Target Audience Research
Target Audience Profiles:
- Parents of School-Age Children:
- Want to learn about madrasah education so they can make informed choices
- Often worried about the safety/suitability of coverage, the quality of teaching, and what values are taught
- Educators and Policymakers:
- Interested in supplementary educational models,
- May use your documentary for CPD, a piece of research or curriculum planning,
- Young Muslims aged 12-18:
- Can connect with content directly
- Will see their day-to-day lives depicted on screen
- General Public:
- Challenge misconceptions, combat Islamophobia
- Educate cultural understanding and dialogue
- Community Leaders and Charities:
- Use the madrasah documentary as a resource or training tool
- Will contribute to the further distribution of content.
Survey Questions:
How old are you?
Have you heard of madrasahs before?Y/N
What words come to mind when you hear of “madrasah”?
Would you be interested in seeing a short documentary on this?
What would you want to gain knowledge from it?
Data Analysis:
Organise responses into visually represented data (charts, pie chart for perceptions)
Types of patterns: positive/negative/neutral views
Capture quotes from responses to guide the narrative.
Legal & Ethical
For my FMP, I am going to make it one of my priorities to get signed approval from all the cast members. This will be the licensing agreement.
Representation
It is important to represent the Madarasah as positively and accurately as possible, so I will try my best not to fabricate any information or representation and keep the full documentary as positive and accurate as possible. Outlining students enjoying their Madarasah day, having fun, learning and being supported by their loving teachers, to challenge negative stereotypes projected in the media.
Legal Paperwork
I am actively working on designing all the legal paperwork needed for my project so that I can start filming when I have everything planned. This includes: Location Release Form, Licensing Agreement, Media Release, & Risk Assessment, etc.
Music Rights
With regards to rights for music, I won’t need this as the music will be recorded by me. By this I mean, If I require any music I will get the student to recite.
Cost & Budget
To begin with, I did not have a budget in mind. And by this, I mean I did not want to spend a dime. But then I realised I had to factor in food expenses, for not only myself but also my business team and for any meetings I had to attend at Al-Mustafa Academy. Halfway through my production, I received my paycheck, and around this time, I had my mind set on buying a Platinum Editing Bundle from FOUREDITORS. The bundle was advertised at $69.95 (£51.99), luckily, there was a promotional discount available. I ended up paying £44.96. So, the budget I had in mind was £100. Which I did not exceed.
The reason I was able to not exceed the budget was that all of my travel was covered, as I was mainly using public transport. As a student at Bradford College, I was able to acquire a bus ticket. So most of my travel was covered. Furthermore, all my business partners drive, so when I needed to either go to and from a place, my business partners are mostly always available.
In regard to the planning materials, I was able to print off everything at college. And as a student (& staff), printing at the college is free.
I was also able to keep costs low as all the equipment was loaned out to me by my department (Bradford School of Art). BSA purchased Netflix-approved camera gear so that students can use them to film their projects, I was lucky enough to get them loaned out to me, which reduced my expenditure.
When editing, again, all the software I needed was provided to me by the college, which saved me hundreds of points, but what it did not save me was that £44.96 which I had to spend.
In regards to promotion, If I was to promote this, I would most likely not spend any money as it’s free to post promotional content on all platform but to gain a significant amount of view it is required to promote, which at this moment in time I am not looking at doing due to the Licensing Agreement.
My strategy
As I was already working with a limited budget, I used my production team to help me with this project (TranquilProductions). This helped me save money and also ensured that everyone already knew my creative vision.
To maximise my resources, I used camera equipment from the college and editing software already provided to me by the college.
Unlimited Budget
If I had an unlimited budget, I believe I would have done what anyone would have done.
I would have hired a full professional film crew and also used cinema-quality cameras such as the Sony Arri. Furthermore, I would have promoted the film across the UK with screenings and online ads.
Who I would hire:
- Cinematographer
- Sound Recordist
- Lighting Technician
- Production Assisstant
Cinema Quality Equipment – With an unlimited budget, I would use high end cinema cameras such as the ARRI Alexa Mini, or the RED Komodo, Professional audio equipment and cinema lighting kits.
With an unlimited budget, I would be able to invest into professional marketing & distribution. This could include UK-Wide Cinema or Community Screenings, Strong social marketing campaign, Paid online adverts on apps such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok etc. and also entering film festivals and film competitions
I would also speak to scholars, educational experts, and or youth mentors both inside or outside of Al-Mustafa, for their insight.
Visual Story Telling Techniques
I have chosen to film using a mix of observational and structured style techniques to capture the true and accurate student life at Al-Mustafa Academy or in a regular Madarasah in the UK. I worked with my teacher to write a script, which included a clear day-to-day life of a madarasah student, how he enjoys his time at the madarasah, his day-to-day activities, a short interview with the Safeguarding Lead and the huge role he plays in the students’ life, and an interview with the Principal.
I did not want to rely on the Academy’s ambient sound, as during the times that the Academy is running, it is very busy. Therefore, any voice recordings I would have needed would have had to be recorded separately.
Balance between religious and secular learning
This film will document how madrasahs support not only your religious studies but also provide students with the life skills needed for a practising muslim in this day and age.
I plan to explore how attending a madarasah has an impact on the students’ lives on a personal level. I want to capture key aspects as to how it helps them with self-discipline, confidence, and their faith. I aim to interview students and talk to them about how their experience has influenced their regular behaviour, focus and sense of identity. My goal would be to present the madarasah as an institute of self-development where students go to learn their Islamic studies and also work on becoming a thriving next generation built with confidence, and who easily integrate into society.
One of my aims is to show the amount of effort and care that goes into running a madarasah. My goal would be to interview teachers and leadership staff to find out how they plan their lessons, manage safety, and overall support students’ learning and wellbeing. I want the viewers to have a good understanding of the structure behind the scenes, showing how staff are dedicated, organised and very supportive; ultimately, helping to break down the idea that madrasahs are old-fashioned and unprofessional, but rather that they are modern and well-run by dedicated and educated individuals.
A considerable amount of my project is about tackling common negative stereotypes that surround madrasahs, such as that they are boring, harsh, or even too strict. My objective is to show the reality and clear any misconceptions anyone has about children learning in madrasahs by showing them the well-maintained facilities & welcoming spaces, children laughing with their friends, and also taking part in enrichment activities.