MATT- COMMUNICATION SKILLS
(not everything)
Do's and Dont's list.
· To discuss do’s and don’ts in presentation and communications
· To learn about the different question types
· To create a “presentable” debate/discussion
Do
|
Don’t
|
Have good eye contact
|
Mumble
|
Speak loud and clear
|
Speak to quickly or fidget
|
Use appropriate language
|
Have inappropriate resources
|
Involve the audience
|
Read Presentation word for word or have it crowded
|
Relevant pictures
|
Have really long pauses
|
Have the correct grammar
|
Go off topic or have your back to the audience
|
Be prepared
|
Speak to the ground
|
· To type up notes on your blogs and continue looking at children’s drama
Examples for these questions are : footballs, planes, cheese.
Question types
| ||
Description
|
“Tell me about it…”
| |
Definition
|
“What do you understand by…?”
| |
Explanation
|
“Why do you find “x” interesting?”
| |
Exemplification
|
“Can you give me an example of…?”
| |
Comparison
|
What difference do you see between “x” and “y” ?”
| |
Opinions
|
What do you think about…?”
| |
Merits/Pitfalls
|
What are the advantages/disadvantages of…?”
| |
Why, what, where. when. Who, how?
What is the purpose of reviewing?
What should/shouldn’t you do when reviewing?
Choose a media product
Write a review
What publication are you writing it for?
What style will it be written in?
Why?
Do
|
Don’t
|
Put good references in
|
Use inappropriate language
|
Use good grammar
|
Be biased
|
Stay on topic
|
ramble
|
Plan ahead
|
swear
|
Use facts
|
Go off topic
|
Use spell check
| |
Meet deadlines
|
Review on article
TV Can Be Good for Kids!
1. TV can help kids learn about a variety of subjects.
If there’s a subject your child enjoys, more likely than not, there is a TV show, movie, or educational DVD that explores the subject in detail. You might be even be surprised to find out how many kids watch and love educational shows aimed at adults. Rachael Ray, for example has a huge following among kids and tweens, and her primetime show often features kids in the kitchen.
Children’s shows, whether they bill themselves as “educational” or not, may offer opportunities to spark learning. For instance, was your child wowed by the Red Eyed Tree Frog on Go, Diego, Go!? Go online to look at pictures and read about the frog. In this way, kids are able to see how fun learning can be and establish a habit of finding out more when things interest them.
Documentary and nature shows are also entertaining and educational for kids. A great example: Meerkat Manor, on the Animal Planet, makes a soap opera out of Meerkat life and has kids hooked on the drama.
(They are saying this as it is a good place to start off in the article, as it will interest a parent into why they should let their child sit and watch TV, and stating examples for parents to shown their children as a start off point)
2. Through media, kids can explore places, animals, or things that they couldn’t see otherwise.
Most kids are not able to visit the rain forest or see a giraffe in the wild, but many have seen these things on TV. Thankfully, educationally minded producers have given us many shows and movies that allow viewers to see amazing footage of nature, animals, society, and other peoples. Kids and adults alike can learn from this type of media and gain a greater appreciation for our world and the animals and other people who inhabit it.
(It gives a good opportunity for children to see unknown parts to the world and develop an interest it different parts)
3. TV shows can inspire kids to try new activities and engage in "unplugged" learning.
When kids see their favorite characters engaged in fun learning games, they want to play too. Kids also like learning activities more if they involve beloved characters. Preschoolers’ shows are especially effective for generating ideas for learning activities and using characters to motivate kids.
If you have a child who loves Blue’s Clues, for example, you can create clues and a riddle for them to solve at home, or challenge your child to create the riddle and clues. Or, turn a regular activity into a challenge and encourage your child to solve it like the Super Sleuths do.
(Another good way to influence parents to get their children to watch different programs on TV, it’s saying children can develop role models to look up to, by becoming more physical)
4. TV and movies can motivate kids to read books.
Of the new movies that are released each year, you can bet that several of them are based on books. Parents can challenge kids to read a book with the promise of going to the theater or renting the movie when they finish it. Or, kids may see a movie and like it so much that they decide to read the book. Discuss the differences between the book and the movie to help kids develop thinking skills.
(This will interest a parent as they will want their child to read and is giving parents an idea of how to get their child to read a book and develop skills)
5. Kids can build analytical skills by discussing media.
What do you think will happen next? Who did it? What will the result be? What could that character have done instead? Asking these types of questions as you co-view with your children will help them learn to think, problem solve, and predict, making TV viewing a more active experience. More important than just memorizing facts, developing thinking skills will benefit them for the rest of their lives.
Also, remember those compare/contrast tests in school? You can help prepare kids for this type of literary thinking by discussing programs with them. Compare and contrast characters or shows. Who is the main character? Describe the plot. What was the setting and main idea? What was the conflict and how was it resolved? Use TV time to help kids practice for all those essay tests, and they might find that talking about this stuff can be interesting and fun!
(This point gives parents ideas on how to help children’s English for the future, and how to make TV programs and films fun but educational)
6. Parents can use TV to help kids learn the truth about advertising.
Advertising may be annoying, but it does present yet another opportunity to develop kids’ thinking skills. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, young children may not even know the difference between programs and commercials. They are just soaking it all in and applying it to their reality. As a parent, you can explain the purpose of advertising to your kids and alert them to any deceptive tactics. Allow them to analyze the methods used by advertisers to sell a product.
(This paragraph is directly towards a parent as it says “as a parent” and will open parents eyes that children can’t tell the difference between an advert and a program)
7. Good role models and examples on TV can positively influence kids.
Children are influenced by people they see on television, especially other kids. Obviously, this can have a negative result, but it can be positive too. Lately, kids' TV shows have begun promoting some positive agendas such as healthy living and environmental awareness. As kids see their favorite characters making positive choices, they will be influenced in a good way. Parents can also point out positive traits that characters display and thereby spark valuable family discussions.
(Saying how role models can promote positive things and influence children, and is saying to parents that by having a role model is can spark discussions)Review
This article is about the reasons in which TV is a good thing and can help benefit children who watch TV and films. It’s saying how that because children love watching TV shows and movies so much, it’s a perfect opportunity to get education into the programme and develop skills they can use in the future.
The first point is basically saying that whether the programme is education or not, it can inspire children to look into things further, there example was “the red eyed tree frog” and how if a child is interest in this enough they will look into it further by looking at pictures of it etc. There for finding out what they are interested in by viewing children’s programmes.
The second point is taking about the benefit that TV programmers can show children things they can’t usually see, animals and places from other countries and it is opening their eyes to the world around them in a way that is understandable for children. It’s saying a child can have the chance to appreciate what there is in the world, and be influenced with different parts of the world.
The third point is saying about how certain TV programmes can actually get children more physically active, by showing a main character doing fun activities and games and having a good time. This would make the child want to do more by looking up to a character from a programme they enjoy. It’s also saying watching TV programmes is giving children the chance to use their minds to figure things out. They give the example of “blue’s clues” which is a children’s programme about figuring our little problems. This is encouraging children to use their minds to maybe make riddles or their own and develop solving skills.
Point four is basically saying that watching Children’s programme and movies made for children, and influence children to read also, it’s saying that a lot of movies are created from books and there for a child may read the book after seeing the film, developing an important skill needed for the future, by doing that they are also developing imaginative skills and thinking skills.
Point five is going into more detail about developing thinking skills, and giving a way for a child and parent to bond over something a child enjoys to do. It’s saying by letting a child watch a child TV program or a movie; you can develop discussion skills and do basic ways of getting a child into doing more analytical work in a way that’s easy and fun, and also developing how to talk to others about interests.
Point six is about advertising more than children TV programmes and movies and is basically saying that according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children can’t tell the difference between a program and an advert, and is advising parents to explain the difference and basically analyze the adverts.
And finally point seven is about role model and the benefits for children having a role model, which is usually developed by a favorite TV program. It’s saying role models can help a child be more positive, and they can use role models to promote positive things such as environmental awareness.
If I were to re-write this article I would use less complicated words, and miss out the very first paragraph and go straight into my points. If it was towards a parent I would direct it to the parent in the first paragraph to get them more interested, and give the parent more ideas in which they can do for example for discussions and activities. I would also give more examples of good TV programs and movies for the children to watch.
If I was writing for a child, I would really shorten my sentences, maybe use more words children of the age limit I was writing to used and again give some examples of TV programs for the child to watch to get them interested. I would leave out the point about Advertisements and building analytical skills in particular as it would not be of any interest to a child and they would more than likely stop reading the article. I would make sure I have clear but short written reasons as to why for example they should read books, and try not to go on for too long.
Interview 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blpq-Iwu25s
This interview is between Michael Parkinson and Meg Ryan, and they are discussing Meg Ryan’s career.
The interview involved Parkinson and Ryan, along with two other people sat next to Ryan. Parkinson states “You said once that acting wasn’t in your nature” and she replies with “I did?” and Parkinson insists that she said that, and asking if she is denying that she said it. While he is doing so Ryan starts playing with her hair and shifting slightly, showing she was uncomfortable. This isn’t good when interviewing as it shows you are under confident. She replies calmly to his inquiry and says how it doesn’t come naturally to her but she does it. Parkinson then goes on interrogating her again; his posture is leaning forward towards Meg. Meg responds well throughout as she smiles as she answered the questions.
I would say this wasn’t a well structured interview from both sides due to the fact that Michael Parkinson implied statements throughout the interview, rather than asking Meg Ryan questions about her and what she thinks about acting, and her past. From the start he implied that she said that acting wasn’t in her nature and was more interrogating her than asking her questions, making the interview awkward. This is a major don’t as in a interview an important part of it is to be polite and focus more on the positives than the negatives and Parkinson did the opposite. So with that I think how Meg reacted was well, she stayed rather confident throughout.
They went on saying how she was a movie star by choice, and Ryan replied with “seemingly” and Parkinson said how she had a problem that wasn’t going to be resolved on this show. There was laughing from both and the audience but yet it seemed awkward and I didn’t really find it funny. They then went to go on talking about her past about how she wanted to be a journalist. She said how she didn’t finish, and Parkinson asked why she decided to be an actress. Meg replied with saying how she did commercials to pay for university and acting took over. Parkinson asked what kind of journalist she thought she would be, Ryan laughed, which I think is a bit inappropriate as it wasn’t a funny question and maybe it was nervous laughter. She replied saying maybe for a magazine on food or something. Parkinson then asked now that she is wary of journalists does it give her an insight as to what their after, she question this and then Parkinson was very blunt by saying “yes you are wary of journalists, you’re wary of me, you’re wary of the interview you don’t like being interviewed you can see it in the way you sit and the way you are” which is quite rude and unnecessarily, he then said if you were me what would you do now, and Ryan replied with “just wrap it up” People may think that that was rude but I think it was fair enough as he was making her feel uncomfortable, whenever she replied to a question he interrogated her a bit more.
Ryan’s only fault was being rude to other members of the interview at the end when another lady commented on her shoes. Ryan was blunt and ended the interview on a low. The interview suffered because both Parkinson and Ryan both came across as they didn’t want to talk to each other, Ryan in particulars body language showed she didn’t want to be there as the show went on and she clearly had had enough by the end when saying “wrap it up”
If this interview was set in the morning I would probably turn it off as it wasn’t very light hearted and was awkward to watch in the way Parkinson really directed quick questions to her and laughed at her a bit. It wasn’t like other interview such as on GMTV where everyone is sat around and their all discussing a topic, making jokes and giving you something easy to watch, this would be something I would watch as a last resort.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&NR=1&v=zG9hZ66TA4E
This interview is between the GMTV presenters and Guy Goma, discussing his interview on the BBC that didn’t go to plan, where he was interviewed as an editor of Newswireless.net, a specialist internet publication, when he really went for a job as an accountant.
The interview starts off with Penny Smith and Andrew castle start off the interview by showing a clip of the BBC interviewing Goma and the look of horror on his face. Penny then explains what happened. The interview you can tell already is light hearted as their all smiling and it is set in a bright room. Richard Arnold, another man in the interview, then compliments Goma and jokes around with him at the same time, you can tell by this that it is an informal interview as their posture is light, for example Arnold is sat with one leg crossed over the other with his elbow resting on the top of the chair, if it was a formal interview they would be sat straight with a more serious expression, also they all have big smiles on their faces, Penny also begins to ask a question, gets half through and stops to say something else, which wouldn’t happen in a serious interview.
After a few jokes, Penny shows the headline from “The Sun” that said “big bluffer” and again after a few laughs ask politely asked Goma what was going through his head. Goma replied nicely with a smile, and at first it was easy enough to understand what he was saying, but as he went on it was hard to understand him. They laugh at what he was saying and Penny goes on to ask him if he found it weird that they tried putting make-up on him when he was going for an interview as an accountant. Again Goma politely replies and after a while it was hard to understand what he was saying. Because it was an informal interview they did another flash back showing the look of horror on Goma’s face from his BBC interview while they were talking and making jokes about it. Arnold then goes off topic a bit saying he came to the set in 1997 to talk about the middle-east and said about how Penny “lost her marbles” asked him about Coronation Street.
Penny then goes back to Goma and immaturely shows Goma’s face from the interview yet again, they had a big laugh about it and asked him when he looks back at that, what he thinks, he replied with a smile saying it was terrifying for him and how it was his first time on television.
Later on Penny then goes on to ask Goma if he saw the time when they interviews a man about the price of beer going up when he was actually there for a different issue. So again another slightly going off topic. And they then go on to say how Goma needed an agent because every time that clip is shown he will get money for it, and again they made a joke about that. Penny then ends the interview by asking Goma if he enjoyed the experience and if he’s been asked for his autograph, Goma then gives his autograph to the GMTV team and they thank him with a few laughs and there are some claps in the background.
I thought this was a good interview because all questions were relevant and they weren’t statements or anything to make anyone feel uncomfortable. They were smiling and joking throughout the interview and I thought that it eased the tension but didn’t offend anyone. It didn’t really seem like an interview as they were all so relaxed, they were lounging about, the studio had cups of coffee/tea on the table with newspapers and it just didn’t seem formal.
Goma wasn’t a very good interviewee because his accent made it harder to understand him, he should have spoke slower and clearer so you can understand what he was saying. However he had a good posture and smiled throughout. Because this interview was easy going, it was easy to watch and there for if it was set in the morning I would be able to watch is, as it wasn’t and awkward interview.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwlsd8RAoqI
This interview was between Jeremy Paxman's and Michael Howard interview about an event that took place in the House of Commons, and some statements and accused threatening to Mr Louis that Michael Howard had apparently said.
The interview started off with Paxman quickly interrogating Howard asking him if the allegations towards him were true, it could be seen as if he was implying that he was a liar. Howard quickly answered stating that none of the allegations came from his campaign and that the journalist that wrote the story hadn’t even spoke to any of his team. The first thing I notice with both men is that they are both well presented with suits on, which is a good start to having a good interview, and that they both speak slowly and clearly for the other person and audience to hear, however they both came across quite moody and tended to frown at one another. Paxman spoke clearly but it came across less formal than Howard, in the way his words came across.
Paxman then goes on to imply again he is lying as he said “clearly they came from somebody sympathetic to you though” with seems as he is saying that Howard is behind the whole thing. Howard denying this and continues to speak in a formal manner. Paxman then goes on to support Howard by saying asking if Howard thinks such stories are cheap and nasty and bring shame on anyone who spreads them. This could also be seen as maybe a hint of making fun of Howard, who immediately replies saying that he doesn’t think they should be “wasting anybody’s time talking about stories like that”. This came across quite rude as he then goes on to say there are far more important things to discuss than that. He soon became very rude and commented on how he started off the interview, saying that he didn’t introduce him by talking about more important things he had recently done. Howard later on butted in the middle of Paxman’s sentence and they moaned by saying he hope the whole interview wasn’t going to be able that topic. This is a bad thing to do in the interview because it’s impolite and makes you come across as a bad person, and he clearly hadn’t prepared himself for the interview and showed that he had a lack of patience. The best thing to do was just to smile and answer the questions even if their out of your comfort zone, politely. Howard however at this point, had continued to speak in the same manner and hadn’t changed his reactions towards Howard.
Paxman then asked if Howard had ever lied in an interview, which could imply that he thinks Howard is lying in his interview that they were undergoing. I think this is inappropriate as it is quite a rude thing to ask in a formal situation and can make things awkward. Howard in his own right replied saying “certainly not” and went on to say he made a full account of the dismissal of Derek Louis to the House of Commons, to prove that he hasn’t lied.
Later on in the interview after Paxman asked if there was anything Howard would change about your statement to the House of Commons and Howard saying no, Paxman reads out a statement from Howard, and then a statement from Louis, Paxman then asked Howard if he was saying Louis was lying, Howard turned around and said no, with a lot to say t back him up, before Howard could even get through the whole sentence, Paxman butted in and said “so you are saying that Mr Louis lied” The interview quickly went downhill as Paxman reads out again a statement from Louis saying that Howard threatened to overrule him, they both start to speak over each other more frequently and both start to raise their voices, during Howard replying to the statement, Paxman rudely speaks over him many times saying the same thing “did you threaten to overrule him?” This soon got annoying as he wouldn’t stop asking the same question, you couldn’t hear Howard’s reply properly and because Howard only answered with “I did not overrule him” Paxman continued to ask the same question over and over again.
Paxman then changes his posture, by leaning in with his hands by his face, he laughs and says he is going to be rude, his tone of his voices changes to a more light tone and he is in a less formal manner. By this time they are both talking over each other and it’s really hard to understand what is going on as it just sounds like gibberish. Paxman then asks again if he threatened to overrule him, again Howard avoided the direct question, in doing so gave Paxman a grin on his face. Paxman then gives up and changes subject, which I think was the best thing to do as it would have gotten worse and Paxman probably would have been very informal and started laughing. Again a really long speech from Howard and then Paxman said he would leave it at that. They politely thanked each other and ended the interview on a good note.
This is a bad interview because they both didn’t keep a formal exterior and it was awkward to watch. Good points were that they continued to keep eye contact throughout the interview, and they remained seated without fidgeting. But the conversation would have made the audience fidgeting as it was hard to watch as so much was being said it was hard to keep with it, and Paxman repeating himself 12 times was hard to watch and got annoying, if this interview was in the morning I would have definitely turned it off because it would be to hard to watch.
Purposes of research
Audience data
What is audience data?
Audience data is basically when a company or organisation take data to see how many people watch or turn to a programme. It is a measure of the demographic profiles and household data of the national audience for a television network at certain intervals when something is aired. Audience data could be used as feedback on whether an advertiser is reaching out to the intended audience in the right way.
A media example could be the company “BARB”.
It provides the television audience a measurement service on its behalf and is responsible for providing estimates of the number of people watching a television channel or program. This includes which channels and programmers are being watched, when they are watched and the type of people who are viewing at any one time.
Good Points of audience data
· It creates new categories for advertisers based on the new data they collect.
· It gives advertisers insight into what is happening now rather than two weeks or even months ago.
· For publishers, having these kinds of details means a bigger premium on advertising and better chance to connect consumers with relevant advertisers. I had the chance to chat with Klotz about the new offering.
Bad Points of audience data
· It can be seen as unreliable as, people may be flicking through the channels rather than staying on one channel.
· Also can be unreliable as a person may watch an episode of a program one week, and the next week they may miss it or not want to watch it.
Audience Profiling.
What is audience profiling?
An audience profile is designed to tell you what kind of audience you have interested and watching a programme or listening to a radio station. For example an age group could be 18-39 year old audience for a particular TV programme. An advertiser could be interested in a certain type of audience, such as older women or children.
So this is a good way for the advertisers to see if how they are presenting a programme the right way for the audience, so this is desirable for advertisers. It shows what percentages of the audience earn various levels of income, the amount of time spent on vacation, and similar information An audience profile also helps an advertiser target its ads better. It should not be confused with audience composition, which measures age and gender in an audience.
A media example of this could be the company “BARB”. Again like the previous point, as because they let advertisers and companies know how many people watch the program they provide, they can also tell the advertisers the types of people that are watching the program also. They represent the viewing behavior of about 26 million TV households within the UK.
Good points of audience profiling.
It will be useful to advertisers for similar reasons as the previous point.
· As they will be able to know if the right target audience find their product interesting, and if they don’t with this information they can change how they advertise it.
· If their product is for example a drama or soap, it can show them what kind of audience was into the episode by the type of people who watched it, and if that wasn’t how they wanted it they can change it.
· It creates new categories for advertisers based on the new data they collect
· It gives advertisers insight into what is happening now rather than two weeks or even months ago.
Bad points of audience profiling.
The same bad point for this is basically the same as the previous point.
· It can be seen as unreliable as, people may be flicking through the channels rather than staying on one channel.
· Also can be unreliable as a person may watch an episode of a program one week, and the next week they may miss it or not want to watch it.
Consumer Behaviour
Consumer behaviour refers to how, where or why a person chooses to buy a product or service or not to buy that product. It’s a study of people and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society. These behaviours can be influenced by geography, belief system or financial condition.
A media example of this is you could say is the “BBFC” do to they analyse, films, programs adverts, etc to see if it’s got any harmful material, and to rate it so the public know what to expect when they watch it. They have the right to censor and cut out material in a film or programme if it’s not in their belief system.
Good points of consumer behaviour
· It proves value and customer satisfaction
· It effectively targets customers
· It enhances the value of a company that provides a product
· It improves products and services provided seems as you get feedback form people and their opinions.
· It helps the company or service understand how customers feel about their product
· It expands the advertiser and companies knowledge in marketing
· Helps to add to creating marketing strategies at a positive effect if they have the public’s opinion.
Bad points of consumer behaviour
· You would have to constantly do more surveys to find out if the company or service used the feedback given in the right way and if it was effective
· Also would have to do more surveys to see if people’s opinions have changed, due to the source being unreliable as it is an opinion as is it qualitative and may not be a reliable source to use over time.
· If there was constantly bad feedback, would have to fork out money creating new ideas and strategies to get positive feedback.
· If surveys were completed about the value and satisfaction for a service or product and it was all negative, would make the company look bad
Advertising Placement
What is advertising placement?
It is a form of advertising in that is sometimes used within a drama production with large audiences, but is mostly used by companies to subtly promote their products through a non-traditional advertising technique, usually through appearances in film, television, or other media. It is presented in way that will generate positive feelings towards the advertised brand and are implemented, mentioned, or discussed through the program. This enables the audience to develop a stronger connection with the brand and provides justification for their purchase decision. A company will often pay a fee to have their product used, displayed, or significantly featured in a movie or show. For example, “PEPSI” could pay a given fee to have the title character drinking a Pepsi, instead of a Coke beverage, or “FORD” might pay to have one of the characters drive their newest automobile in their movie. Through product placement, companies hope that moviegoers will take notice of the products used by the characters, and therefore think more strongly about using the products themselves.
A media example of this is if I had a product I wished to promote, but not just by an advert on TV, I could pay a production company to use my product in a film or programme, so the audience see my product and subconsciously want to buy it.
· It is a good way to get a new product across to an audience.
· You could broadcast your product on all different channels and films, not just one.
· You can get money off of movies, productions and TV programmes if they want to have your product in their production.
· You can present your product any way you want to.
· It will get people to know your product and will get more of an idea of what it is like and if they want it or not.
Bad points of consumer behaviour
· To advertise something, generally you would have to pay and it would cost a fair bit of money.
· If it was an advert, people may switch off the programme in the advertisements to wait for their program to come back on.
Product Reach
What is product reach?
In consumer marketing 'Product Reach' has to do with the Distribution of the product. One of the four 'Ps' of Marketing Mix. The more effective the distribution the more is your product reaches to the customers at different stores and places and town and villages. For example, if you ask the target audience for "Desperate Housewives", which are mostly females, if they watch it and most of them say they don’t like it that means that the programme is not reaching the correct target audience.
A media example of product reach could be soap for example “Emmerdale”. The people who wanted to promote Emmerdale, would put it in TV magazines, or advertise it on TV, they wouldn’t put it in a film review magazine such as “Empire” or a magazine for tools or animal care due to its for TV only and the target audience would be for those who watch TV not film.
Good points of product reach:
· It is a good way to get a new product across to an audience.
· If it was a program knowing your target audience could make it easier to promote your target audience, if it’s something that more for a specific target audience.
· You could broadcast your product on all different channels and films, not just one.
· You can get money off of movies, productions and TV programmes if they want to have your product in their production.
· You can present your product any way you want to.
· It will get people to know your product and will get more of an idea of what it is like and if they want it or not.
Bad points of product reach:
· To advertise something, generally you would have to pay and it would cost a fair bit of money.
· Sometimes your ideas don’t go to your chosen target audience
· You could waste money on a product that doesn’t interest any type of target audience.
· If it was an advert, people may switch off the programme in the advertisements to wait for their program to come back on.
What is qualitative research?
Qualitative research is designed to get a better understanding to people’s ideas on a topic and what they think based on personal experiences and their feelings. It is helpful as it can tell us how people feel and why they feel as they do. It is useful for example in a shop, deciding whether to keep a certain brand of clothing as surveys from customers could show how happy they are with the product. It is concerned with collecting in-depth information asking questions such as why do you say that? About a certain topic. Samples tend to be smaller compared with quantitative projects that include much larger samples. Depth interviews or group discussions are two common methods used for collecting qualitative information. Examples of qualitative research are things such as, interviews, diaries, or things like a questionnaire of a poll to get information from the public.
Advantages of qualitative research
The good thing about qualitative research is that it is easy accessible to anyone as you can just make a questionnaire about what you want to know and get feedback from anyone easily. It’s also good as you get to know people’s thoughts and feelings about a topic and if it’s needed for a documentary for example if the documentary consists of following a certain group of people around in the daily lives, you gain insight into their lives and you gain experience and information you can use from that.
Disadvantages of qualitative research
The disadvantages of qualitative research is that the opinions aren’t facts and a person could be lying or the information they give could not be useable, for example if you asked for an opinion on a film and all they said was “it’s really good” you can’t use that opinion as it doesn’t explain why they like it. It could also be unreliable as sources could be bias to a topic that you asked their opinion of, so they may not give an honest answer on the question if they are strongly against or for it, so sometimes qualitative analysis isn’t always reliable so having a mixture of qualitative and quantitative research is best.
What is quantitative research?
Quantitative research is numerical data or data that can be converted into numbers, for example clinical trials or the National Census, which counts people and households. Quantitative research can also be used to measure attitudes, satisfaction, commitment and a range of other useful market data and market metrics that can tracked over time and used as part of a wider business planning and business strategy process. Instead of opinions it is more factual, so is useful for business when seeing for example how much stock is being sold in a period of time, and what periods of time is stock more popular than others. Examples of quantitative research include graphs, tallies and statistics.
Advantages of quantitative research
An advantage of quantitative research is that it will provide reliable information in terms of accuracy, so if a company wants more realistic results then quantitative research is better, as qualitative research can be unreliable and it just opinion not fact. It reduces the bias because again it isn’t people opinions so it wouldn’t be a lie or is unusable; it is proper gathered together information. It is also quick to use, as the information provided can be put into things like tallies, graphs etc, so there for it would be quicker to get hold of, rather than trying to sort together different opinions.
Disadvantages of quantitative research
The disadvantages of quantitative research is that where it’s more statistical, it will lack insight into the meaning, feelings and motivations of the public, it will lack opinions of generally what people think of an idea or company. Also it will need constant updating. Being factual it will change overtime and there for if it is not changed, the statistics of a company for example will change and then be unreliable to use as it would be old statistics.
The documentary “SUPERSIZE ME” uses quantitative alongside with qualitative research in the opening sequence of the documentary for an eye-opening introduction to the topic choice and to try and get people interested in the documentary. It says things qualitative research such as when Morgan Spurlock is questioning people on the street, he asks them if they eat McDonalds and if so how often, and one woman said she wouldn’t here because it doesn’t seem clean. This is qualitative as it is someone’s opinion and the opinion could change at any time. Other qualitative answers was when Morgan asked people about American’s suing McDonalds for making them fat, one man said “If these fast food places can put their signs up, if I can walk by them and just totally ignore them and say I’m not hungry I don’t need this, they can do it too” Another man said “I think there’s a lot of focus on the fast food companies because they are mentioned more than vertically all the other causes, in most of the articles, books and studies are about why it’s a sudden epidemic, again it can’t be the neighbourhood restaurant, we’ve had neighbourhood restaurants for hundreds of years, it can’t be the foods we eat at home, we’ve been eating at home for hundreds of years” These would be useful in an argument against fast food as they are the average people’s opinions, but as I said before they can become unreliable as they could quickly change and would need updating. “SUPERSIZE ME” uses more quantitative research more than qualitative, to get the fact and realism over to the audience. It says from the very beginning facts such as nearly 100 million Americans are today either overweight or obese, and that that’s more than 60% of all US adults. It also shows pictures to back up the facts, a good one was showing two animated girls side by side, the first one been a 14 year old girl and 4ft 10, you see balloon to 170 pound, and then the other being 19 years old, 5ft 6, you see balloon to 270 pounds. This is a good way to represent the facts as reading pages of facts and hearing them all the time at once can be boring, so showing animations to go with them engages the viewer and proves the point the fact is trying to make.
‘Skylights’
By Fraser, Jason, Abi and Ben
Plot:
• A boy goes to his friends house for a sleepover, and discovers a mysterious device on the floor outside his house. Strange things start to occur during the night of the sleepover….
Character descriptions:
• Boy 1 – the character that discovers the device.
• Boy 2 – boy 1’s friend.
• Mother- the mother of boy 2
• Boy 1’s dad – very minor part.
• ????- mystery character.
•
Characters and possible famous actors/actresses:• Boy 1
(We decided to chose Jonah as our main male character as he looks like he would play a main character role in a children’s drama)
• Boy 2
(We decided that Kodi would play the main characters friend well as he looks kind of vulnerable and he doesn’t have a strong enough face to play the main character role, but would suit still playing a high up role.)
• Mother
(We decided Vera would play a good mother role as she has done it well before in films such as “Running scared” )
• Dad
(Not sure about the person to play this character)
• Mystery character
(No need for a character as you don’t see the mystery characters face)Events:
• Follows Todorov’s theory of the 5 stages of equilibrium, up until point 4.
(As we have a cliff-hanger at the end so it doesn’t follow is all the way)Roles/responsibilities
• Fraser- Director
Make sure everything goes according to plan
• Jason- Editor
Edits final draft of the film and puts it all together to make the feature
• Abi- Camera Operator
In charge of filming the project.
• Ben- Sound Man
Makes sure the sound that is added on to the drama is in sync to the showProps, costumes and locations:
• Location is all filmed in one house.
• Mystery costume, casual clothing for the two boys and the mother
• Props would be typical of a boys bedroom and other props include the device and a car
• Child actors as the main
• Cliffhanger ending that isn’t too intense
• Relatable environment
• A problem occurs
• ‘mystery’ twist
Influences:The Sarah Jane Adventures
(As the children’s drama is also Si-fi like our children’s drama)
