Research

 This will be for my research


The Final: Attack on Wembly, Netflix (2024)

Sub-genre: 

Sports crime documentary

Target audience:

The documentary focuses on the events of what happened during the final tournament of the European Championships in England so most of the groups represented here are adult white British men who were in some way involved in the event. They are shown to be violent and lack manners as we see them celebrating England getting into the final by drinking, partying wildly and acting aggressive. Although they do not represent English men into sports positively, I still believe they are the intended demographic as they are the most likely to be interested in what exactly happened that day as it concerns their country. 

Conventions used

• Suspenseful music: Throughout the opening, the musical score often crescendos creating a suspenseful tone as it makes viewers feel like something big is about to happen. This technique is commonly used in crime documentaries.
  
• Interviews: In the opening, we see multiple people, all involved in different ways, being interviewed about their version of events. This allows the viewer to pick up the facts and piece together their own idea of what happened which makes the viewer feel more involved and therefore more interested and willing to engage with the documentary so a lot of crime documentaries often use interviews.
  
• Archival footage: We see that a lot of the footage in the documentary uses footage from the past taken during the day of the event. Crime documentaries often use this as it shows viewers a glimpse of the reality of how things really were during the day of the event. It brings a sense of realism which is a clever way to add to the suspense.

Did this opening conform/subvert to conventions?

Although this documentary conformed to a lot of conventions such as the ones mentioned above, they still subverted from the crime documentary genre conventions a lot. Not only is sports crime not a commonly discussed crime in crime documentaries, throughout the documentary there are some aspects where they've subverted from the genre. These include

• Maintaining a celebratory/uplifting tone throughout the beginning of the intro: Most crime documentaries usually begin with a more somber tone. Rather than joy, they are usually quick to express the horrible impacts of the crime which creates an upsetting mood. Here, the documentary begins with expressing how great that England was finally able to make it into the final and how people were celebrating it. It makes the viewer feel excited about the accomplishment as well but this tone was cleverly shifted to express how dangerous this excitement truly was as the documentary started showing people getting drunker and therefore more violent from their celebrations.
• Using day light/generally brighter lighting: Here the crime documentary uses bright lighting throughout when most crime documentaries usually use dim lighting that make the crime feel darker. Even so, it makes more sense here as the events happened in the day and also matches the overall misleadingly positive tone the documentary tries to bring. 
• Showing joy rather than negative emotions: Most crime documentaries open by showing how victims/people related to them were affected or details about how horrible the crime was which shows the viewer a lot of negative emotions but here, it subverted from that convention by opening by trying to make the viewer understand how big of an achievement England making it into the final was. Not only did they have people express how long it has been since England was able to make it so far, they showed how excited the English were by showing archival footage of their celebrations which showed a lot of people's happy faces and having people involved recall the joy they felt

How was suspense created?

Camera

• Establishing shots of the stadium in England shows it in full-scale which emphasizes a feeling of grandiosity which further pushes the idea of the grand scale of England's achievement. It tells the viewer that something grand is happening.
• Slow panning footage makes the viewer feel anticipation as they gather the information shown on screen (character's feelings, situation of the environment around)
• High angle: Makes the subjects feel bigger and therefore making the viewer feel smaller which highlights the sense of powerlessness against the chaos of the events unfolding.
• Medium shots: The documentary makes use of medium shots in interviews which, although may not directly add to the suspense, offers viewers access to the interviewee's body language and expressions and shows how they change progressively as the events unfolding started becoming more chaotic.
• Archival footage: Archival footage puts the viewer into perspective of what happened on the day which allows them to come up with their own ideas and conclusions through the information they have gathered from the footage shown therefore keeping their attention and anticipation.
• Close ups: Keeps the audience focused on the subject making them pay close attention to the little details and anticipate the upcoming scenes.

Sound: 

• Suspenseful music: Here, the music gradually shifts to suspenseful which makes it an effective build up for suspense in the audience
• People cheering: Although people cheering is often associated with positive emotions such as joy, I feel like, when paired with the events gradually being revealed to be more upsetting, it can create an effective sense of unease in the audience as this is not something people should be cheering on

Mise-en-scene: 

• Some of the interviews places the interviewee in a pub-like setting which is where people get alcohol which correlates with being drunk which is one of the reasons people were acting violently

Edit: 

• Cutting archive footage next to interview footage

What parts were inspiring?

I really liked how the mood was lighter in the beginning which helped viewers understand how big of an achievement this must be for English football fans but the tone gradually shifted into something more suspenseful that showed how dangerous the infectious excitement people had really was. This makes the opening more intriguing to watch as it leaves the viewer wondering how it was that everything got to that point

Worst Roommate Ever, Netflix 

Sub genre: True crime murder documentary
Targe audience: 

Conventions used:

• Revisiting location
• Interview with victim
• Suspenseful music
• Quickly flashing images
• Contrapuntal sound
• 911 calls

Did this opening conform/subvert to conventions?

This documentary very heavily conforms to crime documentary conventions

How was suspense created?

Camera: 

• Zoomed: Focuses on the subject which builds anticipation in the audience
• low angle when showing the victim: Shows the victim as weak and vulnerable, making the viewer nervous for them

Sound: 

• Very heavy and suspenseful music: Builds up, making the viewer feel tense
• camera flashing sound effects: Implies that the crime is being investigated which makes the viewer feel intrigue
• The music goes quiet: Makes the audience expect something

Mise-en-scene:

• Revisited the crime scene: Shows the viewer where it happens and makes them wonder about it
• Victims are interviewed in a dark homey setting: The dark lighting makes the viewer feel uneasy as it contrasts with the homey setting

Editing: 

• shows images quickly flashing: Makes the viewer feel like events happened quickly, like in a 'flash'
• old pictures of victim and perpetrator: Unsettles the viewer by putting emphasis on the betrayal as it shows them how they were able to get along before

What did you find inspiring?

I find it fascinating that the documentary takes the viewer to the scene of the crime as it gives them a glimpse into what happened on the day which makes them wonder about the crime that way leaving them thinking even after the documentary

After gaining a general understanding of how crime documentaries worked, I decided to focus on analysing medical crime documentaries as that's the subgenre our crime documentary would fall under.

Our Father, Netflix

Sub-genre:

Medical crime

Target audience:

Conventions used:

• Interviews
• Hallways with moody lighting
• Dark lighting
• Shows some-sort of investigation (room of evidence & notes, investigator interviewed, police shown etc.)

Conform/Subvert:

This documentary shows the victims while letting them tell their stories and shows the crime being investigated so, narratively, the documentary conforms to conventions. However, the colour palette is mostly cool/light and includes brighter lighting (although there are some parts that are darker than the rest) which subverts from the expected conventions of a crime documentary

How was suspense created?

Camera:

• Establishing shot of a neighborhood implies the scale of the people affected which makes the crime feel more intimidating
• Close-up focuses on the subject (doing DNA test, DNA test results etc) makes the audience anticipate the result
• A slow tilting medium shot with the perpetrator (the doctor) makes the viewer anticipate what is about the come and feel anxious about him 
• Towards the end of the trailer, there was a scene where the authorities were shown at a low angle in contrast to the perpetrator's high angle which presents him as intimidating/dangerous to the audience

Sound:

• Ticking sounds as the number of the siblings rise whenever the "SIBLINGS #-" text shows on screen which creates anticipation in the audience
• Fast music makes the viewer feel like the events are unfolding really quickly, inducing stress in them
• Slow intense beats in the beginning builds up anticipation
• Whooshing sound effects connotates information being revealed which makes the viewer feel tense
• Pauses in the music makes the viewer anticipate the scene

Mise-en-scene:

• The usage of a home setting reminds viewers that this crime impacted families (homes are associated with families) so invokes a sense of anxiety as it reminds them that this crime hurt families
• Blue/white colour palettes are often used which is associated with medicine. The perpetrator is dressed in these colours to remind the audience that he works as a medical professional. This is then contrasted with the usage of red in who we can assume is one of his children (due to blonde hair being a mentioned common feature of them) as we see them seemingly investigate the crime. This creates a binary opposite to him which creates tension between the two therefore the viewer also feels this tension
• Towards the end, we see the doctor being placed positionally slightly higher than the authorities (as an investigator talks about how his crime isn't really within the law's reach) which implies to the audience that he is unstoppable

Editing:

• Text is used to indicate the number of siblings that exist which shows the audience how much this man has done the crime hence making them feel intimidated by him
• Jumpcuts of siblings faces that compares them to one another and shows the audience their similar features and shows them the people affected which makes them feel anxious

What did I find inspiring?

I like the usage of lighting and colour. Since medicine is a field often associated with purity, colours such as white and blue are often used to represent this. However, purity is contrary to the crime so, although the perpetrator is often shown in bright lighting, he is shown in dark lighting when alone which implies purity being tainted and that there is a 'dark reality' to him. There is also the appearance of who can be assumed to be one of the children wearing a red hoodie which is a complimentary colour to red therefore implying a binary opposite

The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, HBO

Sub-genre:

Medical crime documentary

Target audience:

Conventions used:

• Pictures of perpetrator
• Interviews
• Usage of blood

Conform/Subvert:

This documentary mostly subverted from crime documentary conventions as it used a lot of bright light and cool bright colour palettes

How was suspense created?

Camera:

• Close ups
• High angle
• Zoom
• Over the shoulder
• Pan

Sound:

• Fast paced
• Glass break
• Music stop

Mise-en-scene:

• Mostly white colours except for Elizabeth
• 
  

Editing:

What did I find inspiring?

Reflection

• This research has helped me understand the conventions of crime documentaries and how I can conform/subvert to them to enhance different meanings
• It's also helped me familiarize myself with different media techniques and how I can best utilize them in my own project
• This was my first time doing research for a media studies project so I was not too familiar to how research works. I first wrote too little as I didn't really understand what I was doing yet but after receiving feedback I ended up writing too long which took a lot of time and made the task feel much more daunting than it really is so I ended up a bit unmotivated when doing the task. However, I talked to Beatrice for some guidance and looked at my teammates' research which helped me understand and focus on what was most necessary in my research.