Graffiti (Art or Vandalism)

My focus saw art and vandalism as two different thing, they also thought that I should see what other people think and base my documentary on the majority of their views.

My focus group suggested that I should do my documentary on the street instead of a studio so that people can see what I am talking about and what sort of graffiti there is. My focus group gave an example of going down to London and looking at banksies graffiti and that if I was to do this it would make people think that his designs are art. They also thought that if I was to go to a place full of graffiti my audience would be able to visualize the atmosphere around me. My focus group thought that if I was to choose the positive aspects of graffiti I should go to a location that is legal to practice and advertise graffiti. They also got the idea that I should get other people to have a go at graffiti and ask them what they thought of it.

My focus group noticed that graffiti is aimed at trains, buses and places that are local such as Chadwell heath or Dagenham. They also said that as well as them areas it is quite global in places like France and that graffiti is everywhere around you. They also confessed that not a lot has been done to stop graffiti and that they can’t stop people from doing it. However they said that there could be some tighter security in train stations but there is still not enough that is being done to stop graffiti. They also told me that I could reveal the dangers of graffiti. They made an interesting point by pointing out that if they were trying to stop graffiti then people wouldn’t be able to do art in other locations. They also said that if the police caught the people responsible for graffiti they could give them community service or make the people clean other people graffiti.

Overall I think that my focus group thinks this idea has a lot of potential, one of the reasons they like it is because they think that graffiti is seen as seen more as an art than vandalism as people can express themselves. My focus group said that if you are going around just writing a tag on objects then it would be seen as vandalism. I think this quote will help me in a big way as it is viable and there will be distinction between art and vandalism. Without a doubt I feel that I can definitely go for the art side of graffiti and have people behind me in the background doing graffiti legally which will add effect to my documentary. My focus group quoted that they used to see graffiti as vandalism but nowadays they see it as art. This will help add the reality to the start of my documentary. The locations will also add the reality to documentary as it will give my audience the impression that this topic is positive. My focus group has definitely made this idea much more viable to do as there are still two side of my topic, but now this really gives me an oppurtuniy to look into which one I will choose.