WEEKLY JOURNALS

Consider what you have learnt and how this has benefitted
your project. What do you need to improve?

Week Three - Research

RESEARCH

What did you learn from your This week, I researched into professionals, target audience and
research? platforms for my medium.
Researching into professionals has helped me to have a greater
understanding about what makes a good quality documentary, for
example, not just good camera work and editing, but a good and
interesting topic, and a good host/narration- this is because, it
helps to add to the piece and will keep the audience watching. If a
piece is low quality. A person is more likely to stop watching.
From researching my target audience, I learnt who would possibly
watch my piece and their demographic. From my survey, where I
asked, who would be the target audience, a lot of people said
“anyone/everyone” because of the huge interest into the topic of
women in film, however, others said feminists or people who have
an interest in film. In my opinion, I don’t think my piece should limit
who can watch my piece, however I think it will mainly appeal to
feminists and people who are interested in film and the
history/development of it.
Finally, I learnt from my research into platforms, that people watch
documentaries mostly on bigger streaming platforms such as
Netflix and iPlayer, but also YouTube. This is because of the
convenience of these platforms and with a few clicks, you can find a
wide selection of interesting and popular documentaries.
Documentaries are hugely popular on Netflix, especially those
about true crime, for example shows like Tiger King, Conversations
with A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes and The Disappearance of
Madeleine McCann, have been some of Netflix’s most talked about
shows.

How has the research into For my research, I investigated Louis Theroux and Benjamin Zand.
existing artists and Looking into these two professionals allowed me to develop my
professionals helped you idea and understand the medium better. For example, I now know
improve your ideas? what makes a great documentary and I want to try and emulate
their work the best that I can, so then my piece can be the best
that it can be. It helped me to realise that the more interviews that
you have the better, with consideration. For example, in the
beginning, I was planning into only having one interview, however
now, my idea has developed and I am looking into having at least
two interviews with professionals, so then I can get a wide array of
professional opinions and knowledge, but I also want to do a VOX
Pop of some kind, or ask people about their opinions about women
in film, and I will try to find people with a wide range of opinions to
make my piece more interesting.
I want to do this because it will help add to my piece, but it will also
allow the audience to digest the information that they have been
given and then they can listen to other people’s opinions whilst
they are digesting the information, if I don’t do this, it can lead to
my piece being overwhelming with information and people may
loose interest.
 WEEKLY JOURNALS

How has the research into your Researching into my target audience has allowed me to understand
target audience helped you who wants to watch my piece, as I mentioned before, I want
improve your ideas? everyone to be interested in my piece, however, I think either
feminists/people who are interested in equality and people who are
interested in film and the history of film are most likely to want to
watch my piece.
Researching my target audience helped me to improve my ideas
because it allowed me to think about topics that everyone will be
able to understand, so everyone will finish my production with
complete understanding of the topic. It also allowed me to think
how I need to make my production suitable for all ages, but also
mainly for 16-24 year olds, because if I promote my piece mainly on
social media, those will be the demographic to watch my piece.

How has the research into your Researching into my platform has allowed me to understand my
platform helped you improve target audience better. For example, during my primary research, I
your ideas? asked people aged from 16-18 where they watch documentaries
and they said mainly on YouTube. I then researched the mainly
audience on YouTube and it was 18-44. This means, for my piece to
be liked by the audience, I must make my piece appeal to people
mainly aged 18.
In my research, I discovered that documentaries which are on
YouTube tend to be lower quality than those on Vimeo or bigger
media company streaming platforms, such as Netflix and iPlayer.
This is because anyone can upload to YouTube, meaning anyone of
any experience can upload.
My idea has improved because of this because I have been able to
think about my piece in more depth., and how I can make my piece
to the best quality.

What work do you need to I am mostly on track for work, I just need to work on my feedback
complete outside of lessons to which I have been given. For example, I am going to upload more
stay on track? screenshots to my page, and I am also going to carry on with
research to then I can be fully prepared for my piece.

High Grade Tips

Research
● ‘Thorough research’ - include plenty of sources and detailed analysis of this information
● ‘relevant & coherent’ – make sure your research sources are not just the same as the Media product
you hope to make - and talk about how they inform your planning
● ‘sustained’ – continue your research throughout the eleven-week project and don’t just limit it to the
first two weeks
● ‘accomplished & considered’ – all of the above referred to in your daily/weekly reflections