The Role of Research in the Media.

Primary Research.
Primary research is new research, this is carried out to answer specific questions.  It also mainly focuses on specific audience data i.e. demographics. To gather this type of information about your demographic there are surveys, questionnaires and/or interviews. A successful way of sharing your surveys/questionnaires is through social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, this is because there is a larger amount of responses and a wider range of ages, interests etc. Another way of handing out questionnaires would be in public, approach random people that would be willing to answer the questions this method is often more time consuming but is usually more effective. 


Secondary Research.
This specific research type is information that may have been used for other purposes and is now available to the public, secondary research is often formed from primary research. It can be found within books, websites, surveys, letters, autobiographies etc.
Secondary research is usually used in partner with Primary research, it usually used to back up primary sources to make them a lot more reliable.


Qualitative and Quantitative Research.
When analysing research such as primary and secondary, qualitative and quantitative research is used. Qualitative research is a type of data that is shown through images, i.e. graphs, charts, tables. Whereas quantitative research is shown through numbers, i.e. sampling or when looking at questionnaire results and analysing graphs there will be a numerical outcome, for example, 25% of people preferred the colour purple. 


Audience Research.
This research is mainly for the companies benefit as it gives them an insight into what their target audience want. It simply engages a small group of people to gain a detailed in-depth understanding of their feelings towards a specific subject. Audience research helps a group of people to be able to create a demographic, by putting people into groups of gender, age, ethnicity, education, occupation etc.
Another way of finding the target audience is looking at the psychographic status of an individual. This specifically judges the individual on their personal interests, hobbies, goals and their lifestyle choices. This way the company/group are able to gain a in-depth understanding on what their audience wants to see.
A common status that most companies use to find their target audience is the socioeconomic status. This is where the company is focusing on the individuals education and job. 

Production Research.
Research into the production of any form of media all depends on what the subject and format it is. This research is for a documentary unit so therefore will use documentaries as examples. When looking at an expository documentary it's likely that the producers have researched into the subject information that they're going to be broadcasting because one of its main conventions is that they include facts. Whereas a reflexive documentary is based on the truth but doesn't necessarily have to be the whole truth as it's a reconstruction, although some research will have to be done to know what has happened vaguely but it isn't quite a main factor.


Market Research.
Market research is used throughout the media industry. This determines when and which channel the show will be aired on TV. Producers will have researched into their target audiences and into which TV programmes they watch and what times they tune in to watch. This is how the companies are influenced into analysing their own products into further detail like whether using a new technique could jeopardize the documentary. 


Distribution.
Distribution within companies is all down to how much money they have, whether they're major conglomerates or independent companies. Major conglomerates generally have more money which means they can afford advertising on billboards, which will help to entice their target audience. They are very dependent on the promotional side of producing because it usually brings in a large profit, companies usually work with McDonald's making toys to put into Happy Meals and children are likely to ask their parents to take them to see the movie that they're promoting, as well as in toy stores that they'll sell toys that too promote movies. Top conglomerates can also afford to pay out for celebrities to star within movies, which is another way of enticing a specific audience and promoting.
Independent companies are pretty much opposite to the major conglomerates because they have a smaller budget and don't rely on advertising. This means that the company are able to use their budget on being more creative and sticking to the basics of producing, not using so many effects and possibly not using as famous celebrities (If using them at all). They also rely on independent sharing like YouTube, Film Festivals, Film4 and immediate DVD release rather than it being shown in cinemas where the company would have to pay a large amount for the movie to be screened in cinemas. 

Subject Research- London Bombings.

Subject Research - London Bombings.

On the 7th July 2005, 4 suicide bombers attacked Central London, killing 52 people and injuring more than 770.
The locations were struck as the morning rush hour drew to a close at around 08:50. Three bombs went off on underground trains just outside Liverpool Street and Edgware Road stations, and another travelling between Kings Cross and Russell Square.
There was then another explosion around an hour later which was on a double decker bus in Tavistock Square, not far from Kings Cross Station. 

The Bombers:

Mohammad Sidique Khan,
30, Edgware Road bomber.

• The oldest of the bombers and is thought to have taken the lead role.
• Raised in Beeston, Leeds.
• His bomb, detonated on a westbound Circle Line train, killed seven people.

Shehzad Tanweer,
 22, Aldgate bomber.

• Lived most of his life in the Beeston area of Leeds.
• Tanweer detonated his bomb on the eastbound Circle line, killing seven others.

Germaine Lindsay,
19, Russell Square bomber.

• Spent his childhood in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, not far from the other bombers' homes.
• He converted to Islam in 2000 and started to associate with troublemakers.
• Lindsay carried out the most deadly of the bombings, killing 26 on the Piccadilly line train.

Hasib Mir Hussain,
18, Tavistock Square bomber

•  Grew up in Holbeck, on the outskirts of Leeds.
•  He was the bus bomber who claimed 13 lives.

Hussain, Tanweer and Khan travelled from their homes in West Yorkshire to Luton in a hired car. In Luton they then met the fourth bomber (Lindsay) and then they got on a train to Kings Cross, once they got there, they dispersed and went to different locations to where the bombs exploded (Edgware Road, Russell Square, Tavistock Square & Liverpool Street). 

To build the bombs, the group rented a flat at 18 Alexandra Grove in the Hyde Park area of Leeds - a student area where they were unlikely to be recognised but equally would not have stood out. The bombs were constructed using materials which were readily available and which required "little expertise" to turn into the explosive devices.
It is thought that each device consisted of 2-5kg of explosive and that the group used details from the internet and also had advice from someone with experience.

It quickly emerged that two of the bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, had spent several months in Pakistan.The official investigation says it is likely that they had some contact with al-Qaeda figures and may have received training.

21st July 2005.

On the 21st of July 2005, exactly 2 weeks after the 7th, another 4 attacks were attempted. Each of these were again attempted on 3 underground trains and 1 bus but they all failed to explode because it was the wrong chemical recipe. 

Three of the suspected bombers began their journey at Stockwell underground station. Failed devices were found on trains at Oval and Warren Street stations and on a bus in Hackney.

The fourth suspect entered the underground system at Westbourne Grove. A device was found on the Hammersmith and City line not far away at Shepherd's Bush.

A fifth device was found in a rucksack abandoned in bushes at Little Wormwood Scrubs two days after the failed attacks.

Yassin Hassan Omar,

24, New Southgate.

Attempted murder of passengers on the Transport for London system

Conspiracy with others unknown to murder passengers on the Transport for London system

Possession of explosives with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property

Conspiracy with others unknown to cause explosions of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property.

He was arrested in Birmingham on 27 July, the first of the five suspects to be held.

Mr Omar is accused of the failed attack on the Victoria Line between Oxford Circus and Warren Street.

Ibrahim Muktar Said,
27, New Southgate.

Attempted murder of passengers on the Transport for London system

Conspiracy with others unknown to murder passengers on the Transport for London system

Possession of explosives with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property

Conspiracy with others unknown to cause explosions of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property.

Accused of trying to set off a bomb on a number 26 bus in Hackney.

Mr Said was arrested in west London on 29 July, eight days after the attempted bombings.

Ramzi Mohamed, 23.

Attempted murder of passengers on the Transport for London system

Conspiracy with others unknown to murder passengers on the Transport for London system

Possession of explosives with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property

Conspiracy with others unknown to cause explosions of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property.

Was arrested in west London on 29 July along with Ibrahim Muktar Said. 

He is suspected of attempting to bomb the Tube near Oval station.

Hussain Osman, 27.

Attempted murder of passengers on the Transport for London system

Conspiracy with others to murder passengers on the Transport for London system

Possession of explosives with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property

Conspiracy with others to cause explosions of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property.
 

He is suspected of trying to bomb a Hammersmith and City Line train at Shepherd's Bush.

He was arrested in Rome on 29 July, subject to extradition proceedings                                                        and flown to London. 

Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 32.

Conspiracy with others unknown to murder passengers on the Transport for London system

Conspiracy with others unknown to cause explosions of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property.Manfo Kwaku Asiedu of Finsbury Park, north London, has been charged over the discovery of an unexploded device found at Little Wormwood Scrubs park in west London.

Audience Research/ Questionnaire Analysis

Audience Research/ Questionnaire Analysis.

For our groups audience research we created a questionnaire to be able to find the most accurate results in finding who our target audience is and to be able to analyse them.

We also created another questionnaire helping us to identify what the audience want to see throughout the documentary.

The first questionnaire (based on finding the target audience) included questions such as 'Do you have or are you working toward any qualifications?' and 'Do you work? If so, full or part-time?' By asking questions like these we are able to analyse our audience more critically and demographically to see if the types of documentaries that they watched reflected on their social class/status, for example, a member of the public deeming themselves as higher/working class that earns more money,  may wish to watch documentaries that follow the reflexive/poetic mode as it reflects the type of lifestyle they have and possibly makes them feel more 'intellectual' as opposed to someone of a lower class and have a part-time job, they may wish to watch a more observational documentary such as 'Benefits Street' or those shown on Channel 4, again, by possibly reflecting the type of lifestyle they live.

The 'Audience Questionnaire' helped us to create the documentary as it gave us ideas into what the audience wanted to see, by asking questions such as 'How can we show the London Bombings as a sensitive issue?' and 'Do you prefer to see archived footage, the public's own footage, or both?', by asking these questions we were able to begin structuring the documentary. 

Firstly we decided to analyse each question from the 'Audience Questionnaire' and the 'Documentary Questionnaire' so that we could summarize and compare the results of each, shown through bar chats and tables.
The first question that was asked in both questionnaires was 'What is your gender'.  We asked this question predominantly to find out whether our target audience would be mainly males, females or both and whether specific genders social class/status had an effect on the results. 

From the results it's clear the predominant gender to be watching our documentary is females having 15 females out of 24 (62.50%), answering the 'Audience Questionnaire' and 7 females out of 12 (58.33%) answering the 'Documentary Questionnaire', in comparison to only 7 males, (29.17%) and 2 partakers, to whom preferred not to state their gender (8.33%), answering the 'Audience Questionnaire', and 4 males (33.33%) and only 1 partaker, to whom preferred not to state their gender, answering the 'Documentary Questionnaire'. 

The second question that we decided we wanted to ask on both questionnaires was 'What is your age'. We decided on this question as not only did we want to see a specific gender, we also wanted to see if we had a specific age group within that gender. When writing the proposal we predicted that the main target audience would be between 20-60 years old, purely based on the fact that the content might be a little bit more sensitive for younger viewers. 

When analysing the results from both questionnaires it was clear that the predominant age bracket over all was the 16-18 year olds, with 62.50% (15), answering the 'Audience Questionnaire', with 12 of those being female and 69.23% (9), answering the 'Documentary Questionnaire'. 

The questions for each questionnaire now changed, as for the audience questionnaire we needed to be more specific, and ask more demo-graphical questions to actually be able to analyse the audience, and get a specific idea on what sort of person would be watching our documentary rather than questions related to the London Bombings themselves. 

- I have lost the rest of this document, it's on Lauryn's blog or Steve has it in my comb-bound folder. -

Genre Research.

Throughout this report I'm going to be looking at documentaries to give us inspiration when filming our own documentary, this obviously varies due to the fact that some documentaries have been filmed using multiple documentary formats.
I have chosen to analyse documentaries that are based on bombings/disasters and also focusing on how they have been filmed and edited for ideas of our own, for example, the bombings in Syria (October 28^th 2012), and how much they have been affected compared to London based on their poverty and how they have been filmed, looking at the different camera angles and the traumatic footage that may be used.
I have also chosen to use the very recent bombing documentary that happened in Boston on Marathon Day (April 15^th 2013) and again looking at the impact and also looking at the conventions used throughout the documentary.
I am then going to analyse a completely different documentary to be able to show the differences between how they’re filmed.


The Bombing of al-Bara:

This documentary I have chosen to use is a 36 minute long recording of Syria called ‘The Bombing of al-Bara’. Click here for the documentary.
This is a documentary filmed by Olly Lambert, his motive was to film an interview with Jamal Maarouf, he is the commander of the Martyrs of Syria Brigade which is one of the biggest units of the Free Syrian Army and definitely the most powerful in the region that he's been filming in.
Whilst speaking to Jamal himself, a government jet flew overhead and landed a bomb just 300 metres away from where Olly Lambert was. Olly documented the shocking impact of air strikes on a civilian population. The result is a rate portrait of the reality of civil war. Olly narrates this documentary as well as directing it, if you listen to the first sequence; it is just a mellow toned voice for a basic narration, this is taking place whilst he is filming the Martyrs of Syria. 

From the first 2 minutes you can clearly see that this was based around the lives of the Martyrs and how the lived and acted  as well as the interview with Jamal. The documentary was extremely effective because it shows how everybody reacted to the explosion and what happens afterwards we also experience the narrators opinion, how he felt at the time.

The footage is very shaky as soon as the bomb hits as it is live footage, it is clear that it hasn't been edited, there is no cuts and there isn't any point where the filming stops.
There also wasn't really any specific camera angles, but the distance away shows a medium shot.

This documentary uses the expository format; they expose a specific topic and are quite frequently seen on TV. They often include interviews for the benefit of exploring other people’s opinions, which is what Olly seems to be doing.
Expository documentaries are very likely to have narrators too, and are referred to as ‘Voice of God’. Some other examples of expository documentaries would be those that were narrated by David Attenborough called ‘Planet Earth’.

Our documentary will involve a voice-over from a section of the interview with Mark Maybanks, this is so he is narrating his re-enactment of the morning that he had the bomb on his bus. 

We also included a narration and illustrations of where the bombs where placed on the 21st which is the date we focused on but we also filmed our own footage of the locations that were effected on the day that the bombs went off (7/7).

Marathon Day: Boston.

The second documentary I'm going to be analysing is called ‘Marathon Day: Boston’. It’s a basic documentary summarising what had happened on the 15^th April. This documentary is from the perspective of mainstream media; there is also archive footage from when the bomb went off and when it was announced on news reports.
Click here to watch this documentary.

In the first frame of the documentary they have text saying ‘Dedicated to the victims of terrorism’. This is a powerful start to the documentary as it makes the audience think about all of the people that have died, not only on the 15^th of April, but all terrorist attacks that have happened.

 

-We have used something similar in the documentary we have created because it engages the audience, people are likely to read what’s on the screen as it usually informs the audience on what’s going on and what’s going to be shown.-

It then shows some footage the marathon with a clear enthusiastic voice-over from a man and woman explaining that it is a tradition, that there are multiple different people running all over the world and that there are up to 27,000 people contributing. This documentary has many cuts showing thousands running together and then showing individuals depending on what the voice-over is explaining.
We are then shown the finish line, the female voice-over then says 'The crowd are going crazy as they reach the finish line', this is when the bomb explodes. Music is placed over the top of this to emphasise the mood but not completely muting what is going on at the scene, you are able to hear lots of screaming, smoke and sirens. This was so the producers could present to the audience the atmosphere during and after the explosion.

It’s clear that by looking at different styles of documentaries, we were able to confirm exactly what we wanted, and didn't want to include within ours. We knew that we wanted to conform to the poetic/expository mode of documentary, due to the fact that we were documenting on such an informal, controversial, and sensitive topic. 
now clearly established the type of mode that our documentary will convert too, and will be taking into consideration the different effects and styles that we use, and what they could possible connote or represent to an audience once edited.

Proposal/Treatment.

Our London Bombings documentary starts off with text spread across three individual ‘fade in fade out’ sequences which it then introduces the subject of the documentary, ‘On the 7th of July 2005...’ ‘London was the main attraction...’ ‘When 4 bombs exploded around the heart of the city’.
I found some other BBC footage on YouTube announcing a bomb had just exploded at Liverpool Street Station and was advising everyone to stay at home. Lauryn and I were planning on using the audio to place on top of the text.
We then used some archive footage taken from YouTube we used a 3 minute clip of news reports from different countries, for us to emphasise to the audience how much of a widely spread issue it was.
We then added more text because we were moving onto the next date ‘21st July’ which is what the majority of our documentary is about, we felt like we couldn’t reflect on the 21st July bombings without mentioning the 7th which is when the bombs went off 2 weeks before the failed explosives were found. The next section of text is spread over another three individual ‘fade in fade out’ sequences, again, introducing the 21st July. ‘...But what many people often forget is...’ ‘Another attack was attempted, just 2 weeks after...’ ‘On the 21st…’.
This text sequence then fades into the interview we have with Mark Maybanks who had the failed explosive on his bus on the 21st July. For the shooting of this interview a tripod was used for a steady mid-shot from a side angle.
We had Mark speak about his day and how he acted when he heard the explosive. We had used Final Cut Pro to edit the interview,  we didn’t want to have just an interview so in some parts we had picked out just the audio, this is because there was also a reenactment that went along with when he was explaining his daily routine.
We then added on to extra parts of the documentary, for example, we used a reenactment from a Chinese news report, from when he was explaining how he found the bomb and describing what it looked like.  We also included images from the internet of the bomb itself, which then helped to match Marks descriptions of the bombs.
We then plan to add a map showing where the terrorists started their journey and which terrorist was where, showing in depth detail of the situation, on top of this we were going to add a voiceover because it will help the audience follow what’s going on, it will just be a short narration explaining what’s going on in the pictures.
The rest of the documentary isn’t finished yet, so what is left will be cut and swapped around with some other pieces, for example, we have filmed a lot of footage from the locations of where the bombs went off for the 7th July  for us to show the audience how much London has changed and how people get on with these things as they don’t feel they’re an issue at the moment, when filming this we used many different shots and movements, for example, long shots, close ups and panning, these varied shots helped us to be able to shoot different areas.

• Newspaper reports and official letters/other resources - From Ellie's dad (Mark Maybanks).
• Questionnaire analysis report
• Documentary compare and contrast report
• Ellie's home research report (Mark Maybanks interview).

Throughout the research process my group collected sources of information and put them into several reports, we used a range of documentary research methods such as secondary research (newspapers, letters), primary research (questionnaires, surveys, reports), quantitative (analysis report of the questionnaire) and qualitative (the documentary comparison report). 

We were better off with using our own primary research because it's a lot more reliable based on the fact that we had gathered the information ourselves. 

The secondary research were helpful resources because it helped to back up primary research, it also informed us on what happened within the incident. Although we don't know if the news reports are accurate because each newspaper is different and each article is written in a slightly different way, so we mainly pick up on the facts that come up most within the news reports.

Quantative research (analysis report of the questionnaire) was a useful source of information for us to be able to identify our target audience, it also gave us an idea into what our target audience want to see within the documentary. For example, in our questionnaire one of the questions were 'Do you like to watch documentaries? If so what mode?' This was a vital question for us to be able to identify our demographic, and to see if a specific age or gender would like our documentary mode. 
Qualitative research wasn't the most important part of our research, as we only used it for ideas on how to improve our own documentary.