CORPORATE VIDEO ESSAY WHY IS RESEARCH IMPORTANT?

Research is important for gathering information so that existing problems can be solved. It is quite helpful in the academic field particularly for professionals like teachers, writers and scientists. Research requires time, effort and sometimes money to make it worthwhile. When creating a production that is categorised or fits within the confines of a genre as such, research is important is important to gather similar ideas to productions in the same category. For example when creating a corporate video, without researching first you may end up creating a clip or video that is completely out of context and ill-fitting for your initial aims and goals. You can gather prospects and ideas by extensively researching your chosen topic, it can help you to build and structure your advert, initially creating a foundation to develop onto. 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 researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such behavior. 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. In the conventional view, qualitative methods produce information only on the particular cases studied, and any more general conclusions are only propositions (informed assertions). Quantitative methods can then be used to seek empirical support for such research hypotheses. Quantitative research In sociology, quantitative research refers to the systematic empirical investigation of social phenomena via statistical, mathematical or numerical data 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. Qualitative research, on the other hand, asks broad questions and collects word data from participants. The researcher looks for themes and describes the information in themes and patterns exclusive to that set of participants. More generally, quantitative research is widely used in social sciences such as psychology, economics, sociology, marketing, community health, health & human development, gender and political science, and less frequently in anthropology and history. Research in mathematical sciences such as physics is also 'quantitative' by definition, though this use of the term differs in context. In the social sciences, the term relates to empirical methods, originating in both philosophical positivism and the history of statistics, which contrast with qualitative research methods. Qualitative methods produce information only on the particular cases studied, and any more general conclusions are only hypotheses. Quantitative methods can be used to verify which of such hypotheses are true.

A comprehensive analysis of 1274 articles published in the top two American sociology journals between 1935 and 2005 found that roughly two thirds of these articles used quantitative methods

Quantitative research:
WHAT ARE TV RATINGS? TV ratings is the numerical count that television companies use to see what percentage of the populace tuned into what television programmes This is a technique used to decide which programmes to keep on air and which are less popular and arent making the company as much money As a result of this, programmes in which have high ratings are kept on the television and the company makes new series Those that are not popular usually get taken off the television or move channels

DO THE NUMBER OF HITS ON WEBSITE SHOW HOW POPULAR IT IS? the hits of a website show how many people exactly are using it which shows initially its success and progress it tells the owners of the website just how many people are using, if the numbers are high then their project is a success and should then carry on developing the website however if the numbers are low theyll have to advertise far more and expand their initial market in order to make it successful this can be done by paying for advert spaces etc on websites/billboards however if the creators wanted to narrow the statistics down and find out whom exactly is using the website (eg what profession of people, age bracket) this can help the development process in order to expand the websites audience for example if the majority of users were middle aged men and women, the creators of the website could then change the website so that it appeals to teenagers and young adults, therefore increasing its number of users/hits DO BOX OFFICE FIGURES SHOW HOW POPULAR A FILM IS? Box office figures show how many people in whatever country went to watch a film at the cinema It doesnt take into consideration the minority of people who illegally download and pirate copy films Certain films are popular in different parts of the world FOR EXAMPLE: foreign films EG films with subtitles such as THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO were more popular in Sweden than anywhere else until the English version was brought out. THE ARTIST a French film was more popular in France than anywhere else in the world WHAT ARE READERSHIP AND CIRCLATION FIGUIRES? Readership and circulation figures are the statistics used to calculate and equalise the amount of people that read a magazine Its also the amount of people that could be reading the magazine If x% of teenagers read ELLE magazine, using readership and circulation figures, one could increase the percentage by editing the magazine to make it more appealing to the minority percentage that perhaps dont read ELLE magazine Therefore if x% of middle aged women read COSMOPOLITON magazine, the figures can be used to increase/decrease the figures, helping the magazine make changes based on their target audience

DO SALES OF DVDS/CDS SHOW WHAT PROGRAMMES PEOPLE ARE INTERESTED IN? The sales of CDs/DVDs generally dont show what programmes people are interested in Although you could argue that perhaps if a THIS IS ENGLAND 83 soundtrack CD came out on iTunes or spotifiy and a majority of people purchased it, it would then clearly show the popularity of THIS IS ENGLAND 83 Again if a THIS IS ENGLAND 83 box set/series came out on DVD and a large percentage of the populace purchased it, these figures would then show the popularity of the television show, then aiding the producers/directors decision to keep making series/spin offs to air on national/international television However if a DANIEL BEDDINGFIELD CD came out on iTunes, it would not show the popularity of MRS BROWNS BOYS However you could argue that if a large percentage of people brought THE SMITHS MEAT IS MURDER on itunes, this could perhaps show interest and popularity of THIS IS ENGLAND 83, because the soundtrack to the programe is on that very album QUANTATIVE RESEARCH WHAT ARE FILM REVIEWS? WHO READS THEM? DO THEY HAVE STYLES? WOULD THEY DIFFER IN NEWSPAPERS? Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films, individually and collectively. In general, this can be divided into journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, and other popular, mass-media outlets and academic criticism by film scholars that is informed by film theory and published in academic journals. ARE THERE DIFFERENT STYLES OF FILM REVIEW?

Above are 4 reviews on the same film. As you can see the formats differ and they all look completely different. The first review is written by Mark Kemode for The Guardian newspaper. The review contains sophistication and substance. It shows a clear beginning middle and end with a refined structure and style. The review picks apart the film bit by bit, analyses all techniques used and shown, comments and points out all the aspects of the film with in an inch of its life. It shows an objective point of view with detailed criticism as well as praise. It looks at the history of all the actors and uses it to compare and contrast. All in all its a sophisticated account which takes into consideration all aspects of the film/the process of directing/production, its uninterrupted and is laid out in a sensible way. The second review is written by specialists at The Mail Online. The review in itself is equally as good as the first in substance, however the entire page is bombarded with adverts for other articles, the review is staggered across the webpage and is often interrupted by irrelevant hyperlinks, drawing the readers attention from the initial review. When reading a view, the experience should be a fluent, flowing read. The third review was written by review specialists Rotten Tomato as you can see the third review is completely different in style and structure. The first two reviews are in an essay structure, with detailed paragraphs, generally showing beginning middle and end, however this review is a mixture of the publics thoughts on the film, with a x/5 rating. This is helpful because it gives a quick insight into others reviews on the film, allowing the reader to make a quick verdict on whether the film is worth watching or not.

The fourth review was written by EMPIRE CINEMAS. As you can see the review is brief and just from looking at it you can see that its conciseness is minimal. It consists of a /5 rating and a plot verdict. It also shows a clip of the film. Similar to the third review it helps the reader get straight to the point in order to make a verdict on the plot and synopsis however doesnt give a detailed account on all aspects of the film in an expert way. In regards to the first two reviews, the reader can learn something about the production and creation of the film, however in the third and fourth review, it tells the reader what exactly theyre going to be seeing and how enjoyable it is. FORMS OF RESEARCH Online Encyclopaedia An Internet encyclopedia is an encyclopedia accessible via the World Wide Web. The idea to build a free encyclopedia using the Internet can be traced at least to the 1993 Interpedia proposal; it was planned as an encyclopedia on the Internet to which everyone could contribute materials. The project never left the planning stage and was overtaken by a key branch of old printed encyclopedias. Wiki acts like an Intra-web link of systems within Wikipedia, much like an interactive CD-ROM encyclopaedia of late 90's. An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages.[1] They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporarily archived. Also, depending on the access level of a user or the forum set-up, a posted message might need to be approved by a moderator before it becomes visible. Forums have a specific set of jargon associated with them; e.g. a single conversation is called a "thread", or topic. A discussion forum is hierarchical or tree-like in structure: a forum can contain a number of subforums, each of which may have several topics. Within a forum's topic, each new discussion started is called a thread, and can be replied to by as many people as so wish.

Depending on the forum's settings, users can be anonymous or have to register with the forum and then subsequently log in in order to post messages. On most forums, users do not have to log in to read existing messages.

Audio Material and Archive Footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures and file footage is film or video footage that can be used in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock footage is called a "stock shot" or a "library shot".[1] Stock footage may have appeared in previous productions but may also be outtakes or footage shot for previous productions and not used. Examples of stock footage which might be utilized are moving images of cities and landmarks, wildlife in their natural environments and historical footage. Suppliers of stock footage may be either rights-managed or royalty-free. Many websites offer direct downloads of clips in various formats.

Official statistics are statistics published by government agencies or other public bodies such as international organizations. They provide quantitative or qualitative information on all major areas of citizens' lives, such as economic and social development, living conditions, health,] education] and the environment. During the 16th and 17th centuries, statistics were a method for counting and listing populations and State resources. The term statistics comes from the Latin status (state) indicating that the origin of the profession related to the needs of governments. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, official statistics are statistics disseminated by the national statistical system, excepting those that are explicitly not to be official". Of course, governmental agencies at all levels, including municipal, county, and state administrations, may generate and disseminate official statistics. This broader possibility is accommodated by later definitions. For example: "Almost every country in the world has one or more government agencies (usually national institutes) that supply decision-makers and other users including the general public and the research community with a continuing flow of information. This bulk of data is usually called official statistics. Official statistics should be objective and easily accessible and produced on a continuing basis so that measurement of change is possible." Official statistics result from the collection and processing of data into statistical information by a government institution or international organisation. They are then disseminated to help users develop their knowledge about a particular topic or geographical area, make comparisons between countries or understand changes over time. Official statistics make information on economic and social development accessible to the public, allowing the impact of government policies to be assessed, thus improving accountability.

What do the following data gathering agencies do?

BARB (BROADCASTS AUDIENCE RESEARCH BOARD) BARB are a data gathering agency in which gather all the official viewing statistics in the UK. They provide official viewing figure for UK television audiences. It commissions specialist research companies to collect data and represent the television viewing behaviour and patterns of the UKs 26 million households. BARB is the official source of television viewing figures in the UK. We continually develop new ways of measuring what you and the rest of the UK are watching RADIO JOINT AUDIENCE RESEARCH (RAJAR) RAJAR stands for Radio Joint Audience Research and is the official body in charge of measuring radio audiences in the UK. It is jointly owned by the BBC and the RadioCentre on behalf of the commercial sector.

There are currently approximately 310 individual stations on the survey and results are published every quarter.

How can your own self-generated audio or photographic records of events be used to research?

If you were to plan produce a corporate advert, you would sufficient research and background knowledge before you started. The first thing you would do is plan the subject of the advert. Corporate videos stretch from University to Corporate companies such as GCS. In order to create the advert you would need some sort of template or foundation to build on in order to produce the most effective advert possible. The first thing logically you would do is to simply look at previous adverts for different universities, to gather some sort of format data and information:

http://www.ntu.ac.uk/future_students/open_days/110875.html Once youve done this you may try to be more concise and sophisticated with your research, this is where audio and photographic research comes in. In the above advert the university asks visitors several questions about the university and their experiences etc almost in an interview/questionnaire format. In order to gather general opinion on certain subjects, its most effective for an unbiased, un subjective view, to ask members of the public generally speaking. If you were to go out as a producer, with a set of relevant questions and perhaps ask students at the university their thoughts and to share their experiences on the establishment, you would be able to gather a wide range of opinions and facts needed to put together an advert, and perhaps use some of the clips in the advert in order to promote it and sell it to certain demographics and target audiences.

WHEN YOUR RESEARCH IS COMPLETE YOUR DATA WILL BE USEFUL TO YOU. HOW WILL THE FOLLOWING RESEARCH TECHNIQUES BE EFFECTIVE?

AUDIENCE DATA & PROFILING Audience data is a measure of the demographic profiles and household data of the national audience for a television network at certain intervals when something is aired. Audience data could be used as feedback on whether an advertiser is reaching out to the intended audience. Demographic numbers measure the average number of individuals in the selected demographic per household. Audience profiling is the socio-economic description of a readership, viewership, or listenership that simply tells the makeup of the audience by their age and gender. The profile helps to give out some indication of the spending habits of a particular audience. This type of research into audience habits and behaviours is effective for producers because it shows them exactly who and what theyre catering to and dealing with, this can help make any changes and make the chosen media as appealing as possible to the target and current audiences. DEMOGRAPHICS Demographics are chunks of statistical and numerical data relating to the population and particular groups within it. In this instance a demographic is the group or band of people that listen to a certain radio station or watch a certain programme on a certain channel or read a certain magazine. Producers often look at demographics to get to grips with the generations of people that are interested or engaged in their productions/stations/creations. GEODEMOGRAPHICS Geodemographics specifically targets statistical data relating to the populations and particular groups within it in different areas of the world/country.

Geodemographics knowing where your audience is from Consumer Behaviour (i.e. collated from Tescos clubard) Consumer Attitudes (i.e. from an online survey) Audience Awareness (Knowledge of facts and figures)