UNIT 3: Research Methods - Assignment 2 - Task 1 A&B (Secondary Research)

Task 1 - A - Quantitative

The following research here is of statistics of views regarding Music Videos on YouTube. Both looking at Music Videos in general, as well as specifically One Direction music videos.

General Music Videos

http://bgr.com/2016/01/17/most-popular-youtube-videos-all-time/

These Videos below are from the article written by Yoni Hesler available at: http://bgr.com/2016/01/17/most-popular-youtube-videos-all-time/
These are currently the 3 most watched Music Videos on Youtube.com and the statistics that follow them. These include, how many views there were of the video as of 2016.

This article shows that Gangnam Style is the most viewed video on Youtube currently. Although it says that there are 2.49 billion views on the video. it has actually raised since this article was published. It is now at 2.67bn views. (Subject to change)

The Videos below ares of of the Music video on Youtube that currently have the most his as of 2016. Scroll down to look specifically at Vevo.

Taylor Swift's Blank Space is the 2nd most watched video on this article with 1.39 billion views as of 2016

Charlie Puth's Song See You again is the 3rd Most watched music video on YouTube with 1.33 billion views

Vevo is the no.1 music channel on you tube, where most videos and artists release their songs, and their music Videos. Right now Sorry by Justin Bieber is the No.1 Most watched music video that has released by Vevo. It currently has 1.94 billion views. However, it still doesn't beat gangnam style (above) Sorry is currently the 3rd most watched video on the web.
The screenshot below is the most watched Music video on Vevo currently as of October 2016

Top 100 Most Viewed Music Videos Of All Time - YouTube (August 2016) - This includes figures as well per video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeQifX_u2Ig 

One Direction

These pictures come from an article that focus on looking at One Direction most popular music video in terms of views on YouTube. The whole article is availible to read at http://www.sugarscape.com/music/videos/a1086007/one-directions-most-watched-music-videos-youtube-views/

From this we can see thta currently What Makes You beautiful is the most watched video for the group at 722k + hits. The other are can be seen below, They are all roughly around the 400 - 500k margin.

This chart was created by fan shows every single time a one direction video is watched globally. Over a 14 day forecast, it also shows how each view contributes to the overall hits that the video may has. It doesn't specify what video have been watched on that day, but that it's a video featuring one direction on their own YouTube channel. We can also see an average of how much a video is viewed across a certain period of time.

Task 1 - B - Qualitative Research

The research seen is here is research based on personal opinions on music videos. such as through comments or internet forum, we will also be looking at Digipaks and Album Art. Once again, this will include both general music videos, album arts and Digipaks as well as specifically at all those products focused around One Direction.

Music Videos

While Looking through music videos on YouTube, I saw that with majority of them, therer was a section underneath the clip for users to comment. And discuss the video. An example of this would be ganfnam style as of 2016, it is considered to be the most discussded video on youtube with over 4 million comments, which are still going up everyday.

However, while looking athe comments, they are mostly German as Gangnam stykle only recentlky got uncensored in Germany.

Here si a portion of the comments from Gangnam Style. This was taken from YouTube.com

As you can see some of the comments are in German, mainly because the video only just got released in Germany and many fans are expressing this

 in the comments. such as one who said "it's nice to see this in Germany" There is another who is quoting the lyrics of the song such as, which could be a hint that the user is enjoying it. You can also see other comments there in different languages such as English and Arabic.

Here is another portion of the comments section, here some fans re expressing their views on the video. In languages such as German, greek and English. I have noticed that a lot of the comments are based around the fact that this video has 2 billion views. As well as the continued fact, that this video has now been available to view in Germany. I have also noticed, that therir also the option to comment on those comments such as the german comment at the bottom of the comment space. As well as the opportunity to like or dislike the comment itself. This is apparent on this screenshot in the middle.



While searching the internet, I discovered an article that discusses the One Direction Music Video, History. The article opens up to the general public/members of this website what their personal views were.

It is available to read at:http://www.breatheheavy.com/exhale/index.php?/topic/695075-one-direction-release-music-video-for-%22history%22/

 Here are all the comments below:

As you can see, there was a mixture of discussion of both the the video and the meaning behind it. One member said "Cute - didn't like the song though", which means that although thee song wasn't his taste. he id like the video and the idea behind. Ad thee are all the comments from this forum. we can see that none commented that they directly disliked the video

Digipaks

they following are reviews of Digipaks that are on the market. In both sources that i have used for general digipak and the one direction edition, I have used the online shopping website Amazon.com and looked at the reviews that customers had left of the product that had been bought.

The Product below is a Digipak of One Directions album Up All Night. the screenshot below that is the reviews that were left by customers who bought it.

As you can see, the customers left a review of the Digipak, both said that they were disappointed by the product that they received claiming that it wasn't what they ordered, the front cover was different, and it was like the original edition of Up All Night and not the one they ordered, some booklets were missing and they said it was overpriced. Although both did state that despite the disappointing result of the digipak. The music was still good and the audio quality was high

This is one of the many reviews left on Amazon.com about Justin Timberlakes album Justified in a limited edition format. However, this was the top review of the site and it described the digipak in as being flimsy as it was made out of a cardboard foldout, causing the digipak booklet and packaging sleeve to fall out. Therefore she suggested that you would be much better off getting the hardback edition. the user also said that there were no enhancements to the albumin terms of the CD itself. such as bonus tracks or restoration of the music.

Album Artwork.

the Album art below is of Zayn Malik's new solo album, Mind Of Mine which was released in late 2015, after Zayn left the British boy band, One Direction. Below this picture there are a few reviews that i found accompanying an article of the web about how Zayn has just released the name of is then - upcoming album and the artwork that would appear on the front of the CD.

You can read about the full article at: http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/zayn-malik-reveals-debut-album-mind-of-mine-artwork-performs-new-song-its-you__13866/

From this you can see that among these users of the popular social networking sight, they personally found the album artwork to be disaster and hated it.They expressed this in the comment section and some users also commented on the actual artist who was releasing the album and the track listing

This is the cover for One Direction's Album, Take Me Home, which was released in  2013, Fans took to Social Media to share their thoughts and feelings towards the image that appeared on the cover of the album.

An Example below is a Screenshot of  a comments section o Facebook where one fans took the opportunity to like and post about their feelings towards the picture. As this was relating to the album artwork being released before the actual CD was. So it stands as like a preview for fans before the Digipks and CD's actually hits the shelves.

Here is the

original post

Although it is not clear that this is from Facebook (as it is a screenshot from my mobile) you can still see that over 3000 users liked the photo that was put up, which shows an informal positive response to the release of the album cover. Also, you could see some comments on the looks of art so far. You could see that some people have posted their opinion  of the band members as well as the album art. Furthermore, the comments are international, rather than just from the UK. where the band originates from.

Album Magazine Advert (AMA)

This is a very unique screenshot taken from the article:  http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/6738118/one-direction-thank-fans-full-page-ad-billboard

this AMA was created by fans for one direction for the group so that they could have an advert slot in famed music magazine "Billboard" to celebrate the release of their new album 'Made in the AM", although there are no comments to accompany this image, if you look closely at the microphones in the picture, it shows words that fans think that describe both the group, the individual people and the album itself. The poster was received very well by fans and the members themselves.

Here are some of the comments that appeared on Twitter following the release of the advert.

UNIT 3: Research Methods: Assignment 1 - Website

In this assignment, we had to design a website for media students around the same age as me, that educates them on the different research methods that currently exist in the media industry, The assignment asked us to specifically look at three media based products and discuss the methods of researched used in order to make them better. These products are: Digipaks, Album Magazine Adverts and Music Videos. The Research Methods that we had to look at was, Primary Research, Secondary Research, Quantitive Research, Qualitive Research, Market Research, Production Research and Audience Research. We then proceeded to discuss what types of techniques would work when trying to research these products and the pro's and cons on each method.

I tried to design the website in order to appeal to teenagers, and tried to make it as colourful as possible rather than just 4 dull pages. I also made sure that the language is of a level that i can understand. I have looked at what methods will work on these products, and did detailed account of what wouldn't work or benefit the manufacturing of the product in anyway. Hopefully, you'll enjoy reading it and have a better knowledge of what research can be done in different media products

Here is the link to my website:

http://taliwolf.wixsite.com/methodsformedia

UNIT 3: Research Methods - TV Programme Assignment

This Assignment is a practice where we are creating a fictitious Television Show, and in order to pass the assignment we have to describe the different types of research and link the pros and cons to it in relation to the theme of our TV Show.

We will also be discussing the genre of the TV show and what the target audience, as well as what Television channel that it will be aired on it.

My own idea is a Sit - Com about the lives of  a group of girls who attend an Orthodox Jewish girls school in North West London and the adventures that they get up to there such as teenager drama, affiliation with the Orthodox Boys school and life going through the 7 years of High school Academically and Socially. and it is aimed at Teenagers and Young adults from around the ages of 13 - 18, it also aimed specifically at Jewish people, This programmed will also be aired Every Week on  Thursday evening on E4 at around 19:00 - 19:45 , as well as it will also be available on Netflix in the UK after the first season has been shot and aired.

The following Research we will need to carry out would be Market Research (primary and Secondary), Quantitative Research, Qualitative Research, as well as Audience Research, we will also be discussing the pros and cons of each of those methods of research.

Market Research

Primary Research

Questionnaires

Pro

• These give you first hand research of what Orthodox Jewish Girls School (OJGS) in the 21st Century are like.
• The information you received would be completely up to date
• Can hand these outside any schools (specifically like the one above) and ask students, staff and faculty to fill them out in order to get realistic information on how these schools function
• Students would be willing to fill these out in order to help with the programme, As well there are many schools in NW London so you can gain a lot of research about different secs of Judaism to focus on in the show
• Many areas in NW London that re considerably Jewish and you can also get information from questionnaires by handing out in Jewish areas and the facilities that they may have associated with Judaism i.e Golders Green, White House etc...

Cons

• Expensive to produce, especially for over 10,000 students, staff and faculty attending schools like the one above, in NW London alone
• Some of those who may be associated with the schools may be reluctant to have any involvement in the television and programme and not want to fill out any questionnaire to do with it
• Many Jewish families/students/teachers, for religious reasons, choose not to watch TV and will find it difficult to fill in the questionnaire
• Need permission to hand out questionnaire, it is a long and lengthy process
• Could refuse to do questionnaire at all as they might find the idea of the television show "offensive"
• Time consuming

Interviews & Focus Group

Pros

• Can share real life experiences with the rest of group reflecting on differed areas of Judaism that we want to incorporate into the show, with their permision of course.
• Will be able to understand the way that people dress, talk and act while attending a OJGS
• We will be able to ask our target audience what they personally think of the show. We can take into account the opinions that they might say and use it to alter the show so that the target audience grows bigger.

Cons

• Will be difficult to find girls to participate in the study
• will have to ask permission through the school, therefore it will be restricted on some questions that we may ask depending on how religious the school is.
• will have to conduct the interviews during school hours, which could be time consuming
• Some schools might deny our request to talk the students, for religious reasons as well as the fact that they might be missing valuable school time.
• Waiver forms will have to be produced and sign for every student that takes part in the focus group/ interview. this can be time - consuming and expensive to produce

UNIT 3: Research Methods

Primary Research (field research) - Research to obtain usual data using such methods as interviews, questionnaires, focus group and observation
4 categories

• observation
• questionnaires
• focus groups
• experimentation

Types of Primary Research

• questionnaires
• focus groups
• user groups
• postal surveys
• phone surveys
• customer interview
• test market
• technology interview

Pros

• New first hand information
• van be exactly what you want to know about your product
• Reliable
• Current

Cons

• expensive
• time consuming
• take up human resources

Secondary Research (desk research) - Research based on the use of data that already exist and has been previously gathered by other people or organisations. it is usually available via the internet, books or via journals

Two ctegoruies;

External

• Trader associations
•  reference materials
• internet
• government publications
•  newspapers

Internal

• financial statement, 
• company reports, 
• files, 
• letters, 
• customer, 
• phone calls

Pros

• easier to obtain
• cheap

Cons

• may not be exactly what you want
• be outdated and not be relevant
• Might not be relavent

Quantitative Research - Type of research that is based on measurable and quantifiable facts and information, producing numerical and statistical data

Qualitative Research - type of Research that is based on opinions, attitudes and preferences rather than hard facts

Market Research - collection and analysis of information about the market with which particular product will compete with other products for an audience and for revenue

Why are companies spend so much money on research

• media products are expensive to Produce
• need to make sure it will attract the right audience
• to make sure the audience reacts to it in the right audience
• to ensure the product complete in the require
• to stick to the budget

Quantitative Research

• Box office Figures
• Programme ratings - BARB
• Number of people watching
• score/ numbers
• Readership circulation figures - ABC
• Number of hits/views/subscriptions
• Final Sales

e.g. Friends - TV Show

Rating at 9.0 out 100, and 486,665 voted

Viewers per season as well as the most viewed episode of each season, in the USA.

Pros

• Visual Accurarcy
• Represent general opinion
• quicker way of getting through details
• easier to judge the success based on statistics

Cons

• Just a number 
• Not really sure of the accuracy of those number
• doesn't take general population into account/ minority groups

Qualitative Research

• Film/game/computer reviews
• Social media
• websites
• people responses
• discussion
• Awards

Pros

• More detailed

Cons

• Not as reliable

One user has reviewed friends and all the characters

Different awards that the show was nominated for. as well as general popularity

Production Research - Is related to the production process itself.

Audience Research - This researching into the audience that is interested in the product

UNIT 2 : Assignment 2

As you can see here this is the pitch that I created in order to pitch my music video to the producers in this fictitious scenario, in the videos below (due to their size, you will have to scroll) are the actual videos of me delivering the pitch as well as the mood video compiled to show the actual information i put together on the lifer and careers of the Pet Shop Boys (PSB) Hope You Enjoy

Photography UNIT 57: Assignment 3 - Evaluation RESUBMISSION

Problems

During this assignment, I came across a number of issues that affected my overall assignment. The fact is that because I was on work experience for an entire week and had to focus on health and social care.  The time that I had for this assignment was cut in half and due to other plans, I was left with three days to plan and administer a photo-shoot.  

I also failed to properly comprehend the assignment and had to redo parts of it, in order to match the brief and I was not completely sure if my photo-shoot was in line with what the assignment was asking and therefore I had to alter my ideas, alter the plan until I picked up an idea that fit the brief.

Good Elements/Constructive Criticism

What went well in the planning was that due to the idea of photographing family, I had models at my disposable and everyone in the family happily helped me with my assignment as you can see in the final photos.

The overall feedback was amazing! However, I gained a lot of constructive criticism for the pictures that I took. Such as,  The way I set out the pictures. The main criticism I received was that the printing quality was terrible.
I now know that  next time I shouldn’t print my photo’s but show them electronically.
The actual models themselves were positively received, however some of the viewers didn’t see the idea behind individuality because some family members have the same facial expression.
I know for the future, to use more direction with the models to achieve a result that screams the message of the photos, loud and clear.

.
I also believe that the effectiveness of my photo-shoot reflected on the feedback that I received.
In the photo-shoot, my main intention was to give off the idea that everyone has personality and that everyone is different, despite the fact that we're all in the same family. We all have different personality's. I wanted the viewers of the photo shoot to feel happy and I wanted to get the idea across how everyone is happy in the photo's by just being themselves. I wanted the viewers to feel that they understood the person and their person by studying the photo I took of them being caught in the moment

Below: My Younger Sister caught in the moment while just "dancing to music" as that is part of her personality. 

 Left: My Mother, who loves to laugh, smiling.

Technical Aspects

The camera that I used was incredible (Canon EOS 1200D) and really captured the photos in focus for each picture. to my knowledge, no pictures came out blurry from camera use. To meet the assignment brief, I changed the focal length, Aperture and the shutter speed manually. In order to see how these would impact on the final picture. In the future, I should read about how these can actually impact the image after capturing it and set them accordingly rather than at random.

As seen in my previous blog post, one family member had her eyes changed from blue to brown because of how low the shutter speed was compared to the aperture. I put this in the final photo’s in order to show her personality despite this change. I also experienced shooting at different angles in order to see how this would benefit the photo by the end result. Such as a close up and then an extreme close up of the eyes and mouths.

Effectiveness of My Planning and Link to Contemporary Practice

Overall, the fact is that my planning wasn’t as effective as it could have been. Because of the short time span, I changed my ideas quite a lot and therefore had to keep changing my plan. Some things that I did in the photo shoot, I did not write up in my plan as they were last minute decisions and I had limited time and funds to do the photo-shoot by that time.

Some things that I did not put in my final plan but did in the photo-shoot were, creating a collage in the background of family photos, then posing and being themselves in front of that collage specifically, in order to get the idea that I was documenting family rather than just random people. In order to make it extremely clear that the idea was to document my family.

On the left: a sample of the photo's extracted from the Orange is the New Black (OITNB) opening sequence - Which were captured and designed by Thomas Cobb group
On the Right: My own photo's where i attempt to replicate the same style of photo as the ones on the left. with them members of my family.







In this evaluation, I have chosen to use the photo's that I captured of my sister, Hadassah. I will critically evaluate and compare against the photo's from OITNB as seen above.





My photo-shoot was to replicate the same idea of the OITNB theme song and relate it to my own life. If you look at the Opening sequence, it is a sequence of different faces, specifically focusing on the eyes and the mouth of many different women who were formally incarcerated (which is the theme of the show) the idea is to tell the audience that each of the women in the photo have their own story and why they were sent to prison. No two stories are the same.





Here is the video below:

I wanted to take this idea and put it in the context of my family, That although we all look alike. No two people are the same. You can see in the photo's above how I tried to capture at the same angle when I took a photo of my family's eyes and mouth.









With the eyes, a positive is that in the photo above I really captured the colour of my sister's eyes which come across as a piercing blue and when you look at the photo, you can see the personality through her eyes such as fact that you can see that she's staring straight into the camera, her eyes can be seen as being youthful and with hope in them. As well as the fact that she's git clear skin, freckles and mascara on. However, I can see a negative of this image is the fact that I used too much focal zoom, and I cut out the bottom of her nose, which most of the pictures in theme song do have, as well as including more of her cheeks. Furthermore, Had I zoomed out more on the eyes I believe tat the viewers can see more personality from the model through her nose shape/size.













With the mouth, in my opinion I think I copied it quite accurately as i made sure to focus specifically on the lips on the photo and apply flash directly to that element of her face. I took this picture up close as well instead of using Facial zoom as well of putting the camera mode on "portrait" so that I could focus on her lips and blur out the background such as her hair and neck. However unlike the photo of the models "eyes" I accurately managed to add in the tip of the nose and good portion of her cheeks, however you can clearly see that in this photo as well I shouldn't have zoomed in as much,
and clearly you see that the photo of her lips would have been more effective with darker lighting in the room so that it could it would have been more effective if I had used darker lighting in the room, therefore, when I had used the flash the picture of the lips would be brighter, emphasises and had more attention drawn to it.

Photography UNIT 57: Assignment 2 - Feedback

Displayed here are all the sheets that have feedback provided on them, by classmates and friends and teachers who all observed my work, which was the "individually different: Family Project. (my photo's can be seen in the previous blog post). The majority of these are anonymous but some choose to add their name.

Here is the template I created for the viewers to feedback on :

There are about 16 Feedback forms here