Audience research focus group

Audience research from JosephPeek2

Revision Of Pitch

My original pitch is no longer the subject matter of my documentary. I initially decided to base it on government funding cuts for school subjects that fall in the creative category. This however changed due to the fact that it would require a lot of scenes (almost all scenes) to be filmed in the school environment which the examiner's report stated lower-achieving students featured too many shots in a school setting. Also, I decided it would make more sense to utilise my passion for puppetry and use this to my advantage because it's different and unusual which would make it engaging to the audience. My pitch on the puppet theme has not changed too much. I have gathered a greater understanding for some of the shot types and conventions of documentaries like the one I choose to create. For example the use of overlapping narration over shots of someone being "hard at work", frequent featuring of old photos to create a nostalgic feel and finally a generally calm mood through the use of gentle dialogue and calming background music.

I still plan to have the two social groups that are interviewed being my parents and them giving an account of when they knew I was going to be a puppeteer when I grew up. And the other being myself giving my life experience accounts.

I am still doing an episode from a series that encapsulates teenagers with unusual hobbies called "Teen Interest" I will have a Narrator/voiceover who is not me to introduce the episode and do some links but the talking will predominantly be my own voice.

I will have wide shots of me working (making puppets) with the voice over on top which is inspired by the textual research 1 and 2 from my investigating

Textual Analysis 2

I discovered a short documentary called "Man With Puppet" This short documentary video tells the story of a man called Robbert Brock who owns a small puppet theatre in Lancaster called "The Hole in The Wall Puppet Theater". This was a very useful video to analyse because it is the chosen topic of my documentary. It has a very relatable story to my own so I got a lot of inspiration from analysing "Man With Puppet".

The video created as very old fashioned style due to the media language visual semiotics and the audio. The documentary opens with some close up moving shots of Robbert Brock with a black and white, sepia filter on the camera. This is accompanied by some old fashioned 1920s music. Puppetry is an extremely old tradition and this is anchored to the audience by this opening sequence of audiovisuals.

Shots

Research - John Grierson

John Grierson

John Grierson was the founder of the British documentary film movement and its leader for almost 40 years. He was one of the first to see the potential in motion pictures to shape peoples views and attitudes towards life and to inspire the use of filography for educational purposes. 

Textual analysis 3

"Black Sheep" Documentary Analysis

I wanted to attain a broader understanding of documentaries and styles of documentaries so, for my final textual analysis, I decided to watch a documentary produced by the guardian called "black sheep" this focus' on a young man who experienced lots of racism in his community growing up and how this has affected him as a person and how he views the world.

This example of a documentary adopts a more serious tone than what I want to achieve in my documentary but I wanted to broaden my understanding of documentaries as a whole so watching Watching this example is very useful

 
How Tone Is Created

. Regular blackouts between passages of a speech by the narrator of the documentary

. The very close up shot of the narrator of the documentary which creates a very personal and up-close experience for the watcher. It makes you feel as though you are being personally addressed.

. Very narrative speech, constant relaying stories from his childhood.

. Talking to the camera with a completely black background behind the main focus with lots of shadow in the shot to create a negative tone.

. Only one account of all stories conveyed in the documentary.

. Non-famous actors playing the people in the documentary. For example, the man who the documentary is based on, his mother and father, the racist group in his community etc. The shots are constantly cutting between his narration and acted out scenes

. Simple orchestral string music in a minor key to set the tone and to create an unsettling atmosphere constantly throughout the video. The music moves with the motion of the video. For example, the video becomes more intense at moments when there is a scene in which actors a re-creating a fight scene so the music moves with this motion and becomes more driven and intense.


Language - The language used is very colloquial and less formal than expected in a guardian documentary. This reflects his culture and celebrates it as he is clearly proud to use it.

Representation - We experience a negative representation white people as they are exposed for their rascism, violence and drug use throughout the video.

What can I take from this documentary?

I was inspired by the constant use of music throughout the documentary. I would like to use this technique but using positive sounding music to give a more uplifting feel to my video.

I would like to use the narrative storytelling aspect of this documentary in my final product and feature stories I have experienced and interesting, unusual things I have experienced as a young puppeteer.

Much like the background set (pure black sheet) of the narration shots set the tone of the documentary, I will use a similar technique but I will flip this technique and have items and artefacts behind me that will create a positive exposition to the film.

Research 1 - Documentary models

There are six main Modes of documentaries. They were discovered by Ben Nichols they include; expository, Observational, participatory, Reflexive, performative, poetic I am going to explore and research all these.

Expository Documentary

. Used to expose a certain topic
. A documentary where you have shots with a voice-over telling you what is going on in the shot
. A prime example is wildlife documentaries

Observational Documentary

. Observes the world around them
. giving a first-hand experience of what happens in the world
. It is completely just to be observed by the audience
. Normally this type of documentary can span up to over a decade
. It does not have a presenter

Participatory Documentary

. Involves the creator of the documentary present in the camera shot rather than being off-screen
. The camera is often handheld
. They engage with who they are talking to
. They are often thrown into the action of the documentary
. For example prison experience documentaries

Reflective

. When an actor does something that is staged
. This style of documentary is used to catch the reaction of the general public
. Very experimental
. you can often see the camera crew
. very creative and open

Performative 

. Interviews with people often relaying life stories, experiences
. The filmmaker gets involved and shows their view on the topic.
. Often about an investigation or search that doesn't lead to a satisfying result.
. Directs the audience in an emotional way often

Poetic
. Subgenre
. very creative and experimental
. Focusing on experiences images and creating a sense of feeling
. It often has music
. Very simplistic

Textual analysis 1

My Life With Puppets - The Journey of puppeteer Ronnie Le Drew

For my first textual analysis, I chose to analyse a documentary of a famous puppeteer called Ronnie Le Drew who has worked as a puppeteer for over 60 years. He has worked on things such as Rainbow, Labyrinth, The Muppets and the sooty show. The documentary is an account of him talking about his life from a child interested in puppets to a renowned puppeteer. I really relate to the story demonstrated so I really wanted to analyse this documentary and use inspiration in my coursework. It has a very similar format to how I wanted to present my documentary.

Shot types i would like to replicate myself

Genre -  Biography 

Language - Formal and sophisticated language in a

Target audience - Older generations that grew up on the television shows he worked on or puppetry fans who want to get into the business

Representation - Positive representation of males, he is a very well-spoken, and engaging person to listen to and he provides a positive representation of men working in the television and film industry. 

Audience Feed Back

1) The response for if one would watch this documentry was very positive with 72% saying they would watch the documentary.

2) The pitch recieved a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars.

3) The majority of the form participants belived that the them of the documentary was appropriate for thier age demographic which is a positive response. However i want to make it universally appropriate

4) The most intersting obcure hobbies that people said they have were origami, knitting, dress making and stamp collecting. These will be plugged at the end of the video.

5) The most common age that people though it would interest were adults  and early teens ad children. so this is who i will market my documentary at.

Mood Board no.2

Pitch no. 2

Documentary Idea no.2 

My second idea is a documentary that follows my hobby of puppetry and growing up with a different, obscure hobby. The documentary will be part of a series of documentaries that encapsulate teenagers that have more out-of-the-ordinary hobbies, things such as; coin collecting, horse ridding, metal sculpting, cosplay etc. 

The documentary will be named "Teen Interest"

The two social groups I can feature would be myself giving my account of my hobby and for the second I can interview a parent figure to give their view and talk about what it's like to bring up a child with an obscure hobby. 

For the online media website, I could feature short videos of the process of making a simple puppet for viewers to join in at home. 

I could give my view on the future of puppetry in theatres, tv, and film as an every growing part of plays and films to feature puppets such as warhorse, avenue q, the muppets, etc 

Information
I have been interested in puppets since I was 6 years old, starting off being interested in punch and Judy and now I have expanded to making my own puppets and now receive commissions from customers who want puppets made for them. I've puppeteered in productions such as little shop of horrors and peter pan
I have been making puppets for just over 4 years and made around 150 puppets over this time