A focus group was held in my project proposal to gain more of an understanding of how discrimination affects people and what type of educational videos are the most effective. The participants were aged from 16 to 22 and were chosen from a variety of backgrounds, with a cross section of ethnic origins and sexual orientation. Below are some of the relevant comments from our discussions condensed into three main sections.
Key:
C: Charlotte - girl, 22, living in same sex relationship
M: Matthew - straight man, 21
B: Bella - white girl, 17
A: Anna - plus sized girl, 20
D: Adam - man, 21, in same sex relationship
I: Mia - Black British girl, 19
T: Taya - Asian girl, 22
E: Elliot - male goth, 18
The effects of discrimination:-
C: 'I was discriminated against when I came out and it still affects me now.’
M: ‘There was a boy of a different origin and skin colour. He was picked on in lessons and called names. He was always quiet and very shy. He had no confidence in himself and from his body language he felt below everyone else.’
B: ‘I feel judged for how I look and where I come from; for being blonde and doing an art degree which I think is unfair. People just assume I'm thick.'
D: ‘I didn’t come out to anyone until my first term of uni because I felt like I would be judged and I felt like people I already knew would look at me differently. When I did come out the majority of people were happy for me and accepted it; however my older brother still, 3 years later, struggles with it. He doesn’t like to hear about my love life which makes me feel kinda angry that he isn’t accepting me, but I guess it will just take others longer to be ok with it.’
E: ‘I definitely feel discriminated against for the way I look. I think because I wear all black and chains people assume I’m gonna be aggressive and mean. They don’t bother to take the time to actually get to know me, they just assume I’m not approachable because of my hard exterior. It does get me down sometimes but I just can’t let it affect the way I live my life.’
The effectiveness of educational videos:-
C: ’I don’t remember any videos on discrimination, perhaps because at the time it wasn’t relevant to me.’
M: ‘I remember being shown a video at school about black rights that has always stayed in my memory because the way they were treated was disgusting and the video was very graphic.’
D: ‘I vaguely remember seeing one about people being gay, but this was when I was very young so can’t really remember it. I think we should be shown more, all throughout education, because I bet most people have forgotten them all!’
I: ‘I remember being shown some in primary school and some in secondary school but I couldn’t tell you what they were about, which is so bad! I haven't seen any in college.’
E: 'I think I saw a couple of videos, but nothing since I left secondary school.'
What would make educational videos more effective:-
C: ‘I think educational videos need to be more focused and relevant to problems that exist today, like cyber bullying and gender discrimination, so that people can relate to them.’
I: ‘Videos need to be powerful and shocking to make a real impact so that people remember them’.
A: ‘I think you have to grab someone’s attention in the first 15 seconds of a video, otherwise they will just switch off.’
E: ‘The one educational video I really remember finished with an unanswerable question at the end which left you thinking about the video. I also liked that it wasn’t patronising in any way and they stuck to the point, without lots of waffle.’
C: ‘A lot of the educational videos we were shown felt outdated, not really relevant, or I didn’t relate, making me not pay much attention to them.’
B: ‘I can’t remember many educational videos that were actually inspiring or interesting. There was always too much writing which instantly put me off! I noticed people got distracted when they handed stuff out because people would concentrate on what’s in their hands.’
M: ‘The audience needs to be able to relate to the video or they won’t be interested.’
T: ‘It definitely needs to be something that makes you think without being told all the answers …. when people are told how to behave they usually don’t want to do it.’
I found carrying out this focus group extremely helpful when initially planning my educational fashion film. It re-enforced the importance of continuing education films through college and university because people can forget what they are taught in primary school and so need reminding of such vital life lessons. I also found their suggestions for how to make educational videos more effective very interesting and I incorporated many of the aspects into my film, such as making people think for themselves, not too much writing, being able to grab their attention instantly and not being patronising. I will continue to carry out focus groups to determine what my target audience of young people want from my education fashion film.
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