ResearchLaurence Jones

Mr. Daley

Focus groups are typically small groups of people (6-20) that use a certain product and are invited to host a monitored discussion. The discussion is lead by moderator whom explores areas of interest to the company of the product. They can be very helpful in finding out information yet may not represent the majority of the populace.

Personal interviews are 1-to-1 are in-depth discussions between a consumer and an interviewer. They serve to get in-depth information and to get direct answers, yet they do not reflect the opinions of the masses.

Questionnaires are usually closed surveys that are sent out to consumers via email, mail, telephone and the internet as well as other methods. The consumers fill them out, sharing their opinions. They are very helpful as they can reflect the majority of a populace, yet they aren’t very in-depth as they are typically shorter.

“Qualitative research is a method of inquiry employed in many different academic disciplines, traditionally in the social sciences, but also in market research and further contexts. Qualitative research gathers an in-depth understanding of human behaviour and the reasons that govern such behaviour. The qualitative method investigates the why and how of decision making, not just what, where, when. Hence, smaller but focused samples are more often used than large samples.” Qualitative research uses mainly open questions to get a more in-depth idea of someone’s opinion.

“Quantitative research refers to the systematic empirical investigation of social phenomena via statistical, mathematical or computational techniques. The objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories and/or hypotheses pertaining to phenomena. The process of measurement is central to quantitative research because it provides the fundamental connection between empirical observation and mathematical expression of quantitative relationships. Quantitative data is any data that is in numerical form such as statistics, percentages, etc. In layman's terms, this means that the quantitative researcher asks a specific, narrow question and collects a sample of numerical data from participants to answer the question. The researcher analyzes the data with the help of statistics. The researcher is hoping the numbers will yield an unbiased result that can be generalized to some larger population.” Quantitative research follows the guidelines of statistical evaluation and closed questions to get more specific answers.

Closed research involves having “Yes or No” questions or a tick box, or any other method to obtain information. It is easier to get more opinions but not as detailed responses.

Open research involves more question asking and more in-depth conversation , this achieves more in-depth answers, but at a cost as it is harder and more expensive to obtain.

Research methodsThere are many ways to get information, these methods include: Searching the internet, talking with people, focus groups, interviews, email surveys, and internet surveys and many other methods.

http://www.statpac.com/surveys/research-methods.htm

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_methodshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualitative_research

Some questions are easier to answer via the internet, some are easier to answer via textbooks.

Textbooks are very slow as you have to find the correct chapters and places on the page, this can be hard if the page is just a wall of text. Search engines on the internet deliver the answers almost instantly.

Textbooks are harder to sift through, but the glossary is very helpful and easy to use. The internet is laid out in a extremely easy-to-use format.

The internet is not always correct but is usually reliable in confidence of being correct. Textbooks are almost always correct, yet can be outdated if they are old.

Textbook VS. InternetThe following investigation on methods of research will be judged by

their Ease of use, Accuracy and Speed…

Demographics: the statistic that refers to population Psychographics: the research of opinions, attitudes,

personality and morals. Research focuses on interests activities and opinions.

Class (A, B, C) middle class or white collar, working class or blue collar, upper class or gold collar etc…

Gender: Male or female

Website (Media know it all)

Definitions

Genre: Science-fiction, adventure, comedy Director: Robert Zemeckis Target audience: People interested in time

travel, everyone as the film is a cult classic Budget: $19,000,000 (estimated) Runtime: 116 minutes

Back To The Future (1985)

The target audience for BTTF was mainly teenagers and people interested in science-fiction from the eighties, as the film has aged, it’s audience has grown and the movie is now considered a cult classic.

The film would appeal to fans of the American sitcom Family Ties, as Michael J. Fox starred in it.

Mainstream audience The target audience for BTTF could have been fans of

Robert Zemeckis if they had seen the 1978 film I Want To Hold Your Hand that Robert Zemeckis had directed

Young Michael J. Fox, girls would have found him attractive and guys would have found him relatable as he was on the show Family Ties, he was found especially relatable to Republicans

Back To The Future – audience profile

Poster

Logo

Cast

Young Michael J. Fox, girls would have found him attractive and guys would have found him relatable as he was on the show Family Ties, he was found especially relatable to Republicans

The infamous DeLorean DMC-12

Theatrical poster

logo

cast

tagline

Young Michael J. Fox, girls would have found him attractive and guys would have found him relatable as he was on the show Family Ties, he was found especially relatable to Republicans

Cool looking poster with flames and a cool car

Video DHS cover

logo

Cast names Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd and Robert Zemeckis

1981 DeLorean DMC-12

Rating PG

Aged 16 English Enjoys a wide variety of music Plays guitar Not a huge fan of sport Wants to become a musician Cooks dinner sometimes

Specific target audience (for me)

Either an American teenager during the eighties OR a fan (of any age) of Science fiction and time travelling.

Fan of Robert Zemeckis. Fan of Michael J. Fox or Christopher Lloyd. Someone that is a fan of witty comedy. Someone that can keep up with the alternative universes’. Someone that is a fan of the 1981 DeLorean DMC-12. Fans of family comedy. BTTF made a domestic gross of $210,609,762. The film made $11,152,500 in it’s opening weekend. The film was ranked #1 for weekend grossing from it’s release on 3rd of

July 1985 all the way up until the 15th of September 1985. Pre-1985, people would have been interested in BTTF if they were fans

of Steven Spielberg, his entourage of works include: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), The Goonies (1985), Jaws (1975), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom (1984) among others.

Specific target audience (for BTTF)

Have you seen Back To The Future?:

Have you seen the whole franchise?:

Would you recommend this film to a friend?:

Would you re-watch the film again?:

Questionnaire for BTTF

YesNo

I asked 6 people the following questions:

YesNo

YesNo

Yes No Sometimes

Are you a fan of Science-Fiction?

Are you a fan of Comedies

Are you a fan of Time travel?

…Questionnaire for BTTF continued

YesNoDon't mind

YesNoDon’t mind

YesNoDon't mindYes

NoDon't Know

Are you a fan of Robert Zemeckis?

Boston Globe: The best mainstream film since "E.T.," is an uplifting reminder that Hollywood can still produce truly great entertainment...The plot is so exquisitely developed that divulging anything beyond the basic outline might diminish the joyous surprises that await an audience thirsting for originality in a reactionary medium. [03 July 1985, p.57]

The New York Times: Mr. Zemeckis is able both to keep the story moving and to keep it from going too far. He handles Back to the Future with the kind of inventiveness that indicates he will be spinning funny, whimsical tall tales for a long time to come. - Maslin, Janet

San Francisco Chronicle: I just don't know how all this sweetness and light will go down with a teenaged movie audience presumably gung-ho with Rambo - especially now that he's got the presidential seal of approval. And that's no joke, son! [3 July 1985, p.58]

Los Angeles Times: It's big, cartoonish and empty, with an interesting premise that is underdeveloped and overproduced. [3 July 1975, p.Calendar 6] - Benson, Sheila

Miami Herald: For girls and boys who like games, ideas and toys, Back to the Future probably is worth an afternoon's good giggle. But baby boomers be forewarned: You had a better guffaw at Son of Flubber! [3 July 1985, p.D9]

Chicago Tribune: So what we have in the middle of Back to the Future, this seeming kids' movie full of screeching cars, special effects and lightning storms, is nothing less than an adult reverie. And if families could be persuaded to see this film together, it might touch off a long night of sharing between parents and children. [03 July 1985 -] Siskel, Gene

Critic’s reviews of Back To The Future (1985)

Trailer analysis

Video URL:http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi252380953/

Camera traces Marty’s feet as he walks up to the Delorean

Marty gets the DeLorean ready for time travel by pressing buttons and setting dials

Marty gets in the DeLorean

Close up of Marty with sunglasses onHe lifts his glasses up and looks at the camera. A narrator asks “How far ya going?”, he replies: “About thirty years.”

The shot changes to a runway, a guitar solo kicks in and flames appear down the runway

The franchise logo appears for 5-8 seconds and then the screen fades to black

The teaser trailer for BTTF is made up of mainly shots that closely trace Marty. Specifically his hands and feet as he operates the time machine. After 50 seconds or so of him starting up the DeLorean. He looks at the camera and a narrator asks “How far you going?”, he looks at the camera, lifts up his glasses and retorts “About thirty years.” He then smirks and the shot changes to an open runway, the typical sound of the DeLorean breaking the sound barrier is heard echoing as flames ignite along the runway, followed by a guitar solo and the logo appearing before the fadeout.

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record.

The American film critic Pare Lorentz defines a documentary film as "a factual film which is dramatic.“

HISTORY Travelogue films were very popular in the early part of the 20th century (pre-1920’s). They were often

referred to by distributors as "scenics." Scenics were among the most popular sort of films at the time. Romanticism was incorporated in Robert J. Flaherty's Nanook of the North in 1922. Documentary film

embraced romanticism; Flaherty filmed a number of heavily staged romantic films during this time period, often showing how his subjects would have lived 100 years earlier and not how they lived right then. For instance, in Nanook of the North Flaherty did not allow his subjects to shoot a walrus with a nearby shotgun, but had them use a harpoon instead. Some of Flaherty's staging, such as building a roofless igloo for interior shots, was done to accommodate the filming technology of the time.

Newsreel tradition is important in documentary film; newsreels were also sometimes staged but were usually re-enactments of events that had already happened, not attempts to steer events as they were in the process of happening. For instance, much of the battle footage from the early 20th century was staged; the cameramen would usually arrive on site after a major battle and re-enact scenes to film them.

Modern Documentaries. Box office analysts have noted that this film genre has become increasingly successful in theatrical release with films such as Fahrenheit 9/11, Super Size Me, Food, Inc., Earth, March of the Penguins, and An Inconvenient Truth among the most prominent examples. Compared to dramatic narrative films, documentaries typically have far lower budgets which makes them attractive to film companies because even a limited theatrical release can be highly profitable.

What is a documentary?

I’d like to talk to you for just a moment about censorship. The history of censorship, censorship by definition by country and the effects it has…

Presentation for class

Documentary on censorship

Censorship What is censorship?Censorship is the suppression of speech or other public communication which may be considered

objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or inconvenient as determined by a government, media outlet or other controlling body. It can be done by governments and private organizations or by individuals who engage in self-censorship

Moral censorship is the removal of materials that are obscene or otherwise considered morally questionable. Pornography, for example, is often censored under this rationale, especially child pornography, which is illegal and censored in most jurisdictions in the world.

Military censorship is the process of keeping military intelligence and tactics confidential and away from the enemy. This is used to counter espionage, which is the process of gleaning military information.

Political censorship occurs when governments hold back information from their citizens. This is often done to exert control over the populace and prevent free expression that might foment rebellion.

Religious censorship is the means by which any material considered objectionable by a certain faith is removed. This often involves a dominant religion forcing limitations on less prevalent ones. Alternatively, one religion may shun the works of another when they believe the content is not appropriate for their faith.

Corporate censorship is the process by which editors in corporate media outlets intervene to disrupt the publishing of information that portrays their business or business partners in a negative light, or intervene to prevent alternate offers from reaching public exposure.

Types of censorship

Censorship in the United Kingdom

Citizens of United Kingdom have a negative right to freedom of expression under the common law.

In 1998, the United Kingdom incorporated the European Convention, and the guarantee of freedom of expression it contains in Article 10, into its domestic law under the Human Rights Act. However there is a broad sweep of exceptions including threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour intending or likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress or cause a breach of the peace (which has been used to prohibit racist speech targeted at individuals).

Sending another any article which is indecent or grossly offensive with an intent to cause distress or anxiety (which has been used to prohibit speech of a racist or anti-religious nature), incitement, incitement to racial hatred, incitement to religious hatred, incitement to terrorism including encouragement of terrorism and dissemination of terrorist publications, glorifying terrorism, collection or possession of a document or record containing information likely to be of use to a terrorist, treason including compassing or imagining the death of the monarch or advocating for the abolition of the monarchy (which cannot be successfully prosecuted), sedition, obscenity, indecency including corruption of public morals and outraging public decency.

Censorship in the United States

In general, censorship in the United States, which involves the suppression of speech or other public communication, raises issues of freedom of speech, which is constitutionally protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

This freedom, though fundamental, has also been accompanied since its enshrinement with contest and controversy. For instance, restraints increased during periods of widespread anti-communist sentiment, as exemplified by the hearings of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. It is also legal to express certain forms of hate speech so long as one does not engage in the acts being discussed, or urge others to commit illegal acts. However, more severe forms have led to people or groups such as the Ku Klux Klan being denied certain marching permits or the Westboro Baptist Church being sued.Courts have historically held in general that freedom of speech, in order to exist and function, necessarily extends to even the unpopular, offensive, and distasteful.

Analysts from Reporters Without Borders rank the United States 32nd in the world in terms in their Press Freedom Index, updated for 2013. Certain forms of speech, such as obscenity and defamation, are restricted in major media outlets by the government or by the industry on its own.

The Streisand effect is the phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely, usually via the Internet. The phenomenon is named after American entertainer Barbra Streisand, whose attempt in 2003 to suppress photographs of her residence in Malibu, California, inadvertently generated further publicity.

Examples Billy Joel's pop song "Only the Good Die Young" sparked little comment when it first appeared on

the 1977 album The Stranger, but when it was released as a single in early 1978, religious groups voiced objections to the lyrics. The Catholic archdiocese in Boston, St. Louis, and Newark, New Jersey banned the song, and began pressuring radio stations to remove it from their play lists. "This record would have died out," said Joel. "Nobody would've heard it if they hadn't tried to cut people off from it. As soon as the kids found out there was some authority that didn't want them to hear it, they bought it in droves and it became a big hit.”

In January 2008, The Church of Scientology's unsuccessful attempts to get Internet websites to delete a video of Tom Cruise speaking about Scientology resulted in the creation of Project Chanology

In November 2007, Tunisia blocked access to YouTube and DailyMotion after material was posted of Tunisian political prisoners. Activists and their supporters then started to link the location of then-President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali's palace on Google Earth to videos about civil liberties in general. The Economist said this "turned a low-key human-rights story into a fashionable global campaign".

The Streisand effect

I used mainly the internet to source my information. I found this the most helpful as it is fast and efficient and is a great way to gather lot’s of information speedily.

Secondary research

Primary research I found that questionnaires and interviews

were the most effective ways of gathering information.

A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging. Questions are asked in an interactive group setting where participants are free to talk with other group members

pros It can be a very accurate way to learn and research into a specific

field.cons information collected may not reflect the opinions of the majority. Focus groups have come under criticism as the practise of “group

think” is very prominent, group think is when the more “superior” people in a focus group air their voices more than others do.

Focus group

Do you think that censorship is needed during time of war? Is censorship important? Why? Is propaganda and censorship the same thing? What is censorship to you? Can censorship be a good thing?

Questionnaire for focus group on Censorship

Thank you for giving me your time, I hope you enjoyed my presentation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualitative_research Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_methods Wikipedia http://www.statpac.com/surveys/research-methods.htm Statpac http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/?ref_=nm_knf_t2 IMDB http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000150/?ref_=tt_ov_st IMDB http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000502/?ref_=tt_ov_st IMDB http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000709/?ref_=tt_ov_dr IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/criticreviews IMDB http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=backtothefuture.htm Box-office mojo http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000229/ IMDB http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship Wikipedia

Bibliography

Peer assessment

Good information and primary and secondary information

Should be more prepared, it was a bit unclear, it had some good information, some powerpoint once too much unnecessary information and some didn’t have enough information

Had definitions and he included links to the sources where he found them, paused quite frequently could have had more detail on some slides

Information is well laid out at times , at other times it is quite messy, lots of good information

Not very clear, not prepared, good information, rushed it, didn’t read out some information, too shy, mumbled

Not looking at camera/audience, quite spoilen, good facts and information

I think that I did okay in terms of my power point itself, I had some good information and I presented it well within the power point, in terms of layout and information.

However, my presentation skills were a little rusty and I wasn’t too great in terms of presenting my work to the class.

Self assessment