DOCUMENTARY; RESEARCH BENEFITS STREET

Benefits Street is a British documentary series first broadcast on Channel Four. The programme was filmed over the course of about a year, featuring the lives of many different residents of 'James Turner St' in Manchester. Mainly, it is the portrayal of people who are living off of benefits and the series documents their successes and their struggles. Many different codes and conventions are used within Benefits Street that i can take influence from.

Danny as he is about to be pinned down
by the police

Firstly, the show documents are persons real life, many of the residents, including the main feature 'White Dee' open up the entirety of their life to the camera, hiding nothing. This makes for a very real and raw story, however the story the show is portraying is such a sensitive subject that it can portray a range of different reactions from the audience. For example, one may angrily react complaining at what could be described as the glorification of living off of benefits for no good reason (in some cases) whereas others could react feeling sad for the characters that are battling alcohol or drug addictions whilst being on benefits, or characters who have children living off of benefits. This all links into the way the television programme was produced, in order to inspire these stories to transmit onto screen. For example, the handheld way in which it is filmed allows the crew to follow the action as it happens (as things can change very quickly in real life), in episode one Danny goes from riding his bike through town to being pinned to the floor by the police, and the crew managed to to capture all of this.

one of the main contributors
'white dee"

The fact that the show was filmed over a huge one year period means too things; the development of long gripping real life stories, and the build of rapport for these stories to be told. Many of the stories that each episode revolves around is about certain stories that take place over the course of a few months, therefore the filming period of one year allows for each characters 'story' to be told with a beginning, a middle and an end. Furthermore it means that the people on the street can build a rapport with the crew that are filming them, as to the process of the show we never see who's behind the camera or any form of presenter or narrator, but still its almost as if the people on the show are talking to whoever by the camera, so the crew would have needed to build the rapport needed to gain the honesty from the characters, for the entertainment of the show.

Something that i like from the production of Benefits Street that i will not be able to replicate in my own documentary; is the year long production time. Everything about the programme is clear and concise and certainly within the first episode, nothing feels as though it doesn't have an ending. However due to the time constraints of a student project it isn't something i am going to be able to replicate within my own work. Something i do however hope to replicate from Benefits Street is the honesty from the characters, they obviously felt comfortable enough around the crew to build this honesty and trust and its something i believe that makes the programme so great.