Target Audience | Research ~ PP

Before I start writing the scripts, I thought it was a good idea to do some research on my target audience. When I was meeting with Rachel and Jeremy, I asked them what sort of audience would the videos I make be aimed towards, and they said school children.

I'm going to aim my research at primary school children, so 11 years old and under. These is because, the museum have visits from primary schools and they also visit the schools themselves to educate them on the history of Medway. They had previously told me that they were hoping to show these videos to the children when they either go to visit or they come to the museum.

I started this research by looking into two well-known British TV channels that primary school children would usually watch, CBeebies & CBBC.

CBeebies

From this TV channel, I found a variety of different shows that have an educational purpose and that tell a story. I did this because the videos I create will have some educational moments within the narrative, and also the voice over will be telling a story, so I thought it would be useful for me to research into, particularly, these two factors.

The first show I looked at was 'Cbeebies Bedtime Stories'.

Within this show, they have a celebrity read a bedtime story out loud. This is a piece to camera and the location the celebrities are in is a cosy room that almost looks like a bedroom. 

This show is usually aired on screen at 6:50pm, which would be before children generally go to bed. The purpose of the show is to help the children start to feel ready for bed and really to give them more of an interest in reading and books in general.

The show itself contains the visual of the celebrity reading the book, but alongside the voice over, there are hand drawn pictures being used for the visuals. However, to make the sure more interesting and to give the story some life, they have added a good amount of sound effects that go along with the visuals and the words of the book itself.

Even though my videos won't be someone reading a book, and the purpose of the shows are different, the same techniques will be used, like the sound effects and the voice over. By watching this it made me see that even though the visuals and the voice over are quite simple, the story can still be bought to life through sound effects, which is something I will remember and experiment with when editing my videos.

Another show I looked at was 'Do You Know?'.

Within this show, they do some research on a certain topic, and although the actual concept of the show is slightly different to the concept of the videos I will be making, there is still a few techniques that I am going to experiment with in my videos. One of the main ones being animation.

Throughout some episodes of the show, the real life, actuality, shots are stopped and instead they have a little animation segment. This usually consists of the presenter demonstrating an action to help add a bit more visuals to the story. There is a voice over of the presenter, telling the audience about the topic which in turn goes along with the visuals.

Within my videos, in at least one, I want to involve animation as I think children would be engaged in it and also it adds a little more entertainment and fun to the video. The animation I do might be a little bit more complex than this simple one, but nonetheless, I have a good idea as to how to use animation to make it effective throughout my videos.

CBBC

When thinking about this channel, I knew there was only one show I wanted and needed to research to help me with the visuals and techniques I use in my video.

This show is called 'Horrible Histories'.

I used to watch this as a child, and I knew that it was still running but with obvious changes and advancements. I decided to look into this for research as it's educational and it's bringing history to life while also being entertaining for the audience. My videos will have a similar educational purpose, however it probably won't be about a particular story, it will be about an object.

Within this show, they mainly do role plays with actors dressed up and acting as specific people or citizens in a particular time period. I don't really want to have acting or role playing within my videos as think the object aspect wouldn't come across as well. 

Similar to the CBeebies shows, they use sound effects to help bring that time period to life which is an element that I will definitely be using within my videos. They also use the animation element within their episodes as well.

From when I was a kid, I remember them using animation a lot more often than they do now, however I think by having one or a few scenes with animation, it keeps the children interest and engagement with the show. It changes the visuals that they will be watching which in turn makes them more interested to see the rest of the episode. It's also a very good way of visually learning something new, which is the aim for the videos I am making. 

By doing research on these channels and the TV shows they broadcast, it will help me with writing the scripts, planning the visuals, and structuring the videos in terms of what will be seen on the screen and when. There a few aspects, sound effects and animation, that I will experiment with during the post-production of these videos to attract the target audience.