The document discusses various research methods and their importance in the context of producing and marketing horror films. It outlines quantitative and qualitative data, primary and secondary research, and the purposes of audience analysis, market research, advertising placement, and production viability. Utilizing these research methods allows producers to tailor their marketing strategies effectively, understanding audience preferences and ensuring that projects are feasible and appropriately targeted.

1. Unit 2,3 & 22 - Task 1:
The Nature and Purpose of Research
By Millie West

2. The Brief
Your production company has recently finished the rough cut of three new horror
films entitled Anathema, Blood is Thicker and The Devil’s Playground, which are
due to be released on Friday 13th October, Halloween night and on Christmas
Eve, respectively.
Your job is to pick one of the films and create a tantalising theatrical trailer that
will make up the main part of the marketing strategies for the chosen movie.
The trailer must be approximately two-and-a-half minutes in length, and should
include all of the conventional elements of a film trailer.

3. Types of Research – Quantitative Data
 Quantitative data is any kind of data that can be measured numerically. It is usually
quantifiable facts and information that can produce numerical or statistical data, presented
as tables, charts or diagrams. An example of quantitative data in the media industry would
be a TV show host asking its audience their favorite genre of film or a radio show host asking
their listeners their favorite style of music. It can be done through interviews, questionnaire's
and surveys.
 This type of research is useful as it can produce statistics and real time facts, it can keep
producers and directors of all types of media, up to date on what the majority of viewers,
listeners or audiences prefer or dislike about certain subjects and topics.
 An advantage of using quantitative research is that it is easy to record, summarise and
generalise data, in addition it may be more accurate. Personal bias can be avoided as
researchers have no influence over participants taking part. In contrast, a disadvantage of
quantitative data is that the results collected are limited because instead of collecting a
detailed response, the researcher is collecting numerical data. The use of mostly closed
questions means that people may not be able to express how they truly feel.
Here is an
example of a
quantitative
question. As well
as a pie chart it
has been made
into.

4. Types of Research – Qualitative Data
 Qualitative data is data that can be observed but cannot be measured. This type
of data is often in contrast to quantitative data. Its definition is, researched based
on opinions, attitudes and preferences. It analyses what different people think and
feel about the conductors topic or subject of choice. For example, using the
previous scenario, if a TV show host, asked its audience what genre of film they
enjoy watching the most, in addition to this question, they may ask why they think
that. The part of the question that asks ‘why?’ is the qualitative research.
Similarly another example of this type of research is if a radio show host was to
ask their listeners their favorite style of music, following up with the question of
‘why?’ that again would be the qualitative data collected. This type of data can
also be done through It can be done through interviews, questionnaire's and
surveys.
 An advantage of qualitative research is that answers and responses can be in great
detail as it allows for the ability to interact with research subjects using open
questions. Although a disadvantage of qualitative research is that it can be very
time consuming, and may take away from the rest of your research, secondly it is
harder to generalise data as it has much more in depth.
Here is an example
of a qualitative
question.

5. Methods of Research – Primary Data
 Primary research involves gathering new data that has not been collected
before. It is commonly done, in the form of using surveys, questionnaires or
interviews with individuals or small groups of people. It is data that you have
collected personally, and are using usually as part of a study. And example of
using primary data is if a web page designer wants a new theme for his web
page and so decides to asks his audience their favourite theme of horror
movies e.g. blood, darkness etc. As this is the web designers personal
research, it is considered primary data.
 An advantage of primary research is that it is accurate because it is your own
work, a second advantage of primary research is that it is reliable because it
can be trusted. Although a disadvantage of primary research is that it is time
consuming, considering the researcher needs to plan, write, ask and collect
all of the data, and following that, group it and analyse it.

6. Methods of Research – Secondary Data
 Secondary data is data that another person has planned and collected. It is
involves gathering existing data that has already been produced. For
example, using the scenario before, if a web designer wanted to change their
theme for his web page, they might look up on the internet other web
designers research on what they have asked their audiences about their
favourite horror themes. This is secondary research as the research was
conducted by another person, other than the person who initially carried out
the study.
 An advantage of secondary data is that it is less time consuming compared to
primary research. One disadvantage of secondary data is that by using
someone else's research, you cannot be sure that it is reliable. In addition, it
may be out of date and therefore may not be as useful, or as relevant in
todays contemporary society.

7. Purpose of Research – Audience
(Demographics and Psychographics)
 There are many purposes of research, one example is to find out information to aid you
in the future. One way to find out the information you need from a specific group of
people is by using demographics and psychographics.
 Demographics is using information from people, identifying them by population based
factors, such as age, sex, social grade, (shown above) ethnicity, class, education, income
and employment. These are able to change, unlike psychographics, which are much
harder or near impossible to change.
 Psychographics are usually based on a group opinion. It is the study and classification of
people according to their attitudes, aspirations, beliefs and other psychological criteria.
As previously stated, these assets are much harder to change as they are psychological,
hence why it is especially used in market research. To find out who your target market is
and what they want to see.
 This means that the perfect project can be created; one that meets all of your clients or
target markets interests using the found information.

8. Purpose of Research – Market Research &
Competition
 Market research is used to compare other existing products to your own. There are many reasons
for this. Such as, to see what the market looks like, to know who the other competitors are begin
to be familiarised with their texts or products, research into economic factors, as well as
calculate potential revenue.
 The organized effort to gather information about target markets or customers means that you
can gain information and thoughts about both your product as well as have the ability for outside
consumers to compare it to other existing products. It is an effective way of researching into
other products and constructively criticising our own work to try and improve it by analysing
what is already out there, to find the perfect target market.
 Another purpose of researching, especially in the way of doing market research projects, is to
ensure your business can keep competitiveness against other business’ or threatening
competition.
 An example of using market research in the media industry, is asking viewers to watch a horror
movie based around Halloween and to ask for their thoughts and feelings on it, then ask them to
compare it to a similar Halloween themed horror movie. Ask them how they feel it is similar and
different, what could be improved and which one they believe would get higher ratings. Using
this you can then establish your target market using your results, by knowing what age group
enjoyed your film more. It can also ensure there is competition in the industry.

9. Purpose of Research – Advertising
Placement
 Advertising placement is a large contributing factor to the publicity and therefore
the overall success of a project. Once target markets have been found, you then
gain the ability to advertise your project in the appropriate places, relevant to
your target market. For example if you are planning to release a mild horror film
about vampires, that is rated a ‘PG’ then there are many ways in which you can
advertise it, capturing your target market as the main audience, e.g. placing
advertisements in children's magazines and newspapers or even parent blogs. In
contrast, if the movie project was rated a 15 or 18, there would be no point in
putting it in a children's magazine as it isn’t relevant to them and the intended
target market may not be aware of the project. Instead, an appropriate place to
advertise may be social media, for example, using sites such as Facebook, Twitter
or Instagram.
 This research ensures that your intended target market is aware of what you are
advertising, and so it can be put in age appropriate places and seen on age
appropriate sites.

10. Purpose of Research – Production (Viability,
Cost and Technological Resources
 Researching into making a project is one of the most important parts about producing a piece of
media. Its purpose can be mean the difference between going through with making a production or
making the decision to cancel producing it. It comes down to many factors, such as viability, cost
and technical resources.
 Viability. Is it worth it? Will it work? Has it been done before? These are all simple yet crucial
questions that a producer needs to ask him or herself before deciding to go through with producing a
project. If its not necessarily worth making, it has a risk of not working and has been done before, is
there any point in creating it?
 Cost. Is it cost effective? Will it make a profit? Do we have a big enough budget to support it? Again
these are important questions that need to be asked. All of these questions are contributing factors
to whether a project is worth creating or not.
 Technological resources suggests what is needed in order to create your intended project. For
example when creating a horror movie, resources include actors, costumes e.g. a vampire costume,
props e.g. vampire fangs or fake blood, available locations, cameras, tripods etc.
 These factors must all be taken into consideration to depend on whether the production will go
ahead. The research into these factors must be detailed in order to make an executive decision as
to whether the project as a whole is useful and worth the time and effort that it would need.