Short film research

1.    What is the age range of potential viewers?

15+ will be the age minimum for the viewing of my short film. Although it is not too graphical it can contain upsetting and disturbing footage that some people may find offensive.

2.    ABC1:

My short film can appeal to all social classes; psychological abuse can affect anyone in all classes

3.   What gender will the audience be?

 The audience of my short film can be both male and female however women are more  predominate to be abused rather than men.

4.   What will the occupation be of potential consumers?

The occupation of potential consumers can be not-for-profit businesses such as counselling services and hospitals.

5.   What factors are potential customers likely to consider before purchasing/

     consuming the short film?

 Customers may be hesitant to be seen viewing the short film or purchasing it as they  might feel ashamed and embarrassed.

6.    How will customers find out about the short film you are distributing?

      Customers will find out about the short film from promotions such as:

•     Television
•     Social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube) etc

7.   Will the cost of the product influence a customer’s decision to buy from you? (if you are selling it- you might argue it is free)

     The short film is free as it is an advertisement and informs the audience of the abuse and possible helplines which are also free.

8.    List all the ways contact could be made with potential customers in order to gain qualitative and quantitative research

Qualitative research:

•      Focus groups
•      Questionnaires
•      Individual interviews
•      In-depth interviews
•      Observations
•      Action research
•      Notes on opinions
•      Document review

Quantitative research:

•      Experiments/ clinical trials
•      Observing and recording well-defined events
•      Obtaining relevant data
•      Surveys with close-ended questions (face-to-face and telephone interviews, questionnaires)
•      Links on social media sites

9.       Probable objectives to your short film

Objectives to my short film are:

•      Informing the audience of how they can gain access to helplines
•      Showing them the affects of the abuse
•      A victims perspective
•      How the audience are able to identify the abuse
•      Informing the audience of the statistics and general information of the abuse

10.   Risk of alienating your secondary audience

The secondary audience can appeal to the abuse as much as the primary audience. If the secondary audience understand that someone from the primary audience has viewed this short film advertisement they might become informed that something is wrong or that there may be a problem within this person and confide in them for help. However it could cause more problems than it may solve whereas if the victim views this and their abuser knows this it could make the situation worse.

10 tips for a better slide that will communicate your ideas more effectively

1. The slides of the presentation come last
The slides of the presentation should be the last part of your communication to your audience. You want to ensure that the most important and significant message you are trying to get across is thought and planned out thoroughly about in detail before you start to work on the rest of your presentation. The slides work better if there are short sentences, key words and notes instead of a lot of writing so that your audience does not get distracted from the information that is being verbally given to them.

2. Presentation should be consistent in the way it looks and feels
The presentation of your power point should be relatively set out the same. For example using the same font, size of the writing, colours and images that may be used. The reason behind this is so it does not distract the audience from the message that is being given. You want your audience to have their full attention on this so that it is able to stay in their mind and they do not forget what they are being informed on.

3. Considering topic transitions
Although you want to have the structure and shape of your slides relatively similar you do not want to repeat yourself and the way you plan out the slides. It can be interesting to experiment with the way you plan out your presentation as well as entertaining to view from your audience as long as they do not get distracted from the main message that is trying to be put across. However this does not mean you have to make your presentation boring and plain. For example if you want to add colour to your presentation such as having a dark background with light text and on the next slide it is changed around so there is a light background with dark text it can make it interesting to see. It is good to introduce transition in your slides as long as they link together nicely and are not too far apart in the way they are structured.

4. Not overloading your slides with material
It is important to understand that having too much text in your slides will distract the audience from what you are saying verbally. You do not want to repeat yourself in your slides and have text that is repeating either what has already been shown or said. Having too much information on power point slides can distract the audience and allow them to wonder off from the main message. The audience may focus all of their attention on trying to read too much of the information on a slide to be able to listen to what is being said to them. Using keywords, short and simple sentences will allow the audience to keep these specific points in their head instead of being fed too much information that they will not remember the big picture. Using bullet points may help your audience to pick out and understand key points in your slides.

5. Using photographs that enhance the meaning
Using photos in a presentation can be entertaining for the audience instead of just having key points and words shown in front of them. Having pictures included in your presentation can also keep your audience focused on what you are communicating to them, instead of having words and sentences that may distract them, they are able to glance at the image while still being engaged in what you are verbally communicating to them. You want to ensure that the pictures you use are relating to your theme/ message you are putting across so that it does not leave the audience confused and distracted. You also want to ensure that the pictures you use are not too complex and difficult to understand by your audience.

6. Do not overdo the effects and transitions of your power point
Many power point related documents and programs offer their customers all sorts of different types of effects and special transitions to include in their slides. Such as having effects that change from one slide to another in a fancy way that they may think will keep the audience interested and engaged in their presentation which if it is overdone, is not the case. Using too much effects on your presentation and ones that clash and do not go well together and lure your audience away from your message and distract them. If you wish to use effects and transitions in your presentation try to use subtle and simple ones instead of trying to make the slides 'fancy' as it will become a waste of valuable time and will ultimately distract the audience.

7. Using masking to direct attention to pictures that may be used
Masking can be important and useful when giving a presentation as you can identify key elements and points in your message that you want the audience to specifically look at in depth. it can be useful to highlight key information and elements of your work that you want your audience to view so that they are able to identify relevant and important material.

8. Attempting to pan large images
Instead of cropping images and screenshots that you may use you can pan an image vertically as you explain and talk about the image(s). You do not want to crop out relevant information in order to fit it on a slide of a Powerpoint otherwise the audience might miss out on important information and become confused by the different cropped components of the material. using Keynote can be effective as you can use a Move effect which can be applied to an objects action panel.

9. Do not use auto-play for a video
It is easy to include a video (if necessary or relevant) in your presentation on Powerpoint or either Keynote as you are able to drag this material from a Quicktime file onto your chosen slide. Sometimes when the video is set to auto play the machine might take a while to actually start playing which can delay and lead the audience off track. It may also come across as quite unprofessional and unplanned. Sometimes when presenter use this they attempt to click again in order to start the material and end up continuing to the next slide. Instead of experiencing these issues set the video to click to play. This way it is more predictable to control over the video start time.

10. Adjusting simple charts and graphs
It is an advantage to use charts and graphs in your presentation although it could be improved if there is enough time to strengthen the material. For example if you are using a simple chart to show statistics or information you can label, address and select relevant and important information so that your audience have a better understanding of the material. By including your own extra information to the used charts/ graphs it can better the audiences understanding and can make more clear to them what is actually being shown to them.

How to give a positive presentation

Possible problems with a PowerPoint presentation:

Not being able to understand or see the writing on the presentation due to the font being too small
A member of staff talking to quickly or not explaining information correctly

Lighting is either too dark or too bright

A teacher might not know the material on the slides

Too much volume of information per slide

Overlapping of information

Information that is irrelevant

Pick out key material

What is the correct way to give a presentation:

Focus is sharp

Rehearsed presentation

Walk through the information

Text is fairly large so that everyone can see it

Know the information and material on the presentation by heart

Go into depth with information that students do not understand fully

Have a specific style of expression

Confidence

Talk at a steady pace

TEDxEast- Nancy Duarte presentation:

The presentation should be told like a story

Aristotle- beginning, middle, end

Interesting and imaginative ways of explaining information

Presentations have a shape

Combined Martin Luther King and Steve Jobs presentations together

Tell the audience what it is and then what it could be

Motivating the audience

Don’t talk all the time, include pictures, videos etc

Laughing, clapping

Enthusiasm, models for the audience

Creating a moment that will not be forgotten

Personal stories, interesting

Quoting someone else

Repetition of key words

Metaphors

Fundamental information that links the audience together

Creating a piece of music (rhythm)

Likeable hero, Encounters roadblocks, Emerges transformed