Research techniques for Creative media industries

1. Primary and Secondary are the two main types of research. Primary research is collecting new information through controlled experiments/studies e.g. Interviews, Questionnaires and Surveys that you can go out and do yourself. This is good because you can be certain that all the info you correct is from a good source and you have more control over where you get your information from. An example of Primary Research from SCN Network (which was my New show) is for the Afghan story, me and Chris went to London to ask people questions about their opinion on what they thought about the solders in Afghan.

Secondary research is collecting the primary research that somebody else has already researched and then posted the information onto the web or maybe on in a book, report, journals, newspapers, documentaries. This really helped me to gather a lot of information for SCN Network (My New Show).

We now live in the 21st Century where everything is on the internet, which made finding my secondary research really easy to find the information I needed for my SCN Network (My News Show). Web searching is easy to find people in the actual news industry primary research to use as your secondary research. 
Reading the work of an expert in whichever field you are researching is a fantastic source. A downside to secondary research however is that whoever wrote the original source might not have addressed a specific topic you wanted to find out about. 

In my news show I used secondary research to find out about the Michael Schumacher story. I watched the News, read the newspaper on the train and also looked on the web about Michael Schumacher skiing accident.

2. The purpose of research is so the facts and news stories are correct.

 If a viewer is watching the TV news it is generally accepted that what he is watching  is factually correct and accurate. This trust has take many years to build up and the more well establish the TV station / News broadcaster the stronger that belief is. This is because the viewer knows that the news provider has a team of researchers and journalists wanting to tell the truth. Most news based programs have teams of researcher to makes sure all is correct. Things are checked and some time checked again to make sure the facts and figures are the correct ones.  This research can take a long time as it some times involves shifting though many historical documents to make sure its right. When we made out news TV program / show I had to do the research about Michael Schumacher which was interesting but took some time. Which was annoying as this story was not even used in the final show.





Beat Sheet

THE 15 BEATS

Project Title: "The Main Men"
Genre: Comedy
Date: 12/2/14

Opening Image (1) : (Black Screen) Sound of an alarm clock. Fades to neon glowing clock face with 8:00am flashing. you can Tom groaning and then a hand knocks the alarm clock off the bed side table. It's not a good day for tom.

 Theme Stated (5) : Toms Drinking a coffee trying to wake himself up. the phone rings and before he can think about answering it the answer phone kicks in, it's Frankie "Whats up mate, Rise and shine before Joanne makes an honest man of you, me and the boys will be over to pick you up for the wildest thew days you'll ever have at 11:00am"  

 Set-Up (1-10) : 5 days till the wedding Frankie's organised a surprise stag weekend. The last thing in the world Tom wanted.

 Catalyst (12) : The guys find themselves in a posh hotel in the centre of Amsterdam over looking the Heineken brewery. 

 Debate (12-25) : Frankie opens a large bottle of toffee vodka and pours a large glass full for all the boys "Drink up lads, because to night will be one hell of a night" He then picks up a bin from the hotel then says "all phones and cameras in here please, no evidence" the boys reluctantly drop there phones into the bin 1 by 1. Frankie cheers and pours everyone a drink. 

 Break into Two (25): It's 7:30pm and everybody gathers in the hotel bar ready for the night to begin. 

 B Story (30) : The guys are in a night club getting hammered and all chatting to some pretty girls at the night club.

Fun and Games (30-55) : Frankie and Shane gets up and walks to the toilets, just as they're about to enter the toilets 4 large men in dark coats grab them and drag them outside to a near by ally. They put a bag over Shane's head and chuck him into the boot of their car. They push Frankie against the wall and say "Where is it!?" Frankie Says "I don't know what you're talking about" they reply saying "The password" Frankie doesn't say anything and after more demands for it he's punched and badly beaten. The leader of these men tells Frankie he has until dawn to bring it to them or they will kill Shane . Frankie staggers back to the night club gathers his friends and explains that he's in trouble and that they have tom fiancée. He tells them he has a special encryption password to unlock a bit-coin algorithm on his phone. 

Midpoint (55) : They leave the night club and head back to the hotel. On arrival at the hotel they discover that the bins have been emptied by housekeeping and all their phones are gone. Now they have to find out what has happened to the rubbish collected by housekeeping and where it is. They're to late as the rubbish has been collected by a waste truck and is seen slowly driving away from the hotel as the guys exit the back of the hotel.  

Bad Guys Close In (55-75) : The bad guys have followed them to the hotel not believing that they would hand over the encryption key. Charles who's background has involved fast cars runs to a parked car and highjacks the car to chase the waste truck. The bad see them drive away and so chase them in the belief that they're trying to escape. A fast and furious chase scene now takes place across Amsterdam causing chaos in the cities narrow streets. resulting with the bad guys spinning out of control into one of the cities canals. 

All Is Lost (75) : They arrive at the city dump to see the waste truck they were chasing sitting empty next to a very large mountain of city rubbish. 

Dark Night of the Soul (75-85) : They look up at the mountain of rubbish and all dive in to try and find the phones.

 Break into Three Finale (85) : As they look through the rubbish they hear Frankie's ring-tone and they all charge towards it. 

 Finale (85-110) :

Final Image (110) :

How about 'out of the bottle'?

A'wish' asked for by the hero or granted by another, and the need to be delivered from the ordinary.

A spell which has rules 


A lesson to be learned 

The Commissioning Process

So, you're a writer.

Might you need a agent?

You don't need an agent but, it would be good to have one. It also depends on what industry you are working in. For example in the past most authors have tried to get an agent who would then try and get your book published. This has now changed with the advent of e-books. As you can now self publish.. which gets you going its then down to you to create the noise that will get people to want to down load your book.
However most Actors do need an agent as agents are on the lost of casting for the film and TV companies. You can be lucky and send your CV around and if the times right a film or TV company could invite you in for an audition .. but that is very much down to luck. Where an agent would have a system in pace to get your details out the casting people and hopefully get you in front of them. 

 What the hell is an agent? 

 An agent is someone who acts on your behalf. They will know the casting or publishing agents and should have an idea in advance as to what is required etc.
So they get you the jobs or that trilogy book deal ..!
The will also if you are lucky enough to get select for a role or to be published negotiate your fees etc. They of course take a cut / % of this fee which can be large.

Do you want one?

Yes.
In an idea world an agent would do all the above which would allow me to spend my time being create and writing my master piece. A lot of creative people are just that and when it comes to deal making they cry away or can get stitched up. So an agent should be harden to this and get a good deal.

Either you or your agent need to a commissioning editor at the BBC.

Find a name of a BBC commissioning editor?

Lindsay Bradbury - Commissioning Editor, Factual Features & Formats and Factual Commissioning Executive for Northern Ireland.



What the hell do they do?

Commissioning editors is in charge of commissioning programs. 
He or she will have a specific guide line ti work or set area that they work in.

 For example Lindsay Bradbury featured above is a Factual Commissioning editor. So her brief will be to look for and find News / real life based programs for the BBC. She is part of the the Features team. So that could be starting a new project from internal ideas or looking for ideas sent in to her from outside.


What's e-commissioning?

e-Commissioning an on-line automated system that allows writers / producers to submit ideas for programs / films directly to the commission company.
This could be done by way of a PDF or powerpoint presentation submitted via the internet to the companies e-commissioning system.

 Heres is a link that you can use to submit ideas etc to the BBC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/pitching-ideas/e-commissioning.shtml

The BBC aren't interested. But maybe Warner Brothers are?

If you were going to get your Single Camera Drama adapted into a movie at Warner Brothers, who would decide whether it happens?

Once submitted there will be a few vetting systems in place before any one with real power gets to look at it. A  producer will eventually get your idea and he or she will decide if your idea will become a movie.

How does stuff at Warner Brothers get green-lit?

If a pitch succeeds, a film receives a "green light", meaning someone offers financial backing: typically a major film studio, film council, or independent investor.
It means a producer likes your idea enough to put his or her name to it and talk to the money people and try to get funding. Once that is in place then their work begins.

Warner Brothers don't buy it, but an independent film company do.

How involved might you be from this point? Find a story about what happens to a writer during development and production.

I think that if a major film company buys the idea once they have it you some what say good bye to it.. and just take the money. If a small Independent picks up your idea you have a much better chance of being involved all of the way. As they could values your creative input and ideas.

 The independent company are worried about errors & Omissions insurance on your script. What is it, and why might they need it?

 Errors & Omissions insurance which is a USA name for Professional liability insurance (PLI) which is there to protect the film company / its people in case it / they gets sued in anyway for neglect / financial loss and errors etc as its name implies. It does not cover things like criminal prosecutions murder etc. PLI is normally require by law in some areas to make sure people / companies are covered. Its cost can vary in size depending on how the insurance company see the risk involved.

Purpose of Research

Formula 1's Michael Schumacher in critical condition after skiing accident
-What information might a researcher need?
  • What the story is about.
  • Schumacher accident
  • Interviews
  • What happened / How it happened
  • Safety
  • What doctors think of the accident
  • Why he was out there
  • Other people with the same injury
-Why might they conduct research?
  • Internet
  • Newspapers
  • Doctors
  • News Programmes
-What would a research need to consider?



Criteria 2- Be able to range of research methods and techniques
  • Primary research
    • Interviews, surveys, questionnaires, observations, focus groups etc
  • Secondary research
    • Internet articles, videos, audio, books, magazines, journals
  • Audience research
    • Demographics, audience classification(socio-economic, age, gender, occupation, education), media preferences, buying/consumption patterns
  • Market research
    • Product market, competition, competitor analysis
  • Production research
    • Content, resources (personnel, equipment, set up, cost, viability)

Documentary Conventions

- Murder in Columbine
- Gun ownership influence media
- Racism
- Fear + Ignorance
- Capitalism - Making money from fear.
- Crimes involving guns are normalised
- American values

Bias Propaganda
- Persuasion ideology

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