Get In Touch!
On 10th September 2021, Channel 4 transformed it’s entire TV schedule so that every programme, talk show, drama and advert airing across the day featured Black presenters, contributors, lead actors and majority Black casts. This was done as part of their Black to Front initiative to raise awareness and drive conversations around improving Black representation in media and advertising.
We helped Channel 4 to capture authentic reactions and responses to this content in Black and non-black households around the UK and deliver this in a succinct, fun and deeply insightful format. We did this using the famed Channel 4 show Gogglebox as a source of inspiration for the format of these videos. The final edits resulted in joyful and authentic short films with heartfelt insights and real-life reactions from the British public.
“The project process and end result was above our expectations, it has been a brilliant experience working with Vox Pops. The participant recruitment was amazing, everyone was highly engaged with the topic which gave us incredible insight.”
Channel 4 – Senior Research Manager
Initial Steps
We worked with our trusted partner recruitment agency, Angel Fish – to screen for Black and non-black households around the UK who expressed interest in the Black to Front concept. We obtained short “self-filmed audition videos” to understand more about the respondents’ engagement with the topic and were blown-away by the depth of responses – making the final choice tricky! Channel 4 reviewed the audition videos and made their final selection.
Filming involved a “lite” kit and crew – one cam & sound operator and one producer/interviewer. We had two 2 cameras and lighting – perfect for filming in the diverse lounge room spaces.
We filmed respondents watching a 30-minute montage of TV shows and adverts that aired live on Sept 10th and then ran a 1 hour interview with each household about what they had watched and how it made them feel. Afterwards, we captured illustrative b-roll (home environment and participants watching TV). We filmed around the UK from a household in South London suburbs to a village in the East Midlands to gauge the public response.
“We were amazed with the results and quality of the footage and interviews.”
Channel 4 – Senior Research Manager
The Result
We delivered five final edits ranging from 1.5 – 2 mins each. Four of these focussed on the respondent discussions relating the programmes and adverts they had seen as well as the impact of the initiative. important, heartfelt and joyful.
The fifth edit was a super fun extra addition to the set – we emulated the format of Gogglebox even more so to deliver an edit that encapsulated the live viewing experiences of respondents by recording their real-time reactions and comments to one another as they watched the ground-breaking initiative.
These edits were used in a presentation with the brands that participated in Channel 4’s initiative and are continuing to be shared around Channel 4 and their partners and on the 4Sales website and social media. The feedback we continue to receive is phenomenal.
“The team went above and beyond and return any edits at high speed”
