Behind the Digital Rig: The Secret Life of Students

 

Channel 4 pioneered the use of The Rig with The Family. Since then the technology has spawned many series from 24 Hours in A&E to One Born Every Minute and it’s now pushing into new territories such as The Marines. After having changed the way that we view many traditional observational documentary spaces, The Rig itself is now transforming. First the more mobile mini-rig used in The Chicken Shop and Nightclub Toilet and now the Digital Rig. Channel 4 commissioned RAW to take The Rig a step further and reflect our digital life - the thoughts and feelings that are captured on mobile phones and computer screens, but which don’t necessarily feature in real world conversations and interactions.

This gave rise to the ‘D-Rig’ which has been used to explore the connections and secret life of students and teens, effectively providing a whole different narrative and perspective on their lives. For 4 months the D-Rig captured every text, call, tweet and Facebook update of twelve students alongside traditional observational filming. This data was then used on screen to tell the complete story of the social network of students. In this session Dimitri Doganis and Emma Cooper discuss the vision for the D-Rig, the impact it had on the narrative (effectively providing two sets of rushes), the implications of using the data and the reaction of the contributors to seeing their digital lives.