Final Documentary + Thumbnail

This blogpost contains the final Documentary and Thumbnail

Here is a YouTube link to our Video just incase. https://youtu.be/T8cibTfE0TE
 

This is our final Thumbnail for our Documentary.

Edit

 This is the editing blog made by Alex 12B

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Teacher Feedback

1. Integrate an establishing shot

2. make the actors sit faster

Then Mr. showed me a Spoof Documentary American Vandal and it showed me about better ways of making people sit and how to do and establishing shot with a J cut included, the audio but the clips I was provided by my group was too soft for a J cut to be substantial.

American Vandal

This was after the feedback was implemented:

Thoughts: I think this was a great idea the establishing shot really sets the scene and lets the audience knows that we're in a school, and making the actors sit faster helps with pacing

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A problem I have found persistently during editing is the over exposure within the footage that my teammates sent, I have no idea if it's my editing software or their phones but it was a persistent problem I had to fix with all the tools I have.

Example of the video being normal in the video player (lots of others also had this):

Example of the problem inside premiere pro:

Solution I devised was using the effect Brightness & Contrast:

Thoughts: I have no idea why this happens, luckily I had options to fix it to maintain continuity within the video and between scenes. 

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After we send it back to Mr. for more feedback it was clear to him that it was heavily needed because he gave us a lot of feedback that was invaluable with improving our product

The numerous feedback he gave us:

Before the improvements:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ID5p_hKOmfC9SWDX1k33TYsPB91-FQnz/view?usp=sharing

After the Improvements were implemented:

Thoughts: If we didn't have that feedback I think this whole project would have been really difficult to work with as me as an editor personally, I NEED directions if I am to edit a video for someone. So the feedback was incredible is providing clear directions for improvement

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Storyboard

 This blog post contains the storyboard for our documentary opening project, as a group we all contributed in giving our ideas, and Bams made the storyboard and this blog post.

This is a video that our teacher gave us to help with our storyboard, this video shows us all the details that we need to input so that, the whole team can understand what scene we are trying to get off from the storyboard and what camera angles, how long it needs to be, the edit, as well how the actor or things needs to be within that particular scene. 

It helped because :

- We easily learnt the basics from this video

- It shows that rough sketches can also be explained in detail with arrows and explanation of the scenes

( technical elements ). This was great because I was worried we didn't have enough time. After seeing this, I asked my teacher if we could also do a simpler version. He said as long as the first is in detail, the rest can be simple.

- The storyboard that we did is more detailed even when the sketch is all did quickly.

This is the storyboard that me and my team created for our crime documentary with all the details explained from the video, although this storyboard type takes too much time so, we won't have any time to do other stuff for our project thus, we did this other storyboard that is more less detail although, we did this storyboard very quickly.

This is the rest of the storyboard to explain further on what the next scenes should be this is more of a rough sketch unlike the storyboard we did previously which is more explained with the technical elements and description on what the scene is. In conclusion, this was the final products for our storyboard to get the main idea on what the crime documentary is going to look like.

Classwork

 This blogpost contains everything I've learnt in class

Media Regulation - Media regulation aims to balance freedom of speech, protect consumers, ensure accurate information dissemination, and address ethical concerns.

Power and the Media

Power in media is about who controls content, how they use it, and who is affected. It can come from:

• Companies (buying others, dominating markets)
• Governments (laws, regulation)
• Individuals (creators, social media)

Power is used to shape representation, influence opinion, and control attention.

'Power and the media’ is a topic which asks learners to interrogate the nature of power, how it is wielded, by whom and in what ways. This could be the power to represent, to speak for a particular group, or the power to acquire independent companies in order to benefit from their brand and market share. It could also be the growing power of individuals to produce and distribute their own material, to create their own brands and to make an impact on political discourse via social media.

Power can come from: 

• Ownership (big tech, platforms, media conglomerates) 
• Governments (regulation, censorship) 
• Audiences (resistance, viral culture)

Case Studies we learnt in class:

PEGI (Pan European Game Information) An official online website, providing age rating system for video games in Europe, designed to help parents and players make informed decisions about the content of games.

Simply, PEGI gives games an age rating (3, 7, 12, 16, or 18) to show what age group the game is suitable for. It also uses content descriptors (like violence, bad language, gambling, fear, drugs, discrimination, online play) so people know what kind of material is inside the game.

Why its important in Media Regulation:

• It protects children and young audiences from exposure to harmful or inappropriate content. 
• It gives parents guidance and control over what their children play. 
• It maintains social responsibility in the gaming industry by ensuring companies classify and warn about their content. 
• It connects to wider debates about media effects, audience protection, and how regulation balances freedom of expression with safeguarding.

Critical Reflection

This blogpost contains the critical reflection of my documentary project

Our brief was to create a documentary opening. We produced a crime documentary opening called Valedictorian, aimed at young audiences, exploring rivalry, ambition, and hidden conflict within a school setting.

Branding is the use of consistent styles, visuals, and themes to create a recognisable identity. It is important because it makes the documentary professional, connects the thumbnail and the film, and helps audiences quickly understand what type of story to expect. In Valedictorian, both products share consistent visual codes, such as colour choices, typography, and imagery that reflect the theme of crime and hidden identity (fig 1). This consistency ensures the thumbnail feels directly connected to the documentary. The thumbnail’s purpose is to capture attention and attract viewers, while the documentary’s purpose is to develop the story in depth and engage audiences with narrative detail. Together, they work as a package that hooks the audience and then delivers a full viewing experience. Audiences decode meaning through repeated use of visual codes and language. Actors’ expressions, body language, and costumes all reinforce rivalry and tension. These codes signal that the documentary explores hidden truths, encouraging audiences to expect conflict within their familiar school environments.

(fig 1)

Our research shaped how we used or challenged crime documentary conventions. Typical conventions include camera choices such as interviews (fig 2), zoom ins, re-enactments, and establishing shots. Mise-en-scène uses dark or neutral colours, costumes showing social class, and symbolic props like books (fig 3) or trophies. Sound usually features suspenseful music or tense silences, while editing often involves quick cuts, flashbacks, or text overlays. Costumes like Hazel’s mysteriously quiet,  nerdy style and Rain’s fresh, richer appearance, along with props like trophies and books, clearly represented rivalry and class difference. Suspenseful background music added tension, creating a murder mystery atmosphere. However, we subverted editing conventions. Instead of only realistic investigative edits, we included stylised and dramatic cuts to exaggerate teenage rivalry. This made our documentary more appealing to young audiences. Our biggest influence was Netflix’s What Jennifer Did. Its suspenseful editing, contrasting portrayals, and slow reveal of motives inspired how we developed Rain and Hazel’s story. Its use of dark visuals and tense sound also influenced our mise-en-scène and editing.

(fig 2)

(fig 3)

Our documentary targeted teenagers and young adults aged 17-30. It appeals to both male and female viewers, particularly students who can relate to the academic setting. Psychographically, our audience enjoys mystery, crime, rivalry, and hidden identity. To connect with them, Valedictorian uses a school setting and recognisable groups such as nerds, rich kids, and counsellors. These characters reflect relatable and familiar teenage social experiences, while the crime and rivalry storyline adds suspense. The thumbnail also played a crucial role in engagement. Its split image, combining trophies with dark red imagery, suggested hidden danger behind success (fig 1). The bold title Valedictorian made the theme of rivalry instantly clear. Both our products also connect through the Uses and Gratifications theory. It provides diversion with suspense, personal identity through academic pressures, social relationships by sparking conversations about ambition, and surveillance by warning about toxic competition. Hermeneutic codes in the thumbnail create mystery and unanswered questions, encouraging audiences to uncover what really happened. Together, the thumbnail and film engage viewers with tension and relatability.

The documentary represents four main social groups: nerds, rich kids, bystanders, and a counsellor. The dominant reading is that nerds are intelligent but excluded, making them appeal more vulnerable. Rich kids were displayed privileged and careless, bystanders were ordinary and powerless, and the counsellor was a trusted authority. These were shown through mise-en-scène and performance. Hazel, as the nerd, wore glasses, sat with books on his desk as he took notes, and showed awkward body language. Rain, the rich kid, appeared confident, extroverted, and social with trophies and open gestures. We made Mischa, "Rain's Friend", put on hoop earrings and long lashes making her appeal "Bratty" (fig 5). Bystanders wore basic and neat school uniforms or basic casual t-shirts (fig 4) and avoided direct involvement, enhancing their neutrality balancing within the two main characters, while the counsellor wore a professional teacher’s uniform. A challenge was thinking of the actors’ wardrobes, since our schedules were also tight. We relied more on stereotypes and technical elements like props and gestures. This made roles instantly recognisable despite limited costuming. Stereotypes were effective because they are clear and efficient for audiences to decode. This helped represent rivalry, class differences, and authority clearly within a school setting.

(fig 4)

(fig 5)

Thumbnail (Research and Development)

 This is the thumbnail for our crime documentary, it is made by Bams 12A

The software that I used would be paint.net as it includes simple features such as removing the background easily from images, being able to have a wide variety of fonts that can be used for our thumbnail and etc. 

RESEARCH THUMBNAIL 

Overall overview of most crime documentary within Netflix

The crime documentary thumbnails mostly stick to the conventions that crime genre has such as mugshot looking type and dark colors especially the red colors as it represents danger, crime, and violence. This would help us attract our target audience and what would be expected inside of the documentary. Based from the overall view on the image on Netflix's crime documentary search most of the thumbnails show the prepetrator's face or vintage and polaroid type pictures, this gives off a sense of tension and seriousness, so thus the audience would expect real and possible disturbing crimes. 

Here are two examples of the thumbnails that interests us:         

 

This is our start to our thumbnail...

More information is that when I started to use paint.net again and due to because that paint.net didn't have enough of the effects I had so the downside was that each time I had an idea to make the actors have more meaning towards them I had to switch back and forth to my editing software (Vegas Pro 18) to edit the photo and input back into paint.net. So this was technically the rough buildup of making the thumbnail.

Step 1

I masked out the paper overlay to match hazel's picture

Step 2

I delete the left part of hazel to fit rain into the other side of the picture to let it look like it is connected and it would fit our thumbnail like "Making a Murderer"

Step 3

I resized rain's image to fit into the thumbnail as previously it was too large and it wouldn't fit the thumbnail and make the thumbnail look stretched and compressed, which is not wanted in a thumbnail.

Step 4

I added vignette to the image to show that there is some sort of dark side on Hazel and give it that eerie feeling towards Hazel.

Step 5

I added the black and white filter on Hazel and gives off a gloomy mood towards him.

Step 6

I added the left side of Hazel again to be able to mask Rain onto the thumbnail and this is the result I got from doing so...

Result

I asked feedback from my team members and the teacher and due to the bad "ripped paper" overlay, I had to change the paper aswell as conform to other thumbnails such as the "What Jennifer Did" thumbnail from Netflix. The feedback that was given was that :

- The paper layer was too thick 

- It doesn't show the emotions of the two characters easily 

- The images were disproportionate

- The mouth and the clothing should match with each other so it looks like its connected

I took the feedback for the thumbnail and this is the final result...

THUMBNAIL :

The “ripped paper” effect down the middle suggests the different sides of people that could relate to the documentary as the audience would expect that the crime was caused by those two people. It also connotates that the left side which is Rain, the rich kid shows trophies and awards which is academic achievement, he is also seen using a light brown jacket this gives off that elegant vibe to him and the gold trophies behind implies that rich friend more. The right side which shows Hazel is in a deep red and shadowy filter this connotates violence, anger or possibly even obsession as Hazel was considered in the documentary to be fairly obsessed with getting valedictorian and studying. This contrasts heavily with the left side showing that it was bright and celebratory to imply that there was a cost or dark truth behind the success of becoming a valedictorian. We also decided to put the “N” (Netflix) logo to suggest this is a presented like a documentary so the audience would expect a serious and intense, story rather than something lighthearted. Thus, the viewers that would see the thumbnail would be led to feel curiosity, tension. Which hints that behind that polished image of a high achiever has a side of him that is evil.

TYPOGRAPHY :

For the typography, I used “British Green” font for the word VALEDICTORIAN on the thumbnail as it is often associated with formality and prestige which for the looks of Rain shows he comes from a wealthy family. This choice for the typeface reinforces the connotations for academic exellence and seriousness which fits the title of valedictorian. The title is also written in all caps, giving it that bold, commanding and powerful tone to the audience which could lead them to thinking like “ why is valedictorian that important to them both?”,  “what conflicts did it cause? “.  

The typography is also large which immediately draws the audience’s eye to the title before the details of the image, also the placement being a bit to the bottom left visually reinforces the conflict between the two people shown.

This is our crime documentary's thumbnail but inputted into the Netflix library to see how it would match with the other documentaries.

Behind The Scenes

 Here is the Behind the Scenes of our Documentary Project! Kim made this Presentation