QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS
SECTION A
DOCUMENTARY
1) DID YOU FIND THE TOPIC INTERESTING?
YesNo
All my sample that answered this question said yes. This could have been down to the fact that all of them were within the age of my target audience – 16-21 meaning they would be in some sort of education, and perhaps using social media.
2) DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING FROM WATCHING IT? IF YES WHAT DID YOU LEARN? IF NO, WHY NOT?
70% of my sample said they did learn something from my documentary. This is vital because one of the main aims of my documentary is to inform, therefore this shows that my product has been overall successful. Most people that selected yes gave the reason – “It made me consider using social media when doing work”. Another common reason was they learnt that social media is a major underlying concern for their education. These responses show that the audience have used the information from the documentary and realised something they hadn’t before. This means my documentary lives up to its name of ‘uncovering’ truths.
30% of my sample selected no. All of these people said that they already knew social media distracted them, however they did learn specific statistics about the topic. This suggests that perhaps this topic was already common knowledge for most, however my results for this question were mostly positive.
YesNo
3) WERE THE IMAGES USED RELEVANT TO THE TOPIC AND WHY? (IF NO OR MOSTLY, WHY?)
YesNoMostly
90% of my sample selected yes for this question, showing a positive result. This means that my footage and images have shown an obvious relation to my topic which is important for my documentary to make sense.
10% selected mostly. The reason they gave was that they didn’t understand why the home video was filmed in a home setting rather than a college setting. However, this was because our documentary was about effects on work in AND out of college, so perhaps this needs to be made clearer.
4) DO YOU FEEL THAT THE DOCUMENTARY CAUSED YOU TO THINK A CERTAIN WAY ABOUT THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EDUCATION?
Yes - por-trayed it posi-tivelyYes - por-trayed it negativelyNo - it gave both sides of the argument equally
60% of my sample answered yes because it portrayed it negatively. This means that just over half of my audience were given bias encoded information. This could have been down to their own decoding, producing a negative opinion, however maybe I needed to include more of the positive side of the argument as well as the negative.
40% of my sample said that the documentary didn’t make them feel a certain way about the topic as it presented both sides of the argument equally. This is a good outcome as it was only just under half that said it was an unbiased representation of social media, which is important to supply the audience with all viewpoints to let them form their own – Stuart Hall’s uses and gratification theory says this is important for audience’s to use the information given in the media in their own way.
5) WAS THE MUSIC SUITABLE FOR THE DOCUMENTARY AND WHY?
YesNo
100% of my sample said that the music WAS suitable for the documentary. Several reasons were:• The upbeat music made it more interesting• The mysterious music made it intriguing•The music often changed so it didn’t get boring
This was a really great result and shows that I wouldn’t need to alter my music if I were to do this documentary again.
7) WHAT FEATURE DID YOU THINK BEST REFLECTED A REAL DOCUMENTARY? (YOU CAN TICK MORE THAN 1 ANSWER, NO MORE THAN 3)
InterviewsVoxpopsGraphicsBackground musicVoiceover
The most popular convention that was ticked was voxpops. This means that my voxpops were successful and the medium long shots, and the use of rule of thirds was a professional and true reflection of a real media product. Voiceover and background music were chosen but were the least popular choice. This contrasts against my previous question which showed a 100% positive result about the background music, therefore this may just mean they weren’t as interesting as the other conventions. Interviews and graphics were also a popular choice, which are both important documentary conventions. This suggests that my interviews also retained a professional quality, and my graphics were complex enough to grasp their attention.
6) HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE DOCUMENTARY OVERALL?
PoorAverageGoodExcellent
70% of my sample rated the documentary as excellent overall, and 30% rated it as good overall. This is an excellent result as none of them rated our documentary as poor or average, which would have meant it didn’t fulfil it’s purpose to inform or entertain.
SECTION B
RADIO TRAILER
1) WOULD THIS TRAILER ENCOURAGE YOU TO WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY? (IF NO, THEN WHY?)
YesNo
100% of my sample said that the radio trailer WOULD encourage them to watch my documentary. I am really pleased with this result as it means that it is a successful marketing product and works well as an ancillary text for the documentary.
2) WERE THE SOUND LEVELS APPROPRIATE AND CONSISTENT?
YesNo
Again I gained a 100% positive result with this question. All of my sample said that the sound levels were appropriate and consistent throughout, meaning that I wouldn’t have to look over this if I were to go back and edit my radio advert.
3) DID THE VOICEOVER PROVIDE ENOUGH INFORMATION? (IF NO, PLEASE STATE WHY)
YesNo
80% of my sample said that the voiceover of my radio trailer did provide enough information. 20% said no, and the reasons they gave were:•It wasn’t long enough to be able to include a lot of information.•It didn’t give much away about what it finds out.
However, the length of my radio trailer was 30 seconds long and this is conventional of a radio trailer. This is typically long enough to fit enough information in to persuade the audience, but not give too much away, and is short enough so that the audience don’t lose interest. As for the second comment, the purpose of the radio trailer is to encourage my audience to watch the documentary, therefore it showed that it was successful in persuading my consumers into finding out more.
4) WHAT DID YOU FEEL WAS THE MOST EFFECTIVE ELEMENT OF THE RADIO TRAILER? (YOU CAN TICK MORE THAN ONE ANSWER, NO MORE THAN 3)
Vox popsFacts and statsUpbeat sound-trackInformation about the doc-umentary (date, time etc.)
The most popular choice that my sample thought was the most effective element was the voxpops. The second most popular choices were the soundtrack and the information – achieving the same result. From this, I have learned that my voxpops could have been the most successful because they are students who my sample could relate to, or because the opinions they gave were one-sided and persuasive. My other results relay that important information is both important and effective in my radio trailer, and this is something I am pleased with because usually, this would be the most boring stuff, however it shows my sample took notice of this part and will therefore be encouraged to watch the documentary. Facts and stats were the least popular choice, perhaps because even though they are essential for having a truthful product, they aren’t as exciting as other elements.
SECTION C
TV GUIDE ARTICLE
1) WOULD THIS ARTICLE ENCOURAGE YOU TO WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY?
YesNo
90% of my sample said that my article WOULD encourage them to watch the documentary. This is a really great result as it shows my double page has included enough conventions to persuade the audience to watch the documentary.
However, 10% of my sample said no it wouldn’t. Their reason was that they don’t watch documentaries. Therefore, I haven’t managed to persuade my entire target audience to want to watch the documentary, and I would need to go back and include more rhetorical devices such as more pictures, or more persuasive language.
2) WOULD THE IMAGES ENCOURAGE YOU TO READ THE ARTICLE?
YesNo
90% of my sample said that the images would encourage them to read the article, showing that my images are mostly relevant to my topic and have achieved the purpose of making the article more appealing. 10% said that the images didn’t encourage them to read it.
3) WERE THE IMAGES APPROPRIATE TO THE TOPIC?
YesNo
100% of my sample said that my images were appropriate to the topic, meaning I wouldn’t have to change any of the images and I selected the ideal images.
4) WHAT DID YOU FEEL WAS THE MOST EFFECTIVE PART OF THE TV GUIDE ARTICLE? (YOU CAN TICK MORE THAN 1, NO MORE THAN 3)
MastheadImagesArticleQuote
My most popular result for this question was the images. My image choice has proven to be very successful as throughout the questions, I have learned that they are both relevant and appealing. The least popular choice was the quote. This suggests that I could perhaps reconsider my choice of quote and find another one that is more intriguing. My masthead was my second least popular choice and my article was the second most popular. This is really important as the article is the part giving all the information about the documentary, and if it has proven to be effective, this means that most my sample will most likely want to watch the documentary after reading this article.
5) FINALLY, COULD YOU SEE A CLEAR LINK BETWEEN ALL 3 PRODUCTS? (IF NO, PLEASE STATE WHY)
YesNo
90% of my sample said that they could see a clear link between all 3 products. This is an amazing result as I have tried to link all 3 products so that the ancillary texts both work to advertise and market the documentary. Only 10% answered no to this question, and the reason given was that the colour scheme wasn’t consistent throughout all 3 products. This would be something I would definitely have to look at in order to gain a 100% successful result. I would change the fonts so that they are all the same colours, and perhaps use the same background on my double page somewhere in my documentary to maintain consistency.