Secondary Research

I watched these documentaries on YouTube to give me an idea of shots, techniques, openings and things I should include and not include.
Some of them were the style I'm also going for, so they helped me with structuring my own documentary and how, where and when to use filler gaps and how to edit and film my shots.
Others were not the style I was going for and were focused too much on the actual competition and not so much on the lifestyle, training regime or personality. This was good as it taught me what things to avoid to not make it slow paced or boring.

I particularly payed attention to the documentary called One More Rep..., as it had two parts, and from the view count, likes and dislikes I was able to tell how many people went on to watch the full documentary and how many actually enjoyed it.

A few of the ones I watched were professional documentaries. Although I'd be unable to reach this level it was great aid in choosing shot and editing styles. 

I also checked Bodybuilding.com's forum to find topics and discussions about documentaries and videos. Many of the discussions didn't include any technical opinions, however it was helpful as it was discussed the things that were missing from the films and what they would have liked to see, so it was easier for me to know what to include in my own project to attract as many people as possible.

Primary Research

I asked 21 people who know very little to nothing about bodybuilding and the lifestyle of a bodybuilder, what intreges them the most about a bodybuilders lifestyle, in order to see if the general public have one big common doubt in the lifestyle of a bodybuilder. These are the results I got:

• Diet - Why do they eat so much food?
• Training - How do they keep such high energy levels throughout the whole workout?
• Dedication - What's their motivation and inspiration to stick to it for so long?
• Community - How come the bodybuilding community is so tight/close?
• Body Image - Do they like how they look?
• Mental State - What are their goals and aspirations?

These were the most common responses by the general public. This helped me come up with some questions for the interview and also answer some/all the questions and doubts the public has.

On second thought it would have been much better to record the public's answers as an mp3 to get more accurate questions and doubts. It would've also given a much broader topic and made it easier to gather more and/or better questions from them.

I didn't have to do a lot of primary research to come up with questions and what to cover in the documentary as I'm an amateur bodybuilder myself, so I know the lifestyle changes and sacrifices that are done. I had a clear of the things that needed to be covered and discusses to clear it up for the audience who might not be as familiar with bodybuilding.

Audience Research

I aimed my documentary at people how have at least a minimal fitness knowledge, although it is not required because the documentary is made in such a way that everything is understood and clear without requiring much fitness knowledge, however knowing some terminology is good to accurately understand some of the answers from the subject.

A large part of my audience will be members of the Bodybuilding.com community, and luckily many of them watch fitness related YouTube videos, and YouTube being my main source of distribution, it will make finding an audience much easier.
In the fitness industry you constantly want to find new names and new personalities to follow, as they will have new and different fitness techniques which people can learn from. So people are always on the look for new people, often enough they will find them on YouTube.
Many fitness role models have started their fame on the internet, including the use of YouTube. Some examples include:

Zyzz - He started making videos on YouTube and soon became a huge personality known in the fitness industry.

Dana Linn Bailey - She started making videos on YouTube and has since become one of the most followed and respected female bodybuilding athletes.

Here are just a few more examples how famous personalities have increased their fame via the use of YouTube:

Market Research

My competition would be lower end documentaries on YouTube, which would have 2,000-8,000 views. These are the documentaries that are made by students and/or independent film makers.

The main competition I'm aware off is One More Rep... which currently has 12,000 views. Although it is slightly higher end, I thought that the quality was poor and the documentary wasn't very enjoyable. Giving me a good chance to perform better or at least receive better feedback.

Some of the higher end documentaries would be professional documentaries, such as documentaries made by Bodybuilding.com using IFBB Pros. These have much bigger audiences as they use names which are commonly known in the fitness industry. Here's a few examples of such documentaries:

Overall I'm expecting my documentary to perform well, attracting 3,000 views. It has good potential as the quality is better than that of close competition and it's also introducing a new personality, which can attract some people.

Production Research

I was able to film, produce, write and edit the documentary by myself as it wasn't particularly hard and I didn't require any help during the production.

For two weeks I had to postpone my schedule as I was turned down by the manager of the gym which my subject works out in, I was in the hope that he would allow me to film, but as time was running out I had to film somewhere else. I decided to film in the college gym to which I got permission straight away from the manager.

Damian nor I had to pay for transport as we both have bus passes, and due to the short scheduled shooting, no expenses were made for food. In general I didn't need a budget as I am able to borrow all equipment from college and no crew had to be paid as I was able to do it by myself.

Once I had a definite shooting date, everything went according to schedule, including the production and post-production. I was able to complete the project before the deadline to my best abilities.
Currently I only plan on distributing my documentary on YouTube as that is the only video sharing service I am active on

Interpreting Results

Doing the primary and secondary research helped me a lot with the planning, structuring and editing of the documentary. It gave me a very clear idea of the competition out there and how to make my own documentary to a professional standard, and better than the low end of my competition.
This research wasn't particularly difficult as I am very aware of the industry and know where I can find the sources and discussions I need for my project. I also have knowledge of my own which I was able to apply to it which once again made it much easier than if i wouldn't have know anything about it.

The audience research was also rather easy, as there are predominantly only two types of bodybuilders in the industry, the ones which are open to suggestions and take in as much information as possible via watching videos and finding new personalities to improve their own fitness, which is the majority, and then there's the closed ones, which do not wan't to take any information in and are happy they way they do things currently. Because of this it was easy to find what my target audience liked and what they would search for on YouTube.

The market research gave me a very good and clear idea of the competition I was up against. It allowed me to set a standard to my finished piece of work, which helped me make it as good as i possibly could.
Breaking down the professional documentaries made by Bodybuilding.com gave me a good perception of how much extra work, money, time and crew would be needed to make a professional documentary about a professional bodybuilder. While it would take much more production time it would attract many more people due to the popularity of the personality and production company.

Production research was simple, due to it being an independent production and not needing the assistance from anyone else. I had some issues with the production as I was unable to shoot where I had originally planned to, which pushed back my schedule, however I managed to work past this problem. However, because of this issue I had to manage my time more efficiently and had less time for post-production. This didn't result in a problem as I managed to complete the project in time.
I am also able of borrowing the equipment which i require for my shoot, which makes it much easier for me to produce a high quality documentary.