A Level Media Studies - Documentary Final Submission

 Final Thumbnail

Final Documentary

In case the link malfunctions, here is the Google Drive link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IK1mrj4wqQwQDvDg2Pdl_ma744h-g8PR?usp=sharing

Critical Reflection

 This section of my blog will detail my critical reflection

Since the format is not functioning properly on my blog, I've provided the link to my critical reflection inGoogle docs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qKRAPdLSHcndQOuk6DG81RssEi9Sr8uL-HQh9AVKg1o/edit?usp=sharing

In media, branding creates a sense of identity in products which helps attract target audiences effectively making it a crucial part of any good film. Through branding, we can also better encode the meanings we intend for our audience to decode (as according to Stuart Hall’s reception theory. Medicine and education are pursuits that are associated with purity as they are things that help the human race advance as a species. However, we wanted to show how such things could also be tainted through human desires. This is because our preferred reading is to convey the message that students should be treated fairly or they could fall victim into doing harmful actions out of desperation as they too are human and to be human is to be imperfect no matter how ‘pure’ our pursuits are. This meaning shows in the branding we try to create. Both our thumbnail and our video feature white/blue colour palettes as they are often associated with medicine and education (white symbolises purity, blue symbolises trustworthiness) which we contrast with darker elements. For example, in the thumbnail, a white & blue prescription paper is placed in a dark setting with a spray of blood tainting it. The blood here is more symbolic than it is literal, as medicine tampering does not cause bleeding, to show the lives that have been lost due to this incident. The prescription paper can also symbolise the school and the field of medicine and the way it’s been stained by the incident. As you can see, the prescription paper is in fact blank rather than a used one from one of the victims which shows that this incident will still affect the future due to the mark that’s been left by the incident. As for the video, we start by showing the school in a positive light before it abruptly cuts to the news reports of the poisoning to communicate how sudden and unexpected this was for the school. Then, towards the end, our lighting becomes darker as the mood shifts completely which shows the originally positive untainted environment being changed by the poisoning incident

To better understand how we could ensure the meanings we are trying to communicate gets decoded by the audience, we did research into the crime documentary genre (especially into the medical crime documentary subgenre). We noticed that there were certain conventions that commonly appeared and decided to conform to them to appeal to our target audience. These included:

• The usage of interviews as they allowed a narrative to be formed through the different perspectives of characters involved allowing the audience to deduce it themselves which creates a strong sense of engagement that’ll keep our audience watching our video. It also creates a sense of tension and mystery as the audience isn’t directly told the information

• Archival content. We used fake news headlines and news reports from similar cases to not only make it appear more realistic but to take the audience into the perspective of what happened when the events were unfolding which creates a direct mode of address that can subtly invoke suspense.

However, we chose to subvert from these conventions as well. As according to Steve Neale’s genre theory, by subverting from genre conventions, it ensures that a media text stands out and remains interesting. We did this by:

• Using our colour palettes. It’s common for crime documentaries to use darker palettes as the audience would associate it with the darker content. However, as mentioned previously, since ours involved the ‘noble’ pursuits of education and medicine, we decided to show how that has been tainted by using blue/white colours which we then contrasted with darker lighting and colours

• Lighting. We used bright lighting as medicine and education are ‘bright’ pursuits and showed how the event has ‘darkened’ this by shifting our video’s lighting darker the closer we get to uncovering the suspect towards the end as they are being revealed

The subversions are inspired by medical documentaries such as Our Father and The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley as I found it interesting how they were able to create a meaning regarding the ‘purity’ of medicine and the way it’s changed after a crime.

Thumbnails are very often the first impression imprinted onto a viewer therefore we recognize that this is a deciding factor in attracting our target audience and we need to create a thumbnail that can attract our audience effectively. As we want to attract audiences who enjoy thrills and mysteries (especially students, educators and medical professionals that do) our thumbnail features a dark background that illuminates a sense of darkness associated with mystery. The spray of blood may become a hermeneutic code as we imply that something terrible has happened which may provide a sense of thrill to the viewer. The usage of the word ‘Deceit’ implies to the audience of a concealed truth which further amplifies the mystery. Meanwhile, the usage of the word ‘Prescription’ as well as the prescription note may attract the attention of those interested in the field of medicine.

Representation is an important step in ensuring that our meaning gets decoded effectively by the audience since according to Stuart Hall’s representation theory, media creates meaning rather than reflecting it through representation. The most important representation we present in our documentary is the student’s representation. Our preferred reading implies that they are relatively normal people just like everyone else so when they feel desperate they may also do bad things which we show by including other students in the video that the audience can compare. The one shot we have of him is a close up that does not include his face which makes him more mysterious. Another important representation is the nurse. Through her, we represent people who have been wrongly accused. We use a medium shot to best highlight how much being wrongly accused has impacted her as the audience can observe her body language and expressions better. We also try to avoid stereotypes to create depth and realism in our meanings, however, we did show the school investigator as the stereotypical detective. We felt this was best in order to satisfy the target audience through a stereotype often found in the mystery genre.

Statement of Intent

 This part of my blog will detail the statement of intent our group has created for the documentary

• The statement of intent was really helpful, especially since we're working as a team, as it helped us put our ideas down and understand the direction we wanted to be heading in for our documentary
• We had a preferred reading of "treat your students well or it may push them to be desperate and do stupid things" which I don't think carried on very strongly. This is due to prioritizing the tone we were trying to create with our intro. An intro is a crucial part in any sort of film as it's where an audience is first introduced to the film which means we need to give them reasons to stay so, as this is a crime documentary, we prioritized introducing the overall plot while maintaining a good sense of suspense. In the end, our message became a little neglected. 
• I feel like this is also partly due to the perpetrator not actually having any lines or showing up beyond faceless reenactments. As we prioritized the sense of suspense, we kept them faceless and let them live through the words of other characters and the audience's own deductions which encouraged mystery but through this we have neglected their personhood and experiences. Through that, we were unintentionally dehumanizing them therefore not really allowing the audience connect with that message

Filming Schedule

 This part of my blog will detail our filming schedule

Reflection:

• Our original schedule was too packed together which caused some issues as we discovered that some actors/team members were not available on that day which caused us to have to continuously change filming dates and rush towards the end of our recordings. There should've been more communication on this part between parties involved
• Although there were a lot of changes, the filming schedule gave us a starting point and a rough idea of what we should be doing which kept us organized

Editing

 This part of my blog will detail the editing which is done by Regine

Self  Reflection: 

• The entire editing process was done by Regine. My involvement only extended as much as checking on her progress to understand if things were working well. Admittedly, I wish I could've helped by being more involved but it's impractical as it would've made it harder, due to technicalities, to edit so we trusted Regine to take on the process on her own. In the end, her work had exceeded our expectations. It was really interesting to see how the our previous work (storyboard, screenplay etc) was put together into a single cohesive product.

Thumbnail

This part of my blog will detail the research & development for our thumbnail which is done by me and Beatrice

Research

As we are doing a medical crime documentary, I looked into medical crime documentaries specifically to better understand what their conventions may be. 

From here, we can see that, for medical crime documentaries, white is more commonly used compared to crime documentaries from other genres. I assume this is because white is associated with medicine as people often use it to symbolize cleanliness and purity which is what the field of medicine is expected to be. This white is usually contrasted with darker colours which may show this 'purity' being tainted. Medical-related props are also often shown (pill bottles, statoscopes etc) which further emphasizes the medical setting. 

After that I decided to do a more in-depth research. I decided to pick Painkiller: The Tylenol Murders as our documentary was inspired by the Tylenol murders.

Liked:

• The Tylenol murders case is a case of medicine tampering that killed people through the Tylenol that people bought and unknowingly consumed. If you look closely, the dark background is actually a map. This paired with the contents of a broken pill spilling out all over it may symbolize how the medicine tampering has affected various people across a certain area.
• The 'PAIN-' half of the word painkiller is coloured red while the '-KILLER' part is coloured white. This parallels with the pill shown on the cover

Disliked:

• It's not really clear that the background is a map unless you look closely as it is quite dark and the text on the map is quite small. If I were the one creating this thumbnail, I would have made the details on the map (text, roads, etc) in white so that it contrasts with the black and becomes visible.

Conclusion:

I quite enjoy this thumbnail overall and I might be taking inspiration from the broken pill part of this thumbnail for my own. The map bit also got me thinking about ways I could show that this affects an entire school. 

 

Development

After conducting research and reading Beatrice research, we gained a better understanding of what we wanted to do for our thumbnail. However this was met with the realization that we had not come up with a name for our documentary. Beatrice reminded us of this and we immediately started coming up with names.

I rushed to my phone's notepad to immediately start brainstorming name ideas

However, none of these particularly stood out to us. After that, Beatrice sent us her ideas

She asked our group for our preferences and Regine & I found The Silent Dose, The Lethal Remedy, Prescription for Deceit and Misdiagnosed to be most compelling. However, after some further discussion and teacher feedback, we decided to go with Prescription for Deceit. This is because the word 'prescription' provides the audience context for what our documentary will be about while 'deceit' adds an element of intrigue.

Thumbnail Photography

We started by taking some pictures in school during lunch. However, we had some issues with my camera's setting which took up some time to fix and since we had limited time, our end pictures were rushed. 

Some of the blurry pictures

After that, Beatrice focused on developing potential directions we could go with for our thumbnail. Taken from her blog:

"The following day, I began sketching potential concepts for the documentary’s thumbnail, planning to draft four designs using the images Aurel and I captured as references. However, Regine proposed that we re-shoot the images and contributed two additional concepts that she had sketched. Below are the ideas we've developed through our sketches.

[Regine's sketch]

We used Regine's thumbnail concept as the foundation for our re-shoot. Learning from our previous challenges, Regine and I opted to conduct the re-shoot after school, allowing us more time to set up the mise-en-scène and explore different camera angles and compositions. We utilized a phone camera for the re-shoot, with Regine directing the process, articulating her vision for the imagery while taking the pictures. My hand was used to model for the thumbnail, maintaining continuity with my role as the perpetrator in the documentary. However, since one of Regine's ideas involved using medicine or pills outside of their packaging, we decided it would be safer to capture this shot at home to avoid any potential risks. This allowed us to ensure a controlled environment while adhering to safety considerations. 

Thumbnail Image Selections 

Here I will be showing the selected images that we ended up using to develop as potential thumbnail.

Images taken by Regine ↓

These are the images captured by Regine at the school clinic. Similar to our previous concept, we aimed to convey the idea of the perpetrator tampering with the medicine through the imagery. To achieve this, we experimented with multiple shots, exploring two different ways of holding the medicine packaging to better communicate this narrative element.

These are the two images we ultimately considered for our thumbnail. I personally prefer the bottom one (the 5th image) due to its more balanced composition. However, Regine favored the top image (the 2nd image) as she suggested altering the word "Panadol" to "Deceit," which adds a deeper layer of meaning to the design. Furthermore, it presents a more conceptually compelling and thematically relevant idea for the documentary.

Images taken by me (Beatrice) ↓

Initially, I captured a variety of images, experimenting with different camera angles and lighting techniques, as demonstrated in the following example. However, I had to narrow down the selection by deleting some images and choosing the ones that best fit the intended visual narrative of the thumbnail. Below are the images I considered for further development.

These are my initial composition ideas. Aside from the third image (which was taken towards the end of the shooting session), the arrangement of the medicine / pills are intentionally disordered to suggest the pills have been scattered, reinforcing the theme of tampering. However, towards the end of the shoot, I had the idea to arrange the pills in a 'P' shape, symbolizing the title of our documentary, Prescription for Deceit. For compositions 1-3, I considered placing the title in the top-right corner, in line with Regine's sketch. On the fourth image, which features a close-up shot from a higher camera angle, I thought of placing the title in the center, inspired by the 'The Business of Drugs' documentary.

These are my second composition ideas. I decided to remove the cap and the yellow medicine packaging to place more focus on the pills themselves. By using a higher camera angle, I felt this better emphasized the pills while also showcasing the date on the packaging more clearly. This could serve as a subtle narrative device, linking the event’s timeline to the date on the packaging. For instance, the 14/9 appears unpressed, suggesting it should have remained unopened—aligning with our documentary’s storyline, where September 14th marks the day the student suddenly lost consciousness and was rushed to the hospital.

This is my third set of composition ideas, where I employed a similar technique to the second composition by focusing on the pills with minimal distractions. However, this was also when I began experimenting with arranging the pills into a 'P' shape (and re-shooting image 3 from the first composition). Despite these efforts, I find the compositions in this set too orderly, which doesn’t effectively convey the sense of chaos and disruption associated with the tampering of the medicine. Therefore, I’ve decided not to develop these images further, possibly with the exception of the first image.

These are the four images that I plan to further develop. Together with the image that Regine took, I will be experimenting with the placement of the documentary's title to determine which two images are most effective for the final thumbnail. This process will help refine the selection and ensure the most suitable visual representation for our project."

While she was doing this, I was thinking about what I could do for the thumbnail. I thought about how I could relate the thumbnail image to the name to better indicate what the content of our documentary would be which would help attract our target audience better.

Since the title was Prescription for Deceit, I started thinking about how I would be able to involve a prescription in our thumbnail. So, I started creating some fake school clinic prescription templates

Although prescription notes are typically black & white, I picked a turquoise colour to match our school's theme (since that's where the plot takes place) and because it was a colour often associated with medicine. I also planned to print it our put fake blood on it for the thumbnail so I believed that this cooler colour would contrast well with the red of the blood as they are complimentary colours which made it more eye catching. However, Beatrice suggested a more blue tone and created the draft below

I agreed with her decision as blue was more often associated with clinics than turquoise is while still being a complimentary colour to red so I decided to go with her idea.

After that I printed it out. I used old paper rather than using a brand new one as it made the prescription note look more used. Then I applied red food colouring on a paint brush and flicked it at the paper to create a blood spray effect. These are the examples of what the pictures ended up looking like:

After that, we tried to experiment by creating mockups:

Using the mockups, we experimented text placement (such as seen in the above where we were trying to decide whether the text looked better tilted to follow the paper so that it looks like the word 'deceit' would appear as if it were directly on the paper or not) and how different effects (shadows, colours) would affect the thumbnail

We decided to go with this one for our thumbnail. A cooler tone was edited in by Beatrice as cooler tones are more often associated with medicine and gave our thumbnail a 'colder' feeling

We decided to conform to typical crime documentary conventions by using darker colder tones as it suggests the 'darker' contents of our documentary to the audience. Blood is also commonly seen in crime documentaries. Here, we've decided to use it as a symbolic code to show how the medical field (specifically in the school's), shown using the prescription, has been tainted by a gruesome incident. 

Although we mainly conformed, we also subverted a little by not including a person in our thumbnail. This creates a sense of mystery as the suspect's identity is obscured which we feel would better attract our mystery seeking target audience

Self Reflection:

• Thumbnail research helped us understand what we needed to attract our target audience's attention
• I think I should have experimented more with different directions I could've taken the thumbnail by sketching different mockups. However, since we were rushing to get the thumbnail done as soon as possible so we could move on to our critical self reflection, I just immediately started working on my idea as soon as it came to my head. Next time, I think I want to start creating the thumbnail earlier so that I don't have to rush the process

Behind the Scenes

 This section of my blog will detail the behind the scenes for our documentary project

Day 1

Today we shot the scenes for the nurse. I was the cameraman while Regine and Beatrice assisted by directing the scene. Regine took notes for the shots while Beatrice took pictures for the behind the scenes.

Originally we had Ms. Laras as our actor but as she was busy teaching an elective, Ms. Permata stood in for her. Despite the sudden change she did excellently anyways and was an amazing actor. She was really nice to work with.

Day 2

Today we shot our first scenes for the investigator. At first, we weren't sure where to shoot the scene. We had the biology class and the laboratory as options but in the end we went with the laboratory as the biology class was too dark and we just felt that the laboratory suited the scene better as it was neater so felt more professional.

Overall everything went pretty well but we had to cut our recording session short we all had somewhere to go after.

Day 3

Today we shot our final scenes. We started with the interview scene with the perpetrator's friend. We tried out shots at different places, angles and lighting to see what worked best. 

After that we took some of the extra scenes we needed (establishing shots, reenactment, still shots)

Day 4

We took our final scenes involving the investigator & the student.

We shot scenes for the student first but since our original actor, Kanaya, was sick we had to replace her with Lana. We could've waited until she got better but we were really getting closer to the deadline so we wanted to get as much done as fast as possible. Lana was a pleasure to work with anways and she did great.

For this scene, we recorded during our free time in PE lesson so only Regine and I were available to shoot since we were in the same class but everything went pretty well overall. Our only issues were noise and people as we were shooting in the canteen

We then continued shooting for the investigator next after school. We didn't have much time for it though since Mr. Bram had to attend a meeting not long after but we were able to get what we needed regardless.

Day 5 (extra)

After reviewing the footage, Regine discovered that the scene shot for Lana was way too noisy so had to be reshot. We did that today and since Kanaya is better now, we were able to keep her as an actor instead of having to find another actor (like Lana). Having learned our lesson, we shot the scene at the preschool's canteen as it is used much less often therefore quieter. In the end, we were able to get what we need.

Beatrice and I also shot some pictures for our thumbnail. My camera had some technical issues at this time so it slowed us down but all went well in the end

Reflection:

• This blog post helped us keep track of our progress which helped us focus on what needed to be done next
• During the shooting, my hands often started hurting after holding a position for long which caused some shots to become shaky so Regine had a lot to fix in the editing process. I should've communicated this with my team more and tried to find a solution (such as getting a tripod)
• For the scene we originally shot with Lana, we made the mistake of not testing the audio beforehand which caused us to have to reshoot it later on with Kanaya. We should've paid more attention to the environment of our scenes to ensure how suitable it is and start making a habit of regularly checking
• I feel like we should've paid more attention to mise-en-scene. I think at the time I underestimated how important it was and how much mise-en-scene could contribute to bringing a scene to life so I didn't consider it much beyond just the basics.

Location Scout & Risk Assessment

 Here is my team's location scout and risk assessment done by me

Scene 2

Location: Cafeteria

Purpose of this shot: To have a student explain what happened on the day of the event through the perspective of a regular (uninvolved) student
Media language: A close up shot/medium shot that will allow the audience to notice the student's body language and facial expressions in detail to understand how the event may have impacted a regular student
Pros: 

• Outside so good natural lighting
• Shows a natural school setting in the background which emphasizes to the viewer that this event happened in a school and reminds them to empathize with the victims as they were just young learners

Cons: 

• A lot of people so may make the background appear too crowded/distract from the subject
• Potentially really noisy due to regular canteen activities (especially during break/lunch)
• A lot of objects are in the way which may obscure the camera

Alternatives:

• Cafes outside school
• Art room
• Music room
• Chillout room

Risk Assessment

Potential hazard:  

• Natural disasters (tsunamis, earthquakes etc.)
• Hard objects (tables, chairs, utensils etc.)

Evaluate risks: 

• Follow & keep in mind of natural disaster safety protocols
• Be careful with surroundings

Control measure: As students, we should already be familiar with our school's safety protocols in the case of a natural disaster but we will remember to keep in mind of this during shooting and we will also pay attention to our surroundings, as well as team mates', to avoid accidents.

Scene 4

Location: Clinic

Purpose of this shot: Interview scene with the nurse to understand her perspective and show that she is in fact innocent (and additional shots showing the medicine being tampered with, victim collapsing after exiting clinic + still shots)
Media language: Medium shot so that the audience can examine both the nurse's body language and facial expressions as they slowly piece together her innocence as well as showcase how the wrong accusations have negatively impacted her.
Pros:

• Clean and neat which makes it easier for us to shoot without objects getting in the way
• Puts the wrongly accused at the scene of the crime and her workplace which gives the viewer a glimpse into the events that unfolded that day. It allows them to connect the scene to the wrongly accused nurse.

Cons: 

• Important medical equipment is stored here. We may accidentally damage it
• May disrupt medical assistance being received by a sick student
• If the room is occupied (sick student resting) we may be unable to shoot

Alternatives: Hospitals

Risk assessment

Potential hazards:  

• Dangerous objects in the clinic that requires to be handled carefully so we do not accidentally injure ourselves
• Sick students come here so if someone with an infectious illness has rested here, we may unknowingly contract their illness

Evaluate risks:

• Be aware of surroundings and equipment
• Keep ourselves healthy

Control measure: Pay attention to ourselves and our teammates to ensure that we don't bump into anything and ensure that we keep ourselves healthy by taking care of ourselves 

Scene 5

Location: Classroom

Purpose of this shot: Interview scene with the perpetrator's friend which uncovers the true person behind the crime
Media language: A long shot of the perpetrator's friend which isolates the subject creating a completely different atmosphere from the previous scenes and causing a sense of unease in the viewer while highlighting the importance of this scene.
Pros:

• Reminds the audience where the crime took place and who it affected which reminds them of the weight of the tragedies
• Classrooms are usually quiet so better audio quality

Cons: 

• A lot of chairs and tables which may get in the way of recording
• We'd need to find an unused one
• May require permission first which takes up time

Alternatives: Music room, art room

Risk assessment

Potential hazard:  

• Tables & chairs

Evaluate risks:

• Be careful of ourselves and equipment

Control measure: Pay attention to ourselves and our teammates as well as our equipment to avoid damage or injury

Self Reflection:

• The location scout helped us communicate potential locations for the shoot to each other so we can work more effectively
• The risk assessment help us keep ourselves and equipment safe so that we can continue working on this project without hinderance
• I feel like we were lacking in communication for the location scout as we sometimes had misunderstandings/confusion for the purpose of each location. Next time I feel like it'd be better to the location scout together on a shared document so that we understand each other's ideas better

Storyboard

 Here is my team's storyboard done by Beatrice

Reflection:

• The storyboard helped us further visualize our idea and ensure that we can communicate effectively as a team
• As the cameraman, it really helped me understand what shots are needed for each scene. Even though we made some adjustments when recording as we found things that worked better, it gave us a starting point instead of shooting without any guidelines
• I didn't provide much suggestion/feedback other than clarifying some technicalities. Although I am more than satisfied with the finished storyboard, I think some more discussions could've resulted in new angles or insights we as a team could have used. 
• As someone who's working on the screenplay, I feel like we should've finished it earlier which would've given Beatrice more time to develop the storyboard without rush

Screenplay

Here's my team's screenplay that I am working on with Regine

I've volunteered to work on the screenplay as I really enjoy writing. Although I have little experience in writing screenplays but I am familiar with how they work, I look forward to it regardless.

When we were first informed that we would be doing crime documentaries for our project, I immediately knew I wanted to do something inspired by the tylenol murders case. My team agreed and we tried to come up with some ideas together which I later developed in order to have a clearer picture of what we really want. The more developed ideas are as follows:

We then tried to roughly layout what we wanted for the opening:

To ensure accuracy, I followed this article as a guideline. I also referenced recording scripts from Wolf 359, an audio drama podcast I am listening to, as they seem to follow a similar format which helped me gain a better understanding of how it works in an actual production.

Our final result is this:

Reflection:

• I'm glad we wrote a screenplay as it helped us put our ideas down and really understand what we want. That way, the team can ensure that we all know what we're doing and that we have the same vision for the final product
• It also helped as I printed the scripts and gave them to the actors so that they were able to understand their role in the documentary therefore perform their role better
• I am personally not written with the way the last scene was written. I'm not sure if I got the message out effectively through the dialogue
• We should've started the screenplay earlier as we ended up finishing late which caused our storyboard artist, Beatrice, to rush her work to meet the filming deadline
• I should've done more research on more screenplays as I feel like that would've helped me translate the story into a film better

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.