We are living in a time of severe social injustices, political clashes and ecological crises. In this situation many films, videos and TV programmes are produced with the intention of creating “social impact” that improves the status quo. These productions include fictional movies with messages, “social impact entertainment”, “entertainment-education” programmes on TV, fundraising spots, health intervention films, activist videos, political art films, workers’ films, or participatory films on social issues. But what actually is positive impact, and how can it be achieved? What types and forms of films have a great impact? And how can we create and disseminate such films?
Co-organised by Jens Eder (Konrad Wolf Film University of Babelsberg), Catalin Brylla (Centre for the Study of Conflict, Emotion and Social Justice, Bournemouth University) and Tobias Gralke, the 2021 Social Impact of AV Media Symposium aimed to map the scope of research-led audiovisual media practice in terms of social justice and environmental concerns. The purpose was to create an interdisciplinary awareness that encourages stakeholders to consider the reach and significance of audiovisual media for addressing social and environmental concerns in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This purpose hinges on two key areas: research-led practice and practice-led research. Research-led practice involves the research and conceptualisation of strategies and methodologies with the specific aim of producing media artefacts that generate impact. We consider such endeavours to be situated in a range of contexts, such as the academy, the media industry, social care, medical care, community welfare, activist movements and marketing campaigns. This area explores the deployment of different impact models and approaches during media production (e.g. through participatory techniques), as well as beyond production and exhibition. It also studies policies, reports, guidelines and toolkits aimed at informing the research around media practice.
Practice-led research addresses methodologies that measure the impact, or pathways for impact, of media practice in general, whether that practice aims for impact or not. These can include a wide range of social science approaches (e.g. audience research, policy research and discourse analysis), and it can be located in the same variety of contexts as the ones informing media practice itself. This area also addresses how impact can be classified along different dimensions, such as scale (micro, meso, macro), temporality (long/short-term), ethics, audience engagement and behavioural effort.
Programme
Introduction
General Approaches to Impact
Catalin Brylla, Jens Eder and Tobias Gralke
Conceptualisations of Impact
Social Impact – What, Why and How
Bettina Kurz
A Maker-inclusive Understanding of Impact
Frédéric Dubois
Impact Strategies
Pandemic Effects on Media Impact Campaigns
Patricia Finneran
The Documentary Commons as Political Action – Establishing Critical and Ethical Impact Assessment
Angela Aguayo
Strategies and Ethics of Impact
Interim summary
John Corner
Video for Change
Political Campaign Videos and the Pedagogy of Impact
David Knight
Non-Fictional Forms and Impact
Village Tales: Creative Practice and the Challenges of Evidencing Impact
Sue Sudbury
Channel 4 and the Paralympics – How a UK Broadcaster is Reframing Disability
Dan Jackson
Fictional Forms of Impact
Narrative Strategies for Animated Development Communication – Examples from BRAC in Bangladesh
Naima Alam
Scripting and Filming in Paintbrush – Exploring the Identity of Black, Teenage and Female in a Nigerian Diaspora Community of Peckham in London
Samantha Iwowo
From the Middle of Society – The Audience is More Mature than Some Decision Makers Think
Peter Hartwig
Questions and Challenges of Impact
Closing Discussion
Symposium Report
Tobias Gralke