Generic Research Summation

These are some ideas that I am planning on using in the production of my documentary - shown in a mind map, along with the reasons why.

Audience Research: Focus Group Questions

What is your favourite genre of documentary?
Amelie: I love documentaries based around the natural world, whether that be in the water or land. For example I am fascinated by blue planet and how you get an insight into many animals behaviours we wouldn't see normally.
Lauren: My favourite genre of documentary are ones based around peoples lives. For example, I really enjoy watching Stacey Dooley's series as I find it interesting to have an insight into other peoples lives and different ways of living.
Sam: I'm into crime documentaries, like ones about serial killers - mainly because I find them interesting. I also like nature documentaries, mainly David Attenborough ones also because they are interesting to me.
Alex: My favourite type of genre is ones based on true life stories and murder/crime. Also equestrian ones about training techniques. For example, rich kids go poor or smugglers, also anything Stacey Dooley does as she asks straight very off the cuff questions and gets truthful answers she wants.

How often do you watch documentaries?
Amelie: Multiple times a week, sometimes I will rewatch old ones that i particularly enjoyed.
Lauren: I watch at least one documentary a week.
Sam: I tend to watch documentaries a couple of times a week.
Alex: Whenever I see something that interests me, if it catches my eye then I will invest my attention.

What platform do you watch them on?
Amelie: Netflix, National Geographic or BBC iPlayer.
Lauren: Depends what documentary but normally Netflix and BBC iPlayer.
Sam: Mainly BBC iPlayer and Netflix
Alex: BBC iPlayer, Crime Channel, Horse and Country.

Have you ever felt like a documentary impacted you?
Amelie: Completely, on Netflix there are 2 documentaries called 'chasing coral' and 'chasing ice' - they both look at the impact of global temperatures on different habitats by using camera that take photos of the same location everyday for months and evaluate how it really impacts humans if we don't start changing our behaviours.
Lauren: Definitely. Especially mental health documentaries - for example I loved Jesy Nelson's documentary Odd One Out and it really impacted the way I look at celebrities, and found it reminded people that what you seen online isn't everything - nor is it always realistic.
Sam: I think I was impacted the most by a documentary on Netflix about the Russian filing scandal and how easy it was for them to get away with it, it really highlighted to me just how bad the scandal was and how corrupt the Russian government are in their attempts to win and later cover it up.
Alex: Yes, particularly the equestrian ones as I like them to try the techniques demonstrated and different exercises to see if they could work for me. (So it impacts my horse as well!)

Generic Research: Textual Analysis 2

The web page for the Odd One Out documentary includes many aspects for promotion, and also demonstrating convergence. Underneath the actual documentary is a 3 paragraph description of what it involves.
As you scroll down you can also see the music played which is all linked. I find this interesting as even though this documentary is about Jesy Nelson herself, they are still promoting Little Mix's music which is the band she is a part of.


I will take a few things from this web page that are useful, and would be good to include in my own. For example I think that the 'Broadcasts' section would be good as it could give it a more realistic appearance.




As you scroll down nearer to the bottom of the page there is a section for 'Mental Health on BBC Three'. This is very helpful for making my documentary as I can see both the range of documentaries that they have, and as well one of the easy ways they can advertise other documentaries available for people to watch.

When you click on the 'Mental Health on BBC 3', you get this page full of more documentaries on similar topics. I find it really interesting that they included this as it is almost saying to the audience - if you enjoyed this, then heres loads more you could watch - which is promoting themselves at the same time.
It also shows that they feel importance about mental health, and their target audience do/should too. The primary target audience for BBC 3 is 16-34 year olds, which is fairly similar to my documentary of 16-25 year olds, except mine targets a smaller bracket of younger people.

What isn't included on this webpage, which I would like on my own website is something about 'getting help'. For example website links for online chats, helplines, and even places to get more information.

Audience Research: Audience Behaviour

As I am making a documentary with a target audience of a socially-conscious, 16-25, middle to upmarket demographic, there are many things to consider. By definition, social consciousness is having 'awareness of important social issues'. This  relates to the topic of my documentary as it has a huge focus on mental health. I believe that this is an extremely important topic to be discussed, and although awareness is increasing - especially over recent years - I do think that there is a lot more people can learn. My target demographic being socially conscious would view this in the same or a similar way, and would also want to learn more. An example of what there could be to learn is how common mental illness is, and 1 in 4 people experience mental health issues each year - stated by the MHFA England. Another statistic which I find interesting is that 70-75% of people with diagnosable mental illness receive no treatment at all. This fascinates me, as it proves that awareness needs to be encouraged and talking about mental health should start to become a bigger part of peoples lives. I want my documentary to inform people on things like this, and truly how serious it can become. Additionally, a figure here that references the same age range as my target audience is that half of mental ill health starts by age 15 and 75% develops by age 18. This again shows that it is affecting the age group my documentary is being made for, and that should be even more reason for them (and others) to be interested.

A lot of popular documentaries for this age are crime. Most of YouTubes top recommendations or most viewed documentaries are all crime, as a lot of people find these interesting. I think that the reason people find these documentaries interesting is because of how unusual and out of the ordinary the behaviours shown are, and that it is so far from the 'norm' that the vast majority of people can't relate in any way. I think that crime documentaries are extremely interesting too as in a way they provide entertainment by being able to see inside the people that behave so differently to most. However, I am hoping that my documentary is going to be almost opposite in the response, with people being able to relate and become more aware about this important issue. I also think that it is so important as it can affect absolutely anyone, even though it is more common in certain age ranges and genders, it doesnt mean that it doesnt impact people around those brackets. 

The general interests of people in the 16-25 age range would be typically be related around socialising and a lot of people particularly under 18s have interests in physical activity and sport (also relating to my documentary). I think that many people would be highly likely and willing to watch my documentary. Although it might not have the most light-hearted atmosphere when watching it, it should impact people and educate them.

Audience Research: Focus Group

Target audience: A socially-conscious, 16-25, middle to upmarket demographic

Name: Amelie
Age: 17
Occupation: Currently studying Biology, Chemistry and Psychology A levels in sixth form - 3 subjects very science related as that is where her interests lie. She currently works in a local pub waitressing to earn money to help fund riding and horses.
Interests: Very passionate about animals and have spent much of her life fascinated by them, and as a result would in the future like to be a vet, studying at the Royal Vet College - specialising in horses.
Why would she watch my documentary?: 'I would watch the documentary because I believe horses and horse riding is so beneficial to my mental health personally, and would be interested to see if it has the same positive effect on others!'


Name: Lauren
Age: 18
Occupation: Just finished her final year of sixth form, and will be beginning an apprenticeship in London in September working in the insurance industry. She also has a job in Waitrose working as a supermarket assistant.
Interests: Lauren loves sports and exercise and she recently completed a run for charity. She also loves spending time with her family, and going out with friends on Friday and Saturday nights.
Why would she watch my documentary?: Lauren loves sports, and although she has never properly tried horse riding she says 'I think it would be interesting to see the behind the scenes of it all, and also how she is overcoming what she's been through'.



Name: Sam
Age: 21
Occupation: About to finish a law degree and is hoping to train to be a solicitor in a commercial law firm in London. He also currently has a part time job as a waiter/bar man at a wedding venue which he enjoys.
Interests: Into sports, especially football and tennis, likes to play and watch them both, enjoy going out and socialising with friends whenever possible.
Why would he watch my documentary?: 'I would watch this documentary because I'm interested in sports and I think it'd be interesting to see the impact that sports can have on mental health both positive and negative.'



Name: Alex
Age: 25
Occupation: A furniture and sales designer.
Interests: Usual fun with family and friends, going out keeping busy, love going to the gym and exercising daily which includes going to the stables and riding her horse. I have been into the equestrian industry for 14 years.
Why would she watch my documentary?: 'As it is very interesting and a great topic to cover anything to do with people overcoming experiences and how they deal with it. I have a strong interest in the equestrian sport as it is, so anything related I would find great and informative. This would be a great way to see if what I did and the person documented did the same things, and I could compare to myself.'

Generic Research: Textual Analysis 1

I decided to look at a few of BBC Three's previous documentaries for possible inspiration and ideas that I might want to incorporate into my own.
I began with Jesy Nelson's 'Odd One Out' as I had already seen this when it was released back in September, and it really stuck with me. The producers encouraged the audience to really understand how she was feeling, and emphasise moments of emotional climax just through production.
I am really fascinated by this and decided to watch the first 3 minutes of the documentary, writing down all the shots, diegetic and non-diegetic sounds, and other interesting aspects.

• BBC 3 logo
• Wide shot - inside her house with background BTS noise
• Extreme close up (object in house) - music rises and continues
• Moving camera onto Jesy - filmed like on a handheld device, making it less formal
• Zooms onto Nelsons face - highlighting she is the 'star' of the documentary
• New angle - wide shot, still on Nelson, then zooms in making it a mid shot
• New location (Kitchen) and voiceover begins, still with soft, low music in the background
• Camera still following Nelson, walking around her house - again, less formal and makes the audience feel like they are involved and getting an insight as it is behind the scenes of filming
• Now have the video sounds, music and a voiceover all at once
• Voiceover continuing, but now we see the voice is from an interview (mid shot/close up of Nelson)
• Shows short clip of interview
• Emphasising the emotion - even this early on in the documentary
• Now in car - side mirror shot
• Close up of Nelson's face
• Lights on road - blurry - makes the audience pay more attention to Nelson's voiceover speaking
• Talking about social media - filming nelson on phone
• Twitter video - like a screen recording of multiple messages she had recieved
• Another new location on pier- dolly shot as it expands the view from a wide shot of just Nelson now to the entire pier
• Filled the space around her with text - comments linking to what she's saying
• Back to interview - short clip
• Throwback photo of Nelson - showing trauma she went through with paparazzi photo of her clearly upset and scared
• Now throwback video - her with bandmates  - again emphasising emotion
• Point of view shot of outside from inside moving train
• Now see Nelson looking out of the window (as if previous shot was her sight)
• Clip of YouTube news embedded - talking about her
• Behind the scenes filming of music video - 2 close up shots of her from different moments in different locations, then close up of camera filming her, then wide shot of her again
• Back to interview with her upset (still voiceover voice)
• New location - Filming behind Nelson (back of her head) following her into a room of people
• Wide and mid shots of her hugging these people - audience have not yet met them
• Voiceover stops when sound from the videos starts - however, music is still continuous
• New location - Tracking shot through trees of woods
• Now tracking shot infront of her walking through the woods
• Voiceover stops
• As music comes to an end - main title of documentary appears (being typed out like on twitter - same format as previously with the cyber bullying comments)
• Music stops
• Now happy baby videos of Nelson begin to play, contrasting with the previous emotional and dark introduction
• Baby videos - starting from the beginning of her life

All of the 'throwback' style videos work together to show the audience things that they had never seen before. Like the video of Nelson with her bandmate Perrie was filmed backstage before a show. You would never notice the hurt and insecurities Nelson had as it's all concealed when she's performing. I think that this documentary is extremely powerful and not only gives the audience an insight to her life, but also makes them think more deeply about how what you can say really can impact people a lot - even if it is just one comment online.

I also watched a documentary of Stacey Dooley inside a psychiatric ward and found that both this and Jesy Nelson's, although they have different ideas and meanings behind them, they are filmed similarly. Within the first 3 minutes of each of them, they both provide the audience with an insight of what they are going to be seeing throughout the documentary, giving small clips from different parts. This should be able to interest them more and lets them see the style of the documentary and the sort of things they are about to see.

Audience Research: Feedback on Pitch

This response will help me to have a more focused idea and topic for the documentary, as from this I think that I am going to have a serious theme and the main documentary can be based around this. For example, the main character has struggled with her own problems in the past - but is coming out of it now, with the help of horse riding providing distraction and enjoyment.

Although the feedback shows a clear favourable option - I think that i may change the focus of the documentary onto sports more generally. Although the original plan was for horse riding alone, I feel that a documentary around sports and mental health will be able to reach more people, and interest others. To still meet the ideas of the responses from this question, I may have more focus on horse riding.

As said previously, I am going to focus the documentary more strongly on the characters struggles and how she is overcoming them. This should help in terms of being appropriate BBC 3 and the specific target audience being engaged with it. I can also gather this from the comments below. Including a more current issue will probably attract more people who are able to relate and have been through similar things.