TYPE.
There are two different types of research: Quantitative and qualitative.
Quantitative research, is any type of research that can be expressed as numbers. This can come in the form of ratings, viewing figures, box office figures, sales etc.
Quantitative research is easier to visually represent such as through graphs and charts but its downside is that there are no justifications for why we receive certain quantitative results.
The second type of research is qualitative research which is non-numerical data, but rather descriptive and judgement based. Because qualitative research is not bound to numbers, it is often more detailed, with justifications to certain decisions. However, qualitative research can often be harder to categorise and is more likely to be misinterpreted.
Here’s an example: 2001: A Space Odyssey is known as one of the classic films that changed cinema. If we look at the quantitative data Rotten Tomatoes gives us, it shows that its rating is extremely high, at 94%. However, we have to ask, why didn’t it get 100%? Why were there 5, despite it being a low number, rotten critic reviews?
We are unable to understand why the film got these ratings purely through looking at the quantitative data provided. So, that's where qualitative data comes in. In Rotten Tomatoes' case, qualitative data comes in the form of reviews, from both critics and audiences. Through qualitative data, We are able to look at why certain people thought certain things, why some people loved this movie and why some people didn’t. The 94% rating that 2001: A Space Odyssey received wasn’t because everyone thought the film was 94%, it’s an average of what many people thought, and the fresh and rotten counter proves that. The thing about qualitative data is that it is able to acknowledge that people perceive things in different ways and while being harder to analyse people justify why they thought certain things about films.
Take a look at these two reviews. Despite both being top critics, they have extremely different views on the film and because they are top critics they also justify their views on the film very well. The comments on Rotten Tomatoes may be quite brief but they also include a link to their full reviews:
Time Out: https://www.timeout.com/us/film/2001-a-space-odyssey-movie-review
which give the readers a more in depth explanation as to why they reacted to the film in a certain way.
Rotten Tomatoes also provides ratings and reviews for TV shows, and while giving the show an "average tomatometer", they give each series an individual percentage too.
Let’s take a look at Breaking Bad as an example. The average rating between all five of their seasons is 95%. However, if we look at the individual ratings of each season, we can see that while the four latter seasons were given 100%, their first season had only been able to reach 79%. Just from the quantitative research, you are able to tell that season 1 needed some changing up. But the 79% figure doesn't really tell us much about what audiences didn't like about the show. So you could go to Rotten Tomatoes' review section and conduct qualitative research in order to find out why the first season did poorly (79% isn't really "poor") in comparison to the rest of their seasons.
Look at these two reviews. They were from the same reviewer, the first in reaction to season 1 and the next a review to season 2. This sudden change and appeal, that led to the creators creating one of the most successful shows of its time undoubtedly couldn't have been achieved without a substantial amount of research. Good research and action taken based on what is found can change the audience's perception of a show, film or any type of creative media and that's precisely why it is so important.
Of course, quantitative and qualitative data doesn't always just take written form. Qualitative data could also be done through reviews from social media platforms such as Youtube. A specific example could be the Colliders Youtube channel, which hosts discussions, "Movie Talks", reviews, and interviews.
These are a much more colloquial way of laying out the data, but they achieve the same things as the reviews we see above. The "Movie Talks" in particular, doesn't just review films, it also talks about upcoming projects and news stories as well as what they think about these topics and most importantly why. They also have four different panelists on the show, giving different opinions and insights.
And on the topic of Youtube one last thing to note is that this media platform also offers us both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data is in the form of view counts as well as the number of likes and dislikes, whether it's the number of reactions or the ratio. As for the qualitative data, that can come in form of constructive comments, as they often discuss the contents of the video as well as the quality of the videos themselves. Realising that you've heard me talk about different examples several times, the reason I wanted to just lay out Youtube as an example was to show how quantitative and qualitative data are both extremely relevant when it comes to any type of media, not just film and television.
PURPOSE
Production research is any type of research that is unique to your production. This could be in regards to your finances, which could be looking at the cost of borrowing equipment or different locations to film in, or even how much you're going to pay your cast and crew. Location scouting is also part of production research, as it the locations you use will (hopefully) fit your project. Is it going to be shot in a studio or on-location? What type of location do you want?
The main purpose of all this research is to maximise the viewership of your product.
The following also come under production research:
TARGET AUDIENCE RESEARCH
A target audience is a particular group of people a product such as a film or show is aimed at. Through audience profiling, you can identify who your target audience is through different categories.
Here are a few:
Demographics
Geodemographics
Psychographics
Demographics are statistical data that categorises a population based on factors such as age, gender, race, and socio-economic class.
Geodemographics are statistical data of a specific geographical area that is able to profile economic and demographic characteristics of population living there.
Geodemographics are arguably more relevant in larger countries. Smaller local news may not always be relevant when there are states or regions like the US or UK.
An example of media companies using geodemographics could be BBC, as they have different divisions for different regions such as BBC Wales or BBC Scotland.
Psychographics are essentially personality profiles for the audience based on their psychological attributes.
The different categories in the psychographic segmentation model created by Young and Rubicam are:
The Aspirer - People who are driven by status and other people's perception of them.
The Reformer - People who are often perceived as intellectual because they value their own judgement and enlightenment.
The Explorer - People who are driven by discovery and challenge. They desire new experiences and sensation.
The Succeeder - People who are self-confident and often organised. They are driven by their goals and need for control.
The Resigned - People who have unchanging values often driven by a need for safety and economy. They will tend to choose what they perceive to be familiar.
The Struggler - People who are often perceived as victims and wasters. They value the immediate visual and physical sensations and are not necessarily driven by anything other than the need for escape.
The Mainstreamer - This is the largest group within the psychographic made up of people who wish to fit into society. They are driven by a need for security.
Film and show companies such as Marvel that wish to maximise profit often aim their products at mainstreamers as they are largest group within the psychographic.
The reason audience research is so important, is because it helps to ensure that someone wants to watch your show. The target audience will affect the end product as well as other factors such as running times or the marketing.
An example could be the 80s trend that has returned to shows and film, the most notable examples being Stranger Things and Guardians of the Galaxy. If the trend's life cycle is still at growth, it would be a good opportunity to jump on the train.
However, if the trend is at the stage of maturity and is reaching the point of saturation because there are too many shows that are set in the 80s, it probably isn't a good idea to follow that trend.
And to bring back your attention to the comment I made about Marvel, you can see how they jump onto mainstream market trends. Along with the 80s Guardians of the Galaxy hit, another trend that they have jumped on is the casting of POCs (People of Colour) with Black Panther. The film quickly became the highest grossing MCU film with $292 million in North America, $22 million more than The Avengers.
