BBC Three has been an online-only channel since 2016 (Wikipedia, 2018). Therefore, most of their content is aimed at young people, with a wide range of dramas, comedies, and documentaries covering issues relating to young people, such as crime, relationships, and health & wellbeing (BBC, 2017).
Therefore, the channel is 'interested in singles with a distinctive voice or personal story at their heart' (BBC, 2017), so that the audience are shown something new by someone they can relate to, encouraging engagement with the subject, and making it feel more real to them.
Since BBC Three is online it is 'freed from the constraints of linear TV so no longer bound by time slot and can make content appropriate to the platform and the needs of the idea and our audience' (BBC, s.d). This means that ideas will be commissioned even if they do not fit a specific time limit, leading to more original, new ideas.
Because our documentary brief states that our documentary is to be for a BBC 3 audience (fictionally), and involve a subject that fits the strand 'My Obsession', I picked some documentaries from the channel to watch and review which reflect BBC three's focus on issues affecting young people and also breaking stereotypes, which could help flesh out our idea of exploring women in skateboarding and roller derby, so that our documentary fits in with the other content on the channel.
Zoe the Lady Linebacker
Style: Observational
Central character: Zoe, the only woman on her university's American football team
Review:
This documentary was quite short, only three minutes, but featured only one character and was mainly actuality-led. It consisted of an interview with the main character, Zoe, which helped provide someone to relate to as she told her story, sequences of her and her team playing American football, and an interview with the team's coach, which added an expert opinion.
There was no narrator, but instead subtitles were used to add context when needed, which helped to connect the audience to Zoe and her story more as with the short running time a narrator may have been intrusive, and too much like another character.
Overall, with the use of music, and lots of sequences the documentary had a motivational, uplifting feel to it, showing that women can participate in sports which are seen as mainly masculine.
There was no narrator, but instead subtitles were used to add context when needed, which helped to connect the audience to Zoe and her story more as with the short running time a narrator may have been intrusive, and too much like another character.
Overall, with the use of music, and lots of sequences the documentary had a motivational, uplifting feel to it, showing that women can participate in sports which are seen as mainly masculine.
How it helped our idea:
Watching this documentary helped develop our idea because as it is a similar topic it inspired some of the questions we decided to ask our own contributors. For example, within this documentary, Zoey talks about how and why she got into American football, why is it important to her and why she loves it, and the obstacles she has had to overcome.
Therefore, when thinking of questions to ask our own contributors when writing the script, I referred back to these, enabling me to come up with some of my own questions such why do you think it is important for women to be able to get involved in male dominated sports?, as well as making them more specific to our subject areas such as asking our contributor who is involved in roller derby what her alter ego is, since this is important to her identity within her team and the sport.
Therefore, when thinking of questions to ask our own contributors when writing the script, I referred back to these, enabling me to come up with some of my own questions such why do you think it is important for women to be able to get involved in male dominated sports?, as well as making them more specific to our subject areas such as asking our contributor who is involved in roller derby what her alter ego is, since this is important to her identity within her team and the sport.
Bringing Sexy Fat
Style: Observational
Central character(s): Plus-size women, and one man, who dance together, helping them to be body positive
Review:
Since this film focuses on a group of people, several of them are interviewed. They are introduced in the beginning through a sequence which shows them all dancing together, then captions appear to explain what the documentary will be about, before featuring interviews which are set in actuality. By focusing on a wide range of people the documentary is able to show that the stereotype of people who are seen as fat and therefore do not like the way they look does not apply to everyone, and is a stereotype that should be broken.
Overall, this film feels very inspirational and empowering because of the way the contributors talk and the way the sequences present them as being carefree and body positive.
How it helped our idea:
This film helped our idea because of how it links aspects together, driving the narrative. For example, one woman says she likes the way she looks, which leads to another talking about self-love and her definition of it which helped her accept her body and become more body positive. This encouraged me to look for links between each aspect of our documentary when writing the script so that the narrative flowed and helped to deliver a message to the audience.
Marcus the wheelchair boxer
Style: Observational
Central character: Marcus Perrineau-Daley, a boxer who aims to make wheelchair boxing an Olympic sport so he can compete
Review:
Because this documentary also focused on a subject who was involved in a sport, it was very similar to Zoey the Lady Linebacker. It also followed the central character, Marcus, who was interviewed and shown in sequences practicing his sport, wheelchair boxing. He even named the documentary as he stated he will be known as 'Marcus the Wheelchair Boxer'.
There was also an interview with his coach, who acted as the expert. Music was used as well to achieve an inspirational feel, but the way it was different to Zoey the Lady Linebacker was that it used archive material to evidence the story Marcus was telling about his accident, how he used to be in the past, and how/why he decided to take up boxing. Captions added extra information and gave context to the visuals used.
Altogether, this short documentary documented Marcus, the main subject's aspiration through showing him training and helping others since his accident impacted and changed his life.
How it helped our idea:
Since this documentary follows someone who is involved in a sport, it is very actuality-led so there are many sequences throughout. However, what helped our idea was that visuals show what the interviewees and captions tell. For example, as shown above, Marcus' coach talks about him being empowering to children and adults and the caption tells he trains them, while visuals showing this back up what is told.
Therefore, while writing the script for our documentary I was encouraged to always think about images which could back up what the interviewees say since this can make their statements seem more genuine to the audience.
Being A Working Class Barrister: Breaking Out in Bradford
Style: Observational
Central character: Leila Taleb, a young, working-class woman from Bradford who aspires to become a barrister
Review:
This documentary followed one character, Leila, throughout so lots of follow shots were used in sequences as she showed the audience her life and situation as she wants to break the stereotype that only men from high society can be barristers. Therefore, general views showed Bradford, which is where she is from, to show how different it is compared to some of the wealthier places people who want to be barristers are typically from. This was further highlighted by the interview with Leila, as she mentioned that her background made her want to get a better education more so she could prove herself to her father and brothers. Statistics through the voiceover which helped link all the sequences showing different aspects of Leila's life, from her background to her current teaching job, also emphasised how the odds are against her because she is woman from a working class background. However, captions at the end of the film told of what had happened since filming, and that Leila had been accepted into law school and was now saving to go, which is what the events of the narrative had been building to.
In general, by following Leila so closely this documentary is able to bring the audience closer to her ambition, which could be said to be her obsession given how much time she seems to have spent pursuing it, giving it a personal feel.
This documentary followed one character, Leila, throughout so lots of follow shots were used in sequences as she showed the audience her life and situation as she wants to break the stereotype that only men from high society can be barristers. Therefore, general views showed Bradford, which is where she is from, to show how different it is compared to some of the wealthier places people who want to be barristers are typically from. This was further highlighted by the interview with Leila, as she mentioned that her background made her want to get a better education more so she could prove herself to her father and brothers. Statistics through the voiceover which helped link all the sequences showing different aspects of Leila's life, from her background to her current teaching job, also emphasised how the odds are against her because she is woman from a working class background. However, captions at the end of the film told of what had happened since filming, and that Leila had been accepted into law school and was now saving to go, which is what the events of the narrative had been building to.
In general, by following Leila so closely this documentary is able to bring the audience closer to her ambition, which could be said to be her obsession given how much time she seems to have spent pursuing it, giving it a personal feel.
How it helped our idea:
Therefore, since this film was only about eight minutes long, it helped with the idea for our ten minute film because it showed how to bring the audience close to someone's passion by following them and having them talk about their background and how it led them to this passion in a short amount of time.
It inspired me to think about how questions would provoke interviewees to talk about anecdotes and if we could have any of our subjects be followed with the camera so that it seemed as if they were showing the audience around their world, making it more personal to them.
It inspired me to think about how questions would provoke interviewees to talk about anecdotes and if we could have any of our subjects be followed with the camera so that it seemed as if they were showing the audience around their world, making it more personal to them.
Generation Screwed?
Style: Participatory
Central character: George Lamb, the presenter, as he investigates the topic by meeting the contributors and interviewing them
Review:
Compared to the other BBC Three documentaries I watched, this one was quite different, mainly because it was presenter-led. This meant that George Lamb participated in the documentary as much as the contributors did, stating at the beginning what he planned to explore in a direct address to the camera, following up with a actuality interview after contributors are interviewed by someone not shown on screen, and even being shown around by the contributors as he investigates their lives, later giving his opinion on his findings both through direct address to camera and voiceover.
Since George Lamb was investigating the question of whether young people are involved in politics enough and whether it affects and helps them enough, the documentary showed lots of contrasts, for example there were juxtaposing images of wealth and poverty shown with general views of different towns and cities in the UK. A wide range of young people were also featured from all over the UK, meaning the film was able to look at both the positive and negative aspects of the topic.
By using a split screen this contrast was able to be shown more explicitly as sequences were usually shown on one side whilst a contributor directly addressed the audience on the other side, further proving what George Lamb believes, that Britain is divided.
Overall, this film was investigative, but the audience were led through the topic by the presenter, meaning that his opinion and findings were given, but the conclusion was still left open as the audience were given enough varied information from all the different contributors to come to their own judgement.
How it helped our idea:
The way that this documentary helped with our own idea was that it showed me how to get non-sync wides during interviews (shown above on the left), which I hadn't given much thought to before. However, I would have to change this set-up slightly because our documentary does not involve a presenter, but it has still encouraged me to begin thinking about ways in which I could get around this.
In general, by watching these documentaries from BBC Three, I was able to identify tropes that run through most of the channel's documentaries, such as a distinct voice, young people which the audience can relate to and are brought close to, and a focus on how and why people are breaking stereotypes. These techniques can be employed in our own documentary which will help it appeal to a BBC Three audience, but also help develop the idea and make sure the narrative flows, allowing it to be personal and focused on the obsessions of the contributors we plan to feature.
References:
BBC (2017) Documentaries on BBC Three At: http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/articles/documentaries-bbc-three (Accessed on 27 April 2018)
BBC (s.d) Short-form and new-form on BBC Three At: http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/articles/short-form-bbc-three (Accessed on 27 April 2018)
Wikipedia (2018) BBC Three (online) At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Three_(online) (Accessed on 27 April 2018)
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