and short running times. They
also likely don’t want a massively in depth
breakdown of a topic, they want interesting
anecdotes and unexpected facts. Most people
within this age range would fall into the Explorer
and Reformer personality types.
• How will your product appeal to this
audience:
I’ll give the video an evocative title to compete with
other videos. I’ll make sure to not include many
statistics or quotes; instead of trying to educate the
audience in the ins and outs of my topic, I’ll instead
try and portray the point I'm trying to make using
more emotionally resonant methods like personal
experiences. Themes of social awareness and
political messages could have a positive effect on
the audience given their political alignment.

7. Primary Audience Research
• Observation:
The vast majority of correspondents are drawn
to non-fiction products that they already have a
vested interest in.
• What this says about my audience:
They seek out subjects that they already know
about, they likely value familiarity and
confirmation.
• How will your product appeal to this
audience:
Connect my subject to other events and topics
that are more relevant to a wide audience. In
this case, I plan on connecting the Snaith floods
to the wider topic of climate change and tie it in
with the wider question of how avoidable
disasters are, this topic holds almost unlimited
relevance during the current COVID-19
pandemic. This will draw more people in,
especially if I include it in the title.

8. Primary Audience Research
• Observation:
The vast majority of people were optimistic that we
can learn from natural and man-made disasters.
• What this says about my audience:
That they’ll respond to themes of hope, optimism,
growth, redemption and human endurance.
• How will your product appeal to this
audience:
Make sure that the video at least ends on a
optimistic note as to leave the audience with a
positive impression. This would make the prospect
of watching more in the series less daunting and
more encouraging. Give the video a relatively light-
hearted tone, include quips and relatable incites to
break up some of the more upsetting concepts of
climate change and COVID-19. I would imagine
giving the video a saturated colour grade and
filming around greenery or similarly positive
backgrounds could make the tone of the video
lighter.

9. Primary Audience Research
• Observation:
Over 90% of correspondents believe that
climate change is a massive problem that affects
everyday life, yet little over half believe that
huge action should be taken to combat it.
• What this says about my audience:
The audience is likely social conscience and left
leaning politically but likely responds to the idea
that we (as a global community)
• How will your product appeal to this
audience:
Maximize engagement using audience
interaction. Calls to action or simply asking
questions as part of the script can massively
increase an online audience’s engagement with
content. Relatability can also play a part in
engaging an audience, personal testimony,
quips, etc can also help with relating to an
audience.

10. Primary Audience Research
• Observation:
Most correspondents consider themselves to be left
leaning politically.
• What this says about my audience:
They likely fall under the personality types of Explorer
and Reformer. The wouldn’t have any opposition to
criticizing the current government or similar right
leaning organizations.
• How will your product appeal to this audience:
As I plan on criticizing groups for being ignorant or
greedy and focus on a theme of improvement and
progress I doubt this audience would be put off by these
messages. The main way to appeal to this audience
would be to make sure that I criticise the current
government for its handling of the current COVID-19
pandemic as it’s a big part of left wing discussion at the
moment. Another topic that is almost omnipresent in
left wing discussion at the moment at the moment is
climate change which, I will mention.

11. Bibliography

12. Bibliography
1. https://www.youtube.com/user/enyay (Tom Scott)
(2020) The World's First Internet Bench.
https://youtu.be/nLCAvIr9rWo (accessed 10/10/20)
2. https://www.youtube.com/user/ColChrisHadfield (Evan
Hadfield) (2019) The Muslim Drink.
https://youtu.be/U1Uj6RPbUXQ (accessed 10/10/20)
3. Austin Thomas. (2005) 'Seeing, Feeling, Knowing: A
Case Study of Audience Perspectives on Screen
Documentary’
https://www.participations.org/volume%202/issue%201
/2_01_austin.htm (accessed 8/10/20)
4. https://www.youtube.com/user/Vsauce (Michael
Stevens) (2013) Why Are Things Creepy?.
https://youtu.be/PEikGKDVsCc (accessed 10/10/20)
5. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuCkxoKLYO_EQ2
GeFtbM_bw (Sam Denby) (2020) The Seven People Who
Can Turn Off the Internet.
https://youtu.be/6KDBpn8fW78 (accessed 10/10/20)
6. York College staff and students. (2020) Factual Audience
Research. (Conducted on 8/10/2020)