Final documentary + thumbnail

Here is my teams final documentary and thumbnail 

Here is the link of our documentary in google drive: Me, Her, & Him

And here is our final thumbnail on Netflix

Link of our thumbnail on google drive: final thumbnail by Rara & Audrey

Critical Self Reflection

Here is my critical self reflection 

I will be answering these questions for my critical reflection (not by sequence):

1. How do your products represent social groups or issues? (CR 1)

2. How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’? (CR 2)

3. How do your products engage with the audience? (CR 3)

4. How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions? (CR 4)

As indicated in the brief set by our teacher, Mr. Nick, we were assigned to produce an opening for a crime documentary that would run from 3 to 5 minutes. My team, which consisted of Chelsea, Kalista, Audrey, and me, actually created a true-crime documentary that would focus on murder. It is the story of a teenage girl who, at that age, is supposed to be venturing into university life with her best friend. Unfortunately, she gets involved in an online dating site, marking the beginning of her sad demise. In this critical reflection, I will explore the production process of our documentary to show how we incorporated technical elements to both conform or subvert documentary conventions within the crime genre and to show how these appeal to our target audience.

Branding is one of the most important ways in which the audience perceives and understands media. It reinforces the intended message and creates an identity with which one can identify. According to Stuart Hall's Reception Theory, meaning in a media text is not passively received by the audience; instead, they actively interpret and respond to decode messages. Our preferred reading, or what was intended as a message, was a cautionary tale on the toxicity of friendship and how one time or another it could lead to consequences that may hurt someone.

In order to communicate this, a number of technical elements have been employed to develop both realism and authenticity. For example, we included real footage through the vlogs of the two leads, with hand-held camera movements, creating the sense of closeness and attachment between the two main characters. Not only does this technique ensure the narrative is bound within realism, but it also allows the audience to become further engaged with the bond of the two friends, allowing the audience to speculate if the two leads are that close and what happens next. The handheld style indicates the immediacy of phone videos and further emphasizes the emotional veracity of the documentary.

The overall theme for our documentary had to do with nostalgia. We achieved this by incorporating more vintage color grading and videotape effects that gave a feel from film and photography of the 2000’s. This was a stylistic choice made to give a sense of the past and make the audience reflect over the transience in relationships and life. Yet at the same time, we digitized it into modern elements, such as ones involving online platforms and dating apps. The juxtaposition of the nostalgic against the digital speaks volumes to the aesthetic, which makes our documentary slightly very different from the conventional approaches to the genre. This especially plays up the risks of modern technology, especially for our target audience. The juxtaposition of the nostalgic against the digital speaks volumes to the aesthetic, which makes our documentary slightly very different from the conventional approaches to the genre, which is young adults 17+.

We've purposefully chosen these elements, since these elements remind our target audience—mostly the young generation—of their childhood combined with the themes of modern technology and social platforms. Truly, the documentary is relevant and more engaging because it speaks to their own lived experiences. A sense of being careful in friendships and online interactions is an important message for today's times, where boundaries between real and virtual relationships are blurred.

This was also captured on the documentary's thumbnail. Our thumbnail includes a digital picture of the two leads, further fusing personal memory with the dangers of modern platforms. Giving the two characters a personal, almost candid moment, we created an emotional core to the story, to be disrupted by the darkness of the elements of the narrative. Having the thumbnail be more digitized aligns with the documentary's main theme, which is going for a more modern media application (usage of laptops and iPhones). This allows the audience to know how we want to brand our documentary, which is by showcasing online dating. However, that is not the main plot as audiences are able to decode a message, which is why we emphasize the mystery Clara (perpetrator) has due to us wanting the audience to know why something online can affect friendships and how careful we as young adults need to be when picking a friend no matter how long the friendship lasted.

Before working on our documentary, we did a lot of research to identify the conventions of crime documentaries and how these are conventionally established. We tried to follow those conventions, like establishing shots of the crime scenes and classic establishing shots, but also added more modern elements, like video calls, text messages, and video clips. These digitalized features subvert the traditional crime genre and appeal to our target audience of young adults who would enjoy a more contemporary narrative style that also evokes nostalgia.

Our documentary focuses on leads from Southeast Asia (Chinese-Indonesian), thus challenging the dominance of Hollywood/Western media traditions that normally have a prioritization for Western narratives and representation. By centering South-East Asians, we subvert the stereotype of underrepresentation, bringing in a minority group that is seldom seen at the top. This does not only introduce Western audiences to South-East Asian perspectives but also offers representation for South-East Asians in a genre highly dominated by Western culture. Giving attention to the portrayal of characters like Clara and Sasha helps avoid the invisibility of these groups in media.

The character portrayal happens through Clara and Sasha's social media profiles, which were Mise en Scène. Clara is meant to be possessive and obsessive, always stuck onto Sasha. She is filmed in much darker tones than Sasha, who wears, at times, white, representing kindness, care, and naivety. Kyler is more of an introverted character; his character is cold and distant 'nonchalant'. The Uses and Gratifications Theory created by Bulmer & Katz explains that audiences engage with media for diversion, personal identity, social relationships, and surveillance. With the dynamic of Clara and Sasha as our main leads, viewers can either relate to or pity their circumstances, building personal connections to the characters or going back and reflecting on their own relationships, especially with the storyline about online dating and how it can affect our target audience.

We also used the Hermeneutic Code: audio cues, black screen cuts, and zoom-ins that would keep the audience in suspense about what was to happen. Those are some of the usual features for the genre in creating a tense and engaging atmosphere for viewers.

Camera work, MES, sound, and editing in our production were all according to the usual conventions found in documentaries. Documentaries would employ close-ups and medium shots to emphasize the actors through their facial expressions, CCTV footage, and long shots of the location of crime scenes, but also close-ups of some evidence that show possible weapons of murder. Also, the MES used natural lighting and non-formal attire—common everyday—which added to a sense of realism. The interviews were done in much darker tones to infuse tension. We used non diegetic sound because it's usually used in the building of suspense, and so we incorporated that in to really bring tension around a certain moment or piece of evidence. Quick cuts, along with match cuts, were used to move through interviews and evidence; this really reinforced the documentary's narrative flow. 

On the other hand, we also challenged conventional conventions and modernized them to a certain extent, which mainly occurred in post-production as we used a lot of screen recordings as if someone is actually using the social media behind the screen. Through this convention and modern combination in the digital realm, we created a documentary that would converse with young adults yet stand upon the conventional themes of the genre. As we did tons of research, what helped us the most was our general opening documentary research and thumbnail research, as first off we get a general glance of what conventions we should follow and what to subvert; this also allows us to spark the idea we’ll have for this project. As for the thumbnail, I learned that doing lots of research actually cuts back on the development time as we know what general theme we want to follow. However, if I were to do this over again, I would give more time to post-production. While the production phase is not quite complicated, post-production requires detailed work and creativity that can't be rushed. I would have done better in this area with improved time management, which would have enhanced the final result. Fortunately, our weekly progress plan kept us right on track and helped streamline the process. 

Documentary title research & development

Here is my research and development for our documentary title 

Genre: crime documentary 

Sub genre: murder 

Documentary name: 

1. "Digital Deceit: Betrayal in the Click"

2. "Web of Lies: A Friend's Fatal Secret"

3. "The Perfect Match: A Deadly Friendship"

4. "Swipe Right, Murder Left"

5. "Fatal Connections: Trust Turned Deadly"

6. "Best Friend, Worst Nightmare"

7. "Online Obsession: The Dark Side of Love and Loyalty"

8. "Virtual Vows, Real Revenge"

9. "The Double Life: Love, Lies, and Murder"

10. "The Friend Trap: Murder Behind the Screen"

11, Fallacy 

12. Deception

13. Obscura 

14. "Me, Her, & Him" 

I highlighted the words that I believe will be the most catchy for our documentary and we all finally decided on "me, her and him". As we want it to still appeal to our target audience however add a twist as they wouldn't know who's the killer. CONNOTATIONS: MYSTERY, DECEPTION, CONFLICT, LOVE, DRAMA 

Self Reflection: This task actually didn't actually take as long as I thought because Im usually a very indecisive person but with the help of my teammates we worked together in giving our insights on which title fit best which is why it became a lot more effective when we needed to pick our final title. Even though we had many options we knew that we wanted our title to be short and simple in order for it to leave a bigger mystery which is why Im very happy with our final decision because now we don't have to worry on coming up with a title on spot. Thus why I learned that having many inputs on ideas actually make it easier to form one good idea as each insight gets taken in, I also learned what direction were trying to go for more wether it is to subvert or follow the typical convention which my team both follow. 

Thumbnail research & development

Here is my research and development for our thumbnail made by me & Audrey

Starting off with an overall overview of what crime documentary thumbnails look like on Netflix 

Crime documentary thumbnails stick to several conventions. As it helps show what kind of audiences it's trying to target and are the key to pulling in viewers and letting them know what to expect from the documentary's theme and style. First of all we can see that most thumbnails follow the same convention which is by showcasing the face of the main character most likely the perpetrator or victim in a very close up camera angle (direct mode of address) which helps to imply how their emotions give off a sense of secrecy or intimidation. Most of these thumbnails also have a bold/dramatic typography in bright colours (white, yellow, red) in front of dark backgrounds this ensures that the viewers can easily read the text and help convey the message that the word that is emphasized is the main subject of the documentary. Most thumbnails also use a very dark colour palette with shades of grey, black, red, deep blue in order to convey mystery, danger and seriousness. 

Here are two examples that mostly peaked our interest

Here are 2 documentaries in which the thumbnail really intrigued us which is "ice cold" and "what jennifer did". These 2 follow the typical convention of a crime documentary thumbnail, however "ice cold" uses a different approach which is by making it look like it came out of a newspaper and how it uses separate pieces to convey that this persons story has become well known in different news outlets and that this documentary will shine light on each persons perspective within her story allowing the viewers to not be deceived by other media outlets as they shine her on a different limelight. We liked how both documentaries have a ver stylistic choice in the picture and layout which is what stood out the most for us. However we believe that creating a thumbnail similar to "ice cold" would be quite difficult and time consuming as for "what jennifer did" it wouldn't be possible for us to do as the main story of our documentary is about 2 bestfriend's meaning we want to put 2 people as the main focus not just one. 

But here is the thumbnail that we will most likely follow

 

Typography: The title "ICE COLD" is in big, bold, all-capitals font, a clean sans-serif typeface. White text on a dark background helps significantly in readability and gives that stark, cold feeling that agrees with the theme of the documentary. The subtitle "Murder, Coffee, and Jessica Wongso" follows in smaller font, indicating its the subheading from the main title. Typography that feels razor-sharp and stark brings out how dead serious this subject matter is.

Colour palette: Its palette is mainly shades of black, white, and gray to give that cold and sombre atmosphere. The grayscale brings in the documentary and archival feeling; it is as if we are looking at memories of the past. The blood splatters in red create a striking contrast and forthwith direct one's attention to the aspect of violence or crime. The red will add a sense of urgency and danger to the whole composition, which goes in tune with the murder theme.

Lighting and Mood: The general lighting is subduing, moody, and grainy, adding to the dark forbidding tones of the documentary. In addition to the muted lighting, the use of black-and-white photography may suggest a nostalgic, reflective feel; however, blood splatters thrown into this otherwise subdued palette introduce an element of disturbance, an indication that something truly nefarious lies beneath. Choices in lighting and mood create tension on the events that are about to unravel .

Imagery: The most prominent part of the thumbnail would be the two girls with layered photographs of them. The usage of photography would depict personal memories of  when the two best friends were happy together, which would add emotional contrast to the darker elements in the thumbnail. Casual and carefree expressions in the photos, contrast with the violent connotation of blood splatter, which may indicate a tragic twist in their story. It is this conjunction of violence and innocence that stirs any viewer's mind to want to know the background information for the documentary.

This is another version of the "ice cold" documentary thumbnail. We as a team will mostly try to

make this kind of thumbnail because it aligns with the main plot we're going for which is 2 best friends and an online boyfriend. So by showcasing pictures of the 2 best friends together it gives off the impression that they're very close but the audience will question if they're that close what could possibly go wrong. 

This thumbnail however gave us the idea of making a more digitised documentary as there aren't many that do this convention. So we mostly took ideas such as the typography and the effects from this movie.

Development

Self Reflection: This was another tedious task that took me forever, but I actually had a good time. Finding research was relatively easy because most crime documentary follow the same convention so I just added what I liked and disliked for each thumbnail. But the development was a long process, not only did I have to research on typography but other small details like experimenting with effect and different colours, so this actually took the longest in my opinion. I had a ton of drafts to choose from cause we experimented with this right away in canva with no initial sketches which is why making drafts took forever, so next time I should just draw sketches first as it gives me a rough idea and not make me waste time on creating so many different variations. Another part which I struggled with was making sure that people actually liked the thumbnail so I asked feedback from many different which is why this also took up a chunk of time. But nonetheless Im happy with the results because I had feedback from the people around me and as well as my team mates. 

Editing

 Here is our teams editing process made by Chelsea 

EDITING by chelsea tirta 

Self Reflection: As this editing was done by Chelsea we as a group decided to give more feedback on what to add or remove from each clip. We as a team decided to use more of a digitised documentary so we included lots of clips where we screen recorded each part in order for the audience to feel what its like during the specific scenario. When Chelsea was editing I was either there with her when we met up or not we made zoom calls so that we can always check Chelsea's progress and help her whenever she needed it. In this case I helped in finding some of the audio used to build suspense, I also was the camera man with Audrey so we mostly made sure all the clips were in a right angle. However our initial plan was to work on this together but just on Chelsea's laptop but we found out it was hard to manage our schedules to find the right time to do it hence why we met up and try to give the feedback on spot, then once Chelsea finished added all the clips the next day we zoomed together. When we had zoom Chelsea was able to screen share her work and thats when I gave more insights in what was missing such as making one clip shorter in order for it to be more impactful, adding different diegetic sounds to build suspense and as well as adding more zoom ins of some clips so that the audience can understand how we want them to focus on that part. Next time we should spare more time in editing since we finished our the night before the deadline so I learned that its a very long and tedious process especially when we need the agreement of all members. 

Behind the scenes

Here is our behind the scenes for our documentary made by Chelsea & me

INTERROGATION by chelsea tirta BEACH

BEACH by chelsea tirta ONLINE

ONLINE by chelsea tirta

CRIME SCENE by raraa 

Self Reflection: As this blog post was mostly made by Chelsea. I helped in adding some extra behind the scenes that footage that we did during another shoot day where we filmed another cctv footage as well as the crime scene and establishing shot. This task even though it seems easy since we just added pictures and all that. writing for this task was quite hard because even though we know what we did sometimes we just forget as I made this posts days after our shoot. But I realised that it was much quicker to make a full recap of our shoot day in bullet points then expanding it on my own time, so even though it was quick and simple it could take longer depending on how many shots we needed to film during the specific day. I learned that by having notes on hand it makes it easier to compile when we need to do it so next time I'll prepare notes on my phone.