Critical Reflection (CR)

 this blog post contains my critical reflection for my documentary opening 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?

Our brief was to create a documentary package. We made a crime documentary focusing on academic rivalry, aimed at teenagers and young adults who enjoy mystery, tension, and crime stories.

Branding in media is a way a media product or company creates a memorable identity where audiences can easily recognize. Branding is important because it helps media products or companies stand out from competitive markets, since audiences know what qualities or values to expect. In our project, the video and thumbnail work together to create a consistent theme of contrast between the two characters. The thumbnail (fig. 1) shows a half and half photo of the two characters, Rain is shown smiling confidently while Hazel has a flat expression, the documentary shows Rain being socially admired through vlog scenes, while Hazel is represented as reserved and serious from scenes of him studying. By repeating the contrasts, this creates a memorable brand identity. The purpose of the product was to introduce the characters and highlight their differences using conventions such as CCTV footage and interviews. Audiences decode the meaning through consistent contrasts enhanced through facial expressions, behaviours and settings. Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory suggests that some audiences may accept these stereotypes, while others may challenge them. 

(fig. 1)

Research played a significant role developing our documentary as it made me understand and apply genre conventions. From my research, I learned that medium shots are often used in interviews to highlight the interviewees emotions. We used this to make interviews more engaging while also enhancing the characters' appearance and body language. CCTV footage (fig. 2) was another convention I identified, which we also added in our documentary to be used as found footage while also creating realism. Mise-en-Scene also played a big role in our documentary, it enhanced the characters’ social class. We applied this by dressing the rich students with jewelry and accessories (fig. 3) while the nerd we placed books, pens and calculators to emphasize his academic efforts. This contrast reflects the themes of rivalry and inequality. I also noticed sound is an important technical element in crime documentaries as it sets the mood of different scenes. We applied discordant music when interviewees are describing the nerd, which adds a dramatic effect. Lastly, crime documentaries also often use flashbacks with found footage or photographs, we decided to conform to this by using CCTV footage and student vlogs.

(fig. 2)

(fig. 3)

For our target audience, we target teenagers to young adults aged 17-30 years old, as they are mature enough to engage with crime related topics. Our product also aimed at high school or college students, particularly those who relate to academic pressures and competition, which allows the audience to connect with the school setting and rivalry storyline. Our documentary appeals to our target audience as the academic rivalry narrative reflects students' experiences, while conforming to typical crime documentary genre conventions like interviews and found footage, which draws the attention of viewers who enjoy true crime. The suspenseful narrative and discordant music enhances the sense of tension and creates immersion which fulfils the Uses and Gratification Theory of Diversion. The thumbnail engages the audience through hermeneutic codes. The half and half image of the two contrasting characters immediately raises questions like “What conflict might happen between them?” or “How does this rivalry connect to the murder?”. These hermeneutic codes ensure that it captures the audience's attention and encourages them to watch.

In our documentary, we chose to represent the contrasting social groups of high social class students and low social class students to enhance the themes of academic rivalry and social inequality. The high class group was shown as wealthy and socially powerful, this is enhanced through their appearance like excessive accessories and confident body language. In contrast, the low class student was represented as hardworking and under academic pressure, this is shown through repeated shots of him studying alone. These representations were strengthened through technical elements like medium shots to highlight their appearances as well as discordant sounds in interviews when describing him. We also used stereotypes to enhance the differences so it is recognisable for the audience. The issue of academic rivalry emphasizes how privileged and disadvantaged groups shape opportunities and pressures in the school environment. High social class students have financial support for their academics which creates unfair advantages in education, while the lower social class students have to sacrifice their free time to study. By contrasting the two groups, our documentary raised wider issues of social inequality while engaging audiences through familiar stereotypes and visual contrasts.