In this blogpost, I am going to plan my treatment for my short media product. The final treatment will be presented on a Prezi.
Contents
In this proposal, we are going to provide you some information on our idea for a short media production.
To help us provide detail about our idea, we are going to present to you an:
- Introduction - (will be scattered over 3 slides) What we learnt, what research we under took, how it helped with our ideas
- Structure - what our idea is for the media product
- Budget proposal - what prices we estimated for resources and materials needed
- schedule/timescale - how we have planned timings to create the production
- Editing equipment - what equipment will be needed to edit and create the finished product.
What have I learnt
Before we chose what to do for our media product, we researched and carried out some forms of research techniques to help find out what is needed to create an effective production.
- what methods of research there are (Primary and secondary)
Within primary research, there are two sub categories which help to make the information collected more reliable and consistent. the two sub categories are;
Exploratory - which means it is "open-ended". This means that the research is not focusing on one target group or sector, it is getting a wide view on the different demographics there are within locally, nationally, internationally, etc (geographic scale).
Specific - which means it is "precise". This mean that the research is targeted at a certain demographic and it is more focus at the choices, interest, attractions of a target customer or consumer base.
A few ways of carrying out primary research are, interview techniques, observations, questionnaires, surveys, types of questions, focus groups, audience panels, participation in internet forums
Secondary research is when you can buy and gather information from a different source that's already compiled and organized for you, depending on the type of information you wish. Secondary research uses outside information assembled by government agencies, industry and trade associations, labor unions, media sources, chambers of commerce, and so on.
A few examples of secondary research examples can be previous research reports, newspaper, magazine and journal content, government statistics and textbook information.
- what types of research there are (quantitative and qualitative)
Quantitative research is data which is in the form of numerical figures, statistics, ratios, etc. This is data that can be measured and gathered into a model/graph. Quantitative research usually asks the target audience questions which have choices (e.g. tick-boxes or multiple choice) and the answers are usually in figures or numerical form.
A few examples/methods of quantitative research are, eg programme ratings, readership circulation figures, hits on a website, box office figures, sales of CDs and DVDs
Qualitative research is when you gather information in a more in-depth and explanatory way. this means you ask your target audience "open-ended" questions, which is when you allow the customers to give their opinion in a more detailed manner and they are able to have a choice on what they wish to write/respond.
A few examples/methods of qualitative research are, eg film reviews, game reviews, fanzine websites, attitudes to media products, responses to news coverage, responses to advertising campaigns, discussion
- different media research agencies
The purpose of media research agencies are to help gather information and statistics on the level of viewers, readers or listeners a program or channel has.
This is a important factor in post-production of a media product because it allows the makers to see how popular or what the viewer retention rate is that the product made/making. The purpose of collecting viewer hits also depends on how much the company makes in terms of profit and whether or not the program/channel should be continued on air or not.
Some media research companies also offer services to the public that allow them to comment or complain if the audience feels that the programme was inappropriate and not following broadcasting legislation. Audience have the power to complain and take action (through the media agency) to stop the programme being aired, or changed to a different time slot/channel.
Some examples of media research agencies are the BARB (the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board), Ofcom (the Office of Communications) and the NRS (the National Readership Survey).
- the three different purposes of research within media (audience, market and production)
The purpose of audience research is to find out what your audience wants and needs, so your product will meet its purpose and you will get a higher audience/viewer rating.
The purpose of market research is to find out what is already out in the market, if there are any rivaling companies that you need to beat, what techniques and strategies are effective and when, where and how to advertise/promote/place your production.
The purpose of production research is to find out what materials, resources and techniques we will need to help create the media product and what are the stages you must go through to help produce a effective product.
What research did I undertake
- carried out forms of primary research on audience
We made and distributed questionnaires to a wide variety of audiences to see what they find appealing, so we can create a effective media product. Once we gathered the data returned, we put the information into pie charts and resulted what was the most popular. That helped us to carry out a focus group on a small sample of people to get more in depth information. Also, to make sure that the data was not biased by the influence of others in the group, we carried out a small sample of one-to-one interviews.
- carried out research on how to create a short film and single camera techniques
We used secondary research methods to help us find information and techniques on effective production. The mediums that we used to help gather this information was the internet, media textbooks, magazines and journals and reviews.
We also carried out research on filming techniques, such as "single camera techniques" to help us during the production period of filming. Single camera techniques is when only one camera is used on a shoot rather than multiple cameras, which means the process involves more cuts and edits, as the scenes would have to be re-recorded for different angles. This technique is likely to be used on the set of a short film as they tend to have short scripts, or it could possibly be due to a small budget or the equipment that is available.
We also carried out research on filming techniques, such as "single camera techniques" to help us during the production period of filming. Single camera techniques is when only one camera is used on a shoot rather than multiple cameras, which means the process involves more cuts and edits, as the scenes would have to be re-recorded for different angles. This technique is likely to be used on the set of a short film as they tend to have short scripts, or it could possibly be due to a small budget or the equipment that is available.
- what equipment we need
We carried out secondary research to find out what peices of hardware and software we will need to help us produce a good media product to the best standard we can. (according to budget and knowledge/skills).
- what members of staff we need and what roles
- researched different locations and prices and permission
We also researched other production information, such as the facilities and locations available to help us create and produce the product, the personnal we need to help make our film and what roles they will play.
- how to budget and estimating the prices of materials
Finally, we gathered data and tips on how to budget for our media product efficiently and so we can work out the estimated overall expenditure on the production of our short film.
How did it help with my proposal
By learning the types of media research that there is available, and putting them into practise to help us create our 5 minute media product has
- helped us to find the relevent information, data and statistics on how to create a efficient media product.
- It helped us how to find information on relating our film to the appropriate target market
- helped us find effective planning and filming techniques to help seperate competition against rival film makers
- and how to include different production techniques to help with my film making
The structure for our low budget media production is going to be targeted at 16 to 30 year olds, and use the filming method of single camera techniques.
The genre and theme for our film will be Thriller/Horror/ Exorcist theme. Have a more realistic theme, having events, which would get the target audience feeling apart of the film.
The colours which would be appropriate to our film would be dark tan, gloomy colours and colours which would enforce a more an emotional towards our target audience.
Reference: The abduction - Bei MaejorThe locations to be used within our short film would vary from fields, forests, corridors, and deserted areas, mainly wanting the whole location to interact with the theme. Have an ancient house.
- Yonker – Tyler the Creator
- Am I a psycho – instrumental
- Exorcist theme music
- Goblin and martials - Tyler the Creator Ft The Game (The chorus only)
Budget proposal
For our budget proposal, we have researched using different sources (e.g. internet, retail outlets, etc) to help us plan on the expenditure towards our media product. We split our budget up into 5 sections and gathered a estimated total budget.
The five sections are; Personnel (payment of the staff) £315, Suppliers/equipment (resources used)£965, Facilities (places we used to make/edit our media product) £25, Locations (settigns used in our media product) £0, and Logistical support (what we hired to help us be mobile and move from locations) £800. Our final budget has been estimated of around £2200.
As you can see, these were the estimated costs for personnel, suppliers/equipment, facilities, locations and the logistical support.
Schedule/timescale
If we were to gain permission and go ahead with the production of our media product, we have researched and come up with a schedule/timescale for our film. We have split the schedule into three parts, pre-production, production and post production to help us chunk up our tasks.
we have calculated it will take approx. 8 weeks, (56 days) to complete our media product. This budget also includes contingency time (extra time) if any inconveniences should occur.
Pre production includes, creating a moodboard, planning the mise en scene, creating a script, carrying out a risk assessment, creating a timeline analysis for cuts and edits, and creating a production schedule (inc. crew, location and shots). These tasks will take approx 11 days.
Production includes, testing out the equipment, filming the scenes and recording the sound/audio clips, which will take approx. 19 days.
Post production includes, editting the scenes, adding sound effects and music, inserting and create/add special effects and credits, proof checking the final product to a small focus group, publishing on the internet, and advertise using social networks, local media and competitions (e.g. virgin shorts). These tasks will take approx. 26 days.
Editing equipment
we have calculated it will take approx. 8 weeks, (56 days) to complete our media product. This budget also includes contingency time (extra time) if any inconveniences should occur.
Pre production includes, creating a moodboard, planning the mise en scene, creating a script, carrying out a risk assessment, creating a timeline analysis for cuts and edits, and creating a production schedule (inc. crew, location and shots). These tasks will take approx 11 days.
Production includes, testing out the equipment, filming the scenes and recording the sound/audio clips, which will take approx. 19 days.
Post production includes, editting the scenes, adding sound effects and music, inserting and create/add special effects and credits, proof checking the final product to a small focus group, publishing on the internet, and advertise using social networks, local media and competitions (e.g. virgin shorts). These tasks will take approx. 26 days.
Editing equipment
To help us create and edit our media product, the software and hardware equipment we would need are;
Adobe Premier Pro software to edit the clips and sounds, computer basics (monitor, keyboard, hard drive, mouse and camera accessories (headphones/speakers, USB lead/SD Memory card).