Docspace has carried out research on the audiences for documentaries on the large screen since 2002. The first research was a series of expert interviews and a sample quantitative study in Scotland. It was motivated by Grierson's challenging statement from the 1930s - "documentaries demand their own screening platform". Using expert interviews, focus groups and Cinema Audience questionnaires in 2002, 2004 and 2006/7, Docspace research produced interesting information illuminating an audience group that very little was known about.
Docspace research has been presented at 19 international conferences and festivals including Sunny Side of the Doc Marseilles, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam; Australian International Film Conference; Sheffield Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival; Edinburgh Film Festival, and most recently, The Enigma of the Audience, Edinburgh.

Docspace research clarifies that large screen documentary audiences are made up out of many audience segmentations, with very little cross-over, and the most useful segmentation seemed to be rural and urban, on one axis, and by subject interest on the other. They watch very little television, and are highly educated and proactive in seeking out films that interested them. There is widespread uncertainty about what a documentary was, and a collision of expectation and reality - the audiences expected to be informed, but possibly bored in the process. Their experiences, however, are almost always of emotional roller-coaster narratives and exhilarating story-telling. Perhaps that is why, throughout the research, around 50 % come to a documentary in the cinema for the first time, and in each series of questionnaires, after viewing the film, 80 - 90% wants to see more documentaries in the cinema. More….

VERTIGO ARTICLE - Escape to the Cinema by Amy Hardie
In Vertigo three years ago I described an untapped audience for documentaries, and why documentaries deserved to be in a public place. Docspace grew out of that brash assertion, and documentaries have bigger audiences than ever before. We can't claim all the credit for the huge increase in audiences and numbers of documentaries on thebig screen since we started lobbying, (thanks Michael Moore, Morgan Spurlock, et al) but we certainly helped create the zeitgeist. Since we launched in November 2004 we've introduced high definition digital delivery in the UK, reassuring exhibitors of its stability and audience appeal. We've screened documentaries in new venues such as galleries, community halls and art centres, as well as cinemas. We've shown the CinemaNet European premieres and run four seasons of films in Glasgow and Edinburgh which include shorts and more experimental work.
read more ... Download article (word)
posted 16th November 2006

Cinemanet
The three-year research project that underpins the CinemaNet Europe will assess the impact of digital technology on the audience for specialised cinema. Docspace is coordinating and designing this research, in which each of the countries which constitute CinemaNet Europe are contributing partners.

The research is important because there is very little information on audiences for specialised cinemas, and even less on the new opportunities that digital technology could bring. Digital cinema is more than simply a new projection technology - it is likely to alter the relation between cinema, television, and home viewing.

Docspace aims to support the national participants with a responsive feedback technique, keeping participants abreast of results as they unfold. The research examines the potential of digital as an emerging technology - whether that means transporting content simultaneously to personal computers as well as to cinemas and alternative venues, or setting up cinema-on-demand websites where audiences choose and comment on programming. We will look at live events, where directors on the screen interact with the audience, and also interactive advertising.

The research monitors the success of the digital roll-out of CinemaNet Europe as well as assessing the potential for new collaborations and income streams across the relevant digital areas. In particular, it will devise methodologies to assess potential audiences for documentaries and specialised film, as well as monitor and tap the development of digital technology as a business model and as a new frontier.

A brief summary of the Docspace research concepts can be viewed below: