research for documentary subject

Why research?

Deciding on a topic for my documentary film was straight forward. I’ve ridden since I was 6 years old, after a short trial with a cheeky grey pony, my parents decided I should join the local Pony Club and my new hobby quickly developed into a sport. I looked at past documentary’s, I wanted something educational, not a light-hearted story. I felt the narrative should sit between the amateur and professional viewpoint and not follow stereotypes, such as racing or how to guides.  I wanted to portray a less familiar viewpoint in the equine community. 

Target Audience Research

Considering who my target audience might be, I looked into how the equine industry presented its documentary content to see if there were any stereotypes or representations. One area I’ve been sensitive to growing up is that horse-riding is associated with the female demographic.  Theorist Richard Dyer suggests that types stand in for a whole social group.  Within the equine industry, many types of media content is aimed at the female gender. Looking through British Eventing Life, a magazine produced for the eventing community, only one article was written by a man, the majority of the photographs used are of women with their equines and yet at the elite end of the sport, there are more action photos of men and horses jumping big fences rather than women. 

Target Audience 

Research into target audiences is a vital element of the production process and the media offer us a representation of reality rather than the reality itself. In a must-see top 7 equine documentary list, 6 of the 7 recommendations all had male stereotypes on the promotional media.  The re-representation of men, strong, fearless, powerful and able-bodied. All of which led me to several thought processes. Firstly, representation, the way media portrays people and how this differs in many parts of the world.  Most of these documentary’s where films made in the USA depicting men and masculinity, however in the UK, the representation of horse-human relationships are connected to women and femininity. 

In the context of the my production, the equine industry is not just about the people who ride and stereotypes but of the sport, the sport horse and the services within the industry and how they are represented by different genders and not always by a country’s stereotypes.

Gender and Sports within the Equine Sector - by Susanna Hedenborg Research Gate content may be subject to copyright.

The importance of the documentary genre has increased over the last few years, mainly due to their availability. We can watch a documentary at the cinema, now a popular medium for viewing audiences along with film festival viewings. There are more documentaries available to watch on TV and with the rise of digital media there has been an increase in documentary viewings with younger audiences.  Traditionally it was the 35+ age group who would actively seek out a documentary however, regardless of age, nationality, gender and education, studies of film audiences have reported that 97% of survey respondents claim to have been affected by documentaries, in relation to life style, changes in behaviours or attitudes.  

Representations of age and gender relate to who will watch my production. Since the rise of different media platforms the demographic is changing, watching content in an audience with like-minded interests or ideology adds extra appeal to an audience, there’s a social connection and educational benefit. Digital media is bringing in younger audiences including with documentary films. I think my documentary will appeal to several audiences, younger viewers who are interested in the equine industry with a view of what to do after A levels. Perhaps with a passion for riding, to either continue as a hobby or make it a profession. There are more choices available now for young equestrians and it’s important to consider the options. I think older audiences who are interested in understanding more about the equestrian industry would be another area to target, whether from experience in that industry or from outside it. The sector contributes £8billion to the economy and it’s unlikely that the figure is a true representation.

Distribution 

An important aspect of the filmmaking process is finding the right distributor for the film. Distribution is a complex area because it includes marketing, legal and financial aspects of promoting a film to the viewing audience. It includes cinema, TV broadcasting and VOD streaming. Marketing the film to the right audience using the most affective platform not only delivers greater opportunities but also  maximises profits. Large organisations are often vertically integrated which means they own the product and the promotional company. Smaller independent companies will outsource the distribution to a specialist company, often leading to loss of creative control of the product or the target audience. The main objective is make money, often leading to changes in the title of the product.  I have decided to opt for a streaming distributor, Amazon Prime. It’s mainstream and easily accessible with a large audience and they have a diverse portfolio of products.

Questions for the magazine article

What was your idea behind the Sport Horse Documentary?

Why did you want to explore Equestrianism from a commercial viewpoint?

Did the Pandemic have an impact?