Crime Documentary Self Reflection

 This is my critical self reflection:
These are the questions for the critical self reflection

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?

Branding is important as it gives an identity for our documentary which makes it easier to share a message to the audience and creates a powerful image of the documentary. For a crime documentary, we need lots of elements that will show that it is a crime documentary. Visual similarities are important for branding as they convey the document’s theme and match the expectation from the audience in the thumbnails. For crime documentaries they have a certain type of visual such as a medical mis en scene and using dark and muted colour themes to show the seriousness of the crime.The purpose for each product is to raise awareness about how bullying can impact a student’s life especially when they don’t get help from adults surrounding them such as in the clip, teachers. The document aims to highlight how neglect from adults can cause student’s mentally suffering and causes them to not think straight, in our case tampering with medications. According to the theory of stuarts hall which is the preferred meaning, oppositional is when the audience rejects the message and negotiated is when audience has a balanced perspective. Oppositional reading by the audience will mean that the crime documentary oversimplifies the bullying nature and blaming adults for it, which the audience may believe that they are just blaming adults such as teacher without thinking of other factors that may happen and oppositional reading by audience contrasted with the clip’s message for the audience. However, there is also negotiated reading which the audience understand the key message of the documentary but knows that its multi situational which means that audience can see from both sides.

Our target audiences in these crime documentaries are students, medical professionals and educators as they are most likely to be interested in psychological crime and medical related crime. The demographic chosen for our documentary is teenagers to semi adult from the age 17-25 who are still in the education or early career stage of their life. This is as the settings happened in school, which can relate and connect more to audiences in those ages. The actors are also young adults and teenagers which enhance the impact of the clip. On the other hand, psychographic for our clip is audiences who have strong interest in movies such as mystery and psychological crime in meds which will enjoy plot twists and discuss it as they are interested in that topic. Our documentary contains a narrative that flows from a happy start as the scene is bright and cheerful, starting from the school’s and teachers saying thank you for being a part of regents school. However it takes a turn towards a darker theme and suspenseful storyline. Uses and Gratification is used to reflect diversion where audience watched suspenseful movie to relax and as an escape from daily life, where personal identity if for audience which are into medics helping them reflect and relate to personal experience, Social relationships to talk about it to other audience esp those who have the same interest as they have, and lastly surveillance which they use just for insight in the consequences of bullying. The audience will be attracted by using the thumbnail of our documentary as our thumbnail uses mis en scene such as blood splatter on the prescription which can give the message of harm and breach of trust in the meds. This is shown also using muted colours to show the seriousness of the crime documentary and attract the audience.

 

Crime documentaries often use mise-en-scène with realistic props, set-ups, and lighting to give the narrative a sense of authenticity. These are things we utilise to make our documentary look genuine and interesting. We use dark and low key lighting for mystery and suspense and bright soft lighting whenever there is something positive going on during the film of just doing interviews. As the story progresses, drawing from a light-hearted beginning to developing into more complex on-screen drama, it goes through changes in lighting which help change the emotion of the documentary. Mis en scene also improve the credibility of a documentary where they used medicines, dark clothes and settings. Sound also plays an important role as crime documentaries utilise voiceover narration, background sounds and music to narrate story and evoke emotions. On top of that we also stuck the line by incorporating voiceover narration to describe the happenings and background sounds to create a setting for the viewer. The emotional and suspenseful moments are carefully annotated by the dramatic music underscoring, which adds to the intensity of the crime documentary. Our editing, especially quicker cuts in the tense parts and elongated transitions to emphasise certain bits,into more normal territory for tension and narrative. We also introduced a few crazy effects, like the hand-held jitter camera movements to make our documentary feel more alive and emotional. This allowed for our crime documentary to be different from the conventions but it still fell within the norms of a traditional documentary.

The social groups in the crime documentary are students as victims (also murderer), Investigator, and nurse. Social groups can be represented as said by stuart hall encoding theory which explains how the audience interprets messages from media. The preferred reading is that students are able to do bad things when mistreated, nurses are usually suspected as they are the ones holding the medicines, teachers are always around when bullying happens yet did nothing, and how investigators are smart and diligent who are determined to solve the case. This has been shown from the use of camera angles such as closeups on the investigator’s scene to build up suspense as the investigator was looking straight at the camera gives the sense of urgency and intensity which matches the stereotype of investigators. The issue from our documentary is that there was a student contaminating the medicines as the student has been mistreated by everyone including the school as the student was bullied but the school did nothing even when they knew which causes the student to act badly and seek revenge. The preferred reading in our documentary is mistreating students such as bullying can cause things such as murder as they are angry with the situation and were seeking revenge. This is shown from the tampered medication which in the clip we made is shown using camera angle close ups of tampering in medication which emphasises the student’s action. However, this causes the nurse to be blamed for tampering with meds as the nurse has access. This is shown in the clip by camera angle of a medium shot of the nurse looking hesitant which leads audiences to believe that she is the suspect. This confirms the representation of nurses as she is the only one with access to the medicines. We also use stereotypes for the investigators usually they are portrayed as smart, detailed, cautious, determined which is how the investigator acts in our project. They are all represented to convey a message to the audience about our crime documentary.

Crime Documentary Final Submission

 This is our Crime Documentary Final Submission with the title "Prescription for Deceit"

This is the link incase the youtube link doesn't work: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IK1mrj4wqQwQDvDg2Pdl_ma744h-g8PR?usp=sharing 

This is the final thumbnail!

This is the link incase it doesn't work: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1AcnxRzF2jIaPkuRx3c63hux-wPGvoA0-?usp=drive_link

Self Reflection: I was very happy with the results as it is exactly how envisioned it, Regine edited it very well as they create the perfect amount of mystery and suspense which is interesting. However I think the camera is abit shaky in some parts which also makes some parts blurry. Its okay tho, the results are great! 

Documentary Editing Process

 This is the Documentary Editing Process by Regine

Here is the blog detailing the editing process

Self Reflection: From what i read when she first tried to edit, the audio must be compiled with the camera recorded video's. Since Mr nick told us to clap in order for the sound to have a spike, it is supposed to help Regine find where to start and cut the audio. The music also helps in making the documentary have more suspense as Regine matched them with suitable scenes. I did the research for Fonts to be used in the editing, as we did use some text in the video to inform the audience on what is happening.

research and development on text in documentaries

This is my research and development on text in documentaries which is written and researched by me (Sharon).

How a best friend's betrayal led to a concrete grave. True Crime Documentary. - 2024 (youtube)

This is an example of text in the documentary, the text here was very thin, bolder, more un proportional. Bold is used to show and highlight the importance, they also use red text in this crime documentary as they connotes as dangerous and important. Other then that thin is used to make it seem more unsettling which creates the illusion of more dramatic and artistic which matches the theme of the documentary which is crime. This will make the audience feel the danger and unsettling feeling from the typography.

The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez | Official Trailer | Netflix - (2020)

The text found in this documentary trailer is formal, neat and bold. Bold is simple but very straightforward and clear which reflects on the documentary being serious. They bold the name as the most important part but it made it consistent as to look cohesive and more professional showing the orderliness of the documentary, audience will assume that this is a serious documentary.  

This is our documentary's text. We choose Times New Romans for our first try, this is as it is a mix of formal but thin. Formality is used to show the seriousness of the situation, but also with a mix of thin font as it is used to make the audience feel unsettling 

However since we want to try more fonts for our documentary, I tried some on canva to see which matched our crime documentary more. 

Times New Romans is very bold and neat which creates the feeling of seriousness that can be used for our crime documentary. As Times New Romans are used among formal newspapers, documents, ect then using this in a crime documentary will show sense of authority and professionalism esp when the crime documentary is historical which is why our documentary tried using Times New Romans to convey all these into the audience. 

NewLetter font is similar to Times New Roman. However, they show difference in boldness and formalness from the NewLetter font more thin and long in the edge which shows more informal but not too informal aswell. The reason I was interested in NewLetter is because they are more informal which gives the audience more connection by being more less authoritative.

NewsCycle is very thin, yet they are more formal and clean. I was also interested in that as-well as they are very minimalistic and neutral yet professional which makes it easier for audience to digest information from the crime documentary.  

Tallow Sans Pen is more personalized as the font gives off handwritten look. This can build personal connection between the crime documentary and audience and can give the natural narrative feel to the audience. However since our documentary is filled with interviews from student, investgator then it is already in the formal category.

Jeepers and Charu Chandan Blood Drip is very toward the informal and uneasy type of font. This is as the font creates discomfort from unusual shapes and blood drip, which is more toward the horror type. However, since our documentary is not very vulgar with murder and blood then it does not suit our category even if other crime documentaries use this type of fonts. 

Shadows Into Light Two is a very thin font that I was experimenting with. The font is very light, informal but not unprofessional, subtle. However it is too thin which makes it feel too informal for the audience.

Our final text used for the edits in the crime documentary:

after experimenting with fonts, the font decided to be used isn't in any of the text above as it doesn't click as much with our documentary. However, we used the font Helvetica as it is also widely known and used.  Helvetica is a font which shows formalness, cleanliness and modern feeling to the audience. This is as it looks professional which makes the audience trust the crime documentary more due to the text being straightforward, clean, and easily digestible for the audience to read to make sure audience focus on the crime documentary's narrative

Filming schedule

The filming schedule for our documentary is here below:

Self Reflection: some of them weren't on time as it is hard for us to find good time as a team because of the many assessments we have on that month in the same time with media. However we managed to spil the time sometimes where when one of us did not join we still went along to save time, but we all tried our best to be there.

On the other post of my teammates, i haven't put my name in due to difficulty in writing in excel. Thankfully i managed to learn how to properly write there and managed to put my name in.

Tumbnail Research and Development

This blog post, written by Beatrice and Aurel, details the process of researching crime documentary thumbnails conventions and the development of our own thumbnail to effectively achieve the desired results. 

Conventions of crime documentary thumbnails in general :

- All of these conventions are researched by me.

 

1. Colour Palette 

Red is frequently employed in crime documentary thumbnails since it's often associated with blood and danger, making it a powerful tool for drawing attention to crucial elements like titles or key objects. Across various cultures, red often symbolizes warnings and important signals which helps to make it more noticeable and impactful to the audience. Additionally, dark tones such as deep blue, black and grey are commonly used to evoke a sense of mystery, and seriousness. Monochrome or black and white thumbnails are also prevalent as they convey a somber and intense atmosphere, emphasizing the emotions of the subjects involved.

2. Imagery 

Close-up shots of faces, particularly those of victims or suspects, are often used to create an emotional connection with the audience. These faces, usually showing intense or uncertain expressions, help to build intrigue by hinting at underlying drama. Crime scene visuals such as police tape or establishing shots of the crime location are commonly featured to set the context. Additionally, collages of various images related to the crime are often used to convey a sense of complexity and depth. This approach helps build a tense, serious atmosphere, making the audience feel as though they are on the verge of uncovering something unsettling.

3. Typography

The titles in crime documentaries typically use strong, bold fonts, often in white or red, to stand out against a dark background. This choice ensures the text is easy to read while immediately capturing the audience's attention and reinforcing the crime theme. The bold design also adds a sense of authority and seriousness, aligning with the documentary’s tone.

4. Lighting and Composition

Dramatic lighting is often employed to heighten a sense of mystery, with the main focus (typically a key character or piece of evidence) highlighted, while the rest remains in shadow to reduce distractions. This technique allows the audience to quickly grasp the mood of the scene. The rule of thirds is also used by placing the key character or object off-center to create visual interest. Additionally, parts of the image may be blurred to suggest secrecy or to draw the audiences' attention more sharply to the main point.

Conventions of crime documentary thumbnails related to medicine :

Colour Palette 

Thumbnails related to pills and medicine often feature colors like white, blue, and sterile grey to evoke a clinical or pharmaceutical environment. Red is commonly used to connote danger or urgency, often tied to themes of overdose, malpractice, or drug-related crimes. However, I noticed that white is the most frequently used color, as it conveys cleanliness, trustworthiness, and purity, which are elements typically associated with the medical field. At the same time, it can subtly suggest that something darker may be concealed beneath the surface.

Connotations of each colour may be : 

White > cleanliness, purity, trustworthy

Blue > calmness, stability, professionalism

Red > wrongdoing, danger, urgency

Sterile grey > coldness, hopelessness, sterility 

Imagery

Visual cues like pills, medicine bottles, and syringes are often used to hint the type of crime in the  documentaries. Professionals such as doctors or pharmacists are frequently included (typically with specific facial expressions) to suggest their role in the unfolding events and build intrigue about what might happen next. Addiction-related imagery, such as hands holding pills or distressed individuals, is commonly used to highlight the effects of pharmaceuticals on individuals or suggest addiction. Medical settings, such as hospitals, are often depicted with shadowy lighting, creating an ominous atmosphere. This alters the mise-en-scene to evoke a sense of mystery and tension, subtly instilling feelings of unease and suspense in the audience.

Typography

San-serif fonts are typically used in the thumbnail due to their clean, modern, and professional appearance, reflecting the clinical environment of the medical field. The simplicity of these font aligns with the straightforward nature of medical settings. However these fonts are sometimes paired with distressed texture or slightly skewed angles to create a sense of unease. In line with general crime documentary conventions, the typography often features bold font, with red or white colour. White text is used for key terms to stand out against the background, while red text highlights words associated with danger or crime.

Lighting and Mood 

High-key lighting, such as bright, sterile lights, is often used to emphasize the clinical and controlled nature of medical settings, reinforcing their realism. However, low-key lighting is used by incorporating shadowy areas to create visual contrast between the perceived safety of these settings and the darker realities of the crime being investigated. This use of chiaroscuro (the contrast between light and dark) adds a layer of dramatic tension and mystery. Additionally, the combination of clinical lighting and desaturated colours evokes a cold, detached atmosphere, further enhanced by the minimalistic mise-en-scène, which strips away warmth and human connection.

Reflection : Since crime documentaries aren't something that I usually watched, I initially struggled to come up with ideas for my project’s thumbnail and felt overwhelmed at the thought of designing it right away. As a result, I decided to research the conventions used in crime documentary thumbnails which, allowed me to gather inspiration and develop a clearer direction.

Further Analysis

After researching the conventions of thumbnails, I choose to conduct more in-depth analysis on two specific thumbnails that are likely to serve as key sources of inspiration for the concepts I have in mind for this documentary project.

The two analysis below are researched by me.

Killer Nurse (2022)

A documentary about Charles Cullen, a nurse who was convicted of killing patients by administering lethal doses of medication.

For my team's documentary, which also involves medical tampering leading to death, I find this thumbnail to be a valuable source of inspiration. The use of a close-up camera angle that focuses on the body rather than the face abstracts the nurse's identity, emphasizing the role and actions of the nurse over personal characteristics. This anonymity creates a sense of unease, highlighting the impersonal nature of the crime and suggesting that anyone in a similar role could be dangerous.

The mise-en-scène in the thumbnail also plays a crucial role. The nurse’s uniform conveys the authority and trustworthiness associated with the medical profession, while the central placement of medicines and a syringe on the tray subtly directs attention to the method of harm. These props symbolize the nurse's role in dispensing medication and the potential for abuse of that role. The empty background ensures that the focus remains on the nurse and the medicine. Additionally, by concealing the nurse's face, the thumbnail creates a sense of ambiguity and mystery.

What I like from the thumbnail and how I plan to incorporate them into my documentary's thumbnail : 

• I really like how the thumbnail effectively shows the nurse holding the medicines on a tray, which intrigues the audience by suggesting potential ill intentions done by the nurse. This detail creates a sense of danger associated with the medicine and evokes unsettling feelings. Inspired by this approach, I plan to use a close-up or medium shot of someone holding medicine in our documentary to achieve a similar effect. This will help to suggest the possibility of harmful intentions and build suspense.
• I am particularly intrigued by the concept of abstracting identity, as it adds a layer of mystery and prompts audiences to question why the face isn't shown, thereby keeping the character anonymous. To achieve a similar effect in our documentary, I plan to conceal the face but I'm planning to use the perpetrator rather than the nurse. This approach will help maintain the sense of mystery and keep the audience guessing about the identity of the perpetrator.

The Business of Drugs (2020)

A documentary about the complex global drug trade, focusing on both illegal and legal drugs. It reveals how these substances have become highly profitable commodities.

I selected this documentary thumbnail because it is highly intriguing. The use of a medium shot of the person handling what appears to be a green substance (likely drugs) emphasizes the detailed actions involved in the drug business and underscores the secrecy and precision required. The motion blur in the shot conveys a sense of speed and movement, effectively evoking a feeling of secrecy and urgency.

The mise-en-scene in the thumbnail is crucial. The individual is seen to be wearing mask, gloves, and a long-sleeve shirt. While these elements typically signify cleanliness and safety in medical settings, in the context of a crime documentary, they suggest an attempt to avoid traceability, adding an element of criminal secrecy and precision. The props, though not explicitly shown, are implied through context, emphasizing the drug-related nature of the activity and drawing attention to the documentary's focus on the drug business. The maroon walls contribute to an unsettling tone, suggesting a controlled environment that evokes feelings of danger and seriousness, fitting the themes of illicit activities and the hidden world of drug dealing. Additionally, the individual sitting on the floor implies a low-level or concealed aspect of the drug business, potentially indicating a lower-tier operation.

What I like from the thumbnail and how I plan to incorporate them into my documentary's thumbnail : 

• The use of low-key lighting, with its deep shadows and minimal illumination, really intrigues me as it effectively creates a sense of mystery and concealment, perfectly emphasizing the secretive nature of drug operations. The contrast between the dimly lit background and the illuminated subject isolates key details, making the central focus stand out more prominently. Inspired by this, I plan to apply the chiaroscuro technique when editing my documentary’s thumbnail to achieve a similar effect. I also appreciate how this lighting choice builds a sense of tension and impending danger.
• I like how the title is centrally placed in the thumbnail, as it immediately captures the audience's attention and ensures quick recognition of the documentary’s title, even with a quick glance. The bold font makes it stand out and leaves a lasting impression. Drawing inspiration from this, I plan to center the title on my documentary thumbnail as well. However, I will opt for a slightly smaller font to create a clearer visual hierarchy within the design.

Reflection : After conducting a more in-depth analysis of these thumbnails, I have developed a broader range of ideas for my documentary’s thumbnail. This has helped me better visualize the direction I want to take. As a result, I am now ready to begin creating and designing the concepts outlined below.

The additional analysis below is researched by Aurel.

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

Here I will be presenting the process and development behind the creation of the thumbnail. 

FInal script

This is the final script for our documentary made by aurelia and regine.

Self reflection: We brainstormed alot for the first main ideas, at first I wanted it to be a missing person case or murder case with more suspense and mystery. However since we are still in school with limited properties and budget we decided to go for an easier one such as poisoning at school (still included in murder case but less severe). At first i was sad because i really wanted to make a fun one which is harder but more entertaining, but after seeing the script i told regina and aurelia how i like the plot and the clear vision for our project.