Audience Research:

The main idea behind Bayelsan Silhouettes was to create a vehicle that would help audiences to change their perceptions about HIV & AIDS and through entertainment, increase their knowledge about the disease and strengthen their ability to make informed decisions about their lives.  The films deal with not only health issues – they address all areas of relationships – within the family, across generations, and of course, within society.  The project was also meant to build the capacity of youth living in Bayelsa in all aspects of film making, particularly in script writing.

In order to create films that would appeal to audiences and later ascertain whether the films have had a positive impact on audiences, formative and evaluative research was conducted in Bayelsa.

The research phase used a participatory approach in working with the films’ target audience, namely the youth.  Also, in order to ensure that diverse stakeholders within the communities believed in the project, civil society organizations and the media played an active role.  This was meant to ensure the project’s sustainability.

The project used extensive pre- and post testing to understand the baseline attitudes, perceptions, and knowledge, and eventually measure behaviour change. 

Recce:

At the end of 2006, CFC conducted a 4-day pre-project research trip to Yenagoa, Port Harcourt, Famgbe, Swali, and Gbanatoro to develop local NGO partnerships, visit community groups, youth groups, community groups that focus on HIV & AIDS and health care professionals including traditional birth attendants.

It was a fantastic time of great interactions with youth and community leaders, school teachers and civil society leaders.  The project team was greeted with enthusiasm and interest, and many youth expressed relief that some interesting and creative project activities were being introduced.

Pre-Testing:

In January 2007, The CFC team went on another 4-day research trip to Yenagoa, Bayelsa State to conduct ten in-depth interviews (IDIs) with youth and community stakeholders, including a doctor, nurse, teacher, civil society worker, a representative of State Action Committee on AIDS (SACA), a female and male church leader, a traditional religion practitioner , and a Red Cross representative.

The following month, 38 Bayelsan youth from a cross section of schools and walks of life took part in focus group discussions (FGDs) in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. CFC partnered with a local initiative, Women Light Foundation, who helped to invite people for the group discussions. The youth were divided in four subgroups according to gender and age (i.e. 13-16 / 17-25).  Through the interviews, the team learned a lot about the recreational activities and sexual behaviour of youth in Bayelsa and about their awareness and perceptions of HIV & AIDS, and got ideas about what sort of content for TV dramas and IEC materials would resound with the target audience.

Script Testing:

In May 2007, CFC held two focus group discussions (this time in Lagos) with nine young women and eight young men  between the ages of 16-25 split into gender based groups , in order to get honest feedback on the seven film scripts that had just been developed. The scripts were dramatized by a professional dramatist / voice artist and the discussants were asked to rate each script according to their relevance, information value and emotiveness.

All the scripts except one were highly rated for their interest and entertainment value, as well as for their educational value in terms of addressing important issues to the youth.
Interestingly, one out of the seven scripts, Eretusa, got a very low rating and was eventually replaced with another story about HIV & AIDS and cultism in Nigerian universities, which resulted in the film My Brother’s Keeper.

Post-testing:

After production of the films was completed at the end of 2007, CFC commissioned follow-up research in Bayelsa in February 2008, in order to confirm whether Bayelsan Silhouettes indeed resonated with its youth and if it would lead to a change in high risk behaviour amongst the target audience. Forty young people between the ages of 13 and 25 viewed the films in focus group discussions structured by age (13-16 and 17-25) and gender, and gave a lot of positive and exciting feedback about what they had seen, having found the films to be interesting, educating, entertaining and a true reflection of life in Bayelsa and Nigeria. Catch Them Young was the favourite film for the young ladies, while the young men preferred My Brother’s Keeper and You No Be Man. In addition, the youth liked the idea of converting the films into radio dramas, as a way of reaching youth and adult audiences outside of urban areas.