3MW research

A three minute wonder is a short slot on channel 4 which broadcasts documentaries from new directors. The documentaries last around three minutes and are place in the middle of Channel 4's weekday prime time schedule. It's purpose is to offer a platform for new producers and directors air their work whilst helping them get into the competitive industry. The short documentaries vary in topics and can really be about anything.




I like this 3MW because it's funny and I like the strange and humorous comments that Karl comes out with. I feel he makes good use out of the three minutes he had and made a very entertaining documentary. I haven't really learned much from this documentary as it's more of a comedy rather than an informative documentary. This would be considered an expository piece as is addresses the viewer directly with an authoritative narrative proposing an opinion.





I enjoyed this 3MW because I liked the way they didn't tell the audience the crime that he committed until the end. I felt this made me view his situation in a more sympathetic and human way. I feel I leaned about the way it effects not only the person on death row but the people around him too. This is a participatory documentary as it includes the film makes interviewing someone through a voice over.




I found this one funny and I had not heard of ONM so I thought it was a bit different. I like the way the film maker has found something really out there and odd and showed us in this short documentary. This would be closest to an expository documentary as it gives just the opinion of the boy who makes ONM, however it doesn't have a commentary or narrative just him talking about the music.

When looking at the TV listings I found that on the 17th of April there were seven documentaries on Channel 4 and on the 18th of April there were six documentaries. On the 17th there were only two documentaries on at prime time between 8pm and 11pm and three on the 18th. There were four documentaries on channel 5 between 9am and 6am and there was seven documentaries on the 18th of April. The was only one documentary aired during prime time on the 17th and three on the 18th.

Here are some BARB figures from the 27th of March and the 3rd of April. It shows the percentage of audience that watched documentaries that week.

Here is some more figures from BARB which shows the most popular TV programs on Channel in February 2016. As you can see they are all factual programs and the most popular was Gogglebox with 4,981 viewers per month.