Research: 3 Minute Wonder

3 Minute Wonder's are seen on weekdays at Channel 4 in the middle of television programmes which contains a short documentary. The aim or purpose of a 3 Minute Wonder is to present the Channel 4 audience with potentially hidden talent which introduces these directors into the "television industry" (3 Minute Wonder, 2014). An example of success reached through the use of 3 Minute Wonders is presented by Karl Pilkington, which started out by creating a series of 3 Minute Wonders in 2006 including Life, Health, Arrival and Holiday. Pilkington then progressed in the television industry and created his own documentary series in 2010 called An Idiot Abroad. A 3 Minute Wonder consists of the directors choice of topic which can be anything between topics seen in day to day life occurrences such as Karl Pilkington's documentary on 'Nature', to a topic which is completely authentic and not seen in day to day life such as Jeff Koons documentary on the 'Three Ball Total Equilibrium Tank'.

The reason why I enjoyed this 3 Minute Wonder 'Karl Pilkington - Life' was because it does not only introduces humour but it also presents the audience with his own thoughts and opinions "I just think we know too much" as well as being informational such as on the topic of meteorites "The edges are taken off it, because that's not the only one". This documentary format is presented as an interactive documentary as Pilkington involves himself in the topic, by going to a museum. 

Blek Le Rat's 3 Minute Wonder 'The Wall' which is also in the format of an interactive documentary, gives the audience an insight into Blek Le Rat's life and his influences. This is seen with "I'm very influenced by the Roman art and the Greek art.." as well as allowing the audience to learn how to stencil themselves, which is what I enjoyed about this documentary. This documentary is also very authentic due to the topic that it was based on, which makes it much more enjoyable as well as learning about stenciling. 

Karl Pilkington's 3 Minute Wonder 'Nature' again brings humour "They keep saying sea levels are rising.. it's cause there's too many fish in it" which is the reason why his 3 Minute Wonder series started off his career in the television industry. This again presents the audience with his own opinions and less informational facts, "I wish it was locked up in there". This short documentary uses an interactive format as Pilkington himself stars in the 3 Minute Wonder which is useless to the audience as it presents his own thoughts and opinions but his use of unintended humour obtains the audiences attention. 

Market Research:

The amount of documentaries shown on Channel 4 over a weeks period is an average of 43% and the amount shown on BBC 1 East is an average of 47%. Using BARB, the most popular documentary shown on Channel 4 is One Born Every Minute using an observational format with a viewing of 3.18 million (BARB, 2014), followed by 24 Hours in A&E with a viewing of 2.25 million per week (BARB, 2014). However BBC 1 East appeared to show more documentaries than Channel 4 by 4% but using BARB, there are no documentaries which has made it to the top 30 programmes. Although this is the case, factual programmes such as the Six O'clock News with a viewing of 5.45 million per week (BARB, 2014) and BBC News with 5.16 million views (BARB, 2014) have made it to the top 30 programmes in a weeks period.

References:
3 Minute Wonder, (2014) [online] available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_Minute_Wonder [date accessed: 6/03/14]
Top 30 Programmes - BARB, (2014) [online] available at: http://www.barb.co.uk/viewing/weekly-top-30?_s=4 [date accessed: 11/03/14]