Introduction
In this blog post I will be explaining the different types of research that is required in either pre-production or marketing and distributing a film. It could also be used in all aspects of creative media production and is the essential starting point for productions of any scale. It can be used to determine the financial viability of a future production, to gather a range of information relevant to the content of the production, or to assist with the planning of technical and logistical requirements.
Companies, also in the media, which conduct extensive research, use a range of sophisticated methods to gather data about audiences consumption of media products and services. This has become increasingly necessary in the highly mixed and competitive environment that media industries operate in.
Some people who are searching for a job which requires research skills might consider employment in a research agency, or in radio, TV or film, whilst a knowledge and understanding of research techniques is vital in a number of roles in advertising and marketing, as said before. They are also, of course, important in journalism. However, some ability to undertake research is essential for anyone working in the media industries.Types / Methods Of Research
Primary Research / Self-generated Research
The definition of primary research is, research conducted by 'you' and can be conducted in many ways. One way that a person can collect their own data is through questionnaires. By asking open and closed questions (which will be explained further through the post) can give a person a collection of information which they can then conduct into a graph. Graphs can only be created through 'closed' questions.
Questionnaires and online surveys can be found mostly on the Internet as it is a way to expand the collection of answers and are also easy to access. One or more questions can be found on participating forums at which participants find answer to questions around a certain subject. One example could be the World Of Warcraft gaming forums at which online players find solutions or answers to any problems or questions they have. Questions and solutions can be created by the public or by the company.
Interviews can also be a good way to collect Primary Research and could be most effective as the person you are asking are present and are face-to-face. Through interviews closed and open questions can be asked as well as any questions that the interviewee might have.
Observation or test screenings are another way of primary research at which certain critics or a selection of people with certain interests watch a film by the producers and in return the producer will have a collection of comments by the critics and can be used to improve any parts of a film before release. Test screenings or observations can also be adapted to other things like marketing plans.
Another way of collecting Primary Research could be through focus groups or audience panels. This is where a group of people either with knowledge of a certain subject, or a group of random people, sit down and listen to another person give their ideas on either their own creation or another person's creation. This gives the opportunity for improvement on any ideas that are givenWhen it came to my project for creating a new marketing and distributing plan, the types of Primary Research I used were questionnaires, online surveys and I also created a posters analysis to help me with my research on the film I was investigating. When proceeding with are poster analysis we used a method called semi-logical analysis. This is finding a meaning from features that are present in a poster. For example the colour red on a poster could suggest evil or blood, however this depends on the portraying genre.
Secondary Research
Another type of research would be secondary research which is conducting research that is originally from another source. Ways at which this can be done is through searching on the Internet (Google), searching through archive files, in books, reading articles / magazines, watching TV or looking up videos on video sharing websites (YouTube).
YouTube could be used to look up interviews that other people have organised which is a great example of secondary research. Searching through archives could either be video, written or photo base information at which permission may be required.When it came to our project we used the Internet to search up facts and figures and information about a film that didn't do well at the box office. Websites that we used were IMDB and Box Office Mojo. These websites help us conduct our research and are a great example of secondary research. Also when conducting research on a marketing and distribution plan we extracted information from the Film Distribution Association (FDA).
If a person wanted to find information on how many people watch BBC programmes or listen to KissFM then the websites they would use would be BARB (Broadcaster's Audience Research Board) and RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research). These are government statistics . After they have collected their research they would then (depending on what results were collected) place the results into a graph to be used in their own project.
Quantitative Research
Another type of research is quantitative research. This is the results in data that is displayed numerically. For example if a questionnaire was a questionnaire that only involved yes and no questions (closed questions), then the results will be in numbers. The results will then be analysed into a graph (for example). Examples of websites that have quantitative data would be Box Office Mojo and IMDB. These websites show circulation figures of how much a film has made, in what countries, and at what period of time it made a gross. Quantitative research can also be used in other things besides the media industry.
When it came to our project we used quantitative research on our surveys and our questionnaires. We did this so that the results could help us create a new poster (as the questionnaire was on a poster that was presented to the audience).
This is an example of a quantitative question from one of my questionnaires. As you can see the question was 'How Old Are You?' (Yes or No question), and the results I got were in numbers, (for example 67% of people were 10 - 20 years of age). Also the results are presented in a graph.
Qualitative Research
Qualitative research is a little different to quantitative research as it involves more than a yes and no questions (for example). Qualitative research is when additional information like comments are given rather than, as said, a yes or no (this is known as open questions). This is commonly used in questionnaires as it can help when it comes to the analysis process. If a person wanted know why do people like Comedy (genre) then they would set out a question that would ask that. This person would then get a selection of comments to use in their analysis.
Qualitative research can also be used in interviews and focus groups. In interviews and focus groups, mostly open questions are asked so that enough information is given. Also as seen in all interviews the interviewee rarely says yes and no to an open question, instead they would usually give an opinion or more information about the question asked. This could also apply to film interviews, and can be used for semi-logical analysis. In focus groups qualitative research is needed so that the topic being discussed can be assessed and if needed, improved. As said before this can be used in other things besides the media industry.
Test screenings are also another form of qualitative research, as in test screenings comments are given after the film, which producers and directors can use as an opportunity for improvement.
In our project we used a little bit of qualitative research. We used them in our questionnaires which has had a variety of Quantitative and Qualitative questions and results (open and closed questions).
In our project we used a little bit of qualitative research. We used them in our questionnaires which has had a variety of Quantitative and Qualitative questions and results (open and closed questions).
This is an example of a qualitative question from one of my questionnaires. As you can see the results I got back from the questions were full sentence answers. This helped me get a clearer understanding on what they thought of the poster. This is one of the good ways to obtain qualitative research.
Data Gathering Agencies
Data Gathering Agencies, are agencies that collect information for either themselves or other companies. Here are some examples and links of Data Gathering Agencies:
- RAJAR - This agency is the official body in charge of measuring radio audiences in the UK. It is jointly owned by the BBC and the RadioCentre on behalf of the commercial sector. The way they collected their data is through surveys. They use a seven-day listening diary Approximately 110,000 adults 15+ are asked to fill one out over 50 weeks of the year.
- Ofcom - Ofcom are a communication regulator. They ensure that the UK has a wide range of electronic communication services, including things like high-speed services such as broadband. They also ensure others legal duties like provide TV and radio, ensure that people watching TV or listening to radio are protected, that TV and radio are provided by a range of different organisations, and that a universal postal service is provided in the UK. There are some more legal duties and things they 'do not do', on their website.
- BARB - This agency is the official source of television viewing figures in the UK. They continually develop new ways of measuring what one person and the rest of the UK are watching. BARB viewing data give broadcasters, advertisers and other interested parties a minute by minute breakdown of viewing at regional and national levels. It is vital information in assessing how programmes, channels or advertising campaigns have performed and provides the basis for airtime advertising trading. In order to estimate viewing patterns across all TV households, a carefully selected panel of private homes is recruited. In ever panel household, all television viewing is monitored automatically by special metering equipment installed by Kantar Media. Included in this process is viewing of recorded programmes that are watched within seven days of the original broadcast; this is referred to as time shift viewing. Viewing figures are then sent to the TV industry at 9:30am everyday.
- IMDB - The way IMDB collect their data is through other sources. In 2006, they introduced its "Résumé
Purpose Of Research
Audience And Market Research
One of the purposes of research is finding out about your audience and the market. One of the challenges that come from releasing a film (for example) is competition. Films that are released around the same time compete with each other and can decide if a film makes profit or not. For example if a big blockbuster like the Twilight Saga, is released the same time as a specialized film like Senna, then Twilight has more of a chance to over throw Senna as the previous Twilight films have been a huge hit so they already have a large audience.
So, how does research fit in to this? Well, this purpose of research is there to help distributors decide when to release a film or when to market a film. By researching on films that will be released around a certain time, can change a distributor's mind on the release of a film. This in favor could increase the chances of the film making profit as they may decide to release when no big blockbusters are being shown at the same time.
Gathering audience data could also help the the distributor and the producer in many ways. Obtaining information on how many 'groups' of different people live in a certain area and what certain films would appeal to them, can increase the chances of a film making profit. For example, the group 'Goths' would probably enjoy films with gore or death, so if a certain area has a dominant number of Goth groups, then releasing the film with gore or death, in that area, would be wise.
Part of marketing a film is finding out what people's tastes and likes are. It's all about supply and demand. This part of research is done through market trends. This involves things like questionnaires of what people enjoy and can also apply to test screenings. Once a first draft of a film is finished, it is shown to an audience that would apply to the film's genre. After the film is finished, questionnaires are given to see if any improvements can be made. After that a small number of people stay behind for a focus group for a more in depth look at the film's 'likes and dislikes'. When the studios look at the results from the questionnaires and the focus groups, they may decide to change parts of the film or re-shoot a whole entire scene.
http://www.launchingfilms.tv/marketing.php?video=6&autostart=1
Categorizing different types of groups or audiences is also know as audience profiling This is put in to two sections, Demographic and Psychographic. Demographic is the statistical characteristics of a population. An example of this would be, 'How many 13-18 year old like Comedy films?'. This type of research focuses around a specific group and gives the results in numeric values and can be used for marketing methods.
Psychographic is the study of personality, values, attitudes, interests and lifestyles. Because it focuses on interests, activities and opinions, Psychographic factors are also called I.A.O variables. Some Demographic factors can be involved, like gender and age. With Psychographic audience profiling, interests can change over time and this is why researching what interests people have can be a key value that can help with marketing and distributing. This picture gives and example Psychographic values.
Geo-demographic is also another type of audience profiling and focuses around where a group of people or individual states i.e where they situate. This can help where to distribute and market a film and as said before can increase the chances of a film making profit.
When it came to our project, we made sure that our questionnaires and surveys had some audience profiling involved in them. For example we asked questions that specifically asked what genre of film people liked, and this ranged around different ages. This in favor helped us with completing our marketing and distribution plan.
The problem with keeping the questions valid, was that some people that took the questionnaire or surveys, might just of rushed through it, making the results false. This can affect things, for example, the distribution plan that we had to create, as the results that were given, may not improve the chances of the film making profit. Figures that are rounded are also a way of keeping results valid but in some ways can be risky.
Reliability is about getting results that would be reliable in your own project and would you help improve or proceed in anything the project may involve. For example in our questionnaires and surveys, we made sure that we gave out at least 10 so that the results were reliable, and would help us in creating our distribution and marketing plan.
Generalisability means can the results of the research be applied more generally and more widely than the study itself or are they only relevant to the specific context of study? For example if in my questionnaires and surveys, I asked how many teenagers liked Romance, I could go further and asked how many female teenagers like Romance to make the results more generalisable.
Representativeness research or sampling is a type of statistical sampling in which a researcher attempts to select individuals which are Representatives of a larger population. Researchers gather more data from a small group and try to extrapolate the results to make generalisations about a larger group. For example I asked a small group of teenagers about a poster, one from the original creator and one remade by me, and asked them on their opinions about it by giving out questionnaires and creating surveys. The small group that were representatives were teenagers and that would then expand the generalisation of the larger teenage group.
So, how does research fit in to this? Well, this purpose of research is there to help distributors decide when to release a film or when to market a film. By researching on films that will be released around a certain time, can change a distributor's mind on the release of a film. This in favor could increase the chances of the film making profit as they may decide to release when no big blockbusters are being shown at the same time.
Gathering audience data could also help the the distributor and the producer in many ways. Obtaining information on how many 'groups' of different people live in a certain area and what certain films would appeal to them, can increase the chances of a film making profit. For example, the group 'Goths' would probably enjoy films with gore or death, so if a certain area has a dominant number of Goth groups, then releasing the film with gore or death, in that area, would be wise.
Part of marketing a film is finding out what people's tastes and likes are. It's all about supply and demand. This part of research is done through market trends. This involves things like questionnaires of what people enjoy and can also apply to test screenings. Once a first draft of a film is finished, it is shown to an audience that would apply to the film's genre. After the film is finished, questionnaires are given to see if any improvements can be made. After that a small number of people stay behind for a focus group for a more in depth look at the film's 'likes and dislikes'. When the studios look at the results from the questionnaires and the focus groups, they may decide to change parts of the film or re-shoot a whole entire scene.
http://www.launchingfilms.tv/marketing.php?video=6&autostart=1
Categorizing different types of groups or audiences is also know as audience profiling This is put in to two sections, Demographic and Psychographic. Demographic is the statistical characteristics of a population. An example of this would be, 'How many 13-18 year old like Comedy films?'. This type of research focuses around a specific group and gives the results in numeric values and can be used for marketing methods.
Psychographic is the study of personality, values, attitudes, interests and lifestyles. Because it focuses on interests, activities and opinions, Psychographic factors are also called I.A.O variables. Some Demographic factors can be involved, like gender and age. With Psychographic audience profiling, interests can change over time and this is why researching what interests people have can be a key value that can help with marketing and distributing. This picture gives and example Psychographic values.Geo-demographic is also another type of audience profiling and focuses around where a group of people or individual states i.e where they situate. This can help where to distribute and market a film and as said before can increase the chances of a film making profit.
When it came to our project, we made sure that our questionnaires and surveys had some audience profiling involved in them. For example we asked questions that specifically asked what genre of film people liked, and this ranged around different ages. This in favor helped us with completing our marketing and distribution plan.
Production Research
Production research is vital when it comes to marketing and distributing, as the methods used must match as closely to the film as possible, so that the public are not disappointed when they go and see the film. Also the distributors must decide weather the film needs loads of marketing spent on it. Again this can conclude if a film makes profit or not. For example, if a film was portraying a Horror genre and the film was actually a Comedy, then it can get bad reviews as Horror fans are disappointed, and Comedy fans won't watch it as they think the film is a Horror, in both ways the film loses profit.
Production Research could also apply to pre-production when a producer and director goes scouting locations for a film. When it comes to the marketing and distribution plan, production research is needed so that, as said before, the film is not portrayed in the wrong way from what it was meant to be. Researching on other films that have failed or succeeded in the box office is a great example of production research, and is what we used in our own project when finding facts and figures.
Providing content for the product is also a great example of production research as movie clips and movie stills may be needed for marketing methods like posters or trailers. These could either be teasers or main posters and trailers.
Providing content for the product is also a great example of production research as movie clips and movie stills may be needed for marketing methods like posters or trailers. These could either be teasers or main posters and trailers.
Assessing Research Data
In assessing research data, it is split into three categories; these are Validity, Reliability and Representativeness and Generalisability. Validity is quite simple when it is put into a certain process or object. The definition of validity is in general 'keeping everything the same'. For example in our project we created questionnaires that were given out to 10 or more people. The questions that we asked had to be the same on each questionnaire given out, so that the results given back, were valid.The problem with keeping the questions valid, was that some people that took the questionnaire or surveys, might just of rushed through it, making the results false. This can affect things, for example, the distribution plan that we had to create, as the results that were given, may not improve the chances of the film making profit. Figures that are rounded are also a way of keeping results valid but in some ways can be risky.
Reliability is about getting results that would be reliable in your own project and would you help improve or proceed in anything the project may involve. For example in our questionnaires and surveys, we made sure that we gave out at least 10 so that the results were reliable, and would help us in creating our distribution and marketing plan.
Generalisability means can the results of the research be applied more generally and more widely than the study itself or are they only relevant to the specific context of study? For example if in my questionnaires and surveys, I asked how many teenagers liked Romance, I could go further and asked how many female teenagers like Romance to make the results more generalisable.
Representativeness research or sampling is a type of statistical sampling in which a researcher attempts to select individuals which are Representatives of a larger population. Researchers gather more data from a small group and try to extrapolate the results to make generalisations about a larger group. For example I asked a small group of teenagers about a poster, one from the original creator and one remade by me, and asked them on their opinions about it by giving out questionnaires and creating surveys. The small group that were representatives were teenagers and that would then expand the generalisation of the larger teenage group.
References
http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/images/2012/07/jugar-world-of-warcraft.jpg
http://blog.bjdgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Deal-done-_000003176376Large-small1.jpg
http://www.floodlightsurveys.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/FocusGroup.gifhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychographic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Validity_(statistics)
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-representative-sampling.htm
http://www.collemergencymed.ac.uk/CEM/Research/technical_guide/validgen.htm
http://www.collemergencymed.ac.uk/CEM/Research/technical_guide/validgen.htm
http://www.slideshare.net/mroper/research-techniques-in-the-media-industry
http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/diasporas/files/diasporas/imagecache/zoom/Special%20Issue%20of%20Historical%20Journal%20of%20Film,%20Radio%20and%20Television.jpg
http://rack.0.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDEyLzEyLzA0LzEzL3lvdXR1YmV0aGVzLmJSai5qcGcKcAl0aHVtYgk5NTB4NTM0IwplCWpwZw/42783b3b/0f7/youtube-the-secret-ingredient-for-job-recruitment-infographic--501ecffedf.jpg
http://rack.2.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDEyLzEyLzAzL2U0L3NlZWhvd3lvdXJnLjlyMS5qcGcKcAl0aHVtYgk5NTB4NTM0IwplCWpwZw/8fec6ce4/e71/see-how-your-google-results-measure-up-with-google-grader-video--6b8bbb4b41.jpg
http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjAzOTcxMDA2Nl5BMl5BcG5nXkFtZTcwMTc1MzIzOA@@._V1_.png
http://www.lvqresearch.com/clientUploads/LVQResearch/uploads/radEditor/images/Qualitative.jpg
http://www.badhaven.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/TwiBooks1.jpg
http://jetcracker.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/goth-makeup1.jpg
http://rack.3.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDEyLzEyLzA0L2Q2L1BzeWNob2dyYXBoLmFBNS5wbmc/b0a16bd0/6cf/Psychographics_Are_More_Detailed_Than_Demographics-640.png
http://nerdbastards.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/movie-trailers.png
Ollie,
ReplyDeleteVery well done. This is a comprehensive post that not only contains a lot of useful and relevant information but also makes good use of the blog medium.
I have awarded P1 & M1 for this task. Please make the following amendments to aim for D1:
- Differentiate between research and data; in the quantitative research section you say that research is data but research actually RESULTS in data. Just make this clear.
- Give an example of a quantitative research question from your own survey.
- Give an example of a question that resulted in qualitative data.
- Look at the section on data gathering agencies and, in your own words, define clearly exactly what they do.
- Look at the section on audience and market research and just add a little more about looking into viewing habits and WHY this research is carried out.
- Check throughout that you have not copied anything from another source without directly quoting it or hyper-linking it in the text. There are a few bits that seem copied ("semi-logical analysis").
- Check spelling, punctuation and grammar throughout and check the small section near your print screen that changes font.
- Do not 'justify text please. Just left align.
Very well done Ollie.
Well done Ollie, you have made the suggested changes and ensured that you have comprehensively explained the nature and purposes of research using subject terminology correctly and referring to well-chosen and specific examples.
DeleteI have awarded unit 3: P1, M1 & D1 for the above post.
EllieB