Critical Self Reflection

 This is the critical self reflection for my documentary

Me and my teammates made a plan in a shared document for the critical self reflection, we put in our overall plan together in order to save up some time and effort as we were hours away from deadline. However, we still did our critical self reflections individually.

CR (Critical 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?

Mark Scheme 

AO2: Evaluation

Explain how meaning is created, supported with relevant textual evidence (10 marks)

• Sophisticated understanding of how meaning is created, offering insightful critical comments on the successes of their own product, fully supported with a wide range of examples

• Sophisticated engagement with all four questions

•  A sophisticated understanding of the key concepts

	Documentary	Thumbnail
CR1	How do your products represent social groups or issues?
CR2	How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?
CR3		How do your products engage with the audience?
CR4	How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?

CR1

How do your products represent social groups or issues?
What social groups are included in your documentary?	Teenagers  Students Males Females
What is the preferred reading about them?	Anti-social students aren’t always the perpetrator Popular, friendly girls are secretly deranged  Quiet guys are inferior
How have they been shown? (Technical elements)	Anti-social: Hoodie and long pants  Depressed expression Popular, friendly girl: Light coloured clothings Feminine makeup and hairstyle
What issues are included in your documentary?	Kidnapping Stalking
What is the preferred reading about them?	That stalking and kidnapping are the prepretrator’s out of control actions, revealing their obsessive personality and how dangerous it is towards the victim both mentally and physically
How has it been portrayed? (Technical elements)	Scenes that depicted kidnapping or stalking were shot in dark lighting and either had no music to create suspense and/or had eerie music to create a sense of fear within the audience Cuts to real life photos of the location of the crime after it happened, solidifying the preferred reading about them as there are real life proof
Did your documentary use stereotypes? Why?	The stereotype that seniors in high school are bigger and stronger, and that juniors are inferior and weak. How girls are usually the victim, and how the quiet people are usually perpetrators. We choose to subvert to the stereotypes where instead, a popular girl acts as the perpetrator and the victim is an antisocial man. This would make our crime documentary stand out from the others that conforms to the stereotypes and spread awareness about the possibility of this happening as well.
Write a 300 word summary of your notes: (Please bold key terms and theorists to keep them in mind): (Focus on video)

CR2

How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?
Why is branding important?	In media, branding gives organizations an identity, differentiating them from competitors (other filmmaking organizations). This makes the products memorable as well as the organization. Audiences will be able to recognize the organization by the style and characteristics that are usually used in their products.
What visual similarities do the thumbnail and the documentary have? What is their theme?	Color scheme Typography Imagery Mood and tone Theme revolves around fear, danger, and the impact of these crimes on the victim
What is the purpose of each product?	Thumbnail → grab audience attention Documentary → educate and inform about the impact of crimes and help people be aware of how the stereotypes (that the crime is usually done by men) can be subverted.
How will audiences decode the meaning?	Visual cues Narrative and context Cultural and personal background
Write a 300 word summary of your notes: (Please bold key terms and theorists to keep them in mind): (Focus on video and thumbnail)

CR3

How do your products engage with the audience?
Who is your target audience?	Primary target audience Our primary target audience are teenagers and young adults aged 16-25 who are crime enthusiasts and/or have a fear of getting kidnapped. Secondary target audience Our secondary target audience are parents of high school teenagers, people who live in the same area where the crime happened, as well as psychology students
Demographic?	Young adults and teenagers (16-25) Students Live near the area where the crime happened Psychology students Parents of teenagers
Psychographic?	People who are scared of getting kidnapped Crime enthusiasts
What does your video include to appeal to them?	Interview with perpetrator So they can analyze and know the behavior and habits of a perpetrator Unsettling music and no noise Suspense and engages audience Real photos of the location after the crime  Creates heightened emotions such as uneasiness since they serve as hints of what may be shown later in the documentary, as well as sympathy (?) as the proof shows how real it is
What does your thumbnail include to appeal to them?	Picture of students in uniform Classroom picture
How does your product fulfill all of the uses and gratifications criteria? Diversion Personal identity Social relationships Surveillance	Diversion The suspenseful scenes makes gives them a distraction from everyday lives by giving them an intense story  Personal identity May relate or identify with the victim (as he’s a quiet guy), men don’t usually open up, especially quiet ones  Social relationships Our documentary can spark relationships (friendships, bonds, etc.) between audiences as they discuss the topics Make audience reflect on their own relationships Surveillance Raise awareness Recognize warning signs in perpetrators
How does the thumbnail attract, interest and call to action the audience?	Our audiences would be attracted to the font style of the word “Christopher” as whilst everything else is set for a serious mood, it’s font style is playful and the little heart for the i, may leave the audiences with assumptions that the crime is related to love in which the audiences may decide to watch to check whether their assumptions are right or not.
What hermeneutic codes are employed?	From cheryl’s thumbnail development:  Firstly, I chose to blur the faces of the people in the background to draw the audience’s attention right to the man in the middle in which this would leave them questioning his significance in the story. They may also have questions on why the people in the background are blurred out and what relationship they may have with the man in the middle since they are included in the frame. Overall, it is to increase audience engagement through hermeneutic code.
Write a 300 word summary of your notes: (Please bold key terms and theorists to keep them in mind): (Focus on thumbnail)

CR4

How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?
What are the genre conventions of a typical crime documentary? Camera MeS Sound Edit	Camera Close up/medium shots of victim during interviews Random camera movements during some scenes to create sense of realism to audience MeS Actual crime scene footages Crime/event recreation Filming the victim in the neighborhood/crime place Cold, dim lighting when perpetrator is shown Perpetrator using cold, dull clothes while victim wore either white or warm coloured clothings Sound  Minimal background noise Creepy, eerie music Edit Quick cuts between perpetrator and victim Childhood pictures of the victim/perpetrator Cuts getting quicker and quicker, increasing the pace of the story
Which of these did you conform to? Why?	Random camera movement when shooting the victim Event recreation Filming the victim in the neighborhood/crime place Childhood pictures of the victim/perpetrator Minimal background noise Creepy, eerie music
Which of these did you subvert? Why?	Although we used a close up shot, we interviewed both the victim and perpetrator. Cold, dim lighting and dull clothes when perpetrator Perpetrator using cold, dull clothes while victim wore either white or warm coloured clothings
What research had the biggest influence on your project?
How would you conduct your research differently next time?	More specific to the type of crime (e.g. stalking killing)
Write a 300 word summary of your notes: (Please bold key terms and theorists to keep them in mind): (Focus on video)

When writing your final essay, please don’t write the question and then answer it below. Cambridge are expecting you to blend it all together into one cohesive narrative that evaluates the totality of your work. 

CR2

CR4

CR3

CR1

(Introduce all your products and how they work together)

(Talk about how your researched help you)

(Then how did you choose an audience, and design your texts to appeal to them)

(Finally what groups/issues were represented, how and why)

Below is my critical self reflection.

In media, branding gives organizations an identity, differentiating them from competitors (other filmmaking organizations). This makes the products memorable as well as the organization. Audiences will be able to recognize the organization by the style and characteristics that are usually used in their products. Our documentary and thumbnail will have several visual similarities such as colour scheme, typography, imagery, as well as mood and tone. These visual techniques will create a theme that revolves around fear, danger, and the impact of these crimes on the victim. It focuses on the psychological aspects of stalking and kidnapping, highlighting the unpredictability of human behaviour. Ultimately, the purpose of the thumbnail is to grab the audience’s attention and make them want to watch our documentary. On the other hand, the purpose of the documentary is to educate and inform the audience regarding the impacts of these crimes (stalking and kidnapping). We aim to raise awareness about these issues so that audiences can become more aware of their personal safety and watch out for certain behaviours in criminals/potential criminals, as well as help people be aware of how the stereotypes (that the crime is usually done by men) can be subverted. In order to help the audiences decode the meaning successfully, we have given the audience visual cues (colour schemes, imagery, etc.), as well as context and narratives where the structure and storyline will guide them to understanding the issues. Furthermore, other factors such as personal background, including the audience’s cultural background and personal beliefs could affect how they interpret the documentary and characters. For example, someone who has fallen victim to those crimes may feel or relate to the documentary more intensely than others. 

I had done some research for both the thumbnail and documentary in order to get a better grip on how crime documentaries are typically presented to the audiences such as their conventions, how suspense can be created to further engage the audience, etc. In my research, I found that crime documentaries use certain camera angles and movements, mise-en-scene, sound, and edit which are typical from the conventions of this genre. For example, the camera movements and angles typically used are close up to medium shots of both the perpetrator and victim during interviews, and random camera movements during some scenes to create a sense of realism to the audience. From this, me and my teammates discussed which conventions we should conform or subvert to in order to make a crime documentary that could convey our message efficiently. After many discussions, we decided to use random camera movements when showing our victim to create a sense of realism, as well as event recreation in order to help the audience visualize the events being explained on the voice-over. Additionally, we also decided to use Christopher’s (victim) childhood pictures to humanize him more, making the audience feel empathetic towards him. We also used no music and tenseful music in certain scenes in order to create suspense. However, we also subverted some conventions including how usually it's the victim getting interviewed. We decided to interview both the victim and perpetrator, and got inspired from the ‘I Am a Stalker’ documentary on my research. I felt like this research had a big influence on our project due to the fact that it inspired us to do TV interviews with the perpetrator instead of the victim as well as the medium shots used for the perpetrator. This research has taught me how important time management is as I kept procrastinating and so the results of my research weren't optimal. Moreover, I feel like the research I did on crime documentaries wasn't specific to kidnapping and stalking (what me and my teammates' crime documentary will be about) and although I researched 2 documentaries about those crimes, I still feel like it's not enough.

After researching the typical genre conventions of crime documentaries, we decided to discuss the ways in which we can engage the audience. Firstly, we identified our target audience using their demographics and psychographics, which were teenagers and young adults aged 16-25 who are crime enthusiasts and/or have a fear of getting kidnapped. Our secondary target audiences on the other hand, are parents of high school teenagers, people who live in the same area where the crime happened, as well as psychology students. In order to appeal to these groups, we decided to feature an interview with the perpetrator so that people who fear getting kidnapped, parents, and psychology could analyze it and utilize it for their own needs (e.g. to know their warning signs so they can always watch out”). We had high school student casts for the characters in order to appeal to the target age. Additionally, the unsettling music used in some of the scenes, as well as the no music one creates a suspenseful mood, making the audience engaged as they question what will happen next. Typical crime documentaries use these in order to increase the sense of fear, which appeals to young audiences with a fascination with thrilling films. Moreover, parents of high school teenagers would have the underlying fear of their children falling victim to these crimes, we had appealed to them by using high school teenager characters in our documentary as the main characters. We also used real photos of the location after the crime which creates heightened emotions such as uneasiness since they serve as hints of what may be shown later in the documentary. We had also used a classroom picture with students in uniform for the thumbnail in order to appeal to high school students as well as their parents as they would be most likely to be more curious about the content of the documentary as they can “relate” to it. We also used a font style that would be eye-catching, they would be attracted to the font style of the word “Christopher” as whilst everything else is set for a serious mood, it’s font style is playful and the little heart for the i, may leave the audiences with assumptions that the crime is related to love in which the audiences may decide to watch to check whether their assumptions are right or not. We had implemented hermeneutic codes throughout the whole documentary, an example can be taken from the thumbnail development where faces of the people in the background were blurred to draw the audience’s attention right to the man in the middle (Christopher) in which this would leave them questioning his significance in the story. They may also have questions on why the people in the background are blurred out and what relationship they may have with the man in the middle since they are included in the frame. Overall, it is to increase audience engagement through hermeneutic code. Furthermore, we had ensured that we fulfilled all the needs in the uses and gratification theory by Blumler and Katz. This includes using suspenseful scenes that give them a distraction from everyday lives by giving them an intense story (diversion). As well as the fact that the audience could relate or identify with the victim (as he’s a quiet guy), as men don’t usually open up, especially quiet ones (personal identity). Additionally, our documentary can spark relationships (friendships, bonds, etc.) between audiences as they discuss the topics of kidnapping and stalking as well as make the audience reflect on their own relationships with their classmates (social relationships). We hope that our documentary raises awareness about these crimes so that people can recognize warning signs in perpetrators. (surveillance). 

In order to further attract a wider audience, we decided to represent social groups such as teenagers, genders, as well as anti social students and popular students in our documentary. The preferred reading about anti social students is that they aren’t always the perpetrator. Another preferred reading is that quiet guys are inferior and that popular, friendly girls are secretly deranged. In order to show the audience this, we made the quiet, anti-social guy (Christopher) wear a hoodie and long pants and have a depressed expression throughout the entire documentary while the friendly, popular girl (Harper) wears light coloured clothings and feminine makeup and hairstyle to conform to their stereotypical ways of dressing. We originally decided to discuss the issues of kidnapping and stalking as we would like to spread awareness regarding it. The preferred reading of this topic would be that stalking and kidnapping are the prepretrator’s out of control actions, revealing their obsessive personality and how dangerous it is towards the victim both mentally and physically. We portrayed these readings by making the scenes that depicted kidnapping or stalking shot in dark lighting and either had no music to create suspense and/or had eerie music to create a sense of fear within the audience. We also cut to real life photos of the location of the crime after it happened, solidifying the preferred reading about them as there is real life proof. Our documentary subverted a lot of stereotypes, which includes the stereotype that seniors in high school are bigger and stronger, and that juniors are inferior and weak. How girls are usually the victim, and how the quiet people are usually perpetrators. We chose to subvert to the stereotypes where instead, a popular girl acts as the perpetrator and the victim is an antisocial man. This would make our crime documentary stand out from the others that conforms to the stereotypes and spread awareness about the possibility of this happening as well.