Research

 Here is the research for my (Jason) documentary

1. Making A Murderer - 2018 S1E1

Making A Murderer is a crime documentary about Steven Avery. A convention shown in this documentary might be the opening sequence which is made up of true-crime footage about the case, often obscured by establishing shots blurred over them. These sequences are often done with dark folk/classical music. They have a tendency of using real-life images and first-hand sources in the case. They show images of the people from the time of the occurrence. It seems to be targeting people interested in crime, defund-the-police supporters, and young-middle age adults. Police were represented negatively throughout the documentary as the filmmakers tried to exaggerate the wrongdoing's of the police towards Steven Avery. On the other hand, Steven Avery was portrayed as a normal innocent man by showing video clips of him being embraced by his family, interacting with reporters in a friendly matter and comments from the lawyer. I liked the opening sequence of Making A Murderer, it quickly takes the audience back in time by starting with footage from the handheld camera which creates perfect exposition for the start of the case. What I did not like was how quickly the commentary went in. Maybe I would've preferred staying in the same realm of time by using commentary on the case from a similar time.

2. Life in a Day, 2020

Life in a Day is a lifestyle documentary showing the life of people worldwide on July 25 2020. It uses first hand footage of people filming their own activities. Similarly in community filmed modern videos, a vast amount of the videos were filmed in portrait orientation on cell phones. As a poetic documentary, the director tried to evoke emotions of hopeful inspiration by showing childbirth and the man singing a folk song in the opening. It seems to be targeting everyone but kids as there are a few scenes that might not be appropriate for them. People are represented as human. The unity and similarity of humans worldwide were most focused on in the opening. I did not like the black background white text opening as I find it incredibly boring. Maybe asking people to film exclusively in landscape might be better as well. 

3. Gordon Ramsay Uncharted S2E2, 2021

Gordon Ramsay Uncharted is a travel and food documentary showing Western Sumatra's cuisine. This documentary uses a lot of establishing shots of the scenery and is filmed from a close comfortable distance (midshots/fullshots). It uses a lot of on-site commentary as well as voiceovers. Gordon Ramsay seems to crack a lot of jokes. Western Sumatra was depicted as a beautiful place by the choice of scenery used. Close-ups of the culture were shown as being beautiful. Rendang was also presented as the world's best dish. I like the commentary and the proximity of the camera which made the documentary feel more personal. The use of well known characters such as William Wongso and Gordon Ramsay helps. the intro hook helps bring the audience in especially for a documentary for TV.

4. American Vandal S1E1, 2017

American Vandal is a crime mockumentary about a case in which a unknown student has vandalised 27 cars in the staff parking lot. It seems to target young adults and high school students. This documentary follows the conventions of a crime documentary by the usage of real news reporters, an opening sequence made up of key fragments of the case blurred onto stock footage, the dark music, heavy vignette, and the narrative heavy intro. The documentary used a lot of footage originating from primary sources such as CCTV and interview footages. It was edited in a relatively slow pace similar to that of a crime documentary. Interview audio is often supported by slo-mo B-roll footage of Dylan  going about his day. The interviews were filmed in a medium shot manner, also using the rule of thirds. The music was often dark and mysterious and set the mood for an unsolved crime. The fonts were standardised and often had red underline to separate lines or subtexts. The narrator was one of the producers. He was also young and an acquaintance of Dylan which made him relevant to the case. He spoke in a relatively slow matter, asking a lot of rhetorical questions along the way. The documentary tried to show that Dylan was innocent, a motive which an acquaintance of Dylan may have. Dylan was portrayed as the villain of the school as they show him doing heinous acts in a montage of the incident. I like the editing style of the montage as it felt more modern and it was made up of real footage of the incident. I do not have a problem with the opening other than the fact that it fits too well with the conventions, failing to be unique enough (genre theory).

I. Introduction

• Title: American Vandal

• Filmmaker/Director:

• Release Year: 2017

• Duration: 34min

• Brief Overview/Summary:

II. Genre and Subgenre

• American Vandal is a crime mockumentary about a case in which a unknown student has vandalised 27 cars in the staff parking lot

III. Target Audience (demographic & Psychographic)

• It seems to target young adults and high school students. We could see this from the choice of actors. The entire cast was almost entirely made up of people who "look" like high school students, this may make it more likely for high school students to associate themselves even more with the documentary. The choice of language was also quite informal and inappropriate. It matched more the standards of day to day language for young adult-high school age. The subject matter was also of high comedic value, which subverts the crime documentary conventions in a way that may appeal more towards the high school student

IV. Technical Elements

    A. Visual Elements

• Cinematography:

• The camera was used in a way typical of many crime documentaries. For interviews, it was mainly fullshots or midshots typically with the camera also at eye level, this may be used to create a more one-to-one feel with the actual people involved in the story. Sometimes the handheld camera was used when following Dylan around through his daily life, this may be done to make it feel as though we are closer with Dylan as the movement was more natural.

• The visuals used highly contributed to storytelling. Often times, there would be B roll footage of Dylan going about his life, playing with the dog or taking walks by the beach. Often the scenes with Dylan had warm colours which may be used to show his possible innocence in the case. In many of the scenes incriminating Dylan, the camera was low quality, had a very dark vignette or was homemade which may be used to show that his ways of evil was past.

• Editing:

• The pace of editing was incredibly slow. Apart from the montages, which were fast paced to show hysteria, the documentary was slow and rarely had any sudden cuts or fast cuts. This allowed the audience to take in the information more easily

• VFX was used to show names of interviewees- typical of crime documentaries. VFX was also used to show audience how things work which may make it more easily understood (eg. how to delete CCTV footage). Apart from that VFX was rarely used as to help the documentary feel more lifelike

    B. Audio Elements

• Soundtrack and Music:

• The music used in the documentary was dark and foreboding. This followed the conventions of the typical crime documentary however it absolutely contrasted the main topic of the documentary: Phallic drawings. The documentary may have taken some of its comedic value from this simple clash. It turns the serious tone around and makes it feel far more satirical

• Voiceover and Narration:

• Narration was highly essential as there was a lot of information to take in and to link to one another. It was a good guide as his tone also helped guide the audience to take his side of the argument (eg. how can the nerd get to third base?). This was essential as active audiences can take sides while watching the documentary and so the voiceover kept them on the preferred reading of the documentary

• Interviews and Soundbites:

• Interviews and soundbites were used as primary sources of information throughout the documentary. Soundbites were essential throughout the initial part of the documentary as it showed the inconsistencies of the wayback boys' testimonials which was one of the driving forces of the school's argument. Apart from that, the interview with the nerd was brilliantly used as a cliff hanger to go into the second episode, this may be done to increase audience retention with the show.

V. Meaning and Message

• The purpose of the documentary is to solve the case of the phallic drawings at Hanover Highschool. From the beginning of the documentary, there may have been biases in Dylan's favour as the writer brilliantly used our prejudice against Dylan, this puts us immediately at a sympathetic position for Dylan's cause.

VII. Personal Response

• It was a good mockumentary and I found it funny. It had its satirical moments (nun humping) I like the editing style of the montage as it felt more modern and it was made up of real footage of the incident. I do not have a problem with the opening other than the fact that it fits too well with the conventions, failing to be unique enough (genre theory). 

5. Cosmos: Possible Worlds S1E1

Cosmos: Possible Worlds is a science documentary specialising in human nature and astronomy. The documentary follows the convention of large amounts of establishing shots for scenery and having narration without the producers (Carl Sagan part) it also has a very orchestral driven score in the background.. It breaks a convention by having Neil DeGrasse Tyson appear in person as a personal guide unlike other science and nature documentaries. It also uses a lot of computer graphics to produce scenes speculating about the future. Humanity was presented as explorers waiting to discover everything. This was evident by the usage of wide, colourful establishing shots of empty landscapes and science-fictionesque possible realities, rarely ever highlighting a single human subject. I liked the music for this documentary as it matched very well with the topic and was able to set the mood. I was not a big fan of the computer graphics as they did not mesh well with the shots of nature which it preceded which felt like it was part of a different reality. Having Neil DeGrasse Tyson set the precedence of the show helps as well as his guidance through his narration is very clear.

Borat

I. Introduction

• Title of the Documentary: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

• Filmmaker/Director: Jason Woliner, Larry Charles

• Release Year: 2006

• Duration: 1h 24min

• Brief Overview/Summary: Reporter Borat Sagdiyev and Producer Azamat Bagatov travels across America to report on cultural findings but gets distracted by Borat's love affairs.

II. Genre and Subgenre

• Borat is a Travel mockumentary

III. Target Audience (demographic & Psychographic)

• Borat is intended for adults because of its highly inappropriate and sensitive jokes. It features Sacha Baron Cohen who has history of making content catered for adults.

• It may be targeting Americans and central Asians as the movie often brings up those two regions and the humour often needs context that is possibly only known by Americans

IV. Technical Elements

    A. Visual Elements

• Cinematography:

• Borat often used cameras filmed from the eye level which captures half or the whole of his body. The camera is very often handheld which shows how primitive or improvisational this documentary is. Things are often shot in one long continuous shot (eg. naked fight) which helps make it feel a lot more amateur. Sometimes things are filmed in closeup where the camera is held by the character (naked fight, escaping the homestay scene). This overall contributes to the amateur feel of the documentary

• There are little to no computer graphics in this documentary. This is likely done to make fun of the stereotypical technological capabilities of third world countries such Kazakhstan

• Editing:

• The documentary cuts only when necessary, to highlight speakers, objects of importance and reactions. This makes it feel slow, however it feels more natural for a pace of a documentary. It allows the audience to take in the jokes which often require the reaction of people for the laugh. Some scenes had faster cuts, especially in montages when travelling or drinking. They also used fast cuts in the end of their fight to show chaos as they break into the convention

• Visual graphics are often used in opening/closing sequences or in maps to show the movement of the crew through the USA. The visual graphics are reminiscent of those to soviet-era content. This may be used to further accentuate the third world identity of the movie

    B. Audio Elements

• Soundtrack and Music:

• The role of music is often used to show emotions (eg. operatic wailing when Borat shoos the chicken away) other than that it was used as program music during the intro which supported the third world feel through the horrible production and simple keyboard melodies

• The soundtrack all felt traditional, folk, and third world. It really fed into the documentary's "origin". It really fits into the satirical stereotypical representation of ex-soviet bloc countries

• Voiceover and Narration:

• Narration is often used to give exposition on topics which would be later explored upon much like an educational documentary

• It is voiced very properly and formally, including "local" greetings (chenkui) as if its meant to be a proper and formal documentary

• Interviews and Soundbites:

• Interviews were used up until the point where Borat found Pamela Anderson. Interviewees were chosen based on their cultural impact (Feminists, republicans and joke specialist) which they feel may bring the greatest benefit to Kazakhstan

• Testimonials and interviews were basically ignored in the movie as Borat would make jokes or inappropriate comments which made the interviews of no use at all but for comedic value.

V. Meaning and Message

• The main theme of the movie is finding love and new ways for Kazakhstan

• The filmmakers had intended this movie to be comedic, hence the exaggeration of third-world characteristics such as anti-Semitism and a lack of hygiene

• It never really succeeded in delivering its original message as Borat was quickly distracted by Pamela Anderson and so he took the documentary down with him and filmed himself in his struggles to reach California

VII. Personal Response

• The mockumentary is very funny and shocking. The shock factor really took over in some of the jokes
• I really liked the fact that there was no fancy editing in this documentary, it made it feel incredibly natural, almost like a wildlife documentary for Borat. The only problem I had was that it was inconsistent, It claimed that they were only travelling as a duo but the cameras suggested otherwise, it might've been better if Azamat kept filming the whole time only to make occasional appearances for jokes

Other documentaries watched:

Japan Trip - Andriawan Pratikto - Travel documentary

Shed 17 - Pauls Vids - Parody, Mockumentary, Horror

Project G-1 - Pauls Vids - Parody, Mockumentary, Horror