Question Three:
What have you
learned from your
audience feedback?
By Jason Lloyd
Audience Research
Before Starting our television documentary, we asked a sample of 37 students
to fill out a questionnaire on their thoughts towards a mobile phone
documentary as well as many mobile phone related questions. This
questionnaire was very eye opening as it highlighted statistics that we couldn’t
believe were true such as: “74% of the sampled 37 claimed they owned their
first mobile phone between the age of 7 – 13 years old”, basically outlining
that owning a smartphone is such a normality in this modern era, that
obviously our documentary was aiming at young audience, but of course an
older generation who have also experienced the craze. 62% of the sampled 37
also stated they would want to see a documentary on mobile phones which of
course gave us the go ahead knowing it would be a popular viewing. We also
found out what conventions the audience wanted by conducting a recorded
interview which we uploaded to sound cloud. The interview highlighted that
the audience expected to see Vox Pops, A range of movile phone devices,
Expert interviews, music and especially plenty of statistics.
Documentary Questions
Firstly we asked whether
“On a scale of 1-5 how
much did you enjoy the
documentary?” The
General consensus in the
room was that the
documentary had a lot of
good ideas but took a
while to get going. An
idea that did come up
was as turning the
documentary back to
front so that it started
more interesting. We
personally thought that
making the documentary
more interesting towards
the end was more useful.
Documentary Questions
We then asked whether the
voiceover was clear and
informative. Due to most of
our documentary being very
clear after a lot of time spent
changing the sound levels,
one issue that was brought
up was the expert interview
with Jay Singh. The audience
believed that his interview
wasn’t very loud, however
this wasn’t the case before
we exported the
documentary from Final cut
express. We put this issue
down to an exportation
problem so realistically their
was nothing we could do.
Documentary Questions
When asking how
professional did our
documentary look, we got
varied responses. Most
people agreed that we used
a large range of different
camera shots and
techniques to present the
documentary however,
people complained that we
didn’t shoot enough hand
held shots to create a more
realistic documentary. We
thought this point was
extremely valid, however
our aim was to shoot most
of the footage with the use
of a tripod because it
conformed to expository
type of documentary we
were trying to create.
Everyone stated that the
use of the pull focus was a
good feature to include.
Documentary Questions
This question was where we
expected more negative
responses when asking if the
audience felt they learnt
something new. Its quite hard to
cover anything new in such a
mainstream subject where most
the population have been
brainwashed with information on
mobile phones. However, the
audience did state that they
would of said no until they saw
the small montage of shocking
facts we included using the
typewriter. We were very happy
with this feedback due to the fact
it was quite hard finding facts
that weren’t
Documentary Questions
Did the interview contribute
to the documentary?
I personally thought that
everyone would reply yes to
this however some people
felt that the Vox pops
weren’t that serious or
depth enough to be classed
as a decent contribution. I
argued that Vox pops were
different to interviews
however the audience
stated that they judged this
as a whole. I definitely think
that the vox pops had to be
short and informal in order
to get such a range of
responses.
Documentary Questions
Were there enough shots
to keep you interested?
I personally thought that
we could of included
more however the
audience felt we covered
a range of shots. I didn’t
entirely agree with this
feedback due to the fact a
lot of the audience
thought the documentary
wasn’t professional yet I
would of said both this
questions tie into each
other. This made me
doubt whether we chose
the right audience.
Radio trailer Questions
On a scale on 1 – 5, how much
did you enjoy the radio
trailer?
I personally thought that the
radio trailer was the best out
of the 3 products we
produced. I thought that the
research that we conducted
was excellent and the
audience also stated that they
found it extremely catchy
which also always important
in a short radio trailer.
Radio Trailer Questions
Did the music contribute to the
trailer?
We felt we put the music
together well as it took quite a
lot of time to get the right beat.
This was obviously recognisable
in the audience due to only 1
person believing that that music
didn’t work well. The only
criticism we felt was including a
ringtone at the start of the radio
trailer. We used this in the
documentary so it felt a bit
repetitive.
Radio Trailer Questions
When asking whether
the snippets included
were appropriate, a few
people stated that the
snippets gave away a bit
too much of the
documentary. I had to
agree with this
statement due to the
fact we probably should
of not included as many
Vox Pops as we did. This
was an improvement
that we could definitely
make.
Magazine Article Questions
“Out of 5, how much did
you enjoy the double page
spread?”
This was important as we spent a lot
of time debating the colour scheme.
We asked our selves whether we
should go for a Radio times
magazine theme but we felt that it
would be too bland for our type of
subject matter. The audience felt
that our use of bright, vibrant
colours such as lava red and white
was an excellent choice that
immediately grabbed their
attention. This was exactly the
purpose so we were extremely
happy with this feedback.
Magazine Article Questions
Were the images used
appropriate? This was the only
answer that all the audience
agreed on. It was quite an easy
choice to choose the imagery
due to the fact that the most
magazines we looked at all
used snippets from their
documentary. It would be
pointless to use anything else
because that would mean
advertising something that’s
not ours.
Magazine Article Questions
Out of 5, how professional
does our double page spread
look?
The audience we were
aiming at all ranged between
the age of 17 -18 meaning
that this answer was
probably bias. However our
main target audience was a
younger audience so it was
more important to get their
view. A criticism they had
was that their wasn’t a 4th
column included, meaning
you weren’t able to read the
information in the middle of
the page. This was why no
one rated above 4.
Evaluation
Gaining audience feedback was very important in all our
products because it gave us advice of how to improve certain
things that only an unbiased viewer would be able to pick up on.
All in al, we felt that the comments we received were good for
all 3 products, however their were many improvements we
could of made such as, taking more shots using the hand held
technique, including less snippets within the radio trailer which
we totally agreed with as well as the most negative feedback
which was of the columns within the double page spread. This
research was crucial in discovering how well we did so it was
relieving to get positive feedback.

Question three

  • 1.
    Question Three: What haveyou learned from your audience feedback? By Jason Lloyd
  • 2.
    Audience Research Before Startingour television documentary, we asked a sample of 37 students to fill out a questionnaire on their thoughts towards a mobile phone documentary as well as many mobile phone related questions. This questionnaire was very eye opening as it highlighted statistics that we couldn’t believe were true such as: “74% of the sampled 37 claimed they owned their first mobile phone between the age of 7 – 13 years old”, basically outlining that owning a smartphone is such a normality in this modern era, that obviously our documentary was aiming at young audience, but of course an older generation who have also experienced the craze. 62% of the sampled 37 also stated they would want to see a documentary on mobile phones which of course gave us the go ahead knowing it would be a popular viewing. We also found out what conventions the audience wanted by conducting a recorded interview which we uploaded to sound cloud. The interview highlighted that the audience expected to see Vox Pops, A range of movile phone devices, Expert interviews, music and especially plenty of statistics.
  • 3.
    Documentary Questions Firstly weasked whether “On a scale of 1-5 how much did you enjoy the documentary?” The General consensus in the room was that the documentary had a lot of good ideas but took a while to get going. An idea that did come up was as turning the documentary back to front so that it started more interesting. We personally thought that making the documentary more interesting towards the end was more useful.
  • 4.
    Documentary Questions We thenasked whether the voiceover was clear and informative. Due to most of our documentary being very clear after a lot of time spent changing the sound levels, one issue that was brought up was the expert interview with Jay Singh. The audience believed that his interview wasn’t very loud, however this wasn’t the case before we exported the documentary from Final cut express. We put this issue down to an exportation problem so realistically their was nothing we could do.
  • 5.
    Documentary Questions When askinghow professional did our documentary look, we got varied responses. Most people agreed that we used a large range of different camera shots and techniques to present the documentary however, people complained that we didn’t shoot enough hand held shots to create a more realistic documentary. We thought this point was extremely valid, however our aim was to shoot most of the footage with the use of a tripod because it conformed to expository type of documentary we were trying to create. Everyone stated that the use of the pull focus was a good feature to include.
  • 6.
    Documentary Questions This questionwas where we expected more negative responses when asking if the audience felt they learnt something new. Its quite hard to cover anything new in such a mainstream subject where most the population have been brainwashed with information on mobile phones. However, the audience did state that they would of said no until they saw the small montage of shocking facts we included using the typewriter. We were very happy with this feedback due to the fact it was quite hard finding facts that weren’t
  • 7.
    Documentary Questions Did theinterview contribute to the documentary? I personally thought that everyone would reply yes to this however some people felt that the Vox pops weren’t that serious or depth enough to be classed as a decent contribution. I argued that Vox pops were different to interviews however the audience stated that they judged this as a whole. I definitely think that the vox pops had to be short and informal in order to get such a range of responses.
  • 8.
    Documentary Questions Were thereenough shots to keep you interested? I personally thought that we could of included more however the audience felt we covered a range of shots. I didn’t entirely agree with this feedback due to the fact a lot of the audience thought the documentary wasn’t professional yet I would of said both this questions tie into each other. This made me doubt whether we chose the right audience.
  • 9.
    Radio trailer Questions Ona scale on 1 – 5, how much did you enjoy the radio trailer? I personally thought that the radio trailer was the best out of the 3 products we produced. I thought that the research that we conducted was excellent and the audience also stated that they found it extremely catchy which also always important in a short radio trailer.
  • 10.
    Radio Trailer Questions Didthe music contribute to the trailer? We felt we put the music together well as it took quite a lot of time to get the right beat. This was obviously recognisable in the audience due to only 1 person believing that that music didn’t work well. The only criticism we felt was including a ringtone at the start of the radio trailer. We used this in the documentary so it felt a bit repetitive.
  • 11.
    Radio Trailer Questions Whenasking whether the snippets included were appropriate, a few people stated that the snippets gave away a bit too much of the documentary. I had to agree with this statement due to the fact we probably should of not included as many Vox Pops as we did. This was an improvement that we could definitely make.
  • 12.
    Magazine Article Questions “Outof 5, how much did you enjoy the double page spread?” This was important as we spent a lot of time debating the colour scheme. We asked our selves whether we should go for a Radio times magazine theme but we felt that it would be too bland for our type of subject matter. The audience felt that our use of bright, vibrant colours such as lava red and white was an excellent choice that immediately grabbed their attention. This was exactly the purpose so we were extremely happy with this feedback.
  • 13.
    Magazine Article Questions Werethe images used appropriate? This was the only answer that all the audience agreed on. It was quite an easy choice to choose the imagery due to the fact that the most magazines we looked at all used snippets from their documentary. It would be pointless to use anything else because that would mean advertising something that’s not ours.
  • 14.
    Magazine Article Questions Outof 5, how professional does our double page spread look? The audience we were aiming at all ranged between the age of 17 -18 meaning that this answer was probably bias. However our main target audience was a younger audience so it was more important to get their view. A criticism they had was that their wasn’t a 4th column included, meaning you weren’t able to read the information in the middle of the page. This was why no one rated above 4.
  • 15.
    Evaluation Gaining audience feedbackwas very important in all our products because it gave us advice of how to improve certain things that only an unbiased viewer would be able to pick up on. All in al, we felt that the comments we received were good for all 3 products, however their were many improvements we could of made such as, taking more shots using the hand held technique, including less snippets within the radio trailer which we totally agreed with as well as the most negative feedback which was of the columns within the double page spread. This research was crucial in discovering how well we did so it was relieving to get positive feedback.