Documentaries, and how they have adapted to YouTube

Documentaries are a very popular form of media video. They can be used to educate, entertain and Explain. The most popular form of documentaries include wildlife documentaries explaining the lifestyles of multiple species, as well as the wonders of our own planet. Other popular forms of mainstream documentary include crime, conspiracies, interviews and politics.

According to Forbes, documentaries are the second most watched genre on Netflix, with 29% of views being for documentaries. "According to the team at TV Time, the five top genres can be broken down as follows: Reality (32%), Documentary (29%), Comedy (18%), Drama (13%) and Crime (12%). Of note, since many shows can easily fit into more than one genre, the percentages exceed 100%." (Feldman D, 2020). This shows just how popular this genre of film really is. Documentaries are popular for many reasons. First of all, the genre and content within documentaries can range so much. You can make documentaries on just about anything. If there is some sort of story line, myth or something to educate, a documentary can be made. Documentaries can be both fiction and non-fiction. Documentaries can also be created on such a wide spectrum, from local skateboard documentaries, to amazon rain forest documentaries. This means that there is a documentary out there for almost everyone, meaning that it has a large audience.

Another reason as to why documentaries are very popular, is because of the huge amounts of education they can bring. Humans love being educated, and if they can be educated whilst also being entertained and intrigued, then it is a win-win situation. "There have been films that have gotten people out of prison, like the 'Paradise Lost'series, or Errol Morris' 'Thin Blue Line.''Super Size Me' totally changed the conversation around fast food. 'Inconvenient Truth' totally changed the conversation around climate change. So all over the world, you can see documentaries having an effect." (Falcon G, 2019). This quote shows just how powerful documentaries can be, especially after they air on Netflix, allowing large audiences to view the documentary. Documentaries can educate the public about very important issues, such as the previously stated global warming crisis, the obesity problem around the world and crime issues, especially crime surrounding high profile celebrities. Documentaries allow for victims of all sorts of abuse to finally have a platform to speak out about high profile celebrities , such as documentaries on Harvey Weinstein and R.Kelly, as well as the recent documentary on Michael Jackson, 'Leaving Neverland', of which showed a nasty and creepy side to Michael Jackson. Documentaries promoting justice, especially about high profile celebrities are very popular.

The huge demand in documentaries made some You Tubers interested in creating their own, with a YouTube spin on them. The first to attempt making YouTube videos in the style of a documentary was Shane Dawson. Shane created a series on fellow YouTuber Jake Paul, asking the question is Jake Paul a psychopath, in the series "The Mind of Jake Paul". This series included interviews with fellow You Tubers to say their views on Jake Paul, as well as interviews and meet-ups with Jake himself. This series was a huge success, and upon realizing this, many other You Tubers started to create documentaries, such as IDubbzTV creating both "Full Force" a documentary about a You Tuber called Airsoftfatty and another documentary called "Ice Cream Man", a documentary about former internet sensation Dax, who went on to live a different life after internet stardom. Another example of documentary style videos include AllGasNoBreaks, who makes short documentaries about all sorts of different groups of people around America such as the Flat Earth Society, Big Foot believers and Furry conventions. Another example is Sugar Pine 7, who combine documentary style filming with comedy skits, for a YouTube style of documentary. There are many examples of documentaries on YouTube, and they are increasing in popularity, as well as documentaries on big stations such as Netflix and Amazon. The main methods that differentiate normal documentaries to Youtube documentaries is the small crew that goes into creating the YouTube style of documentaries. They are more formal and down to earth, due to the lower budgets. The content is very similar, although YouTube documentaries have been based around the platform itself, in the way that the characters have all hailed from the internet, but this might be because the documentary trend is still growing. The other main difference would be the comedic aspect of YouTube documentaries, due to the different target audiences between YouTube documentaries and mainstream documentaries.

I think that documentaries are a very interesting form of media, as well as a fun media to shoot and create. I enjoyed crating my last documentary and want to explore the format and genre a bit more, and so as part of my final major project I will be creating a short documentary about a subject based around my YouTube channel, Ravin' Gavin.

Bibliography

(Feldman D, 2020) Here are the 10 Most Watched Netflix Original and Limited Series of 2020, available at; https://www.forbes.com/sites/danafeldman/2020/12/08/here-are-the-10-most-watched-netflix-original-and-limited-series-of-2020/?sh=330d642243eb. (accessed 15th April 2021)

(Falcon G, 2019) The Golden Age of Documentary Film making, available at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-golden-age-of-documentary-filmmaking/#:~:text=To%20him%2C%20documentaries%20are%20especially,they%20can%20change%20the%20world.&text=So%20all%20over%20the%20world,Ailes%2C%20Bill%20Cosby%20and%20R (accessed 16th April 2021)