Product Research

Ghost Hunters

Produced: Grant Wilson and Jason Hawes
Ghost Hunters is aired in a wide range of locations over the globe, they go out and find different locations which are believed to be haunted and although it is based in the united states there are some episodes where they leave the states and travel to other countries.

This programme is aimed at an adolescent age group and also adults, or anyone who is interested in the ghost/thriller type of genre. This is because this programme contains elements of horror and can be very jumpy. Moreover some of the content that is shown in the programme can be disturbing to some viewers which is the reason why this programme is not aimed at a young audience.

Storyline of the Programme:
"This one-hour weekly docu-soap from the creator/executive producer of "American Chopper" follows a group of real-life paranormal researchers as they investigate haunted houses throughout the country, encountering every type of imaginable haunting. Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, plumbers by trade, head up TAPS -- The Atlantic Paranormal Society -- a group of ordinary, everyday people with an interest in getting to the bottom of your otherworldly disturbances." Reference - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426697/ 

One production technique that has been used in this programme is talking heads and is used throughout the whole of the programme, this is used to interview the investigators about what had happened, these interviews are shown throughout the investigation side only. However there are other aspects of talking heads that have been included, for example talking heads is used when the investigators travel to each location (normally two in one episode), this production technique is also used at the end of the each investigation when they reveal all the evidence that they found during the investigation. There is a slight use of direct cinema in this programme however it can be argued that the events that go on during the production could be staged.


Overall I think that this programme is fairly successful because it address its target audience and can be very interesting to find out all some of the facts about different locations. I also think that the use of the production techniques is effective because it hooks the audience keeping them watching until the end. The use of two different locations which they investigate I think is also a very effective method as it keeps it interesting, not just in the same location for 40minuets because there is not a lot of actual paranormal activity that occurs within the investigations it is mostly about the drama between the investigators, so the use of another location to investigate is a very effective way to keep us watching.

I think for my production we will use some of the ideas that have been used in this programme, for example, the use of the talking heads to invterview eachother on whats going on, we will use this a couple of times during our production before we go to our location and during the investigation. I think we will also use the idea of having multiple cameras set up throughout one location to create a sense of isolation, although most of our filming will be filmed hand held and instead of the documentary being dramatic and based on conflict between each character we will try and make it comedic.