Close-Up Research is an ethnographic research and storytelling agency specialising in lived experience. We spend time with people in their everyday environments to make sense of how they think, feel and behave. Our insights and films help clients design, evaluate and communicate better policies, products and services.
Alongside ethnography, we also offer diary studies, vox pops, podcasts, photography, animation, co-design workshops and training.
PLACE-BASED & COMMUNITY RESEARCH
What are the lived experiences of Hyde customers? / Hyde Foundation
As one of the largest and most diverse housing and community services providers in the country, Hyde wanted to better understand the lives and needs of the people they serve. We spent time with three different residents across the south-east, to explore several themes.
The film is divided seven sections, navigable via the Chapter button to the right of the play bar: Meet the Residents, Housing Challenges, Daily Routines, Community, Mental & Physical Health, Education & Employment, and Hopes for the Future.
HOW DO OLDER PEOPLE SUPPORT THEIR COMMUNITIES? / CENTRE FOR AGEING BETTER
We visited people aged over 50 around the country, to understand: how older people contribute to their communities; what the barriers and enablers are for contributing; and how older people can be supported to contribute.
This video is a 1-minute compilation snapshot for social media, based on four ethnographic case studies. You can find all four individual case studies here.
What’s been the impact of an ‘Empowering Places’ programme on local communities? / Power To Change
The ‘Empowering Places’ fund was set up to support the growth of new community businesses via anchor organisations in six areas of deprivation. We travelled across England to meet with three catalyst organisations, over 20 community businesses, and local residents.
The film is divided into three sections, navigable via the Chapter button to the right of the play bar: About the Businesses, Improving Personal Skills, Confidence & Connections, and Promoting Community Empowerment & Wellbeing.
What’s been the impact of a ‘Place-Based Social Action’ programme? / The National Lottery Community Fund
The ‘PBSA’ fund was set up to build the capacity of local partnerships and address issues that matter to communities. We travelled to three areas across England, to meet over a dozen community organisations and find out the impact at a grassroots level.
This film is divided into three sections, navigable via the Chapter button to the right of the play bar: Some of the Social Action, Impact on Individuals Involved, and Impact on Wider Community.
HEALTH & WELLBEING RESEARCH
How do behavioural difficulties affect children and their families? / Impact on Urban Health
We co-produced an ethnographic study with 18 families in Lambeth and Southwark, exploring the realities of family life when a child experiences behavioural difficulties. Alongside this individual case study film, we produced written family portraits, a case study podcast and an insights report with recommendations for better support. You can find out more here.
What are the health priorities for people living in south London? / Guy’s & St Thomas’ Charity
This clip is an example of vox pops in the UK. We visited five locations across Lambeth and Southwark – from a BMX club to a community garden – to hear from local people about the most pressing health issues in their area, why they mattered, and what could be done to help. You can watch the full film here.
HOW CAN PEOPLE BE ENCOURAGED TO ENGAGE WITH THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT? / DEFRA
The Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs wanted to know how to increase access and use of the natural environment, to support better mental health and wellbeing. Alongside Renaisi’s written report, we produced this ethnographic video based on visits to four different projects engaged with the natural environment.
The video is divided into four navigable sections: Types of Activites, Motivations, Getting Involved, and Recommendations.
What’s it like to have cardio rehab after a heart attack? / Nuffield Health
This video ethnography case study follows Jonathan’s experience of having a heart attack and rebuilding his life afterwards – exploring his life before the heart attack, his experience of treatment and cardio rehab, the impact on his everyday life, and his hopes and expectations for the future.
You can find out more about our health research here.
YOUNG PEOPLE RESEARCH
What are the impacts of the Youth Social Action Fund? / BBC CHILDREN IN NEED
We visited four grantee organisations across the UK to produce this comprehensive video report. We also made individual edits for each organisation, and one short film featuring just the young people’s voices. You can see the other films here.
This film is divided into five sections, navigable via the Chapter button to the right of the play bar: About the Organisations, Impact for the Young People, Change in the Communities, Challenges & Advice, Looking Ahead.
What’s been the impact of a ‘Cultural Citizens’ Programme for young people? / Arts Council England
To help evaluate Arts Council England’s Cultural Citizens programme, we joined a group of students on their trip to Blackpool and returned a few months later to explore how the experience had shaped their lives and perspectives.
The students had been selected after scoring lowest in a school arts-and-culture quiz – a deliberate way to reach those least engaged, rather than reward existing interest.
How is the Violence Reduction Unit’s ‘Stronger Futures Programme’ impacting young people? / Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime
We visited three grantee organisations that work with young people across London to produce this summary insights edit, a shorter edit for social media, and individual case-study films. You can see the other films here.
This summary edit is divided into three sections, navigable via the Chapter button to the right of the play bar: About the organisations / What’s been the impact? (with 3 sub-sections) / What works best?
WHAT ARE THE TRANSPORT EXPERIENCES OF YOUNG PEOPLE WITH MOBILITY ISSUES, AND HOW MIGHT DRIVERLESS CARS CHANGE THEM? / FLOURISH
We asked six young people with mobility issues from across England to record video diaries over a month, documenting their everyday transport experiences and reflecting on how these might differ if they were travelling by driverless car.
This was one of three projects we worked on exploring people’s experiences of transport and attitudes towards connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) and driverless cars. You can find more examples of our work with young people here and on driverless cars here.
OTHER MEDIA METHODS
WHAT ARE THE EXPERIENCES OF YOUNG PEOPLE LIVING IN TEMPORARY HOUSING? / CHILDREN’S RIGHTS ALLIANCE FOR ENGLAND
This film, co-designed with the young people whose experiences are shared, was shown at The House of Commons to highlight the realities of living in temporary housing.
We conducted interviews with the young people, and then, to protect their anonymity, brought their words to life using objects and stop-motion animation. The young people helped out on set, and their hands can be seen in shot.
What’s it like growing older in Lincolnshire, and how can the council help? / Centre for Ageing Better
This film is an example of photo-ethnography, turned into a video.
We visited organisations working with older people across Lincolnshire, to speak with people about their experiences of growing older in the county, what they liked about living in there, and what improvements they’d like to see.
The interviews were recorded in audio-only format, and accompanied by photos of the participants and their local environments.
WHAT’S THE VALUE OF PUBLIC DIALOGUE? / SCIENCEWISE
We’ve produced several films over the years introducing public dialogue participants to emerging technologies and science-related policy questions, and interviewed participants afterwards to explore their responses. We were subsequently commissioned by Sciencewise to create this animation explaining the value of public dialogue itself.
How can health and social care be improved for adults with learning disabilities and autism? / SCIE
This was a co-production project to understand the health and social care experiences of adults with learning disabilities and autism, and to translate the resulting insights from our workshop with the group, into this film of actionable recommendations.
WHAT BRINGS YOU MOST JOY? / INTO UNIVERSITY
IntoUniversity runs after-school centres that provide academic support and mentoring for young people from less privileged backgrounds. To inform and accompany Renaisi’s written report, we spent a month visiting their Brent centre to produce this ethnographic video case study, and then another month meeting attendees across the country, to interview them in their homes and take their photo portraits.
The theme we used for both the portraits and interviews was ‘three things that bring you most joy’. Clicking on an image below will open an interview snippet.
