Here is my self critical reflection essay for the documentary project
CR 1 - How do your products represent social groups or issues?
CR 2 - How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?
CR 3 - How do your products engage with the audience?
CR 4 - How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?
My team has created a crime documentary opening sequence titled 'Prescription for Deceit' that follows the story of an accused nurse of poisoning students.
Products made:
- Documentary
- Thumbnail
Branding is said to be important as it helps establish a distinct identity for a product in the marketplace. To apply this concept to our documentary, we had to maintain cohesion to allow us to effectively communicate our values and convey our preferred reading to the audience. I found that a key aspect of building a brand is ensuring visual consistency between the documentary and the thumbnail- this includes maintaining the medical themes (e.g. doctor’s note in the thumbnail and the nurse’s office in the documentary) and using darker, muted tones to reinforce the serious mood of both products. Because our aim with our product is to raise awareness about the severity of bullying and the potential it has to negatively affect a person,, we would encode our product with these messages to be interpreted by our audience. This can be seen in the diegetic dialogue "to make them pay for what he had to endure" to explicitly tell viewers that the malicious act was out of revenge, not personal satisfaction. However, we must acknowledge that not all viewers will deconstruct the documentary in the same way. According to Stuart Hall's theory, there are three types of audience readings: preferred, oppositional, and negotiated. Whilst a preferred reading from the audience would align with our perspective (agreeing that bullying can lead to serious harm, either to the victim or others), an oppositional reading might challenge this view, suggesting that the responsibility lies with the students themselves rather than the lack of adult intervention. Finally, a negotiated reading would recognize that persistent bullying is a urgent matter, but might argue that both adult negligence and individual circumstances contribute to the problem.
My research informed me about many genre conventions in a crime documentary, such as the use of archival footage, diegetic voiceover narration, slow-paced editing, eerie non-diegetic score, low camera angles to make subjects seem more threatening paired with a medium shot of the interviewees to guide viewers to pay attention to the acting and emotions displayed on the characters face, and a generally dark mise-en-scene. I conformed to most of these features in my documentary to ensure it felt familiar and met audience expectations of the genre. However, I also explored ways to subvert typical conventions to make my product seem new to better attract audiences. One notable change I had done was building the documentary's foundation around a calm, positive atmosphere. This was intentionally done to add a fresh, original aspect to my documentary as the technique not often used in the genre and as a plus, the approach works well in creating a stark contrast between the beginning and climax to develop tension and suspense as the narrative progresses. I had also made the deliberate choice to show a subtle hint of personality to the investigator's character. Near the end, the investigator (who has been potrayed to be serious) flashes a smile that introduces an note of arrogance. This moment not only breaks from the conventional and stereotypical stoic demeanor of a professional but now makes the character more engaging by giving them a layer of intricacy. These decisions were inspired by my prior research of analysing and picking out my favourite parts from other documentaries of the same genre. It had given me the opportunity to explore how suspense can be built by prolonging time, increasing uncertainty and raising the stakes of the situation. I believe I could have delved deeper into my research in my next projects as there’s always room for more exploration and experimentation to further refine my approach by having a higher quantity of research.
By analyzing the psychographics and demographics of our target audience-understanding their behaviors, values, beliefs, and interests- we gain insight on how to effectively engage with our audience and tailor our content to specifically appeal to them. For instance, to engage Indonesian teen students, our documentary includes student interviews that use informal and casual language, helping it become more relatable with audience that share the same pattern of speech. Additionally, by using the real names of the actors, it provides more authenticity on the potrayal of Indonesian characters to accurately represent the cultural context of Indonesian/Balinese names. This may also bring an added bonus as the documentary aquires a heightened sense of realism and relatability to create a stronger connection between the audience and the story. Furthermore, the documentary avoids showing any negative bias towards non-fluent English speakers by representing them equally alongside fluent speakers. One way we apply psychographics is by considering the audience's uses and gratifications as found by Blumler and Katz. For viewers seeking diversion, our documentary offers a thrilling and suspenseful storytelling while those who are after iinformation/for surveillance can gain an indepth understanding into the psychological effects of bullying through this specific case. Viewers interested in personal identity are encouraged to reflect on their stance and attitudes towards bullying, particularly in less obvious situations. Lastly, for those who watch for social relationships, the documentary encourages and serves as a starting point for discussions about bullying and a persons personal experiences within their social circles.
To attract our audience's attention, my team and I created a thumbnail designed to spark curiosity. My team achieved this by incorporating a hermeneutic code with the title "Deceit," that suggest the documentary covers hidden truths and invites the audience to question what is being concealed and why. As viewers are likely to wonder who is deceiving whom, what is being hidden and how will it unfold as well as the reason behind the deception, their curiousity and anticipation for the answer will only grow. This would likely result to attract clicks to our documentary. By using our understanding of technical elements and their connotations, I am confident that we intentionally represented students, professionals, and Indonesians in a meaningful way. Following David Gauntlett's idea that representation is no longer simple but are now complex, I aimed to depict students with diverse range emotions and opinions. This complexity is reflected in the mise-en-scene, where each student interviewee wore a shade of blue, but each conveyed different meanings. The character 'Kanaya,' dressed in turquoise, symbolized confusion and feeling lost, while 'Regine' wore royal blue to represent confidence, self-assurance, and authority. Moreover, the anonymous student, dressed in dark blue, evoked sadness and melancholy. These visual cues were further enhanced by the characters' behaviours- concerned, certain, and solemn respectively. On the other hand, the portrayal of professionals adhered to the respective stereotypes of their professions in Indonesia. Using Indonesian cultural codes, the male investigator was depicted as serious and intellectual through his stern tone, while the female nurse radiates hospitality and care, highlighted by the gentle glow warmth on her face. With these portrayals that aligned with cultural expectations in Indonesia, we are able to connect with Indonesian audiences to a greater degree. Additionally, we consciously avoided reinforcing negative foreign stereotypes of Indonesians as poor or violent, which are often associated with developing countries. This was to ensure that our documentary did not contribute to the cultivation theory by George Gerbner for foreign audiences that may alter their idea of Indonesian people. To avert the stereotype, we ensured that our actors were neatly dressed and showcased the vastness of the well-developed school infrastructure. At the same time, we embraced positive stereotypes, such as cultural pride, through the use of the principal's speech done in Bahasa Indonesia (adding translations for our foreign audiences) to express gratitude and the inclusion of modernized traditional clothing (Batik)