Location Recce and Risk Assessment

 

Competitors Research

With United being arguably the biggest club in the World, there isn’t a lack of coverage, from both professional and unprofessional organisations. Due to my audience, YouTube is the better audience for me along with my personal website. So I have focused my research into competitors on YouTube.  

Just a quick search of Manchester United podcast into YouTube, channels are suggested straight away. Stephen Howson (who I’ve covered plenty of on this blog), The United Stand, Full Time Devils & Talking Manchester United. I’ve never actually heard of Talking Manchester United so I can’t actually comment on their content. However, I myself am subscribed to both Full Time Devils and Stephen Howson. I am aware of the content that The United Stand produce also.

Full Time Devils is the biggest United fan channel on YouTube with just short of 480,000 subscribers. I have been watching FTD since 2014 and I really do enjoy their content. On the channel they offer, previews, reviews, youth reports, debates, transfer news and fan cams. Looking at them from a competition perspective, it’s utterly ridiculous to think that there would be any competition between myself and any of these channels.

The United Stand is similar in terms of content to Full Time Devils, however, I’m not personally subscribed to The United Stand so I don’t actually watch a lot of their content. However from what I have seen, there’s no comparison in terms of content and enjoyment of the videos, also with Full Time Devils having over 110k more, my opinion seems to be agreed with.

Stephen Howson is slightly different to the previous channels mentioned. The other two channels are fan channels which only ever focus on United. While Howson’s channel does feature Man United quite a lot, understandably with him being a fan. But he does range his content. Most notably, he recently did a 24 hour podcast raising money for Manchester’s homeless. In which, he raised £3042. I verity of content is good especially for a stand alone channel as, if he was just going to cover the same topics as he does on Full Time Devils it’d just be pointless. There’s no doubt that a lot of his subscribers have followed over from Full Time Devils so again theres another reason for variety as a number of his subscribers will have watch FTD videos.

Talking Manchester United is a channel I’ve never heard of, and hadn’t come across until doing my research. Having looked at their videos, I’ve learnt that the content is similar to a lot of fan channels, however this one is on a much smaller scale than the two I’ve mentioned in this post. 129 subscribers and 21 videos, in addition to this, not any uploads for 3 months.

 

Secondary Research

For my secondary research I will looking into existing podcasts, the presenters and the fundamental.

A lot of the podcasts I watch are sports based, however, I can watch different kind of podcasts. From things like whats going on in and around Youtube in the present day to just an around general discussion.

Joe Rogan Podcast

This podcast leans more towards the discussion type of podcast. The podcast always features a guest which, according to my primary research suggests 37% of viewers prefer compare that to the 30% of viewers that favour singular person podcast. In my opinion I can see advantages of having more than one person involved as the podcast itself does flow better, I know this from experience. Having more than one person though it can cause the podcast to go on for nearly 3 hours, which my research suggests is too long with only 15% saying that a podcast should last around 2hrs-2hrs15mins. Whereas 25% of viewers said that a podcast should last around 1hr30mins-1hr45mins. Personally I’d tend to agree with the results that my questionnaire has provided me with. This podcast is also fairly basic in terms out editing, just a simple into and not really any effects during the film, in my eyes this isn’t a bad thing at all, however my research suggests my viewers prefer.

Stephen Howson Podcast

This podcast is a lot closer to what I’ll be creating. Howson’s channel is massively football and Man United based. The podcast normally lasts for around 1hr30mins, which my audience suggest is a good running time for a podcast. Most of the podcasts that he does does include a guest, whether that just be a friend or a special guest. That range from, people from other YouTube channels, former coaches and players. Again, my demographic have shown that they prefer a podcast with more than just one person. In terms of overall production, its very similar to Joe Rogan’s in the way that theres not a massive amount of effects or sound effects. Just an intro which gives a summary of what his channel offers. This will be something that I’ll be taking into account when editing my podcast as my results suggest 63% like effects to feature. Howson’s podcast are always filmed, the only slight exception to this is when he does a live stream and for one reason or another, the stream will freeze, meaning the picture remains still but the audio continues as usual. It’s massive for me to film the podcast rather than just record the audio as an overwhelming 70% of my audience prefer it to be filmed rather than just audio being recording.

Linking this back to my target audience. I’ve also looked at some statistics to help me understand how podcast are perceived among the public. Using a website called, radiotoday, I found out that 23% of people in the UK have listened to a podcast within the the last month. However with my content being posted onto YouTube, it is crucial for me to look at the average ages of YouTube viewers. My research told me that people under the age of 35 spend more time on YouTube than any other age group. In addition to this I also found out that, half of podcast listeners in the UK of under the age 35. For my product, these statistics tie in perfectly. Upon more research, I also learnt that the number of listeners has almost doubled from 3.2 million in 2013 to 5.9 million in 2018. Extraordinary numbers. However, I also found out that the most popular types of podcasts in the UK fall under, music, film and television. I then looked at the number of views that Manchester United related content was receiving on YouTube. Full Time Devils average around 70K views on their videos, so things like, reviews, pre-views and fancams. In fact, United own YouTube channel was recently given an award for the quickest channel to hit 1 million subscribers on YouTube furthering the point that there is always a constant demand for more and more Manchester United related content on YouTube.

Primary Research

QUESTIONNAIRE

 

As you can see here, I have created a questionnaire to see what people think about podcasts and how I can make it the best it can possibly be. In these questions I have covered the fundamentals of podcasting, things like run time, audio and film. I have collected all of the data that I have received from the questionnaire.

RUNTIME

FILMING

EFFECTS

PEOPLE INVOLVED

 

Treatment

WORKING TITLE: The Talking United Podcast

TARGET AUDIENCE: Both male and female, anybody from the ages of 13 onwards, interests must revolve about sports, mainly football and more specifically, United. The class isn’t really relevant, they just have to have access to the internet and YouTube. My primary research may suggest that my viewers are in their mid teens due to the fact they prefer to have film and audio rather than audio alone, suggesting they have time to sit and watch the video rather than just listen to it on the go. Looking at my secondary research, they also back up the previous suggestions about my viewers being younger. The two podcasts I’ve mentioned for my secondary research, fit into the time frame of 1hr30 – 1hr45 and have both film & aud

io.

SUMMARY OF RESEARCH: Within my research I learnt a lot of things about my potential viewers. Probably the most important piece of information that I have collected is the fact that my viewers prefer a longer podcast. I’d class this as the most important piece of information I got was on the runtime because its so crucial that my audience come away from watching the podcast feeling like they’ve had a good helping of what they’re passionate about, United. I don’t want my audience coming away feeling like it’s not enough. But at the same time, not to over do it and needlessly drag it out causing the viewer to loose interest. I really want to cover every single topic in good detail and share my opinions because thats what football is all about. Within an 1hr30 – 1hr45, they time that my audience believe is perfect for a podcast and I feel that is enough time to include everything I want to talk in a suitable amount of detail for each topic.

MY PRODUCT: I plan to make a slick, well ran podcast. Although its being filmed, the podcast will not be filmed in scenes but one continuous film, with different topics. I have created a script and a topic list.

Intro, consisting of moments from different eras of United, and my logo to complete intro.

Hello and welcome to The Talking United Podcast. I’m Ryan, and I’m joined today with my good mate and fellow United fan, Harvey. How you doing pal?

Dialog between the two presenters…

Right so let’s get stuck into the first topic of the show today which is, the current season.

Focus on the failure to challenge for another year.

Prospect of no silverware

Current league situation, focus on goals conceded, goals scored, disappointing results and performances, compare to last season

No way of hiding it’s been a poor season so far however, is there any slither of hope as to what we can achieve this year?

Discuss where we can realistically finish in the league

Should we fail to qualify for the CL, would it be better to avoid europa league football

Can we dare to dream, a 4th European Cup

Right, so let’s get back to reality now. What can we realistically expect from this season?

Focus on league positions and how this season can affect the next. How can we prepare ourselves to be better next season.

LINK TO THE NEXT TOPIC ABOUT THE MANAGER

Thinking about next season. The big question is whether Jose Mourinho will still be our manager. Harvey what are your thoughts about Jose?

Lead the dialog into discussions about style of play. If he is still the top manager he once was, and if he can turn this around?

Do you think he’ll be here next season?

Quick dialog…

I don’t think he’ll be here next season, so for the sake of discussion I thought it’d be a good idea to look at who would be a good appointment? Who’s your first choice Harvey?

Dialog

One man who has been mentioned as a possible replacement is Tottenham manager Mauricio Poachetino.

Discuss his identity, youth promotion, style of play that suits the club

Discuss if a lack of success and silverware is what’s holding him back from taking his career to the next level.

LINK TO ZIDANE

One manager who hasn’t been short of success recently is former Real Madrid manager, Zinedine Zidane. Anyone else, coming off the back of 3 champions league in a row I’d be chomping at the big to get them in. However I don’t know about you, I still have my reservations.

Dialog…

Madrid team he had was one of the best ever along with the best player in the world average more than 1 goal a game. Walked into a fantastic team, can he strip a club down and build it up?

Having said this, you don’t win 3 consecutive champions league, and a Spanish league title if you’re just an okay manager. I think it might be a slight risk and this next appointment needs to be right.

LINK TO NEXT TOPIC ABOUT THE BOARD

Speaking of getting things right, people that aren’t getting things right at the moment, is the board, and in particular, Ed Woodward. Now its obvious that he has no idea about football,

Dialog about transfer dealings, recruitment, money over success. Mention Varane over Alderweireld and Maguire in the summer. 

There’s no doubt he’s out of his depth in terms of football, however, sponsorship wise he’s on a different level. He’s worth keeping but have him as far away from the football side of the club as possible.

Now a problem that has been here for the best part of 10 years now, the Glazers. The biggest problem with me is the complete disregard for us as a football club.

Continue into dialog, talk about happy as long as money is being made, more money in than money out. Mention links to Woodward and link to the new owners subject. 

I would absolutely love it if they sold up, because I feel that if they ever did sell it, thats Woodward’s dealings with football gone. A owner that would pump money in and what to get us back to the top.

However, its unlikely anytime soon any of this is going to happen in terms of new ownership so I just want to see us planning and for that to come into the form of a director of football.

Discuss the advantages of a director of football, better signings, one constant if managers come and go, link between the pitch and the board. LINK STABILITY TO PLANNING FOR NEXT 5-10 YEARS. PROMOTE YOUTH, BETTER RECRUITMENT. 

PLAYERS

Right we’ve covered the season, the manager, the board. Time to talk about the players. Harvey, whats your thoughts?

Dialog

I don’t think we can deny theres a lot of players which are past their best, link to a clear out,

Discuss who goes, why they go, players that should have gone years ago and the holes it leaves in the squad, then link to the option on youth and then discuss which young players come in.

Okay so baring in mind the players you’ve mentioned, can I get the best team available in your opinion please mate,

HARVEY’S 11

DE GEA – GK

VALENCIA – RB

BAILLY – CB

LINDELOF – CB

SHAW – LB

WHY THIS BACK 4?

MATIC – CDM

FRED – RCM

POGBA – LCM

MATIC? NO HERRERA?

SANCHEZ – RW

LUKAKU – ST

MARTIAL  – LW

RYAN’S 11

DE GEA – GK

BAILLY – RCB

LINDELOF – CB

ROJO – LCB

DALOT – RWB

FRED – CM

HERRERA – CM

SHAW – LWB

POGBA – CAM

LUKAKU – ST

MARTIAL – ST

Two interesting teams, I’ve just gone for something a little bit different, but yours is defiantly a lot more realistic in terms of Mourinho picking it. DISCUSS MATA & RASHFORD 

With the transfer window coming up soon, and already a lot of speculation about next season already I thought it’d be a good idea to get a predicted 11 for next season. A REALISTIC but hopeful starting 11 for next season, disregarding whoever the manager will be, this is just a prediction and what we would like to see. Harvey I’ll hand it over to you,

HARVEYS PREDICTED 11

DE GEA – GK – DISCUSS FUTURE

DALOT – RB

BAILLY – CB

ALDERWEIRELD – CB

SANDRO – LB – NO SHAW ?

DISCUSS IMPROVEMENTS TO THE DEFENCE

KROOS – CM

FRED – RCM

POGBA – LCM – DISCUSS FUTURE

IMPROVEMENTS IN MIDFEILD

SANCHEZ – RW – DISCOVERY OF FORM?

DYBALA – ST

MARTIAL – LW

DISCUSS – AGAIN NO RASHFORD, NO LUKAKU?

RYAN’S PREDICTED 11

DE GEA – GK

DALOT – RB

BAILLY – CB

KOULIBALLY – CB

SHAW – LB

MILINKOVIC SAVIC – CM

FRED – RCM

POGBA – LCM

PERISIC – RW

LUKAKU – ST

MARTIAL – LW

DISCUSS

Right thats all we’ve got time for today, before we go, can we get a prediction for Sunday pal?

QUICK DISCUSSION ABOUT THE UPCOMING GAME

OUTRO

The reason I wrote this was, I had actually done a podcast for a previous assignment. One thing I noticed when I was recording that one, was the improvisation of topics. I do believe that podcasts should be off the cuff but at the same time maintain a structure so that it’s not completely over the place, having a rough script to go off will allow me and Harvey to have a consistent flow and to easily switch from one topic to other. As I’ve stated in previous blog posts, I plan to spend about 15-20mins on each topic thus again, allowing us to have a really in depth and honest discussion on every topic, and also just for separate conversations and responses to each others opinions and comments.

PROPS/RESOURCES/EQUIPMENT/LOCATION/CAST: In terms of props nothing will be needed as we will only sat down talking, The same go’s for resources. However, for the equipment element we will need a phone and a tripod to keep the phone in place, and that again will be pretty much it. It’ll be filmed at my house in my front room, it’ll be filmed in there because it’s convenient for the camera set up, and also for the surroundings. The colours in the room are, red, white and black, which are Man United colours, I think this will be a nice touch. I’ll refrain from calling it a cast, because as it’s not a film, it’s a podcast, so in that case, I will be the presenter and the guest will be Harvey.

OUTLINE PROJECT SCHEDULE: I plan to film and fully edit the podcast, including the into within the space of a week and a half – 2 weeks. This way it still leaves me enough time to complete and double check everything, while still having time to work on the written aspect of the assignment.

BUDGET: Seeing as its only being filmed, at my home and on my phone with a tripod the only expenses would be the tripod and my phone. I have a refurbished IPhone 8, and if I’m doing a budget I’ll be doing the price for the phone alone, which is, around £99.00 and with a tripod as well, you’d be looking at £15.00, so a total of over £110.

Script

Intro, consisting of moments from different eras of United, and my logo to complete intro.

Hello and welcome to The Talking United Podcast. I’m Ryan, and I’m joined today with my good mate and fellow United fan, Harvey. How you doing pal?

Dialog between the two presenters…

Right so let’s get stuck into the first topic of the show today which is, the current season.

Focus on the failure to challenge for another year.

Prospect of no silverware

Current league situation, focus on goals conceded, goals scored, disappointing results and performances, compare to last season

No way of hiding it’s been a poor season so far however, is there any slither of hope as to what we can achieve this year?

Discuss where we can realistically finish in the league

Should we fail to qualify for the CL, would it be better to avoid europa league football

Can we dare to dream, a 4th European Cup

Right, so let’s get back to reality now. What can we realistically expect from this season?

Focus on league positions and how this season can affect the next. How can we prepare ourselves to be better next season.

LINK TO THE NEXT TOPIC ABOUT THE MANAGER

Thinking about next season. The big question is whether Jose Mourinho will still be our manager. Harvey what are your thoughts about Jose?

Lead the dialog into discussions about style of play. If he is still the top manager he once was, and if he can turn this around?

Do you think he’ll be here next season?

Quick dialog…

I don’t think he’ll be here next season, so for the sake of discussion I thought it’d be a good idea to look at who would be a good appointment? Who’s your first choice Harvey?

Dialog

One man who has been mentioned as a possible replacement is Tottenham manager Mauricio Poachetino.

Discuss his identity, youth promotion, style of play that suits the club

Discuss if a lack of success and silverware is what’s holding him back from taking his career to the next level.

LINK TO ZIDANE

One manager who hasn’t been short of success recently is former Real Madrid manager, Zinedine Zidane. Anyone else, coming off the back of 3 champions league in a row I’d be chomping at the big to get them in. However I don’t know about you, I still have my reservations.

Dialog…

Madrid team he had was one of the best ever along with the best player in the world average more than 1 goal a game. Walked into a fantastic team, can he strip a club down and build it up?

Having said this, you don’t win 3 consecutive champions league, and a Spanish league title if you’re just an okay manager. I think it might be a slight risk and this next appointment needs to be right.

LINK TO NEXT TOPIC ABOUT THE BOARD

Speaking of getting things right, people that aren’t getting things right at the moment, is the board, and in particular, Ed Woodward. Now its obvious that he has no idea about football,

Dialog about transfer dealings, recruitment, money over success. Mention Varane over Alderweireld and Maguire in the summer. 

There’s no doubt he’s out of his depth in terms of football, however, sponsorship wise he’s on a different level. He’s worth keeping but have him as far away from the football side of the club as possible.

Now a problem that has been here for the best part of 10 years now, the Glazers. The biggest problem with me is the complete disregard for us as a football club.

Continue into dialog, talk about happy as long as money is being made, more money in than money out. Mention links to Woodward and link to the new owners subject. 

I would absolutely love it if they sold up, because I feel that if they ever did sell it, thats Woodward’s dealings with football gone. A owner that would pump money in and what to get us back to the top.

However, its unlikely anytime soon any of this is going to happen in terms of new ownership so I just want to see us planning and for that to come into the form of a director of football.

Discuss the advantages of a director of football, better signings, one constant if managers come and go, link between the pitch and the board. LINK STABILITY TO PLANNING FOR NEXT 5-10 YEARS. PROMOTE YOUTH, BETTER RECRUITMENT. 

PLAYERS

Right we’ve covered the season, the manager, the board. Time to talk about the players. Harvey, whats your thoughts?

Dialog

I don’t think we can deny theres a lot of players which are past their best, link to a clear out,

Discuss who goes, why they go, players that should have gone years ago and the holes it leaves in the squad, then link to the option on youth and then discuss which young players come in.

Okay so baring in mind the players you’ve mentioned, can I get the best team available in your opinion please mate,

HARVEY’S 11

DE GEA – GK

VALENCIA – RB

BAILLY – CB

LINDELOF – CB

SHAW – LB

WHY THIS BACK 4?

MATIC – CDM

FRED – RCM

POGBA – LCM

MATIC? NO HERRERA?

SANCHEZ – RW

LUKAKU – ST

MARTIAL  – LW

RYAN’S 11

DE GEA – GK

BAILLY – RCB

LINDELOF – CB

ROJO – LCB

DALOT – RWB

FRED – CM

HERRERA – CM

SHAW – LWB

POGBA – CAM

LUKAKU – ST

MARTIAL – ST

Two interesting teams, I’ve just gone for something a little bit different, but yours is defiantly a lot more realistic in terms of Mourinho picking it. DISCUSS MATA & RASHFORD 

With the transfer window coming up soon, and already a lot of speculation about next season already I thought it’d be a good idea to get a predicted 11 for next season. A REALISTIC but hopeful starting 11 for next season, disregarding whoever the manager will be, this is just a prediction and what we would like to see. Harvey I’ll hand it over to you,

HARVEYS PREDICTED 11

DE GEA – GK – DISCUSS FUTURE

DALOT – RB

BAILLY – CB

ALDERWEIRELD – CB

SANDRO – LB – NO SHAW ?

DISCUSS IMPROVEMENTS TO THE DEFENCE

KROOS – CM

FRED – RCM

POGBA – LCM – DISCUSS FUTURE

IMPROVEMENTS IN MIDFEILD

SANCHEZ – RW – DISCOVERY OF FORM?

DYBALA – ST

MARTIAL – LW

DISCUSS – AGAIN NO RASHFORD, NO LUKAKU?

RYAN’S PREDICTED 11

DE GEA – GK

DALOT – RB

BAILLY – CB

KOULIBALLY – CB

SHAW – LB

MILINKOVIC SAVIC – CM

FRED – RCM

POGBA – LCM

PERISIC – RW

LUKAKU – ST

MARTIAL – LW

DISCUSS

Right thats all we’ve got time for today, before we go, can we get a prediction for Sunday pal?

QUICK DISCUSSION ABOUT THE UPCOMING GAME

OUTRO

Podcast Plan

As you can see with this spider diagram there is a rage of topics I will be talking about. I plan to spend around 10-15 minutes on the majority. Its more than likely just going to be me involved in the filming so unlike in the previous podcast that I recorded there won’t be interaction with somebody else so it’ll be down to me to make sure that the flow of the podcast runs smoothly.

Running Order

INTRODUCTION

SEASON 

• What did we expect?
• What can we salvage?
• What deems as success?
• Start to plan for next season

MANAGER 

• How/can he turn it around?

1a) Style of play

1b) Attitude

1c) Rotation

• Who replaces him

2a) Pochettino – pros & cons

2b) Zidane – pros & cons

2c) Surprise appointment – risks but signs of direction?

BOARD

• Glazers

1a) Money in to money out

2a) Time to sell up/new owners

• Woodward

1a) No football brain

1b) Still has his uses

• Director of football

1a) How it can change the current situation

1b) Another sign of planning

PLAYERS

• Best 11

1a) Defence

1b) Midfield

1c) Strikers

• Clear out
• Rebuild
• Playing to players strengths

Assignment Schedule

 

Initial Ideas

I’ve had a couple of initial ideas as for what product to create for this assignment. Film essays or a podcast. I feel comfortable with this options and in my research I try to whittle them down to one as I consider all the previous points I mentioned on the previous blog post.

Video Film Essay

For this product, I would be choosing a film of my choice and dissecting the film, meanwhile mentioning, hidden messages, theories and my interpretation. Obviously it would have to be a film that I know inside and out, so Pulp Fiction would be a good choice. Most video film essays are on Youtube, channels such as HiTop Films and A Matter of Film are just a couple of examples of success that you can gain from video film essays. As I’ve stated before,  these essays are very much just an analysis, it’s about reading between the lines (or looking between the frames) to find the grander message a filmmaker is trying to convey with their work. It’s about revealing a new way of watching films to those who love to watch them, a way that can offer more enjoyment, more understanding, and more appreciation for the art form.  The aimed audience for these types of videos are between the ages of 18-32, with the overall average age of Youtube viewers being between 25-34, having 40,000,000 views.

Podcast

Having already created a podcast for a previous assignment so I have a good understanding as to what needs to go into a podcast. The podcast will be based around Man United as it will be going onto my website as well as a new Youtube channel. My previous podcast was just purely football based but with this one I’ll just be focusing on Man United. Obviously the audience that I’ll be aiming this at is United fans.

Engaging an Audience Assignment

We have been set the task of creating a product that is either a corporate or factual.  Focus on a topic, issue, debate or a company and create something that can be presented to a specific audience and will engage them. We have to consider on what platform this product will be published on, taking into account things like, comments, likes and shares.

The tasks we must cover are,

• Primary Research into your target about chosen topic
• Secondary Research into audiences stats/information who consume your topic of choice
•  Audience perceptions about existing products, reviews, likes, comments and discussions
• Primary Research into the platform your audience use
• Secondary Research into stats of audiences using the platform of your choice

 

1.1. Analyse the characteristics of the audience chosen 

1.2. Interpret research activity to develop ideas and creative proposals 

2.1. Demonstrate independence in making decisions in the planning and delvopment process