Product Research
Past research:
As referenced within my client research, I have worked on previous projects before (Mind). Which has assisted me in having a base understanding of how the outdoors can help young people's mental health. As Well as working on this, I have also created a documentary before. In order to create the best documentary possible I conducted research into the different types of documentaries in order to understand how the storylines and editing works.
Documentary Types - https://cultureofthedigitalage.blogspot.com/2022/03/documentary-types.html
Existing Products - https://cultureofthedigitalage.blogspot.com/2022/05/existing-products.html
This was used to create a documentary about Culture in the digital age and how social media is both positive and bad in certain ways. Although the reason I researched into these documentaries were different, I learnt how changing your style of documentary can change the audiences interpretation.
For example from my past research I have learnt a new style of editing to build up tension. In my documentary I will use the standard expository editing workflow in order to build tension. As explained in the documentary types, linked above, there is a start, rise in tension, conflict then a result.
In my documentary I will use this style of editing in order to keep my audience engaged till the end. I will begin by talking about how Sunderland is a bad place to live and how the local people feel about it. I will then give an introduction into what the documentary is about and then talk about Alnwick, Durham and Bamburgh. By leaving Sunderland till the end, it makes the audience wait till the end in order to find the "climax" within the documentary. Also by showing Sunderland last, the audience will see the nice places and start to ask questions. How is Sunderland better than this beautiful place? By telling the audience that Sunderland is the best place to live, I build up tension within the audience as they will be intrigued to find out why Sunderland is better. My fall in climax and ending will be my summary of everything, this will help tie all of the places together and give a reason to everything that has been spoken about.
I already understand the different types of documentaries and have chosen to do an expository documentary. No matter how much people try not to, they will always look at someone and judge whether they are trustworthy or not. This is through body language, dress attire, speech and etc. Referenced in my target audience research, the demographic also believe they would rather be given facts rather than someone trying to persuade them.
Using the "voice of god", another word for voice over I wish to make the audience trust my judgement and back myself up with facts. The aim is create a simple documentary that displays the areas, while making them seem genuine and true. For example, I wish for most of my shots to be wide shots. This is so people can see the whole area for how it is and does not make it look like I am trying to hide things from the audience.
Product research made for this documentary:
A life on our planet - David Attenborough
Although mainly expository, the film is also participatory. It is where David walks through his life and how the planet has changed within the last 90 years. Starting from a young boy and how he became interested within nature, David talks about his experiences, what animals we have lost and the effects that have been made to the planet through to humans.
Using facts and statistics from before and after, the audience are able to visualise change and that's how the documentary makes its interest. If change was not shown, the audience wouldn't be able to think or see the drastic changes that have happened to the planet. Change is what people are interested in seeing.
People are not the best at visualising scale. So, in order to give more scale of change, the documentary has been based around David's life. By telling the audience that he has seen certain animals and places, the audience realise that all of this change has happened within a lifetime. Someone can watch the documentary will watch it and think "wow he's experienced all of that, but I won't". Whereas if he just stated that something changed in 1950, people don't understand how close that is to their lifetime. This effect of using Davids life is the best way to target younger people due to them realising the change within his life.
Within my documentary I wish to implement this style of audience engagement. Although I will not be talking about my life. I can state about how Sunderland was once a ship building capital and now it is in a middle ground of having no true purpose. Then, transitioning into the new investments, this will give people the perspective they need to understand the change. It will allow the young people learn how Sunderland was on a high and right now it is on a low. However with the new investment, it has a purpose and need in the world. Showing the change over a longer period makes the youth see how things take time and Sunderland will soon be a great place.
How to keep the Target Engaged - TikTok
TikTok is possibly one of the most popular forms of social media. Rising in popularity within recent years it has seen a recent height of 1.6 billion users. With over 1 billion videos viewed everyday, it is one of the fastest way to consume content in the modern world of social media.
Due to its popularity and its addictiveness, I want to take inspiration from some popular videos and see how they make such great content. People can spend hours on Tiktok watching videos without getting bored. Due to the amount of content available, peoples attention span has decreased massively. However, if people are able to adapt and make content for these people, it would be good to see how they make this content and tips on how to keep my demographic engaged.
As you can see most of the users of Tiktok are people ages 10 - 29 therefore the research I gain from this will help with keeping my audience engaged.
Sunderland Till I Die is a Documentary made about the 2017 and 2018 football season. Released in 2018 on netflix, made by fulwell 73, the documentary displays the highs and lows of the football club throughout their seasons.
The series opens up with the history of the club and the last decade of mismanagement and financial struggle. Already within the documentary, the sense of opening with a negative will make the viewers understand the hardship of the club in more detail. Most people may look at Sunderland and think that they are just a bad team, however watching this documentary, opens the eyes of people and allows them to understand why they are as bad as they are. From this the audience has a sense of sorrow and empathy for the club and they wish to see the club strive. This therefore gives them a reason to watch longer.
I could use this type of empathy within my documentary. I could start my documentary talking about how Sunderland is a bad place to live and then show the lovely places around. Not only does this boost the image of the north, but it also makes the audience to want to like Sunderland. After seeing all these lovely places, and then seeing horrible sunderland, the audience will feel empathy and will wish for Sunderland to bounce back and become a great place once more.
New manager Simon Grayson. Within the documentary grayson is captured as a man with "no if buts or maybes" type of person. He is straight talking and takes nothing off other people. He is portrayed as a straightforward character within the documentary. This coincides well with the initial struggle of the club with past management and the audience will gain a sense of relief in finding that help is here.
Again, using this type of storytelling will be a great asset within my documentary. When I eventually come to talking about the investments within Sunderland, I will announce it very abruptly and will use strong vocabulary in order to contrast with the past. For example, I could say "Sunderland is one of the worst places to live, but soon it will be the best". This quick shift in tone will give the audience the sense of relief that they have been waiting for and that has been built up since the start of the documentary. This storytelling only works because the audience have seen and learnt the past struggles and are eager to see change. This is another strong example of how change and juxtaposition is a powerful tool to use in storytelling.
From the boardroom to the grounds the audience are able to see each player in their highs and lows. This is one of the reasons which makes the documentary so powerful. As an audience we don't just see a team grow, we see individuals grow. Seeing the struggle, hardship and conflict within the club, the audience are wishing for them to be great and are wishing for the players to get better and better. Giving a personal connection and seeing emotions is a great way to connect an audience with a subject. Therefore, it could be a good idea at the end of the documentary to talk about my own experiences and how i feel about the change within Sunderland. The doors it has opened, the opportunities, not having to travel from home. Including myself at the end could give the audience that part of personal identity they need in order to feel that more inspired.
Fans. Fans are something I wish to incorporate into my documentary in order to make the people of Sunderland feel hope. Football at the moment is the soul heart of Sunderland and is what most locals look forward to in their life. Sunderland Till I Die captures this perfectly by showing the passion, chants and travelling fans are willing to do for their club. Each fan is a fan for life, Till they die. I know and understand that most people are not going to find film and media as the most exciting thing for their city. Although my research shows that it will make my target audience engaged, I wish to engage them further and maybe give more people outside the target audience a reason to watch. Using football and its passion within my documentary will widen the psychographics of my documentary and make more people watch.
For example, I could display the hardship of the city and then the club itself. This therefore makes the two "lows" look linked. Then by showing the investments within the city, alongside the happiness and passion of the club. I can make Sunderland fans be proud of who they are. Proud of where they have come from and make them embrace what is going to happen to their city.
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