The document summarizes audience feedback from test screenings of a mobile phone documentary. Key findings include:
- 74% of respondents owned their first mobile phone between ages 7-13, indicating the documentary should appeal to young audiences.
- 62% said they would want to see a documentary on mobile phones.
- Viewers expected to see vox pops, a range of devices, expert interviews, music, and statistics.
- Feedback noted the documentary took too long to get going and could have been more interesting earlier on. One expert interview was inaudible due to audio issues.
- Viewers felt not enough handheld shots were used to make it seem realistic, though tripod shots fit the intended style.
2. Audience Research
Before Starting our television documentary, we asked a sample of 37 students
to fill out a questionnaire on their thoughts towards a mobile phone
documentary as well as many mobile phone related questions. This
questionnaire was very eye opening as it highlighted statistics that we couldn’t
believe were true such as: “74% of the sampled 37 claimed they owned their
first mobile phone between the age of 7 – 13 years old”, basically outlining
that owning a smartphone is such a normality in this modern era, that
obviously our documentary was aiming at young audience, but of course an
older generation who have also experienced the craze. 62% of the sampled 37
also stated they would want to see a documentary on mobile phones which of
course gave us the go ahead knowing it would be a popular viewing. We also
found out what conventions the audience wanted by conducting a recorded
interview which we uploaded to sound cloud. The interview highlighted that
the audience expected to see Vox Pops, A range of movile phone devices,
Expert interviews, music and especially plenty of statistics.
3. Documentary Questions
Firstly we asked whether
“On a scale of 1-5 how
much did you enjoy the
documentary?” The
General consensus in the
room was that the
documentary had a lot of
good ideas but took a
while to get going. An
idea that did come up
was as turning the
documentary back to
front so that it started
more interesting. We
personally thought that
making the documentary
more interesting towards
the end was more useful.
4. Documentary Questions
We then asked whether the
voiceover was clear and
informative. Due to most of
our documentary being very
clear after a lot of time spent
changing the sound levels,
one issue that was brought
up was the expert interview
with Jay Singh. The audience
believed that his interview
wasn’t very loud, however
this wasn’t the case before
we exported the
documentary from Final cut
express. We put this issue
down to an exportation
problem so realistically their
was nothing we could do.
5. Documentary Questions
When asking how
professional did our
documentary look, we got
varied responses. Most
people agreed that we used
a large range of different
camera shots and
techniques to present the
documentary however,
people complained that we
didn’t shoot enough hand
held shots to create a more
realistic documentary. We
thought this point was
extremely valid, however
our aim was to shoot most
of the footage with the use
of a tripod because it
conformed to expository
type of documentary we
were trying to create.
Everyone stated that the
use of the pull focus was a
good feature to include.
6. Documentary Questions
This question was where we
expected more negative
responses when asking if the
audience felt they learnt
something new. Its quite hard to
cover anything new in such a
mainstream subject where most
the population have been
brainwashed with information on
mobile phones. However, the
audience did state that they
would of said no until they saw
the small montage of shocking
facts we included using the
typewriter. We were very happy
with this feedback due to the fact
it was quite hard finding facts
that weren’t
7. Documentary Questions
Did the interview contribute
to the documentary?
I personally thought that
everyone would reply yes to
this however some people
felt that the Vox pops
weren’t that serious or
depth enough to be classed
as a decent contribution. I
argued that Vox pops were
different to interviews
however the audience
stated that they judged this
as a whole. I definitely think
that the vox pops had to be
short and informal in order
to get such a range of
responses.
8. Documentary Questions
Were there enough shots
to keep you interested?
I personally thought that
we could of included
more however the
audience felt we covered
a range of shots. I didn’t
entirely agree with this
feedback due to the fact a
lot of the audience
thought the documentary
wasn’t professional yet I
would of said both this
questions tie into each
other. This made me
doubt whether we chose
the right audience.
9. Radio trailer Questions
On a scale on 1 – 5, how much
did you enjoy the radio
trailer?
I personally thought that the
radio trailer was the best out
of the 3 products we
produced. I thought that the
research that we conducted
was excellent and the
audience also stated that they
found it extremely catchy
which also always important
in a short radio trailer.
10. Radio Trailer Questions
Did the music contribute to the
trailer?
We felt we put the music
together well as it took quite a
lot of time to get the right beat.
This was obviously recognisable
in the audience due to only 1
person believing that that music
didn’t work well. The only
criticism we felt was including a
ringtone at the start of the radio
trailer. We used this in the
documentary so it felt a bit
repetitive.
11. Radio Trailer Questions
When asking whether
the snippets included
were appropriate, a few
people stated that the
snippets gave away a bit
too much of the
documentary. I had to
agree with this
statement due to the
fact we probably should
of not included as many
Vox Pops as we did. This
was an improvement
that we could definitely
make.
12. Magazine Article Questions
“Out of 5, how much did
you enjoy the double page
spread?”
This was important as we spent a lot
of time debating the colour scheme.
We asked our selves whether we
should go for a Radio times
magazine theme but we felt that it
would be too bland for our type of
subject matter. The audience felt
that our use of bright, vibrant
colours such as lava red and white
was an excellent choice that
immediately grabbed their
attention. This was exactly the
purpose so we were extremely
happy with this feedback.
13. Magazine Article Questions
Were the images used
appropriate? This was the only
answer that all the audience
agreed on. It was quite an easy
choice to choose the imagery
due to the fact that the most
magazines we looked at all
used snippets from their
documentary. It would be
pointless to use anything else
because that would mean
advertising something that’s
not ours.
14. Magazine Article Questions
Out of 5, how professional
does our double page spread
look?
The audience we were
aiming at all ranged between
the age of 17 -18 meaning
that this answer was
probably bias. However our
main target audience was a
younger audience so it was
more important to get their
view. A criticism they had
was that their wasn’t a 4th
column included, meaning
you weren’t able to read the
information in the middle of
the page. This was why no
one rated above 4.
15. Evaluation
Gaining audience feedback was very important in all our
products because it gave us advice of how to improve certain
things that only an unbiased viewer would be able to pick up on.
All in al, we felt that the comments we received were good for
all 3 products, however their were many improvements we
could of made such as, taking more shots using the hand held
technique, including less snippets within the radio trailer which
we totally agreed with as well as the most negative feedback
which was of the columns within the double page spread. This
research was crucial in discovering how well we did so it was
relieving to get positive feedback.
