The student learned about their documentary from focus groups and questionnaires with their target audience. The focus group provided direct feedback on four questions about whether the documentary followed Channel 4 conventions, the quality of the radio advertisement, and whether the ancillary tasks complemented the documentary. Most participants felt the documentary and radio advertisement were professional and the tasks complemented the final piece. However, some felt the radio advertisement did not clearly relate to the documentary. The questionnaires provided similar feedback and showed the documentary successfully used conventions like voiceovers and interviews. The student determined they could improve their ancillary tasks but received positive feedback overall and learned for future projects.
1. Question 3: What have you learned
from your audience feedback?
Media Studies A2 Portfolio - Haylee Fynn
2. In order to obtain audience feedback, I
decided to get two different groups of
people together who were aged within my
target audience and watch my
documentary.
Focus
Group:
Creates
Discussion
Questionnaire:
Focus
Lots of
Group:
information
Creates
Discussion
3. The focus group included four people who
were able to share their thoughts on four
open questions which I asked.
I feel that this type of feedback is good
because I can see first-hand people’s
opinions on my production.
However, some people may just go along
with what other people say so that it is
easy and they do not stand out from the
crowd. Below is the information which I
collected from the focus group.
4. Participant A
Q1: From watching
my documentary,
do you think it
follows the key
conventions of a
Channel 4
documentary, and
why?
Participant B
Participant C
“I agree too. For me
I think just the
“I agree. I always
general plot of the
“Yes, I think it does.
think of a narrator
documentary such
Particularly because
in a documentary.
as the set up within
of the voice-over
Also the facts which the classroom and
during the
flash up on the
the interviews. It
documentary – it’s
screen seems to be reminded me of the
like a narrator.”
a common theme.” sex education show
which used to be on
Channel 4.”
5. Participant A
Q2: From hearing
my radio
advertisement,
what are your
opinions on the
final product?
“I think it sounds
like a very
professional piece.
I can actually
imagine hearing it
on the radio.”
Participant B
Participant C
“I agree with that
too. It was a good,
clear voice and had
all the relevant
information I
needed to be able
to tune in.”
“I thought it was
good because I
liked the continuity
between the main
product as well as
the radio advert. I
thought it was
good that the same
voice was used in
the voice over of
the documentary
and the radio
advert.”
6. Participant A
“I think that they
Q3: Do you think
are both creative
both of my ancillary and they definitely
tasks compliment
compliment and
my final piece?
promote the final
product.”
Participant B
Participant C
“I agree with the
newspaper
advertisement as it
looks very similar
to other Channel 4
ones but I do
struggle to relate
the radio
advertisement to
the documentary
as I have never
heard a Channel 4
radio
advertisement.”
“I think that both
the radio and the
newspaper
advertisements are
effective in
complimenting the
main product but
the radio advert
could fit in more
with the
documentary.”
7. Participant A
Q4: Do you think I
could have done
more to make it
seem a more
professional piece?
Participant B
Participant C
“It could have been
more professional
by adding graphs
and tables to
display facts and
information but
other than that it
did seem
professional with
the interviews.”
“Maybe by having a
TV advert instead
of a radio advert
“I think it already
would have been
seemed quite
more professional
professional.”
as I haven’t ever
heard a Channel 4
radio advert.”
8. The other form of feedback which I used was a
questionnaire to a group of ten people of my target
audience after watching my documentary.
Questionnaires can be a positive way to gain feedback as
you can easily analyse the data which you gain and
people feel that the information which they give is
confidential.
However, people sometimes experience the social
desirability effect where they want to be seen in a better
light by the observer. This may have influence the results
which I gained from my questionnaires. Below is the
information which I received from my questionnaires.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14. From looking at the feedback which I have gained
from my participants, I can see that I have
successfully produced a media product which
fits in with the key conventions of a
documentary.
The most popular features within my documentary
seemed to be:
• Voice over
• Interviews with professionals
I am happy about this as these are the features
which I wanted to use in order to create an
expository mode of documentary.
15. Personally, I feel that something which I could
have done better are my ancillary tasks as I
felt that they were not very successful in
complimenting my main product.
However, from looking at this information, I can
see that a lot of the people who watched my
documentary thought that the ancillary tasks
complimented it well.
A couple of comments did mention that they
thought that the newspaper advertisement
was more effective than what the radio
advertisement was. I believe that this is
because Channel 4 are not really known for
making radio advertisements.
16. I think that if I was to create another
Channel 4 style documentary in the future,
I would possibly create a television
advertisement rather than a radio
advertisement as this would most probably
be more effective in complimenting my
product.
This feedback has allowed me to feel that
after a lot of hard work and organised
time, I have successfully produced a
documentary.