Researching Channel 4's '3 Minute Wonders'

1 - Research into 3 Minute Wonder -
What is a '3 Minute Wonder'?
3 Minute Wonder is a short television slot on Channel 4 in the UK which broadcasts and shows off first time directors' documentaries in the middle of the channel's weekday 'prime-time' schedule, each documentary being only three minutes in runtime. The directors of the films shown on the series are offered four-thousand pounds by Channel 4, along with their assistance in the shorts creation, to then show them at 7:55pm on weekdays on the channel.

What is the aim/purpose of a 3 Minute Wonder?
The main purpose of this television slot seems to be to help new or unknown talent break into the television industry in the UK with Channel 4's help. This creation by the network is apart of their '4Talent' initiative, which consists of many other similar opportunities for unknowns in the industry, like 'the Channel4 Sheffield Pitch' documentary competition and 'FourDocs'.

What sort of topic would you expect to see on a 3 Minute Wonder?
Often, the documentaries shown during this slot highlight some kind of issue which is currently which is not extremely in the public's eye as of yet. For example, issues that have been addressed in docs shown in the past include the odd condition synesthesia, and domestic abuse.


2 - My Three Favourites -
- Beneath My Skin
- Karl Pilkington: Health
- This is Our Youth: ONM (One Note Music)


3 - My Choices Explained -
Doc #1
1. Why I like it:
I am personally already interested in getting a tattoo at some point in my life and so learning a bit more about the art of it all was quite interesting to me.

 2. What I have learned from watching it:
Some aspiring or learning tattoo artists start off by practising on pigs' skin before progressing onto living human bodies.

Doc #2
1. Why I like it:
I am already a fan of Karl Pilkington and his style of humour so this was fun for me to watch.

 2. What I have learned from watching it:
According to Karl, a scientist has said that humans only have a specific limited amount of heart beats throughout their lifetime.

Doc #3
1. Why I like it:
It was an odd, obviously not serious concept and just looked like it was probably fun for those in it to mess around and come up with & film.

 2. What I have learned from watching it:
I didn't really learn anything from this documentary, as it was a mostly comedic satiric one as opposed to an educational one like some of the others made for this slot.


4 - Market Research into the documentary format and its current viability -
TV Listings:

1. Channel 4
In a three day span (from Monday to Wednesday), 76 shows are shown on the channel. Out of these 72 hours of television, only 2 of these slots were taken up by documentaries, taking up a total of 2 hours and 50 minutes of runtime and 0.039 percent of the channel's output during these 72 hours. Also, none of the documentaries shown were during peak time, always showing at the earliest after watershed, and one being slightly past midnight.

2. ITV4
For another channel, 52 shows are shown in a three day span (again from Monday to Wednesday). Out of these 72 hours of television, none of these slots seemed to be taken up by documentaries, meaning zero percent of the channel's output during this time-frame.