Critical Reflection

This is my Critical Reflection based off these questions.

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?

Me and my team researched on crime documentaries on Netflix, which then we developed a crime documentary which surrounds on students that are fighting to be the top of the school through wealth and sacrifice. The name of this documentary is 'Valedictorian'. 

Our product is to have a branding that is associated with the dark side of the academic and psychological drama. The serif font on the thumbnail (fig 1) would give off that prestigious and formal which ties to the idea of the valedictorian plot, thus connotating 'academic struggles through sacrifices'. The color palette between the red overlay and the bright overlay which would add the contrast in theory of Roland Barthes's hermeneutic code to create suspense and mystery, as the audience would then be curious on why 'valedictorian' is so important to the both of the actors. The documentary itself that shows, the floating effect at the end of the documentary shows where Hazel looks at Rain giving off a stern look (fig 2) which could indicate he is suspecting something like a conflict or something suspicious from the smile that Rain is giving off. The audience would be able to decode the meaning by the Reception Theory by Stuart Hall either by preferred reading, negotiated reading or oppositional reading. 

My research into the crime documentaries such as 'American Vandal', 'What Jennifer Did'. These are the typical crime documentaries and the conventions of it are always the gloomy environment, there is that CCTV footage camera shot as well as closeups of the crime scene, the sounds of police sirens or the 911 call, and the edit would be jump cuts for fast paced moments. We mostly conformed to the CCTV footage, and J cut because the CCTV footage (fig 3) camera angle gives off that tension and mystery as the footage in our documentary is grainy, black and white this connotates that uncertainty and fear because the footage isn't always clear, thus the audience would seem like their detectives by piecing these unclear clues together. We subverted our actors to be Indonesian actors although they are talking English which makes them those international students which relates to the representation theory on stereotypes where they are usually represented as rich students, this could appeal to the young audience who idealize wealth. The biggest influence on our research is watching the multiple crime documentaries to get an idea on what are the typical conventions.

Our target audience is towards young teenagers and students as the thumbnail. For the demographic, people that are usually middle-class, aged between 16-30 which means they are Gen-Z people. Psychographic is for people that relate to the struggles. The young students and the school would appeal to our target audience as they are about the academic lessons and grades which they may watch as it relates to their daily lives. Relating to the Uses and Gratifications theory, personal identity as young students watching may compare their own struggles from the video. The trophies and the title valedictorian could attract the audience as it connotates success, intelligence and also competitive. The 'torn paper' effect would suggest either conflict or hidden secrets that would be revealed in the documentary. The red filter would give off that mystery in like what danger or struggle does this represent which could make the audience question about the darkness going on. 

The social groups that are in our documentary would mostly be international students, teachers, and high-achieving students. The dominant reading suggests that the achievement is not cost-free and would need sacrifices which would relate to our documentary and success especially academic comes with emotional, and mental costs. The closeups of the two actors as Rain shows happy emotions while as Hazel shows that serious in studying emotions. The issues that are in this documentary would be competition and academic pressures relating with stress. The dominant reading of this issue usually shows that competition is usually not friendly but toxic and harmful and the academic pressure is that the pursuit to becoming the best would easily lead to burnouts and stress. As the nerd is often portrayed intelligent, workaholic, isolated although their skills are unrecognized while as the rich kid is shown rich, smart, popular and their skills are recognized. The closeup and longshot in the empty classroom which shows him that he is very focused in his academics. Our documentary uses stereotypes such as the nerd and he is using glasses which implies he is a nerd. 

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