Pre-Production Paperwork 3MW

The Nature and Purposes of Research

Primary research is when information is gathered first hand.  This is the most useful method of research as you can control the variables and makes sure any information you receive is actually useful to you. There are many ways to do primary research, such as interviews, questionnaires and surveys. It is also possible to use self-generated content, photographs and video you have used to document an event. For my documentary, I conducted several interviews with people who run NSFW blogs on tumblr. I also produced a survey to gather information as to what people thought of online sex workers.

Secondary research is where you use research gathered from others. This may be easier and less time consuming to gather, but the validity of the results isn’t necessarily accurate. You can gather secondary research from books, news articles, government statistics, TV and film documentaries, photographic documents, forums, and audio material. For my documentary, I read some news articles about online sex work to gather a first impression of any stigma attached to it. I also watched a couple of documentaries that were linked to my topic to see how sex workers view themselves. 

Quantitative research is data that is collected in numbers, such as measurements and statistics. Numerical data is useful for working out percentages, ranges, medians etc. and creating graphs.  You can collect this type of data from closed questionnaires, polls, and viewing figures. You can also gather information from box offices and DVD/CD sales. For my survey I used closed questions, which allows me to work out percentages for the responses. For example, I used a simple “yes or no” question, and if I gathered the percentages from the answers, I could create a graph documenting how many people agreed or disagreed. 

Qualitative research is data that contains opinions and reasons for them. These are typically gathered by open questions, whether it’s spoken or written. This can be gathered via reviews, web forums, responses to news coverage, discussions and interviews. In my interviews, I used open questions to allow the interviewees to give as much or as little detail as they wanted, which in turn allowed them to be more comfortable talking to me. I wanted to let them know I respected them, whilst also finding out their opinions and emotions based on certain questions. 

Data gathering agencies give us the UKs television audience measurement system, which focuses on who is watching program, how they are watching it and when they watched it.  Agencies such as BARB (Broadcasters Audience Research Board) interview a large amount of volunteers and vary the demographics, geographical locations and viewing platforms This produces approximately 12,000 people to interview to find out the viewing data. They then generalize this data to the rest of the population in the UK. Another company to gather this research is Box Office Mojo, which is an online box-office reporting service. They provide information for over 3 million movies, TV shows and 6 million cast and crew. They collect and provide data ranging local movie show times, reviews/critiques, tickets, and box-office data.

Audience research is used for finding out where a film should be shown so it reaches its target audience. Channels also want to know what demographics are watching so they can sell any advertising space to companies who want to create audience profiles from this information, so they can expand the product market depending on consumer attitudes and behaviour. Social-grading that is based on occupation are used to work out these target audiences. They would then work out what type of class (e.g. B2, C2 etc.) buys what type of product so companies can better target that audience. Another way companies create profiles is through psychographics, which is where you sort people on their beliefs, attitudes and aspirations. This is due to the belief that the media someone consumes is reflective of their personality and character, but also of how they live. An example of a psychographic category is an Aspirer, who seek status and are materialistic, are orientated to appearance, and tend to be younger people. For my documentary, I intended to have a younger target audience as they tend to be more willing to explore various parts of the internet. 

Market research is also important to the media industry. Generally, films with similar content are not released at the same time, in order to avoid heavy competition to gain a higher box office. This results in the release of one film being held back, in order to maximize profits and prevent it being overshadowed by the competing film. An example of this would be the recent Power Rangers movie, which was pushed back twice by Lionsgate to eventually being released in March 2017, instead of summer 2016. This was to maximize box office potential, as there would be no competing movies of the same genre. But, it was still unsuccessful against Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, as it dropped 64% in its second weekend. For my documentary, I wanted to go for a slightly taboo subject, and as I wasn't aware of any documentaries focusing on the exact same topic as my tumblr sex work on, I felt it would be an optimal time to create one. 

For my own research, I asked a friend who ran a tumblr sex blog to ask around and see if anyone would be willing to be interviewed for my documentary. I conducted most of my interviews online so that I wouldn't have to pay for transport. I did conduct one face-to-face interview within the college, and to protect their identity I made sure I interviewed them in a room with a lock on the door. I did ask for help from one of my teachers, who saw the person I was interviewing. Luckily his memory is bad enough that he wouldn't be able to recognise them even if he saw them again. It was also an ideal location as I could rent out equipment from college, to eliminate spending.

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Ownership and Funding

Ownership concepts: 


Public Service Broadcasting

This is mostly associated with the BBC, which introduced TV licensing as a method to pay for their services. The Director General of the BBC John Reith (1922) said that the BBC was a "public service, rather than public exploitation", and the TV license was to avoid commercialism, which was considered vulgar, and accusations of propaganda should they receive government funding. This is why there are no adverts on the BBC, as it was supposed to be morally and spiritually good for it's audience, stating its purpose was to "inform, educate and entertain". In this case, the audience is who the company serves.

Commercial Broadcasting 

In contrast, these companies sell their audiences to advertising. Users often pay subscriptions to companies, such as Sky, for more viewing than regular freeview. They gain most of their money from companies who wish to advertise during or between shows. However, there are companies such as Netflix, which allow viewers to watch content without adverts, and makes its money from the monthly payment of its viewers. 

These companies can also use sponsorships from other companies as a way of advertising, e.g. Comparethemarket sponsors Coronation Street on ITV. There is also the opportunity for product placement, which is a subtle way to advertise a product, as a viewer will see a character using a product and subconsciously wish to own it, e.g.  Aston Martin in the James Bond franchise, Sony products in The Amazing Spiderman. 

Corporate and Private Ownership 

Private ownership:

•  The broadcasting company is owned by a small group of people and the profit goes to the owners or the shareholders, such as ITV. Another example is Virgin Media, which is privately owned by Sir Richard Branson, and is aimed at making money for their shareholders. 

Corporate ownership:

• Publicly owned by the stater not the government, which doesn't make money for itself, such as the BBC. There may be shareholders who own the rights and shares to a company, but they are not responsible or liable for it. The company represents the company, not the shareholders and is able to develop or dismiss contracts, sue or be sued etc. 

Global Companies 

These are companies that operate across the world, often known as media conglomerates. These companies own a high percentage of the media, and span over several companies.

The concentration of ownership from these conglomerates means that they take over smaller, independent companies to increase their profit. For example, when Disney bought out Lucasfilm for the Star Wars franchise. 

Vertical Integration

This is when production companies buy out distributors and cinemas to increase their profit, and to prevent other companies from making profit from their produce. 



Horizontal Integration 

This involves companies buying other companies within the same sector (production companies buying other companies) or pushing other companies out of business to increase profit.



Funding is also gained from:

• One off payments to own a product, such as DVDs, Blu-Ray, merchandise etc. After a film or a TV show is released in store a person can purchase they're own version of it. Also, to gain a following for a franchise, the production company will release merchandise around the time of the release, or work with other companies to create promotional packs of products (e.g. Wonder Woman lipsticks with a purchase of a woman's razor). This provides funding whilst also allowing the producers to see how popular a franchise is. 

• Crowdfunding websites, such as gofundme, allow anyone to campaign to raise money towards an independent film, as members of the public can donate money if they're interested, and the campaign may catch the eye of a private investor who could also donate. This allowed movies such as Blue Mountain State to be funded, and raised $1,911,827 to create a movie to follow up the cancelled TV show. 

• Development funds, such as charities or the lottery, which have funded films such as St. Trinians and Girl with the Pearl Earring.  The lottery chooses to fund British films to promote our culture and industry, as we are very much dominated by American film and culture. 

Technologies in the Television and Film Industry

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