As part of her participation in the Docs In Progress’s Summer 2010 Internship Program, one of Janessa Jackson’s assignments was to write a documentary-related article for our summer newsletter. While she could have interviewed another filmmaker, distributor, or funder, Janessa chose instead to focus on an often forgotten equation in the documentary film world: the audience. And she chose to do so by looking from the prism of Netflix, the most popular DVD-by-mail service in the United States. So, no, this is not a How To Guide on how to get your film on Netflix , how much money you can expect as a filmmaker to reap from Netflix rentals or how you can rely on your documentary film pals to boost your ratings or request for your film to be carried on the site. Instead it is a look at how the Netflix audience views the works the documentary filmmakers among us create and what Netflix ratings say about us as documentary viewers.
Netflix: the Voice of the People
by Janessa Jackson
As the hot summer months come to a still blistering close one must seek motivation other than the comforts of air conditioning and an umbrella in your drink. Somewhere inside all of us resides the need to tell a story and this is a call to action to all who may have neglected this part of our being during summer vacation. It is time to put down the Pina Colada and pick up your camera.
For the documentary film artist, motivation to tell a story comes from everything around them, but how does one begin to narrow down everything? You can start with your passions, then move to the convenient, but there is one motivator that covers all your bases: the people. This is not a call to deliver a film just for the sake of giving the people what they want. It is simply a different way of weaning out that story inside of you, the one you have been neglecting all summer.
The People
Established in 1997, Netflix has become a one stop shop for the film enthusiast. The site has blossomed from a myth to a 24/7 hub of DVD rentals, watch instantly screenings and a TV fanatic’s paradise. Most importantly, Netflix has become a community where viewers and members can rate, comment on and suggest films to other viewers of the site. Members can even rate other member’s comments based on helpfulness and appropriateness. With these features, Netflix has become a source and soapbox for the people. In a world where face to face interaction seems to be in effect less and less every day, Netflix provides a systematic and practical way for the movie goer to express their views and have them heard.
Netflix emphasis is not just on DVDs that have just been released from the theaters. Viewers can comment on films that go back to the very beginning of film, allowing the fresh eyes of the 21st century to gaze upon films of the past and give them a critique worthy of a new generation. Members can also enjoy Netflix’s ever expanding collection of independent films that may or may not have even hit theaters. In fact, earlier this year Netflix signed agreements with distributors The Criterion Collection, Gravitas Ventures, Kino Lorber, Music Box Films, Oscilloscope Laboratories and Regent Releasing to allow members to enjoy films from these distributors exclusively through their online streaming program.
With over 10 million subscribers, the opinions on all the film featured on Netflix run rampant and I to our benefit! There is a lot to learn from the members of Netflix and the words they choose to transcribe about our beloved genre, documentary.
What They Want
For those of you who don’t know, Netflix’s rating system is based on the emblematic five stars. Viewers rate movies they have seen and Netflix averages all these ratings to create “Top Rated” lists that can be found under all sorts of categories, the most navigable being “Genre.”
For investigational purposes, I decided to take a look at the “Top Rated List” under “Indie Documentaries.” “Top Rated” is not the same as “Top Rented.” Instead it is a conglomeration of the films within a genre which are getting the top ratings by people who Netflix has determined have similar tastes and preferences to you. When you become a member of Netflix, the site begins to gauge your movie preference by looking at the type of movies you rent and asking you to rate movies you have already seen. This means everyone’s lists will be different. Mine may be based on my college-aged mindset, an affinity for the tragic and a slight obsession with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. All in all my entire list is as unique as my fingerprint, but I hope you use it as a jumping off point to create/view your own.
So here are the Top Rated Indie Documentaries for Janessa Jackson, Netflix Member:
- Collapse – Chris Smith
- Mine – Geralyn Pezanoski
- American Teen – Nanette Burstein
- I Have Never Forgotten You – Richard Trank
- I.O.U.S.A – Patrick Creadon
- In the Shadow of the Moon – David Sington
- A Lawyer Walks into a Bar… – Eric Chaikin
- No Impact Man – Laura Gabbert
- Trouble the Water – Tia Lessin
- The Business of Being Born – Abby Epstein
Interesting.
So here they are — the documentaries my heart desire most. So what makes these documentaries stand out to the other members of Netflix? Yes, these movies are based on my preferences but, they are “Top Rated” for a reason.
What This Means
My Netflix Top Ten reveals a grouped, peaked interest in the relationships, disasters, the economy, specific occupations and the environment. This means that if I sat down to watch a doc with one of the ten million people belonging to Netflix, I would most likely be treated to a story of a group of lawyers, who survived a natural disaster only to return to an economic downturn. This is the documentary I would most likely be watching, and enjoying. Minus their varying subject matter however, the reason these documentaries seem to stand out above the rest is because of their real world educational value, lessons learned and characters featured. A look at member comments for each of the films reveals these three fundamentals.
The most pronounced theme of all the comments for all the Top Rated Docs was the element of surprise, the joy the viewer felt when they realized that, by watching, they had become informed of something they had no idea about before. Viewers of A Lawyer Walks into a Bar… frequently relished in their new knowledge of the process it takes to become a lawyer, while members who watched The Business of Being Born commented,“This movie really brings a lot of the cold cut facts on the practice of home birthing into focus.”
Here lies the power of a documentary film, to inform the viewer of a world they may have known nothing about, in only the amount of time of a feature length film. Think of it this way: people may spend years and years in a field of work whether it is law, mechanics, computer science, and so on. Their knowledge of a particular subject is insurmountable. The role of the documentary filmmaker is to somehow bottle this knowledge and package it into a film that is not only informative, but interesting to a broader audience. This is quite the task but, in these Top Rated documentaries this mission has been accomplished. If the members of Netflix are a sample of what audiences are looking for, an education is the most appreciated aspect.
Next on the list of ideal features for documentaries, according to this Netflix member, are lessons learned. The people don’t seem to be demanding a high moral compass when it comes to these films but, an ode to hard work, passion or dedication seems to be just the ticket. Lessons learned in fiction films diverge greatly as compared to those found in documentaries. In fiction, lessons or truths are created while in documentary they are simply found. One could even say comparatively that fiction film is the chicken, while documentaries are the egg.
The topics of the films that are among my Top Rated on Netflix include some fairly profound subject matter. From the loss of a whole family to the Holocaust in I Have Never Forgotten You, the tribulations of adoption in Mine, to the manipulation done by the media in Collapse, these are not everyday conversation tops. An audience is looking for lessons in documentaries because these are real people (or animals) that exist on the same plane with the same rules as they do. The broad subject matters found in the deeper lessons of documentary are applicable to everyone and therefore understood by all.
Two of the films on the list involve very similar topics done with two very different subjects. In Richard Trank’s I Have Never Forgotten You, Trank tells the story of Simon Wiesenthal, an architect and German work camp survivor who avenges the loss of ninety of his family members in the Holocaust by hunting down Nazis with the American War Crimes Unit. Similar to this is Geralyn Pezanoski’s Mine, a documentary about separated dogs and their owners after the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina. The documentary details the steps taken and the heartbreak felt by all parties involved. Both of these films feature two very different stories but, both are appreciated for the same reason as I noticed in the comments. One Netflix member had this to say about I Have Never Forgotten You: “Wiesenthal witness firsthand the atrocities humans are capable of inflicting on each other. His unyielding spirit and love for human life is a lesson for all.“ Another had this to say about Mine: “Proves that love can outlast just about anything and how humanity is still alive. I can’t be more proud of the wonderful families that had such big hearts to put their feelings aside and help someone they didn’t even know.”
At the root of each of these comments is the satisfaction each member felt as they watched a film about “people” and the challenges they face whether dealing with the loss of family or pets. Although both films cover different subject matter, they speak to the audience because of their overarching themes of relationships, facing a challenge and dedicating your life to the pursuit of something inside yourself.
A Call to Action
Documentaries are about the people in them, but they are just as much about the people who are watching them and what they take away from the viewing. Whether it is a renewed sense of self or knowledge of a world completely opposite your own, documentaries put the tools of exploration into the hands of an audience like no other genre. If you are a filmmaker, now it is your turn to return the favor.
The people have spoken and now it is time for you to step out from the crowd, camera in hand, and carve out that story that has yet to be told. Just like Netflix, the community that surrounds you is a palpable field of interactions and resources. Your neighbors, co-workers kickball teammates are all there for the taking. Tell their story or have them help you tell your own. If they are unavailable, your friendly neighborhood Netflix members are online waiting, waiting to chat, waiting for your next story, waiting to give it those five little red stars.
Docs In Progress will miss Janessa Jackson but wish her all the best as she completes her B.A. in Communications and Film from the University of Pittsburgh. Hopefully between all the studying and other activities of an active college senior, she’ll have time to get to all those Netflix films which await.
