Reseach Scenario

If I was to produce a film for children aged 7-13 I would first look at how I'm going to undertake all my different my research. First off i would do all primary research so i knew where all my data was coming from and it was right. I have to find out what competition there was, this would be all other films that are for this age group that will be coming out at the same time as mine. This is market research looking into when is the right time to bring a film out and if it will do well.

I have to look at what genre I might be doing by researching what children in the age group are most likely to watch it. This can be done by doing a questionnaire maybe for parents to fill out on what there children like, or by going to supermarkets and asking for the kids DVD sales and see which genre is the most popular.
Once I have my genre I need to break down the audience, what gender is my film for or if its for both, I would then look at there ethnic group so I could look what can be in this film and some things that may be inappropriate for my audience.

I need to sort out what kind of characters I want in this film, this is where i need to research what actors that children 7-13 would like to see in a film, this makes it more appealing and more likely for my audience to pay to watch it in the cinema. 
I need to find out when my target audience go to the cinema so i can release it a time its most likely to get the highest views and ratings. During holidays and especially the summer holidays is a popular time. This would be good to release a film for this age group because they would be out of school for as long period of time. This is all audience research and quantitative data.

I would need to do some secondary research for my film, this would include looking on the Internet especially looking for other successful films that are for this age group and how they have done. Checking the best release dates is also important for making sure I get allot of people watching my film. Releasing my film in the summer would be very beneficial because ideally all film produces predict that the film will then be released for Christmas therefore boosting sales and money for my film. This would make me research how much money released films make and if it would be worth all the money if i was going to get it back when its in the cinemas and on DVD.
Looking for a location a place to film that relates to my film will take allot of research to find out if I'm allowed the place i want how long i can film there and how much it will cost. This is all production research and is in both secondary and primary research. Also this would incluse looking for the cost of a director.
Doing all this research would give me the budget I have for my film.

Research

For this assignment i am researching and looking at all different aspects of the media like TV shows, magazines and radio, then the viewings, ratings to see what people like. Its a vital in the media industry to help ratings and businesses. There all different types of research.

Quantitative Research

This research is based on measurable facts and information that can be counted, which produces numerical and statistical results. It is used for collecting TV programme ratings, hits on  a website, box office figures and CD and DVD sales. This data is often represented in tables and shown numerically. If a film in the cinema got good ratings and earned allot of money,all this data would be collected and is called quantitative research because it produces statistics.

Qualitative research

This is research based on opinions, attitudes and preferences rather than hard facts and figures. Its more about collecting cinema, film and game reviews and giving responses to advertising campaigns. They research things to improve ratings for themselves or sales, for example if there was a programme that people had reviewed as bad and didn't like it then it would be stopped. The same as if a programme gets good ratings and comments it would be kept and furthered.

Primary Research

Its original research which shows new information using different techniques such as interviews, questionnaires and surveys. This is then all the information and answers coming straight from the people. It can be collected from anywhere put in shops  for people to pick up and answer or, asked by people on the Internet for example facebook or other social networks. Also it could be done as an interview either over the phone or in person because its coming straight from one person.
Primary research is important in the media industry so channels magazines and all media can no what the public or the audience likes the best and wants to see and hear. You get first hand information about what the people in your new market or audience have to say about your product or service, this is why it is the most valuable type of market research.
The advantages of primary research are the collects have the control over it and how it is collected. When information is collected it is there own so they no its right because they got it themselves also some information can be kept back and hidden from competitors giving a information disadvantage.

How Disadvantages of primary research can be is the cost, compared to secondary data it could be very expensive because carrying out the research and preparing can be very high. Its also very time consuming and to be done properly it needs allot of preparation. One other disadvantage is that sometimes it cant be done like a big company wanting certain results from something which would take allot of work and researchers making it expensive.

Secondary Research

This is research taken from somewhere else, it hasn't been collected by the people who now have it, its been copied and re found and written. This can be collected from the Internet, magazines or trade associations even from rival company's who want to try and be better than each other. Its the cheapest kind of research as it has already been published so the data and information has already been found. Its helpful because why go looking for something that can already been found for free straight away and easier. Some other sources where you can get secondary data are the newspapers, industry websites, government websites the amount you can get from all these makes you think anything can be discovered.

Some of the advantages are that it is easy to collect secondary data but you have to be careful of problems. Researches are ore attracted to secondary data because its cheaper than if they had to carry it out themselves. Researches might find the exact data they were looking for and planning to collect already done.

Public sources are usually free and often offer allot of good useful information and provide other places to find more information especially like libraries and other sources.

Commercial sources are valuable and have allot of information and will be very help full, but include allot of cost.

Lots of sources are usually overlooked like educational ones which are very good and valuable.

Disadvantages of secondary data is are you don't know if its all true you cant be sure that this information you've collected is right. Also you don't no when abouts its from it could be old data and not relevant anymore so sometimes its better to do your own research even if it has expenses and takes more time.

Production Research

This kind of research allows the company to develop a new product by gathering material and providing content. It makes sure that everything runs smoothly. It is focused on sourcing and generating material for a new media product. Production research can be used in all media, for example if you was a producer in TV or film, then you would be incharge of the production research, they make everything come together and sort out the costs.

Market Research