4 Benefits Of Creating Documentaries

As a medium, documentaries have become increasingly popular over the years, especially among audiences.

In fact, one survey discovered that of the 305 respondents surveyed, ‘95.7% reported that they enjoy documentary programming’, emphasising just how well documentaries are received by audiences.

If you’re interested in creating a documentary to tell your story, there are a variety of benefits associated with documentary production. The benefits of creating documentaries include, but are not limited to:

  1. Providing a voice
  2. Informing and bringing light to important issues
  3. Offering new perspectives
  4. Inspiring action

1. Providing A Voice

A large benefit of creating documentaries is that they can provide a voice to individuals without the means to raise issues.

It’s no secret that many, if not most people do not have the platform to bring awareness to issues that they’re facing, and this is where documentaries can help promote wider awareness.

For instance, say that you made a documentary on poverty in the UK, an issue that is prevalent globally. When you consider that 13.4 million (1 in 5) people live in poverty in the UK alone, the importance of highlighting issues and providing a voice to people that don’t have the platform becomes all the more apparent.

While these problems might be highlighted in television advertisements, for instance, documentaries offer a more comprehensive view into these issues and how others can help.

Documentaries therefore help to provide a voice to the voiceless, informing wider audiences of pressing problems that are important to be aware of to incite change.

Making documentaries One survey discovered that of the 305 respondents surveyed, ‘95.7% reported that they enjoy documentary programming’, emphasising just how well documentaries are received by audiences.

2. Informing & Bringing Light To Important Issues

Off the back of the previous benefit, documentaries also inform and bring light to important issues.

People live busy lives, and not everyone has the time to keep up to date with the latest news and issues.

Although documentaries are non-fiction films, they still occupy within the realm, and are a form of entertainment. As such, making one allows you to shine a spotlight and spread important information through a highly consumable and accessible medium.

At Buffoon Media, we believe that film is one of the most powerful ways to share a story, and are well versed in documentary production. We have documentary production crews situated across the UK, in London, Wales, Manchester and Birmingham.

If you’re interested in sharing a story, or bringing light to important issues, then be sure to get in touch with a friendly member of our team today.

3. Offering New Perspectives

A huge benefit of making documentaries is that they can offer new perspectives.

It can be easy to live in an echo chamber if you’re not educating yourself and hearing various perspectives, which is one of the reasons why unbiased documentaries are so important to shed light on topics on a global scale.

The educational aspect of documentaries can offer audiences new perspectives on a variety of cultures that they might have never heard of, whilst connecting you with new people and new stories all over the world.

In creating documentaries, then, you can therefore help audiences to make more rounded opinions whilst also educating them on important matters.

Benefits of creating documentaries Although documentaries are non-fiction films, they are still considered a form of entertainment.

4. Inspiring Action

Last, but not least, an important benefit of creating documentaries is that they can help to inspire action.

An engaging documentary not only evokes emotion, but also allows viewers to relate in that it spreads an inspiring story and message that people resonate with in some way.

Even if the topic that your documentary covers isn’t directly relatable, provided that you convey the message in a powerful way, there is a high chance that the emotion evoked will incite action from your audience.

A good example of a documentary inciting action was seen following the release of Seaspiracy. A poll taken found that ‘42% of the 9000 respondents considered giving up fish after watching the documentary’. The fact that Seaspiracy inspired thousands of people to change their diets as a result of the information it spread thus emphasises how a powerful message can evoke change and action.

In creating your own memorable documentary, then, you can inspire action and have the potential to make a real difference to the issue that you’re highlighting.

Creating documentaries benefits The educational aspect of documentaries can offer audiences new perspectives on a variety of cultures that they might have never heard of, whilst connecting you with new people and new stories all over the world.

Hopefully this article has given you a better understanding of the benefits associated with creating documentaries. Discover more about documentaries in our media & video production blog, such as ‘What makes a good documentary film?’.

We’re Buffoon Media: a bilingual media production company based in Port Talbot and London, producing and live streaming content across the globe. Learn more about our podcast production services, as well as the other services we provide on our website.

Written by Jemima Thomas for Buffoon Media.