Pre-Production: Preliminary Research

Weekly Progress + Plan

This is my weekly progress, as well as the problems I encountered and the solutions to them. These were written by me.

Week 1

What we did?

First week after our first term break. For the remainder of grade 12, we'll be working on creating music video.

This week, we learned about media ecology and how new technology affects media. Media ecology is how technology and media influence and shape our behavior and society. I also did Preliminary Research.

Problems

I haven't finished my individual research on songs of the genre my team chose: pop. My team and I also haven't come to a decision on which song to create a music video of.

Solutions

We'll decide on a song soon.

Week 2

What we did?

We began with our genre research. We also learned about various convergences: like technological convergence, textual convergence, etc.

Problems

Internet didn't run smoothly during one of the media classes, so the teacher could only teach using the presentation available locally. I also still struggle remembering the definitions of each of the convergences.

Solutions

I need to learn harder.

Week 3

What we did?

Continued with genre research and song selection.

Problems

At first, we wanted to pick Just Keep Watching by Tate McRae for our music project. But since the song features a female voice and we didn't have a female in our group (recruiting a suitable one would take too much time, and our schedule was tight), we decided to choose a different song instead.

Solutions

We decided to have each of us pick a song and conduct a vote to decide.

Week 4

What we did?

We began creating our storyboard and statement of intent. My teammate, Kenzo participated in a 2-day sports competition, so he couldn't come to school. Because of that, the rest of us made the statement of intent without Kenzo. But later, we showed it to him and he was satisfied.

Problems

At first, we wanted to pick Just Keep Watching by Tate McRae for our music project. But since the song features a female voice and we didn't have a female in our group (recruiting a suitable one would take too much time, and our schedule was tight), we decided to choose a different song instead.

Solutions

We decided to have each of us pick a song and conduct a vote to decide.

Week 5

What we did?

This week, we started doing location scout and risk assessment. It took some time for us to decide which locations to feature in our music video, but we finished it on time.

Problems

We weren't able to finish parts of the storyboard and moodboard.

Solutions

We'll make sure to finish them in our free time at home, so we can focus on the remaining tasks.

Week 6

What we did?

This is our final week before semester exam. The teacher allowed us to finish Comp 3 during media studies period this week, which gave us enough time to finish our tasks. Though, we did miss out on a classwork about media theories.

Problems

We didn't have a proper schedule and were running out time, which led to me getting stressed out.

Solutions

We'll do finish them on the weekend and add them to our blogs. I also need to double-check the contents of my blog, making sure everything has been included and there's nothing missing.

Week 7

What we did?

This week we completed our planning, and reworked on our schedule for our filming sessions before our semester break.

Problems

Solutions

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Week 1

Throughout the semester break, we were each equally busy, so we were unable to film. But, we plan on shooting very soon now that we're all free and back to school. Our teammate, Arnold, was still on holiday at Java during this first week, so we couldn't discuss with him face-to-face. At class, we learned new theories, such as the theory of stardom which talks about the 5 criteria that makes someone not just an artist, but a star, remembered by fans for years to come. These 5 include: success, ordinariness, consumption, love life, and downfall. Our teacher also introduced us to brand identity which is the impression that a message gives out by certain artists that makes them recognizable by the audience.

Week 2

This week, our teacher introduced us to the colonial gaze, which is often associated with: "non-western people lack voice and agency", "centered western perspective", "exoticisation of the 'other'", "erasure of historical context", "power imbalance in storytelling", and "language". We also learned these key words often associated with colonial gaze, which are: "eurocentric", "othering", and "double consciousness". Colonial gaze is basically how white supremacist is shown as more advanced and powerful, while people of color are considered old-fashioned, exotic, and weird. We began shooting on Friday this week, but we were unable to finish everything, so we'll continue shooting next week. We'll also be awaiting our teacher's suggestions on our music video so far.

Week 3

This week the teacher revised on Power and the Media. We were also taught about the Fandom theory by Henry Jenkins which talks about different levels, which are: "semiotic", "enunciative" and "textual" productivity. Semiotic fans consume and negotiate their own readings. Enunciative fans are more active in their consumption, being more engaged with showing their interest by copying clothing, makeup, fanspeak, etc. We were also taught about a theory by Clay Shirky called "End of Audience", which states that there are no more passive audience, since they expect the media to be interactive (e.g., being able to interact with producers), media production being more democratic, and media corporations having less power over the media.

Week 4

This week, we were given time to do our projects during class, where we were able to ask for opinions from our teacher regarding our progress and the editing of our music video. Our teacher suggested for us to add more stories of our artist's daily life to fill up the page. We also need to have at least 9 posts in total on our account. I'll be finishing off our video project, as well as the BTS, digipaks, brand research, social media account, editing process, screen test, weekly progress and anything else we need to complete. Me and Kenzo have been doing the digipak, while Arnold is adding finishing touches to the editing of our music video. We've also had the Instagram account set up earlier this week, and we've added all sorts of posts, stories, and highlights to the page.

Reflection:

Despite sometimes forgetting to jot down my progress, it has really helped me set goals and track my improvements, as well as allowing me to reflect on the mistakes that my team and I made in order to not make those same mistakes in the future. Admittedly, sometimes I found writing down my progress here to be time-consuming, but after realising the benefits of it, I've been finding it quite helpful. As seen in my Weekly Progress above, I often had little time left to complete some of my tasks, meaning that I need to manage my time better as to keep myself on schedule, especially since this is my last media project before I graduate.

My Team

My team for this music video project: Kenneth (me), Kenzo, Candra, Arnold.

Brief

Final Documentary & Thumbnail

Final Documentary

 Thumbnail

Critical Reflection (CR)

Below is the Critical Reflection of our documentary project that I wrote, answering the questions provided by my teacher below.

Questions for the CR :

- How do your products represent social groups or issues?

- How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of 'branding'?

- How do your products engage with audience?

- How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?

My team and I produced a crime documentary intro titled The Final Bell: Thirteen Seconds, alongside a thumbnail. This documentary centers on a school bombing that was caused by a student.

Branding in media is commonly known as the factor that allows the audience to create and establish connections through distinct and recognised themes, making it easy to associate between a media text and another. Branding is also important because it helps create a sense of coherence throughout the story, making it clearer and easier to follow for the audience. Throughout our project, branding was established between the darker muted colors on our thumbnail and similar muted colors found within the documentary intro. Another example of branding in our project is the image used on the thumbnail, which is a CCTV point-of-view of the classroom, which the footage can also be found in the documentary, when the bombing took place. Also, branding is present in the bold clear yellow text on our thumbnail, which symbolises danger and toxicity, much like the theme of our crime documentary, which is school bombing. The audience can now establish a connection easily between the documentary and its thumbnail because of the distinct themes found on both.

My research on various crime documentaries, mainly the ones on Netflix, prior to our shooting helped us immensely in calculating the challenges we might face throughout the making of our documentary, as well as giving us the ability to plan ahead and visualise the final product. The first form of research that we did was Location Scout, in which we researched areas nearby that suit our vision and needs. Then, we also researched various crime documentary intros, which was really helpful in showing us how the bigger budget documentaries pull off their first few minutes. This allowed us to base our documentary intro to those typically seen on streaming sites, as well as giving us the ability to summarise and follow the conventions typically found in these crime documentary intros, such as 911 call voiceovers, interviews, images of the criminal, etc. We also used bold typography, eerie music, and jump cuts to emphasize instability. While editing our intro, we also researched various crime documentary thumbnail designs, images, fonts, and color theme. This allowed us to make our thumbnail based on the style of those commonly found in crime documentaries on most streaming sites.

To choose an audience for our crime documentary, we looked into the typical age ratings of these crime documentaries, which are mostly TV-14 and TV-MA, meaning for people ages 14 and above. This is because of the weight of some of the scenes and footages showcased in most crime documentaries, as well as the potential unsettling and violent imagery of those crimes and how detailed they've been described within those documentaries. Also, people in this age group would better relate with the school-related problems covered in this documentary. Our documentary is centered around a school bombing, which includes a fight scene as well as moments of despair, so we've decided that our target audience would be mature teens and adults, as some scenes in our documentary wouldn't be suitable for children. To appear to mature teens and adults, we added longer interviews which will appeal more to people of this age group, as well as more photos, crime footage, and 911 voiceovers to put the event in better context.

The groups we represent in our crime documentary are various. First off, we represent women as key part of the bombing; one being the bomber, and some being her female friends. They are shown multiple times, mainly through group photos. The female bomber subverts audience expectation of a typical male criminal. We also represent students, along with their point of view through interviews, and their different roles in the events leading up to the bombing and how they are related to the bomber. Not only that, but we also have interviews of teachers, who provide the story of the bombing through their eyes, a different take to the story. This plays a huge role in showing the audience how no one truly expected the bomber to do such a thing. Our documentary also tap into the victims of this bombing and the people close to them who are deeply affected. This is important as to humanise the victims and make the audience feel bad and sorry for these unfortunate individuals. Not only that, but we also represent bullying and its impact on certain individuals.

Thumbnail Research + Development

The presentation below contains the Thumbnail Research for our documentary project.

I also did some of my own research on crime documentary thumbnails below prior to the making of the presentation above.

The purpose of thumbnails is to show the audience a glimpse of what the documentaries are about, which in this case are all related to crime.

What stands out from the image above is the constant use of bold fonts, which conveys that the crimes are big and daring.

I personally like the thumbnail of A Deadly American Marriage the most.

I've chosen these 3 thumbnails to analyse.

The color is bland and gloomy, conveying that something isn't right.

The image shows a couple's marriage, but they look eerily unhappy in the picture.

The font is large, bold, and in all capital, hinting at a bold crime that had taken place.

The color is dark blue, adding a layer of mystery and eeriness for the audience.

The image shows a missing person paper floating in a rocky sea, and a cruise ship in the background. These hints tell the audience a bit of where it might've taken place.

The font is bold, clear, and in all capital, hinting at a mystery-packed documentary that the audience will surely enjoy.

The color is dark and shadowy, prompting the audience to feel uneasy and threatened.

The image shows the silhouette of a mugshot of a woman, blended together with an image of a man's silhouette in front of a door. This image, paired with the title, gives the impression that the man entering the room is about to commit a crime against the woman.

The font is white, clear, and in all capital, suggesting the documentary will showcase bold stories of relationship-related crimes.

Editing

Tisha did the editing for this documentary project. She also created the presentation below.

I also found this guide on Netflix's Partner Help Center which discusses the formats and requirements that must be met for a Netflix documentary.