Critical Reflection

Here is my critical reflection essay for my crime documentary project. This whole blog post is written by me (Chelsea). 

Here are the questions that needs to be answered for the critical reflection:
Q1 - How do your products represent social groups or issues?

Q2 - How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of 'branding'? 

Q3 - How do your products engage with the audience? 

Q4 - How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions? 

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My group were asked to create an opening from an original crime documentary TV programme, lasting approximately 3-5 minutes. We decided to create a murder-crime documentary named, "Me, Her, & Him", which is targeted towards South-East Asians teenagers to young adults above 17 years old. This documentary tells about the murder of a teenage girl who is about to enter a new beginning of getting into a university with her best friend, however involved in online dating which led to her uncanny death. 

Branding is a crucial step to strengthen the public's perception and to increase awareness. In this project, we have made a crime documentary video and a thumbnail. It is important for us to ensure that the brand values and messages are reflected in the main theme of our crime documentary. According to Stuart Hall’s reception theory, the audience plays an active role in how they interpret, respond and decode messages. Hence, our dominant reading is to be careful with toxic friendships or over-possessive ones, as it can end up fatal if not resolved. We show this by the use of technical elements of hand-held cameras to bring a sense of nostalgia and how real their friendship is through the camera. By using the same colour scheme, fonts, tone, and style across our thumbnail and the whole video, we further improve recognition and encourage viewer familiarity and interaction. We also wanted to include screen recordings of phone calls and video calls that we want to incorporate for our thumbnail. Additionally, glitch effects were used to bring attention to issues with the usage of technology. Audiences now can easily identify what sets our product apart from other similar crime documentaries.

Conducting research regarding several crime documentaries allows me to understand the conventions of this genre. We follow these conventions in that a slow to fast paced is thought to establish the atmosphere and tone while also giving a preview of what can happen next. Our crime documentary began with a relaxed tempo, aided by lengthy voice-over narration and extended, still shots, as well as a melancholy soundtrack. As it develops, the tension progressively increases with increasingly frequent rapid cuts and an unsettling, more suspenseful soundtrack. Additionally, we used CCTV footage to depict Clara, the primary character, being questioned and interviewed about how she felt about Sasha. But we subvert the convention of revealing the guilty at the conclusion of the crime documentary's opening. The use of direct mode of address when Clara finally turned to face the camera grabs viewers' attention and cultivates a sense of intimidation and connection. We kept the audience engaged by keeping the killer's true motivations hidden from the beginning, and we did this by using hermeneutic codes from Barthes' Five Narrative Codes. This makes the reader curious about how the story will turn out in the future and generates a sense of mystery. Since we want the audience to be completely engaged throughout the entire viewing experience, disclosing the culprit right away will cause them to lose interest. We also added several easter eggs for the audience to keep guessing, such that for example the number “4” that is used in Sasha’s Instagram account name in Chinese are associated with death, this foreshadows her own death. Clara's Instagram account name “it’s me” suggests that she’s the culprit this whole time.

Our crime documentary's primary focus is on how South East Asians, typically Chinese Indonesians, are portrayed. Public opinion and societal views about social groupings can be influenced by how those groups are portrayed in the media. Racial bias would result from South-East Asians' traditional underrepresentation in this situation. The media frequently features white protagonist leads as the minority group rather than South-East Asians, and they frequently represent ethnic minorities in stereotypical roles that have a major effect on how the general public understands and perceives these groups. The absence of diversity in South-East Asian media is often accepted as normal. In other instances, tokenism, which holds that a strong minority protagonist should be normalised rather than tolerating a stereotypical side character as a sign of diversity. The portrayal of a limited number of marginalised people in a way that implies their inclusion is reflective of true diversity, while in fact it is not, forms this dishonest representation. People must be fairly and accurately represented, free from harming stereotypes and with the only goal of increasing views from the audience. Therefore, in this crime documentary, we have considered the roles and portrayal of marginalised individuals by using leads that are fully South-East Asians to avoid creating a one-dimensional view and to develop fully-realised and complex characters. The three main characters in our documentary, Sasha, Clara, and Kyler, are all complex individuals who cannot be described in simple terms. For example, while Kyler was suspicious from the beginning but was unaware of his intentions, Clara did have an evil motive at the end. Considering that our main target audience is also South-East Asians, this would make them feel seen and affirmed when they see themselves being portrayed in the media, which is linked to the Uses & Gratification theory by Bulmer & Katz of personal identity. Each character is also given a unique personality that we develop, such as Sasha, one of the characters. We wanted to portray Sasha as a kind hearted, soft and gentle person so for her laptop desktop we incorporated pink as the main colour, connoting femininity, sweetness and romance. Folders and sticky notes are also added to show that Sasha is an organised person and always has plans ahead.

Issues such as online dating & toxic or one-sided friendships are also commonly discussed in this modern society, especially for teenagers and young adults. Online dating is enormously popular among teenagers in South-East Asia, making the topic highly relatable and engaging for these groups. Stereotypes of online dating might be seen as unattractive, deceitful and deviant. People often perceive online dating that relates to either safety problems (the possibility of meeting someone dangerous in person who may have evil intentions and pose physical threats) or catfishing (where people represent themselves online leading to deception and dishonesty. Because online dating is portrayed negatively in this crime documentary, Clara has concerns for her best friend. We also included screen recordings of when Sasha is interacting with Kyler, the online boyfriend to show how real and serious their online relationship is. On the other hand, toxic and one-sided friendships are also normalised. Due to their vulnerability and the need for love and affection, people in these kinds of relationships often start out when they are still developing their sense of identity and independence. As a result, they may feel as though they have to give everything they have to another person in order to be loved in return. Furthermore, it develops a dangerous codependency. Initially, our goal was to evoke sympathy for Clara through the use of her voiceover narration, which was an emotional narrative that showed her worries for Sasha. But then, as quick cuts focus on Clara's face, it gradually exposes her true motivations; to be dangerous, controlling, and harmful to others. We also pay attention to the characters' clothing because we want to imply that Sasha is innocent and pure and Clara is evil because of her choice of black clothing.