BBCThree’s Stefan Shaw radically transforms traditional television

Last Thursday, Stefan Shaw from BBCThree Digital Guerrillas, came to Birmingham with the hopes of reaching out to students, emphasising that feedback from the youth is essential. He gave BCU the opportunity to pick apart his plans; he told us how he’s broken all the rules with his “ambitious project of using the internet as a canvas”.

He joked: “deep down I think I’m still 20”, as some may think he’s out of touch with his current audience. However, his successful project of moving TV online to social media with the BBCThree has proven otherwise.

Shaw said: “This was a stroke of genius as that’s where the audience is”.

Experimentation with Snapchat is Shaw’s preferred method of reaching the youth as he compared it to the wild west with its “freer, anything goes attitude”. To avoid the restriction of the 10 second videos which last 24 hours, Shaw considers archiving them as Vimeos and finds this interesting. He said how it would be “really exciting and original” as it “breaks all the rules in filming”.

Shaw then went on to explain how working with the BBC involves lots of rules and responsibility.

He said: “Everyone has their own ideas; we’re not afraid of trying new things”.

The Digital Guerrillas team previously created a slideshow programme, ‘No Think Dinners’, on Instagram for “busy, young professionals” and now continue to focus on their storytelling via Snapchat. Shaw argues that these documentaries on Snapchat are still television “but completely new”; they’re sure to “change output significantly”.

Shaw understands that the “future is quite abstract”. He explained how there’s always new technology and their ideas are always changing. However, the creativity of the BBCThree will be maintained as they continue to aim towards informing, educating and entertaining.

Stay updated by adding ‘BBCThree’ on Snapchat, and keep an eye open for their new programme ‘Life on the line’, due to broadcast this week.